I finished the sitcom script on Wednesday morning. Instead of polishing the existing script, I started from scratch with my own. It’s a gooder too methinks. I was worried about the pace and the pressure to be wall to wall funny, but I think I did alright. I’d write in short intense bursts, and when I felt the well was drying up, I’d go do something else.
Never experienced that before. Well Syndrome. Things come surprisingly easy to me when I first start. It’s like it’s not even me writing. The ideas come from some mysterious outside force and I’m simply a conduit. Time stops. The world goes somewhere else, and it’s just me and the words riffing off each other.
Then after a few hours the ideas come harder. The pace goes slower. Time seeps back into my conscious mind. Soon I’m forcing things out, and I’m not happy with the results. That’s when it’s time to set my mind to rest. The well’s run dry.
Still, despite the stopping and starting, I never turned a script around this fast. I feel myself getting better at the craft. This was my first true sitcom script. I learned a lot from the effort and these lessons will find their way into my writing in other genres.
I’m anxious to see what others thought of it, specifically, the others who paid me to write it. Hopefully it leads to bigger and better things. Not bad for 4 days worth of effort.
