| [BACK]
For many years, I studied playwriting at the New Jersey Playwrights Theatre-a professional theatre dedicated to encouraging playwrights and development of new works for the stage.
Our mentor, John Morrison, an accomplished writer in his own right and a professional stage director, was fond of saying: "writing is the one job in the theatre that can't be faked."
Although I don't totally subscribe to this theory (flattering as it may be to we scribes), there is a kernel of truth in it. Whether in the theatre, motion pictures, or corporate communications, none of the craftspeople, artisans, actors or directors has work until the writer creates a script. (One exception is the documentary filmmaker who may gather footage and determine the storyline and structure in post-production.)
Only the writer begins with a kernel of an idea, what Henry James referred to as the "germ" for a story or novel. Only the writer can nourish the germ, allow it to take root, grow, flourish and eventually blossom into a new work for stage, screen or corporate video.
In a sense, we writers are blessed in that our work is not dependent on someone else. At least until something is sold, we have total creative control. Unlike an actress, we don't have to wade through script after script trying to discover the next role.
And the work cannot be faked. The finished script speaks for itself. If it is any good at all, we can take pride in the fact that it is completely our own doing. Our world unites craft and imagination, fueled by our personal vision of what may be. It is, indeed, a heady elixir.
|
