About Jeffery Stevenson
Location: Austin, TX
Occupation: Database Consultant/Writer
Bio: Pop Syndicate's Creative Adviser is also the writer and letterer of the long-running twice weekly webcomic, Brat-halla (following the Norse gods during their elementary school days), which ran for a few years at Kevin Smith's MoviePoopShoot.com (and later, QuickStopEntertainment.com) and is currently hosted over at Graphic Smash. He was also the hired wordslinger for Jim Valentino's Task Force 1 from Shadowline/Image Comics.
To keep up with the rest of Jeff's insanity, feel free to check out his personal blog at Dark-n-Dam'd.
Posts: 36
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A question about finding writing work while there's a strike...
So what options do I have as a new writer while the Writer's Guild is on strike?
Hauss P., Scabsville, PA
Dear Hauss,
A strike seems so black-and-white, doesn't it? Stand strong with your writer brethren in the picket lines or... cross the line to pick up a little money as a scab writer, and the guild gets you a nice pair of concrete skis for a long vacation in Lake NeverWorkInHollywoodAgain. But there's more to it than that. There's opportunity there for young writers to take a step forward in the Hollywood system. To open the doors without attracting the ire of writers everywhere. So, here it is... The Creative Adviser's top secret guide to making the most of a Writer's Guild strike:
Stroke of genius. As everything comes to a screeching halt in Hollywood, the psyche of actors slowly begins to deteriorate from the sudden lack of exposure. They need screen time--big, small, and even teeny-tiny iPod sized. Their work requires them to project... to extend their film and TV presence out to the masses. But without an outlet. these film and television alter egos (or just egos if you prefer) build and build searching for some outlet. So why couldn't that outlet be you? Someone to stand strong and stroke their egos to help keep them from committing lawyer-richening acts of media whoremongering to get their screen time. Who knows... they might even remember the person who steered them clear of the media minefields or kept them out of jail community service. They might even make some calls when the strike's all over (and not the kind of calls made to initiate a restraining order).
Hygiene hero. Face it, the days of the rugged outdoorsman writers like Ernest Hemingway and Jack London are a thing of the past. Writers these days aren't used to facing the elements for hours on end, and although keeping people from crossing the line because they pass out from the stench is an effective tactic, it does keep the media away, which in turn, keeps the information flowing to the public eye fairly one-sided. Imagine the hero you'd be if you set up a hygiene hut where your writing brethren could quickly break away from the line to shower and destenchify themselves. A clean line is a happy line. And a happy line remembers the person responsible for increasing their morale and media exposure.
Sniper support. Sooner or later, some jerk's gonna cross that line. But with the appropriate riot guns and a couple non-lethal pepperball shots to the chest or some baton rounds to the legs, they probably won't make it into the buildings... and will definitely find themselves hard-pressed to outrun the picketers.
Be a memorable negotiator. Write your message on a picket sign and it'll just fade away into the crowd like so many before it. You know presentation is key to delivering a powerful message, and simple signs just won't cut it. But... what if you put that message on a baseball bat to hold overhead, so that message will get pounded into the brains of passersby. Or burn it into their eyes by splattering it across the backside of an overweight man's speedos. Be creative and make the message memorable... better yet, make that message impossible for anyone to scrub from their brain.
The quickest way to a writer's heart... ...is through his liver. And your fellow writers will remember the person who shows up with a case of liquor to liven up the picket line. When you throw liquor into the mix, opportunity tends to follow in the form of incriminating pictures, verbal offers from inebriated head writers, and long-lasting friendships developed around the communal puke bucket.
You could... uhh... maybe... ... write. With all that free time cleared from your schedule not having to research and mail out queries, not having to keep tabs on the market, not having to call studios to set up meetings, not having to attend those meetings and all that other exciting non-writing work related to getting your stories out there, you could always write stuff to sell later. After all, a strike shouldn't keep a real writer from actually writing something.
All material in The Creative Adviser is fictitious and intended solely for the purpose of entertainment. Names are fabricated and any similarity to real people or places is purely coincidental except in those cases where public figures are being satirized.
Hauss P., Scabsville, PA
Dear Hauss,
A strike seems so black-and-white, doesn't it? Stand strong with your writer brethren in the picket lines or... cross the line to pick up a little money as a scab writer, and the guild gets you a nice pair of concrete skis for a long vacation in Lake NeverWorkInHollywoodAgain. But there's more to it than that. There's opportunity there for young writers to take a step forward in the Hollywood system. To open the doors without attracting the ire of writers everywhere. So, here it is... The Creative Adviser's top secret guide to making the most of a Writer's Guild strike:
Stroke of genius. As everything comes to a screeching halt in Hollywood, the psyche of actors slowly begins to deteriorate from the sudden lack of exposure. They need screen time--big, small, and even teeny-tiny iPod sized. Their work requires them to project... to extend their film and TV presence out to the masses. But without an outlet. these film and television alter egos (or just egos if you prefer) build and build searching for some outlet. So why couldn't that outlet be you? Someone to stand strong and stroke their egos to help keep them from committing lawyer-richening acts of media whoremongering to get their screen time. Who knows... they might even remember the person who steered them clear of the media minefields or kept them out of Hygiene hero. Face it, the days of the rugged outdoorsman writers like Ernest Hemingway and Jack London are a thing of the past. Writers these days aren't used to facing the elements for hours on end, and although keeping people from crossing the line because they pass out from the stench is an effective tactic, it does keep the media away, which in turn, keeps the information flowing to the public eye fairly one-sided. Imagine the hero you'd be if you set up a hygiene hut where your writing brethren could quickly break away from the line to shower and destenchify themselves. A clean line is a happy line. And a happy line remembers the person responsible for increasing their morale and media exposure.
Sniper support. Sooner or later, some jerk's gonna cross that line. But with the appropriate riot guns and a couple non-lethal pepperball shots to the chest or some baton rounds to the legs, they probably won't make it into the buildings... and will definitely find themselves hard-pressed to outrun the picketers.Be a memorable negotiator. Write your message on a picket sign and it'll just fade away into the crowd like so many before it. You know presentation is key to delivering a powerful message, and simple signs just won't cut it. But... what if you put that message on a baseball bat to hold overhead, so that message will get pounded into the brains of passersby. Or burn it into their eyes by splattering it across the backside of an overweight man's speedos. Be creative and make the message memorable... better yet, make that message impossible for anyone to scrub from their brain.
The quickest way to a writer's heart... ...is through his liver. And your fellow writers will remember the person who shows up with a case of liquor to liven up the picket line. When you throw liquor into the mix, opportunity tends to follow in the form of incriminating pictures, verbal offers from inebriated head writers, and long-lasting friendships developed around the communal puke bucket.
You could... uhh... maybe... ... write. With all that free time cleared from your schedule not having to research and mail out queries, not having to keep tabs on the market, not having to call studios to set up meetings, not having to attend those meetings and all that other exciting non-writing work related to getting your stories out there, you could always write stuff to sell later. After all, a strike shouldn't keep a real writer from actually writing something.
####
Got a question about breaking in for The Creative Adviser? Ask away! It might even get answered!
All material in The Creative Adviser is fictitious and intended solely for the purpose of entertainment. Names are fabricated and any similarity to real people or places is purely coincidental except in those cases where public figures are being satirized.
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