by Jenni Ruiza & Jesenia
In the beginning:
A concept comes to you. You put pen to paper and are on a roll. Now, you’ve got a complete script full of story lines and characters and ups and downs and twists and turns! You feel confident that it’s ready to be filmed right away! A writers’ biggest mistake (and often those who are new to the industry) is to immediately cast actors and start filming, just to see their work come to fruition. Why not, right? That’s all it takes, right?
NOPE – WRONG! You’re missing one of the MOST IMPORTANT steps to the writing process, and that is – WORKSHOPPING YOUR SCRIPT! Creating the product is the first step – but developing that product into something that speaks to the audience(s) that you’re trying to reach is one of THE MOST important steps!
Why? Because workshopping your script will allow you to hear what all artists fear most – criticism! Albeit constructive, in order to better your work and to further develop your product for maximum grown and the utmost quality possible. Criticism is often the easiest and most helpful way to achieve a strong, solid project worth distribution, branding, and the attention of those hard-to-reach executives who could possibly offer sponsorship and perhaps, a production deal. After all, the entertainment industry is BUILT on criticism – so get used to it – because you’re going to get it A LOT!
