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Make Emotion the Most Impressive Thing About Your Writing
I took a big step this year in my TV writing career and pitched my first few shows. It was… a learning experience. I have a long way to go but one thing I realized right out of the gate: my writing needs to move people more.
Comedy writers go for the joke. It can be easy to forget we’re supposed to be writing human beings. Who, you know, are full of emotions.
All of my favorite TV and movies characters are incredibly emotional. We feel their frustration. Their anger. Their panic.
When it came to pitching my shows, I wasn’t connecting with the people I was pitching to. I needed to balance my tendency to go for interesting and impressive ideas with the more fundamental (and human) need to be moved.
Because that’s why we watch! We all want to feel something on some level. From the urbane to the uncouth, we want to feel less alone and more connected to our humanity.
Writer/actress/creator/everything Phoebe Waller Bridge sums it up perfectly in this fantastic interview:
Just write and write and write until you make yourself react. Don’t try to impress an audience that doesn’t even exist yet.
You are the first audience member. If you’re bored, the audience will be bored. If you find joy, they will…
