Summer wrap
it’s been a summer packed with enormously consequential events, excessive heat, all the indictments, offices of a newspaper in Kansas raided, world wide devastation from wild fires culminating, in the apocalyptic tragedy in Lahaina, Maui. And critical for the film industry, in April the Writers strike followed by the Actors in June, with both remaining unresolved in now over 100 days.
The strikes have been blistering. Not to the studios and corporations like Disney, who, with the prior explosion of TV productions have saved a huge amount of money, at least in the short term, but to the below the line crew and writers and actors who have been left out in the cold, unable to pay their rents. The important concerns to resolve are, royalties from streaming, the gig work mode and the boogie man AI.
To quote the Washington Post:
“There’s a new sense of commonality between the retail clerk who is being told to come in every other day from 3 to 7 p.m. and the screenwriter who is suddenly being offered seven episodes to write and then, goodbye.” - Wash Post
As to the looming use of AI…
Driverless Car Gets Stuck in Wet Concrete in San Francisco - NYTimes
What’s clear as an example in the case of driverless cars; technology is also therefore a long way from being a real game changer for writers. Apparently inroads have been made in some areas, basic and boring, but looking at the big picture, I see the upside. What is missing in AI is CREATIVITY. That unique gift that only humans can bring to the table - emotion and nuance - that makes the gifted writer invaluable. Well if this isn’t a challenge for us writers to bring more imagination and take more risks in our work, I don’t know what is.
Speaking of creativity, here’s a bit from Empire Magazine from an interview with Christopher Nolan:
“I actually wrote in the first-person, which I’ve never done before. I don’t know if anyone’s ever done it before.
Writing in the first person as Nolan did, pulled the reader right in to the story. He took a risk!
In that vein before I sign off here are two simple tips:-
1. The best dialogue is written the way you HEAR it.
Example _ instead of “wait a minute” _ write “waaait a minute.” depending of course on the phrase in context.
2. The best description is written in how the character FEELS it.
Example _ instead of just writing “the heat was unbearable”_ write _ “sweat dripping down his face.”
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ALOHA!