I saw something on TV a few years ago where a bunch of aspiring comics were talking to veteran comedian Larry Miller. He told them the key to success.
Write jokes. Tell them. Keep the ones that work, throw out the other ones. Then write more jokes.
But that wasn’t what the comedy students wanted to hear. They were all looking for the secret shortcut to success, it seemed. How do I land a sitcom or get an agent. Miller kept giving them the same advice over and over again.
Write. Then write more.
Why is that so hard? It isn’t, of course. It’s the simplest advice in the world. Put in the time writing and keep doing it.
Want a career in music? Write songs, play them, write more songs. In Film? Write scripts. In painting? Paint. Photography? Take photos.
Don’t plan the perfect novel but never write it. Don’t talk about your idea for a sculpture but never create it. You know what you’re doing, right? You’re stalling. You’re putting it off. You’re probably just afraid of failing.
Get over it.
See, it’s true that if you never actually make a movie, nobody will ever tell you that your movie sucks. Because if DO make a movie – trust me – some people WILL tell you it sucks. So it’s a lot easier to talk about your movie to your friends and loved ones.
Stop talking and write the damn script.
In my own work, I’ve learned that when I try and short circuit the process it almost never works. My YouTube channel has dozens of little political comedy films I’ve made and I had to write a script first for every one of them.
Sometimes I’d try and do something else other than writing the script- like maybe do an animation. For me, it never worked. You didn’t see those films because I never made them. (They were AWESOME, by the way.)
Okay, enough blogging. I’m unemployed and have no excuses. I have scripts to write.
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