put your money where your keyboard is.
I may be getting a JOB. in fact, a SCREENWRITING job.
what follows is the heroic narative of how this possibilty presented itself:
Last weekend I became, again, terrified that I'll never have a job, that I won't be able to make a carrear in my chosen proffesion - scrinwriting and filmmaking - and will die pennyless on the street.
I really don't know how to do anything but write, and it remains to be seen if that can sustain me in any way.
And then I bumped in a friend from school, Ori, an actor and comedy writer (he worked as screenwriter on the childern's cahnnel show "The Pejamas" which I have never seen but have been told it was rather, well, bad). He's a nice guy and we got to talking, we were both feeling misrable and I told him about my concerns about not having any sort of proffessional future. Now he, as it turns it, is now head screebwriter for a sitcom being developed for the childern's channel "Logi". Knowing I want to make it as a screenwriter he asked me if I wanted to take a copy test for his show (the term is from the advertising industry, and I haven't heard it used before in this meaning. Usually it's called writing on "spec" in drama, but it isn't exactly that either - what he meant was writing a small number of scenes based on the premise of the show). The catch was, I had one day to do it, and he wasn't sure if he had a spot for me, anyway.
It wasn't easy, since I have never written anything sitcom-y before and have never really written something not based on my ideas and characters - and now my cocky claim that I am able to write anything (besides thriller and whodunit) was being put to the test.
But I worked my ass off the next day and delivered the goods on time.
I met Ori at a party on friday night and he told me that my test was really good, but that they have enough screenwriters at the moment - he said that there's one they are not sure about, and he'll eb in contact.
He also told me to keep at it. He said I can get a screenwriting job and that I should probably get an agent.
Then, he called again this week. One of the writers dropped out.
He asked me to take my idea from the copy test and write a treatment (sometimes called a step outline) for an episode of the show. If my treatment was good, he said, I may be asked to write the episode (!!!).
The catch, again, was that I had one day. I had never written a treatment before, and, in fact, loathe them and bla di bla.
Agian, I pulled myself together, worked myself to death and produced a sort-of-decent treatment in one day.
Today Ori called again. He said that they liked my outline but that it has many problams. They don't think I can write an episode yet and they don't have time for me to learn, but they want to team me up with another writer so that we write an episode together.
he's going to talk to him this weekend, and if the guy is up for it, he said, we might be put to work together on an episode next week.
I cannot stress how important the first step is, getting the first job is. I mean, it may be a shabby job, but having a credit on an aired show means I can maybe get an agent, and that may lead to other jobs... it's getting that first gig that's the hardest part, I think.
I really hope it works out.
what follows is the heroic narative of how this possibilty presented itself:
Last weekend I became, again, terrified that I'll never have a job, that I won't be able to make a carrear in my chosen proffesion - scrinwriting and filmmaking - and will die pennyless on the street.
I really don't know how to do anything but write, and it remains to be seen if that can sustain me in any way.
And then I bumped in a friend from school, Ori, an actor and comedy writer (he worked as screenwriter on the childern's cahnnel show "The Pejamas" which I have never seen but have been told it was rather, well, bad). He's a nice guy and we got to talking, we were both feeling misrable and I told him about my concerns about not having any sort of proffessional future. Now he, as it turns it, is now head screebwriter for a sitcom being developed for the childern's channel "Logi". Knowing I want to make it as a screenwriter he asked me if I wanted to take a copy test for his show (the term is from the advertising industry, and I haven't heard it used before in this meaning. Usually it's called writing on "spec" in drama, but it isn't exactly that either - what he meant was writing a small number of scenes based on the premise of the show). The catch was, I had one day to do it, and he wasn't sure if he had a spot for me, anyway.
It wasn't easy, since I have never written anything sitcom-y before and have never really written something not based on my ideas and characters - and now my cocky claim that I am able to write anything (besides thriller and whodunit) was being put to the test.
But I worked my ass off the next day and delivered the goods on time.
I met Ori at a party on friday night and he told me that my test was really good, but that they have enough screenwriters at the moment - he said that there's one they are not sure about, and he'll eb in contact.
He also told me to keep at it. He said I can get a screenwriting job and that I should probably get an agent.
Then, he called again this week. One of the writers dropped out.
He asked me to take my idea from the copy test and write a treatment (sometimes called a step outline) for an episode of the show. If my treatment was good, he said, I may be asked to write the episode (!!!).
The catch, again, was that I had one day. I had never written a treatment before, and, in fact, loathe them and bla di bla.
Agian, I pulled myself together, worked myself to death and produced a sort-of-decent treatment in one day.
Today Ori called again. He said that they liked my outline but that it has many problams. They don't think I can write an episode yet and they don't have time for me to learn, but they want to team me up with another writer so that we write an episode together.
he's going to talk to him this weekend, and if the guy is up for it, he said, we might be put to work together on an episode next week.
I cannot stress how important the first step is, getting the first job is. I mean, it may be a shabby job, but having a credit on an aired show means I can maybe get an agent, and that may lead to other jobs... it's getting that first gig that's the hardest part, I think.
I really hope it works out.