Some good advice from a qualified advisor on how to write clearly, cleanly and effectively. No matter what medium you’re writing for. (Notice that we didn’t say “media?” Just trying to follow Steve’s rules, yo.
This is actually a “science video.” Find out more about them HERE
Yes! It’s here, it’s here, it’s finally here!!! That’s exactly what my feelings were when Aaron told me he launched the first novella of Cargo on Amazon. Because, as you know, this was an extremely long and arduous road in getting to this moment.
So, the last time I wrote one of these. I was talking about another setback and was trying to find the bright side of the situation in order to learn, grow, and keep going. However, since then, I have gone through a flurry of emotions and life changes both professional and personal that had me wanting to quit.
As a matter of fact, I remember texting Aaron one day with the intentions of telling him. I was going to focus on “something more productive” is how I rationalized it in my mind. But, before I could even get to tell him that, he inspired me to keep going, showing me on a deeper level what being in a team is all about (Because really, I was out, hahahaha!)
Making your own videos? What’s your target media? TV? Interweb? Play Station? Your wi-fi connected refrigerator? Got all your bases covered? Are you sure?
Julie Nolke, a cook and host on the digital food and travel channel Tastemade, had just finished filming her amped-up take on the Canadian favorite poutine — a mess of crispy fries smothered with cheese curds, bacon and gravy, spiked with beer and maple syrup.
Then it was time for the editing team to start stirring, cutting the footage different ways to get the video in front of as many eyeballs as possible — wherever they may be.
Confession #1: Sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) I wake up in the morning and feel like a failure. Why? Duh. Cause my career isn’t where I feel it should be. And, partly, cause I had a Quick! Easy! Fast! kinda-sorta success when I started out. And since then? Well, let’s just say I’m trying to catch up. This is not about depression, btw. I’m not depressed. In fact, I’m a happy person and actually pretty optimistic about how things will turn out .
The Background: I made a big rookie mistake when I started: I actually believed my agent/manager would get me work. So I didn’t spend every waking hour networking and writing writing writing. Yeah, I had more ideas. Yeah, I worked on some. And wrote a few spec scripts. But since right out the box, I sold a spec script to a network (with virtually no experience under my belt), I thought it would just magically keep happening like that.
Spoiler alert: It didn’t.
(*Yes, that is his real name. No, it’s not a euphemism.)
We decided to hatch a plan to cast the thing, rehearse a bit too long, hold a few public readings, and then produce the series ourselves for the web (along with a third producer, the effervescent Eddie Follis).
With the pilot episode ‘in the can’ and almost ready to go live online, I sat down with Jason to pick his brain about his brain, his brainchild, and his brainchild’s brainchildren. The following is our interview.