The plan was to dial back the work for a few months to welcome the latest addition to the family, then tidy up my own online presence before I even thought about accepting more work.
You can guess what happened next.
An existing client needed extra hours. A legacy client popped up. A very interesting new project appeared (and I’m tempted enough to respond to their RFP).
So much for careful advanced planning.
Interestingly — and despite the fact I don’t market scriptwriting — I received a handful of contacts about writing video scripts (they came courtesy my screenwriting blog posts).
It seems a lot of organizations — seduced by the ease with which you can post a video online — are dipping their toes in the medium. And discovering the very real (and painful) pitfalls of just winging it.
A million things can go wrong during video production, and shooting without a script (or at least a “talking” outline) means every one of those million things will try to bite you on the ass.
I don’t know if other copywriters are experiencing a similar spike in interest.
Hey, this scriptwriting stuff isn’t so hard (uhh, yes it is, actually).
But I learned the hard way the perils of ignoring the market when it reaches out and smacks you on the head.
I’m not about to become a video scriptwriting specialist. But nature hates a vacuum, and I suspect you could fit more than a few copywriters in this particular space.
More to come. Perhaps even a “How to get started” post from someone who isn’t a screenwriter, but apparently plays one on the Internet.
Keep writing (or even scriptwriting), Tom Chandler.
Hey Tom,
Around our household, we have three boys who love watching Shark Week and Meteorite Men and of course Mythbusters. The last two are well written, but there are a number of nature shows out there that make me cringe, make me thing, “Hey, why don’t I try my hand at that?” It would be interesting, working on a project like that.
I’ve done a few scripts for radio and TV (found out once that some brochure copy I wrote got turned into a TV commercial too, basically verbatim…) — a fun change of pace! Certainly was one of those, “I know you do article writing, but can you script a radio spot…?” kind of deals that I fell into too.
Maybe I should cast a net out there for some other contracts…
~Graham
PS – does the Hat Creek story have a happy ending? Sounds very foreboding there…
Graham Strong(Quote) (Reply)
It seems like most organizations hold an idea for a video (or two) but can’t get the project started. Just asking the current client list might be enough to scare up some work.
I don’t know about writing nature documentaries, but I am wondering about other niches. If I’m going to move into a new discipline, it might as well be in an area that interests me.
I lightened the final Hat Creek script a bit, and the nonprofit I wrote it for just won a $650K grant to restore the fishery. Not bad, I’d say.
TC(Quote) (Reply)