Dispatch from The Quest: Emma Millions
Last week as we did here on GITS, the Quest writers focused on the subject of style. As the screenwriting principle we started with is Style = Voice, the Questers spent a lot of time thinking about the importance of determining what their voice is in relation to the stories they write. Today: Emma Millions with a key revelation she had:
Your ‘Voice’.
It might seem a bit odd for a writer, someone who silently puts words on paper rather than speak them, to talk about ‘voice’. But when someone else is reading your script, someone who doesn’t know you or how you sound and think, they need to be able to hear you, to get you and your style from those black and white characters on the page. For me, as a jobbing TV writer, it is my voice, more than anything else, that has got me the most work in the last few years. Of course, ideas are important, and it’s usually the idea that gets me a meeting, but what an exec needs to know next is just what you are going to do with that idea, how are you going to tell the story — what ‘voice’ will they be hearing? What makes your take on the idea different to someone else’s?
Nobody wants to hear you telling a story that you’ve come up with in the style of someone else’s voice no matter how tempting it might be to emulate your writing idols. Like on TV talent shows, when someone tries to sing in the style of, say Adele or Xtina, the judges just aren’t interested. I can’t sing (something I often forget when I do karaoke or singalonga to musicals on TV, apologies to my neighbours) but I do have a voice. And my voice has actually dictated the genre I write. I write comedy because I can’t help but see the funny side of things. It’s just the way I am. Even when shizzle is hitting fans left, right and centre in my own life, I can’t help but have a bit of a laugh about it. It’s my coping mechanism — I’m not really sure why but that’s between me and my therapist.
This week on The Quest we’ve been learning about all the ways we can use our voice to make our scripts our own. To make them an entertaining read. To draw a reader in and to keep them turning the page. This is something I’ve already learnt to do in my pitch documents, outlines and treatments. I used to think that a competent outline, with all the necessary elements — story, characters, setting, etc — was all you needed to present your idea. But as soon as I realised that I could present those things in my very own style, actually have some fun with it, and use language to bring those things alive, to come off the page, that’s when I started to get a lot more meetings and commissions. Discovering that there is room to do this in your script, in the way you write and present all the elements including the action sections — especially in the action sections — was a revelation to me. It felt very liberating to realise that you can play with language in a way that really is true to your voice. And, in fact, that’s what you should do if you want to end up with a unique and engaging screenplay that could only have been written by you. That’s your USP. That’s what’s gonna get you work. Your voice. You. Not you via Charlie Kaufman, Aaron Sorkin, Joss Whedon, Judd Apatow or anyone else you wish you could write like. Just you. Cos you are beautiful, no matter what they say…
There is value in reading and analyzing scripts by top professional screenwriters. There is even value in playing around, even imitating the style and voice of other writers as you experiment with screenplay style. But the real value for you is when you find your own voice, not only because it gives your writing the best chance to get noticed in Hollywood, it’s also the most authentic representation of your innate creativity.
Tomorrow: Another dispatch from The Quest.
About Emma: British based writer of ‘the funny’. Lover of cats and bad TV. Often found in pyjamas a bit drunk or a bit hungover. Occasionally does burlesque. Twitter @emmamillions.
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