[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Film Courage: Would you say a big part of your job Charla is pitching ideas?
Screenwriter, Comedian, and Owner of The Werking Writer Charla Lauriston: I would say that it’s the majority of the job. I would say that pitching ideas, you’re pitching ideas in the writer’s room, you’re pitching ideas when you’re pitching a TV show in a pitch meeting, you’re pitching yourself in a general meeting as someone that people might want to work with. I think learning how to sell (unfortunately) is really what it’s about. I think learning how to sell is really just about clarity and knowing your audience. I think when you’re in a writer’s room it can be kind of fast paced and you’re trying to get a pitch in but if you know your audience, which is usually your showrunner and what they lean toward, you’ll know if they’re comedy forward, if their relationship forward, if their character forward, if their story forward, if they’re the kind of showrunner that likes a good set piece in every scene, so you know your audience, or you’ll learn your audience as you’re in the writer’s room and you’ll pitch to that so that’s about knowing my audience and that’s about being clear, that’s about sharing my ideas in a way that is clear, that it’s comedy, that it’s funny. Like this is clearly a comedy idea, this is about this is a funny situation and we put these two characters in it and that’s what’s going to make it funny because one of them won’t stop speaking with a British accent (whatever) so that’s what I mean about clarity about it’s clearly funny, it’s clearly dramatic, it’s clearly about character, it’s clearly about relationship, it’s clearly this is a setpiece pitch or…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).
About:
Charla Lauriston is a TV writer and the lead mentor at The Werking Writer School, a course that prepares new and aspiring screenwriters with at least one completed script for professional careers as TV Writers. Over five weeks, students learn how to mindfully build self-confidence from the inside out, navigate the Writer’s Room and the Hollywood machine, build a professional network, and create their own productivity system. In addition to The Werking Writer School, Charla is a Vancouver and Los Angeles based comedian, writer, and director.
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