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WRITER, CAMERA, ACTION!
My Fellow Writers,
Make a film, of any length, with any equipment you have available to you, as soon as you possibly can.
To those of you who say that filmmaking is for directors, please step forward so that I can sock you in the jaw. Filmmaking is what writers do. They provide the blueprint so everyone else can go make their ideas a (filmed) reality.
So it's vital that every writer know as much as possible about filmmaking. The notion that filmmaking is a magical process is mostly untrue. Filmmaking is a grueling, slow, detailed-oriented process that takes hundreds of people thousands of hours to make ideas a reality.
But unless you work on a production, it's very difficult to have a true appreciation for what that means. The words on the page are meaningless. You write a fight scene not realizing that you're costing lots of shooting time for something that might not even be that great for the story.
Every hour I spend on set, I learn another thing about writing. About how the words sound in actors' mouths, how to simplify actions, how to visualize, pace, and express scenes. And I'm sure I will always be learning from productions I do.
Not everyone can be on a set. So I go back to my original thesis: make a film, however you can. I wish I had more time to express how important this is in your development as a writer. Just trust me - I think it is absolutely critical in any writer's development.
One more thing - if, in the making of one of these films, you become a director, I hope you'll remember your writer roots. Service the emotion of the story first, and the visuals second.
That's all. Don't shoot anything I wouldn't shoot. Keep writing, no matter what.
Action!,
Grady
P.S. I'm at EmailGrady@aol.com if anyone wants to share more writing-streak stories. Also, I'd love to hear about anyone's experience with reasonably economical PC-based editing systems and digital cameras. In the near future, I hope to set myself up with some of this stuff and start turning those nephew birthday videos into master works.
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