What exactly is a writer's job?

1. The initial conditions of work may be many kinds, such as a theater to pay the writer to write a play, this is called Commission, can get the commission of the writers are generally have a prominent or famous; or a former co-director wanted to make a play, so please write to the writer. For the writer himself, the beginning can be an idea, a fragmented fragment, or even a line, or an imaginary opening or ending. Some people like to make an outline before they really write, to plan the basic structure of the whole play, that is, Li Yu said "the mastermind". Of course, the process of writing can be modified or overturned this plan at any time, some people tend to do not outline, feel that it will limit themselves, they prefer stones, writing side to decide the next direction of the story. It's a matter of personal preference, and I prefer the former.

2. Unlike theatrical works and film and television, most of the time there is only one screenwriter, and in general there will not be more than three people working together. If a play does not have a special screenwriter, but the director put forward a concept, and then by the whole actor to complete a story structure, such as the form of devised theatre, Lai Chuan early many works belong to this category. As a director, he led a piece of the idea, so even the specific script is not, it is later in order to book a special and based on memories, recordings, video and so on the performance of the text sorted out. In the film and television industry, at least from what I've heard from my teacher, the organizational structure is more obvious. In the case of a movie, someone only provides a synopsis of the story, and then someone is responsible for the specific lines. On TV, the top of a play is creator, who are usually the producers of the whole show, who set the tone for the whole show, and the stories and lines of each episode are usually done by a writing team (several people to more than 10).

3. The drama writer's most frequently spit should be the director. Because the text on the paper on the stage, so that it becomes flesh and blood, need the director and screenwriter in unison, there is the idea of mutual agreement, the most fear is the director completely misread the writer's intention, a serious drama line into farce. Of course, the screenwriter should also learn to work in the initial stage of cooperation to the cast, especially the director clearly explain their work. In addition, the writer often spits out the dramaturg, that is, the opera. Good play provides the necessary factual information (equivalent to a consultant's position) for script modification and rehearsal to raise questions worthy of directing and screenwriter thinking. And the bad play will only say "Your play is too long, you have to cut some" or "This scene is defective, let me to fix it", even "I also contributed a lot, then the writer also wrote my name." The script is not a patient, not a bug program. And if you want to be a screenwriter and believe that you have the ability to write your own script, don't come out of your face and tell someone else what to do.

4. In the United States, the income of theatrical writers is probably the same: 1 Commission, if any, 2 prizes for various competitions, if available, 3 Fellowship or grant of various arts foundations, if applicable. Obviously, these are not fixed income, and they are all available (unless you are already famous and Commission too much to answer). Now is not 18, 19th century, each troupe has a fixed in the group of writers, good to drink and keep. If you want to have a fixed income, college professors are certainly the ideal choice, but to get such a job, first of all to be recognized, get some awards or something, it is not easy. So a lot of the writers on the road are looking for a two unrelated job to feed themselves, using the rest of the time to write things.

5. The vast majority (95%) are freelancers.

6. I think the so-called "threshold" has two main elements: 1 talent; 2. The degree of effort. Talent is a very mysterious thing, there is no fixed standard. Effort is very simple, how much kung fu is how much kungfu, from ancient times has not changed. So the threshold does not have a low or high problem. External conditions, with the help of a variety of emerging media, writers are more channels for others to see their works.