What Did I Say?
I'm worried about my reader. He seems alienated, possibly by the whininess of the second-to-last post. I don't want to write things that would disquiet him. He's a sensitive person from what I can tell.
In any case, I've been wanting to explain: the thing I finished, after which I didn't feel I should have to write any more, was my "packet" -- a bound batch of your comedy writing that you give to people who are thinking of hiring you. I have a friend who met a writer for the Daily Show who said she'd look at my work -- or she said she'd "be happy to look at people's work." So in a welter of excitement I worked really hard on the pieces for my packet. Printing them all out was satisfying and getting them into a bound Kinko's sheaf was thrilling.
But then my friend and I were out of touch for a while, and then he lost touch with the friend who'd introduced him to the Daily Show writer and he felt a bit awkward about writing to her without his friend's (their mutual friend's) paving the way.
This is what's so anticlimactic -- not doing the little films and having them mainly delight family and close friends. I don't want my reader to think I'm so egotistical as to think a few YouTube things are worth hanging up my hat over. And I shouldn't have run out of steam after I finished my packet but it was the end product of tons of work and I did, I did run out of steam.
The writer's strike is complicating all of this. Why should this writer help a newcomer when her own job is unsure?
Speaking of that, what does it mean that Jon Stewart and David Letterman and others are going back on the air? Doesn't that weaken the strikers' position? I see Stewart's point -- we're in an election year, there's all this fantastic campaign material and he hasn't been able to tackle any of it. Also he's not using writers, I heard. Still, isn't there a solid leftist principle being flouted here?
A guy on Nerve advertised himself as knowing the difference between flout and flaunt. That almost made it worth answering his ad. But not quite.
posted by La Misma at 11:38 AM
2 Comments:
So I assume you're left to mass mail your packet or start attending events where you might make the acquaintance of a hiring-type and say "I just happen to be a writer."
I assume Stewart and co. were also hit with heavy pressure from their producers and the networks.
I haven't seen these writerless editions. Any good?
3:33 PM
You can't just mass mail a bunch of writing to shows. Or you can but you're wasting paper and postage. You need to get someone to give your writing to someone who matters -- that's why writers are always looking for agents.
I attend some comedy events but I'm too shy to meet anyone. Lame I know.
The writerless Daily Show and Colbert are actually quite toothless. It's really clear that they need the writers -- clearly they supply all kinds of great lines and ideas. Also the hosts lack the happy snap that comes from having been joking around with a group of smart, funny writers all day. Not the first Colbert -- he managed that very well, but last night I saw him and he was a little bit flat.
7:18 AM
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