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Books. What's Next For Your Writing? Rob Parnell No more video newsletters for a while. They're so work intensive (you end up throwing away 90% of what you record) that I've decided to make them a monthly event rather than a weekly. I know a lot of my subscribers like the videos but there are also many that prefer the written word. I get that. But it is worth bearing in mind that we now live in a very visual world, media wise, where writers are expected increasingly to understand the visual medium. Hence, my next course will be on writing for TV - where the whole concept of writing deliberately for the screen is a fascinating 'switch of gears' for most writers. Plus of course, writers are often expected to self promote nowadays, either through personal appearances or via TV and radio. This can be tough for many, more insular writers - actually like me. I may look confident in my videos but it's really just an illusion created by editing and post production. But at least it does prove that you can be introverted and still make the media work for you. Actors and comedians often seem like extroverts - but this too can be an incorrect assumption. Performing is a skill that even the most shy writer can accomplish with enough practice - and indeed may become an essential component of a writer's career if we want success in this modern, sound bite, glitz driven age. Besides which, it's about pushing ourselves, isn't it? With every new writing project we want to improve, to stretch ourselves just that little bit further. This should also apply I think to other areas of our lives. Self help gurus always talk about the need to get outside of our comfort zones in order to grow. And what could be more outside a writer's comfort zone than performing, acting and even speaking? I understand! It's rare that any of us like the look or sound of ourselves on film. Even Johnny Depp says he can't watch himself on screen! But I think it's important to overcome these things - in much the same way we need to overcome any kind of social anxiety in order to successfully interact with other people - especially people that can help us. Think of performing as a writer as a necessary evil...
Personally, I have real problems when we go to Australian screenwriting conferences and we're supposed to be sociable and easy going - as well as ready at any time to deliver a pitch for our latest project - whether that be a movie idea or two or a TV show. To be honest I find the whole idea of relating written material in verbal form to be slightly odd, even distasteful sometimes. I mean, why should writers be considered the best orators of their work? They rarely are. And how do Australian producers, directors and distributors have the audacity to turn down ideas without even taking the merest glimpse at our writing? I could be Shakespeare and these people would never know - just because they didn't think Romeo and Juliet had sufficient 'legs' as a viable idea. It's a crazy system. To me, it's a thinly veiled insult to writers, really. It's basically saying that the writing is unimportant - anyone can do that - it's the idea that must sell itself. Good in principle but I am offended by the unwillingness to even ask the question, Oh, by the way, can you actually write? The thing that bugs me the most is the way Australian film people (who in the great scheme of things have never known real success - especially if they're still here) tell you what's good and bad about your idea, how to tweak and change it to fit the 'industry' as though your ideas are just pieces of mud that need the benefit of their deluded quirks and prejudices to work at all. I prefer the British system where a writer can present his or her entire script to the BBC - without all this "pitching" nonsense and then let the production companies talk about the merits of the screenplay and how it might work on screen. To me this system must work better when you see the quality of the programs and ideas that come from the UK - and also the quality of the writers. In case you wondered, I'm not knocking American writers at all - because they're gradually taking back the control they deserve, especially in TV, where the writers are often considered the most important part of the "screen machine". This situation, sadly, does not apply in Australia - where the writer is considered a necessary evil - and not always necessary at that. Australian TV and movies are - with rare exceptions - appallingly tedious and unappealing and don't travel very well overseas. Far be it from me to suggest that it's Australian producers and film makers (there's a difference which I wish these producers understood), and their contempt for the writer that is actually the root cause of the dire effluent that Australia consistently produces... Australian producers with no idea, no vision, no real integrity and no artistic sense whatsoever, have been allowed to rule our industry for far too long - supported fully by the State and Federal financiers - to the detriment of all that we've produced in the visual media since the 1970s. The rest of the world knows that good writers have the talent, the ideas and the business sense to know how to make TV and movies work. That's been definitively proved by the US, the UK, Japan, even places like Korea and South America. But in Australia, we're yet to give writers any of the respect they deserve. Do Australian producers want writers to learn how to act now? To perform like monkeys to make their jobs easier? Well, here's a suggestion: Why don't Australian producers learn how to read? Might help, though I doubt it. My money's on the next generation of writers in Australia that have no choice but to wrest back control from the delusional old guard. Apologies for the rant at the end there. I have issues - and a 12 page film pitch to write by Jan 4th! All the best for your own writing projects in 2011. Keep
writing!
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