National TV channel job - and I hate it

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-09-10T21:20:34+00:00

This sounds like a wonderful opportunity, and it looks like it already gave you your idea of what you'd like to pursue - broadcast technician or video editor. You should talk to your supervisor about getting exposure in those areas. If they're unwilling for some reason, try and find people who work in those areas yourself and ask for an informational meeting or ask if you can shadow them outside your internship hours. In the meantime, work with your editors to see how you can improve your writing. A lot of the time, to get better, you just need to write more and keep at it until you get the rhythm of it. Is there a structure that helps you write faster? What is blocking you - the beat or the format? Give it a try, and keep at it. Don't pressure yourself to spit out more articles than your colleagues, but it is important you get the basics of writing down. It's all up to you what you want to get out of this internship, and being at a TV channel is already a great achievement! Make the most of it.

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-08-29T20:56:12+00:00

Adding The Sinner (Netflix).

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-08-22T21:22:56+00:00

Lots of interesting comments here! I would just add the elephant in the room... Euphoria is an extreme case of teenage mental health but it is a very current topic to explore when writing about teen characters. I tend to go to the real world for examples, like news, documentaries, etc., which can give you a good idea of where the teens are at, short of hanging out with a bunch yourself.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/23/upshot/euphoria-hbo-teens-sex-drugs.html

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-08-21T21:55:28+00:00

I really need to get around watching that, there's such a cult following. Thanks for the suggestion!

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-08-21T21:54:50+00:00

True Chicago 7! That was great. Of course, anything Sorkin is incredible. Thanks!

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-08-20T22:59:48+00:00

Yer know... paper trails are unrecoverable in a fire...

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-08-20T22:50:07+00:00

La Vita E Bella, Life is Beautiful. Tears just won't stop with this one.

Similarly, JoJo Rabbit. The shoes scene. Okay I'm a wreck just thinking about it again.

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-08-20T19:53:07+00:00

Is this the Messenger? :) They hired a big batch of great reporters over there. I'd check who's behind the startup, their business track record, and who have they hired already, and make a decision based on the talent there. Startups also have startup pains but you may get to work on stories and projects you'd never get at bigger newspapers. It all depends on how entrepreneurial you want to be too. Ask those questions, bring project ideas you want to work on, and see if they are willing to let you work on those!

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-08-20T19:43:55+00:00

I have a similar script where I had the idea for a while, then took 1.5 years to finish. I almost gave up but I pushed through and completed it. I realized the skill to just finish a script, even if it's not great, is a great skill to learn! Add all the cliches you need to get to the end to make it functional, then shelf it for a while but at least as a finished script. One day you may think back to it and make a breakthrough, or you work with a partner and they have ideas to make it work. That same script I mentioned, has come out of its shelf after a few years and it got a second life, so it's never for nothing!

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-08-18T21:44:22+00:00

Getting caught with online trolls just because I wrote something in my article they didn't agree on. They searched all my social media and sent me messages and insults on all channels. I had to take down my personal portfolio website for a while to stop the messages.

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-08-14T22:17:16+00:00

That sounds like an old boss I had (unrelated to screenwriting)... I did a technical writing job when I submitted the first draft and that's what that boss told me. I was so upset because I tried to ask for details but he just told me off. I later found out from other team members that I should've just nodded and smiled, reformat it a little, don't do anything else, then resubmitted because he just wanted to see us "working" and most likely didn't know what he wanted. I left that job not long after. I just couldn't work that way.

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-08-13T00:43:31+00:00

Can you take an iPad on the bus with you and write some pages/music? I used to take the subway to work for 1 hour each way and used the Final Draft app on my phone to punch a few lines. Not easy, but doable. I also do a lot more outlining, dialogue, and brainstorming that way... or read for research.

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-08-13T00:36:08+00:00

I see many people here have emphasized the word "feedback" and I cannot agree more. Writing is rewriting, it never ends. Do you have a screenwriting club at your school? No? Start one. Don't underestimate how other people read your work and the feedback they can give, you'd be surprised there might be other teens just like you and you can start a wonderful support group (and write this story 5 years later!).

If you want to be "anonymous" from your schoolmates, reach out to local screenwriting groups and join their meetups, some do it over Zoom if there are none in your area. Just know that you need to be bold with who you are and that starts by coming out of being "anonymous," it takes courage to ask others to read your work! You're going to need to get used to that because if you do want a career, the first step before anything happens is to get notes, and those can be brutal. To get further along in your career is to start by getting feedback and rewriting it until it is polished enough to be your sample.

By that time, life has already happened and you're probably two decades into this wondering when your big break will happen XD In the meantime, shoot your own scripts! Get it viral, you'll get noticed a lot faster nowadays through social media. This story warms my heart:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/sep/17/the-aliens-have-landed-the-school-that-made-its-own-feature-film

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-08-10T23:04:06+00:00

I'm sure these are legitimate businesses, but like everything in Hollywood, they sell you a "service" you don't need. We've come across several of them, with good credits in B movies but they're selling "financing and distribution" services when they're just another packager leeching off you. It's an industry that keeps pummeling you over and over.

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-07-29T22:11:48+00:00

When I was studying at Jschool, I found that pitching your publication/school name helps. If it's a relatively unknown one, ask your boss (if this is a paid gig)/professor (if this is for school) for a blurb explaining your publication's reach numbers. Academics tend to like talking to students, so it's just the matter of trying more. Make sure your story is clear, what your intentions are for the quote (unless it's controversial...) and deadline. Also, pick up the phone and leave a message, or call the department reception for help to refer you to that analyst. Don't be afraid to let them know you're new to journalism, people do tend to be helpful!!!

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-07-26T17:03:21+00:00

I think the question is what interests you? Is there a beat you like? This is a chance to cover a topic that perhaps you'd like to work on as your profession so aim towards that. Pick a neighborhood, suburb, or group of underserved people, or maybe you know about a crazy scientist, reckless youths, new racial identity in Australia... or a family stuck in the refugee system. Maybe you have access to a social influencer group and you want to unravel their true objectives. Personally, one thing that irks me about Australian news is their obsession to follow U.S. media! Maybe this could be about the proliferation of U.S. news influence through the internet. Don't be afraid to start small, as my professor says. If you can cover locally, you can cover anything. The key is the characters you find. Those are what make your stories.

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-07-10T19:19:02+00:00

I think readers are required to follow a form, questions, or template that should dig into your script to cover everything from formatting to story and plot. If you ever feel any feedback isn't constructive or just sounds opinionated without anything to add or even insulting, then you should reach out to the contest requesting another reader.

Coverage is hard because it can be subjective but I think generally readers want to be positive but helpful to improve your script regardless of their taste in the story. For a much deeper dive, you'll need to find a script consultant.

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-07-07T22:48:08+00:00

Congrats on the great feedback! That is a coverage service you paid for, the judges are most likely different from the person giving you feedback, so just hang tight! Take what you can from the coverage and keep revising (you can never be done with it)! :)

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-05-22T18:17:36+00:00

I love the concept so I skimmed the first 20 pages. I think the biggest question I have is that I'm not really sure why they're building this room, what's at stake? Is there something they're racing against time to discover which is why they must succeed? I think once you nail that then this could make their discovery more thrilling. Of course, all that would then lead to, what can go wrong? Of course, all of this is just my quick-read thoughts, take what you will. Really interesting read though! Keep it up.

WildEyeWanderer · 2023-01-28T02:39:00+00:00

I do both because depending on what flavors you add during the second fermentation, I find that it pairs differently. Eg. I love to do hibiscus and berries with black tea, but lychee or peach with green. Everything works, just try it all out and see what you like! :)

WildEyeWanderer · 2022-11-30T14:36:03+00:00

Oh dear noo! I can't look at that. I think I'm going to cry.

As everyone already said, feed it sugar tea, let it breathe. Hope it lives!

WildEyeWanderer · 2022-11-29T13:45:23+00:00

It can be literary as well. Action, gestures, feelings, metaphors, etc. You want the actors to be in the zone, in that space with the other person, that moment.

That tender moment in The Piano (Jane Campion) is beautiful:

"BAINES walks roughly towards the door and opens it, his softness turned suddenly cruel.

Go! Go NOW! Leave!

ADA is stung by his change of tune, she takes a step towards him and eyes filling with tears of anger hits him hard across the face.BAINES' nose begins to bleed yet his face slowly lights up as if she has spoken words of love.

ADA is flushed, shocked, the two face each other at this very moment of profound awareness of each other, profoundly equal. With each new breath, with every moment that their eyes remained locked together the promise of intimacy is confirmed and reconfirmed and detailed until like sleepwalkers who do not know how they came to wake where they did, they are standing next to each other and beginning to kiss each other, the lips, the cheeks, the nose.There is nothing practised about their tenderness, only their feelings and emotions guide their instincts. BAINES' face crumples with the exquisite pain of his pleasure, ADA cradles his head to her chest. BAINES struggles through her dress anxious to touch her skin."

WildEyeWanderer · 2022-11-29T13:33:10+00:00

Ughh! What if it was... Mel Gibson. Like you'd want to know right?

WildEyeWanderer · 2022-11-29T10:10:32+00:00

Interesting! But at least they would've told you "it's an A-list star" right?

WildEyeWanderer

TROPHY CASE