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Teleplay Tips & Tricks
A Writers Credo
Lately I've been seeing a lot of what I can only call BAD WRITING. Self-indulgent and, frankly, uncommunicative. Because of that, I've decided to give viewers of this site a preview of the last few paragraphs in my next column for SCREENTALK Magazine. This isn't an ad, but an admonition. The following is what drives me whenever I write anything. It's my credo as a writer, and I think it's appropriate to share it with all of you.
To The Audience
"I want to express my inner truth--maybe it's THE inner truth--not just for myself but for YOU, so you can learn it and feel it and taste it and appreciate it and be moved to some kind of action by it.
"Therefore, I must express that truth in a way that will get to you. A way that will stab you right in the heart and go to your soul. I cannot just write for myself. I have to write using all the tricks that will help you, the audience, be entertained and enlightened.
If I don't do that, I will fail. Oh, I will have expressed myself, but to what end? My purpose will not be fulfilled. There will be no communication. no joint experience. And, ultimately, no art.
"So here we go again. Audience, this one's for YOU!"
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