[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: Do you believe the writer should know the ending before starting a story?
Writer/Instructor and Script Consultant Shannan E. Johnson (The Professional Pen): I do, not everyone would agree with me. Some people believe in free writing. Some people believe Hey, just get on the page and just start writing.The only reason I don’t believe in that is because I believe that it can discourage you if you don’t know where you’re going. Especially if you’re new at this, if you’ve been doing this forever you might not mind going to the page writing and ended up being nowhere, it’s not going to discourage you and you’re going to be able to go back and start again. But for people who are new at this, for people who have to work on deadlines, for people who are work-for-hire, they’re working on someone else’s stuff and not their own, having a plan is helpful. Just like Google Maps, if I can’t put in my end location, then it can’t tell me where to go. I think it’s very important to know where you’re going, that doesn’t mean it won’t change. I might decide I’m on my way to Target, in the middle of that I decide I want to go to Walmart and that’s okay. But I knew I was going to Target, so I’m headed in that direction and if I need to make a change, I can make a change, I can always…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
CONNECT WITH SHANNAN E. JOHNSON
Facebook.com/TheProfessionalPen
Instagram.com/theprofessionalpen
About Shannan:
After grad school I became a junior creative executive at NBCUniversal at the Syfy Channel. I was there for the rebrand. Remember Sci Fi? Yeah, not really. Anywho, it was my job to help writers and producers take their ideas from pitch to production. I co-exec’d on Alphas, Being Human, Haven, Sanctuary, Warehouse 13, and more Syfy dramedies. This is how I honed my skill in all stages of the screenwriting process…(read more here).
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