On pre-production
Sunday, October 14th, 2007My wife and I have just finished writing a pretty comprehensive script for a client. I thought this would be a good opportunity to do a post on pre-production.
I find this stage of media creation the most important. Whenever I have brushed over, or thought that I haven’t had enough time for planning, I have regretted it. Projects become messy. Shots get missed. And worst of all, you end up in a place that is far, far away from the client’s original brief.
So, try to make the planning as comprehensive as possible.
Get familiar with the content.
Sometimes I wonder how people did anything before the Internet. After the initial meeting with the client, the company website is an invaluable tool to become familiar with the content. Product lines, sales methods, corporate look and feel. All this is there on a website. Most companies have a Corporate Identity booklet. It goes into incredible depth on how they want to be portrayed. Memorise that sucker. It should be your first port of call when crafting anything for them. You need to become an expert on the client. You should know as much about them and what they do as one of their employees.
Get inspired
I find that I write better after I watch an episode of the West Wing. I dunno why. It might have something to do with them constantly writing speeches and wot-not. Anyway, find out what inspires you, and indulge yourself before you start, or when you get stuck. But don’t let it become a source of procrastination, cause that happens to me too,
Do it
You get stuck a lot. That’s cool, because so do I. But when I do, I just write. Just put anything down. Most of the time it will be utter rubbish, but you’re still forming ideas, making things clearer in your head. And then leave it alone. For a day. Don’t look at it or think about it. Plan something else, like getting shooting locations, or write up the editing workflow. When you look at it again, you’ll think, man, what the hey was I tripping on. And then it gets better, because the more times you go over it, the tighter it gets, the more focused it gets and the clearer you become.
Keep it arms length
Remember the first time you give the finished script to the client, it’s going to be ripped apart. Don’t be too protective of it. As great a writer you are, it’s ridiculously difficult to get it right in one shot. But that’s cool. The more the language gets pulled and cut and twisted, the more it will be shaped into what it should be. They will still know things, like stats, case studies and examples that you might not have uncovered in your research. Hopefully you’re both on the same page, trying to make it as good as it can be.
