ATTN: JMS - More on Scripts

 Posted on 9/24/1995 by jmsatb5@aol.com to rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated


"So why do you rush your work out the door?" I don't. The script
takes the amount of time needed to get it right. Sometimes I take 7-10
days to write a script. Sometimes I do it in just a couple of days; and
often, the 2-3 days jobs are actually better because it's done in white
heat, with the image clearest in my mind.

In television, you can't take 6-8 weeks or even 2 weeks to turn in a
script; it's got to be done on a schedule; remember, you're using up one
script every 7 days, and you have to have scripts in hand 3 in advance
minimum for proper prep work.

"I find input from my writing group to be very helpful." I don't.
I've been writing professionally for 23 years now (started at 17), full
time for the last 17. I know what I want to say, and how I want to say
it. Does a sculpter go to a sculpting group and say, "Y'know, I think I
see a horse in this bit of clay, but I'm not sure, what do the rest of
you think?" An artist follows the dream or the vision that is in his or
her head. There's this notion that writing is somehow different; it ain't.

Nothing decent has been done by committee since Stonehenge and the
pyramids.

jms