Writer’s Room Musings—on FIREDANCE
I think that the process I'm part of is too complicated for my conscious mind…which makes me think it resembles the actual process of thought, externalized. To this end, what an amazing chance to learn more about my own artistic soul!
There was a question about Shakespeare and such a process. What can be said is that I suspect that if Shakespeare was going to produce a season-long version of "Macbeth", he'd have a writer's room creating, say, twelve episodes, with the Bard writing no more than four of them. For the rest, he would have to bring together a group of VERY smart writers, who would work harder than hell to break that original play into twelve episodes.
When I look at my own tools, the ones that stand out immediately are the Mastermind, the Parts Party, and the "allies and powers" step of the Hero's journey. Do you get this? I have to manage my INTERNAL "writer's room" to try to glimpse the overall shape of something the Show Runner sees or senses. They may not know what they are looking for--they can only recognize it when they hear it. Sometimes they mostly know what they DON’T want. But by providing them a rich banquet of possibilities, all doing "push hands" with their energy, their inner artist can say "YES! THAT IDEA!" incorporated it into the overall pattern, and just perhaps we've brushed away another inch of dirt from that buried skeleton of an ancient beast, something mythic that can still reveberate with a modern audience.
I'd bet this process is the reason why some of the very best storytelling is now on television: people figured this out. I bet the MCU is a huge "writer's room" with individual directors having seats at the table as…let's say co-show runners, with Kevin Feige as the Big Dawg.
The best writers will be CAPABLE of leading their own rooms, but are submerging their egos to float in the Big Dawg's stream of consciousness, their connection with some song within them. There is so much more to say, and I'll be talking about applying these tools, to finding the part of myself that THRIVES in situations like this, and give them freedom to fly. Tananarive is sorting through all of this in her own way, and however bumpy the road, we are walking it hand in hand TOGETHER.
JOIN US This Saturday, February 11, for the FIREDANCE SHOW!
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