Writing + Directing= Bad?

[Crash]

I have to wonder, as we do have some folks on here who do the writing and directing on their productions.

Does the writer inside fight the director inside? As a writer you feel every word on the page needs to be in there to fully express the story, but as a director your job is make the story not only be told, but be told in way that entertains.

I got this in My head as I'm (finally) getting a chance to listen to wormwood, and sometimes I think they want the words to tell the story so much that they make the mistake of not listening to the director inside, which can make the story seem to loose traction ( not the first story I have heard this on, Just the most recent example)

So I wondered how other folks handle the battle between the two views of the story telling process.

[Rich Frohlich]

	Quote:	Crash
	Does the writer inside fight the director inside?

Personally, I think there MUST be a battle... and many times the director must win.

Writing is one thing - Directing / Producing is another... its where the play is shaped into something more 'alive'.

When you write... you've just got you and the voices in your head (or on the page).

Throwing it to other people to pre-read can help... but even then you might get to a point in the production... or even worse when you're editing and you suddenly say to yourself "that piece of dialog makes no sense"

Once I hit the last save button, I take my writer's cap off... and put myself in edit mode. I treat it as if the script has come from someone else... (and you ask Charles Pratt how sharp and bloody my edit pencil can be)

It's all part of an effort to stop those unfortunate moments -

During read-thru and rehearsals I ask my actors to be as open as possible with me - I try to remove myself from the writer role, and hear the dialog as a fresh listener.

Lots and lots of things change from the point I print the scripts to the time we perform them... As a director - I have no mercy - the best final product is the goal.

I can only hope I achieve that most of the time.

[johnbell]

Its taken me a long time to realize that scripts are for the eyes and audio is for the ear. The writer writes the words for the eyes and the director turns those into sounds for the ears. When I direct words I've written, I find myself encouraging the actors to paraphrase in ways that are more comfortable for them...ways that are more natural. People don't always talk in complete sentences, yet we always seem to write that way.

Occasionally, after doing a scene over and over again and it STILL isn't sounding right, I'll tell the actors to DROP the scripts and just wing it. Its surprising how often this works.

So yes, its ultimately up to the director to take the ESSENCE of what the writer has written and turn it from words to "audio reality". Even if its his/her own words.

Something magical happens when the words are spoken. That's when the real script editing takes place.

Okay...end of rambling!

------------JB

[UltraRob]

I'd have to echo what Rich has already said.

When I write I write, when I edit I edit. Different roles, different hats.

One advantage of my method of production is that often I'm working with scripts I wrote months before when I reach the editing stage. So I've had a break from those scripts and can come at them with a fresh approach when I actually start to mix them into a show. For example, today when I was mixing a show I completely changed the locations of my original scenes because I realized that I needed more variety in the audio locations than I had originally planned for.

I can see your point that some writer/producers might easily become too attached to their scripts and have it limit them in the production stage but I haven't found it to be a problem for myself or for many of the shows I've heard. Now to reverse it, one problem I do often encounter is shows where I can hear the script was superior to the results the actors and directors/mixers are producing.

Rob

[Gregg]

And no matter how many hats you're wearing, there comes a time when you have to let the actors play the parts... to bring things to the roles that neither the writer or the director in you expected, but give them a little room and let them be a part of the creative process (if you want to keep them in the game for more than a couple of episodes, you've got to be able to take this step back sometimes...)

[SupComTabz]

We only record a couple scenes per episode with a group (and a director) -- mostly we let people record on their own and they've done fantastic. Only a couple times have we had to send back and say "can you say this differently."

[Wesley]

I never have this problem. As a writer, I assume that what I wrote isn't perfect. If I hear something while directing that sounds bad, I stop production right there and fix it. It usually only takes a couple seconds and never more than a minute or two.

I encourage my actors to suggest lines for their characters, and some of them even take me up on it. I also constantly ask them for their input, and, again, sometimes even get it.

None of this is to say that I think the director in me is better than the writer in me. They're both fallible, just in different ways.

[Jack J Ward]

I've always appreciated those artists that do it all. Whether its in music or audio drama.
I'm not a fan of those who sing but can't write their own songs, and I'm especially appreciative of those who direct the movies they write.

To me its seeing the completion of the entire product from idea to the last bit of editing.
That being said, there are some writers that need to be hemmed in steady directors, and directors that make a shambles of a writer's original script.

Either way, its important that a Director knows and "gets" the script and the vision before they take on the task.
J

[JoeRMedina]

I usually don't experience any conflict between my roles as writer and director. My scripts for Afterhell are usually first or second drafts, so I tend to think of the actual production as just another rewrite.

On Afterhell Vol 3, I did feel conflicted as one point. During the mixing process, I combined two scenes into one to tighten up the plot structure. I was throwing out some nice character moments and good performances. But they were all redundant, and all the intercutting between subplots was dragging the pace down. Once I got myself to cut all that stuff out, I could definitely feel my internal writer and internal director going at it.

[SupComTabz]

I've done that - taken out whole chunks of dialog that I didn't see as redundant until I was editing. I haven't done a lot of that, and I have done it on multiple episodes (not just my own writing).

That's why I enjoy our crew - I can always bounce things off of them and get responses.

But there can be such a thing as OVER input into a production. Too many opinions and you'll wind up rewriting the hell out of your script and no one is happy.