I'm a writah! Honest!

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Okay.

Last week I told some of you, quite excitedly, that I had been asked to scrip edit an animatied TV episode. This morning I was told that my initial notes are all worth moving ahead with, and on top of that, could I WRITE epsiode 2 as well (from an existing 500-word concept). For writing the ep, I would be paid £2,000. I have 12 days to get EVERYTHING done.

Firstly, AAAAAAAARGH! I'm scared!

Secondly, I kind of have to take it, to prove to myself, if no-one else, that I'm up for the challenge. However, even a professional, experienced writer would struggle to polish off one script in 12 days - how on earth will I cope, especially without a script editor?

So ANY writing tips (scriptwriting or anything, professional or amateur, though dealine-coping help gratefully received) would be wonderful. Thanks in advance, and apologies for leaning on you all for support.

― Mark C, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Go watch lots of cartoons NOW. Steal all the good lines, plot developments. What is the series? Think up plot and start writing now. Once you have a crap script you can then do what you are used to which is script editing.

― Pete, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Erm.....My trick at uni was always to leave it to the last minute, attempt to stay up all night the day before the deadline, get distracted by playing Sensible World of Soccer on my Amiga, fall asleep and fail my degree.

Glad to help! - oh, and congratulations Mark, I'm chuffed to bits for ya.

― Bappsy, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

COR well done Mark! i have no advice! i am not a writer! so what Ptee said and GOOD LUCK! actually i do have advice: stay OFF the Pro-Plus. never be tempted no matter how near the deadline looms. and especially do not combine it with ginger wine. it is EVIL...

― katie, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Good that you heard from them - Petes advice to write write write and then edit sounds good to me. Keep us posted on how you're doing! And when you're paid you can take us all to the pub heh :)

― Sarah, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Well, I'm currently knocking up a treatment (scene-by-scene breakdown of episode, no dialogue), so if anyone can think of hilarious antics a bumbling young elephant and his cynical Bird friend can get into in New York City, let me know! You won't get credit of course, but it might help me decide who gets the pints afterwards :-)

― Mark C, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Nice work Mark!! first thing you have to do: decide when to stop reading this thread...

― Tracer Hand, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Set it in Shepherd's Bush then move it wholesale to NY. It worked for Saturday Night Fever...

― Tim, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Well there's always the old 'getting lost in the big city' thing and finding new friends through working together to get the elephant and the bird reunited again. Or if it's a place with humans, the bird could get captured and the elephant has to rescue him and Hilarious Antics Ensue... what age groop are we thinking here? I think it would be great if they took DANCING LESSONS in there somewhere.

― Sarah, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Imagine! An elephant and a bird trying to learn the tango! Or maybe if they wanna be a bit street, breakdancing. The bird wants to learn to impress a burd of the opposite sex obv by his BUSTIN A MOVE.

― Sarah, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Are you writing an episode of Sesame Street? I don't think Snuffluphagus (sp?) was an elephant, more a sort of indeterminate hairy beast.

― Emma, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Big Bird is not cynical. Pity it isn't set in the East End cos the elephant could throw his lot in with some bad eggs who tell him to "go pull a bird" - which his cynical bird friend finds awfully annoying after a bit.

DO a 9/11 tie in where the bird does reconnaisance and the elephant lifts people out the rubble (elephant always good for firefightery type stuff anyway - what with nose hose).

― Pete, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have not seen Sesame Street for ages and when I last did, Big Bird seemed a little world-weary, heading for a phase of cynicism. Maybe he snapped out of it.

― Emma, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm afraid it's quite a small bird - a mynah, I believe. The elephant is quite chunky, but at one point we do get four elephants into the back of a yellow cab. It's strange - cos this is offically the editing part of the job rather than the writing (episode 2), I have to see how much of the original I can salvage, especially as it was written by my paymaster. Ah well, back to it...

― Mark C, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I think you should give all the characters names from ILx. Hilarious consequences!

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Anyone here called Elton? (it was decided long before I got involved)

― Mark C, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

We can call Ned Elton.

― Dan Perry, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Make sure you have a contract and everything is set out. I have been burnt so many times simply because the terms weren't written down.

Huge congratualtions though. As to writing the thing, remember that people on tele don't speak like people in real life do.

― Queen G, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Thanks so much Geoff! I will indeed make sure I get a contract, though they were very prompt getting one to me for the editing part of the deal.

The dialogue is the bit I'm most worried about. I've kinda (assuming my paymasters are happy with it) got the plotting and story sorted, but I've never been great with coming up with dialogue, so I'm kind of gritting my teeth about that. We'll find out soon enough...

― Mark C, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

We can call Ned Elton.

It's a vision, it is.

― Ned Raggett, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

dailogue tip is write it down, and then get people to read it back to you - if it sounds good that way, it will be fine...I know this sounds odd considering my former tip, but people reading dialogue confirms pace, tone etc, but it's still very different from the normal ums and ahs and twisty turns that sentences take in everyday speech.

― Queen G, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Another dialogue tip: do lots of eavesdropping in cafes, bars, etc. Works better if you go somewhere you normally wouldn't as the speech differences will stick out more.

― bnw, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

elephant becomes toast of ny high society, myna bird joins eco- terrorist underground movement

they find themselves at a krs one concert and realize maybe they're not so different after all

plus, the elephant affects an accent. perhaps scene where elephant loses wig at a cocktail party

― bc, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm not convinced that eavesdropping in cafes and bars will be any use when writing the adventures of an elephant, but it is a necessity for anyone with writerly ambitions. In this case, I suggest that, in private, you read out every line in as close to the characters' voices and manners as you can manage. It's no magic trick, but it often helps to spot a duff line. I remember Alan Moore talking about doing this when writing the Demon, in case you're going to claim that method-acting an elephant is beyond you.

I'm a damn good editor, or I was, of comic books. This of course isn't comics and I don't know the characters at all, so I'd be of no great use, or I'd offer to cast an eye, if you wanted.

― Martin Skidmore, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Mark, how about they have to go down the drains for some reason, and the elephant gets stuck because it's so fat, and after huffing and puffing for ages, the bird has the bright idea of pecking fuck out of the elephant's arse, and they both end up tumbling down the drain and somehow the elephant lands on top of the bird but doesn't realise and gormlessly looks for the bird until the bird squeezes out- pop! from under the elephant and ticks him off but the elephant is so relieved he hugs the bird and nearly squashes him before they set off along the drains in search of the elephant's mother.

― PM, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Peter Miller, I kind of love you, in a sexual way.

Martin, you are OTM. In my last job I used to annoy/amuse everyone near me by reading out scripts I was editing in the voices of the characters. It felt right then - hopefully it'll work now!

Thanks again chaps :-)

― Mark C, Friday, 12 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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