''Does Fanfiction count as a writing sample?'' Going from Fan to Professional

The long and short answer, most of the time, is no. Professional producers in any sector of media (film, TV, comics, radio, audio, novels, games etc.) want to see your vision, your voice, what you bring to a project. They want you. Fanfiction won't do you a lot of favours and is almost never advised as a proper writing sample: it's legally in a grey area, you're working with characters you don't have a legal license to use and it doesn't do enough to sell you as a writer in your own right. Plus, most of your favourite properties already have the agented writers banging on their doors: you will simply raise the odds against yourself.

There is ONE major exception, which I will come onto in a few paragraphs.

Is that to say fanfics are worthless? Not necessarily: Anywhere you can train up and build up experience is always handy when it comes to writing. Refining your craft is what counts, not where you do it. You don't have to worry about budget concerns or exec notes, so only your imagination is your limit. However, a balance with original work is vital if you actually want to make the jump from amateur to pro.

I do not believe the practice of working with other properties, unlicensed, is useless either in craft: not just because of the upcoming 'exception', but because adaptation is one f the bread-and-butter gigs, whatever field you get into. Working with others' materials is something you will come across, and getting some practice in without producers breathing down your neck, capturing another style and voice, can be handy.

Here's a five point plan I've cooked up if that's your game:

1) What is your goal? Do you want to be a working writer, or just writing one property? While that may sound arbitrary, it's important to consider because they each need different things: if all you want is just to write Who stories and nothing else, you're better off sticking to fanfiction sites as the grind exceeds what you really need. It may not be canon, but if you enjoy writing in that universe, that shouldn't matter. 

If, however, x or y franchise is just 'a goal' and you want to have a full career, beyond that, then that's a whole other kaboodle. Do you have favourite genres? What style do you like to write? What subjects or themes interest you? Do you have weird or funny memories, friends or relatives that could provide a great basis for a story? Write those and give yourself plenty of time: no one will ever thank you for giving them rushed work.

2) Being realistic. Getting to any dream is slow, and this doubly true for writing. The addage is 'it takes 10 years to break in', which is a good metric (though many have done so in half the time) to avoid disappointment and losing your passion. Treat nothing like a guarantee and be ready for a lot of unreplied emails and non-answers as you build a body of work. It's just the reality of the entertainment business.

3) Learn learn and learn: invest in your education. Read scripts and prose, learn drama theory, take classes/workshops and join writing groups. Sharpen those skills and be open-minded. Always refine your work and approach, which thanks to the internet, has never been easier to do. Youtube is awash with free writing tutorials, lecture and seminars, if you're really tight on cash. It's also great as it's flexible to suit your current lifestyle. Learn what pitches, loglines, treatments and beat sheets are - they are a necessity in professional media production.

4) Build the CV. Much fun as fanfiction is, it won't count for much for a track record of professional work that proves you can work on that level. Good news is there are plenty of opps out there: online theatres and podcasts that will perform short audio plays, sketches and monologues, which is good for building up work. Same with physical theatres - scratch nights are always great for putting on short bits of new (original) writing. BBC Writersroom, London Playwrights Blog, Writers Services, theatre websites are full of opps. Do you have prose? Submit short stories to magazines, websites and collections - they will usually provide submission details on there too. Pay can be dicey so make sure they are transparent about that.

5) Network - meet people in the business. Producers, script editors, development assistants. Even if you don't/can't go to in person events like festivals, you can find personal websites and emails pretty easily online. Here, I did a whole article about how to network and make contacts. You're welcome.

And now, for the exception: in the American TV system, you can submit fanfics. Kind of. They're called spec scripts, meaning you write a hypothetical script for an existing show, though you will never submit to that specific show, but to ones like it. If you wrote an Law & Order, it'd get sent to The Rookie or Bosch, for example. I did an entire piece on that here, so go check that out as there's a lot to chew on.

 

 

But above all else, just remember to have fun. Don't drive yourself crazy trying to reach an arbitrary goal - learn and enjoy the process, because that love will show on the page.

4 Screenwriting Negatives FLIPPED into Positives

Screenwriting can, as fun as it is, be a negative space on a personal level. It's easy to get downtrodden, even disillusioned, by rejection, bad notes and even scripts that take a lot longer to write than you had initially planned for. It's easy to let it get into you and seem more damning and impossible than it really is. Often, even simple sentences have torpedoed your confidence for a day or more, depending on what that project meant to you.

However, like making or practicing pancakes (see? Not just for a title pun), there are always different approaches to something that seems like there's only one way, but is actually just hiding alternate methods.

So, let's run down some common ones that may seem like disasters, but in actuality, have something more to offer to those more determined and diligent:

• When you don't place in a contest, it doesn't mean you wrote a bad script. 

Nice and easy one to start with: Contests are often the first port of call for new writers. They are also lotteries, whether they are paid (Script Pipeline, Nichols, Austin) or not (BBC Writersroom, ITV Original Voices): you and thousands of others gamble on having the winning combo. It can be easy to think that winning these is the only ticket, and not doing so is a sign that you cannot write worth donkey diddle. 

Not true, however: taste plays a part in any reading and sometimes, yours will not be to the reader's, never mind a myriad of other reasons why it's not meant to be. A spec pilot of mine that failed in contests got me my first adaptation gig, and another got me Pablo, for example. As I've discussed in other posts, there are more ways to find people in the industry, and they don't cost a penny. 

• When your email to someone bounces with an automated 'out of office' email, you might get extra info. 

In doing the above, you may have the bad luck of sending someone an email while they are away - holiday, maternity leave or no longer part of the company. It's annoying and can kill your buzz. You may get lucky in that the automated reply'll provide an alternate means of contact, such as another email for them, or of another person on the development team.

Okay, so what? What's so special? Well, in the event that it doesn't work with Person A (be it ghosting or them not being able to read), suddenly, you have a person B available to try instead, usually their assistant or a more junior member of the company i.e. someone looking for that next big thing. Just remember your manners.

• When you get notes critiquing your storytelling, it doesn't mean you can't write. 

Let's continue with an evergreen classic: you get notes from a service or writing friend on your script and it just isn't working. May be the characters or plotting or pacing or ending; anything. But don't worry: everyone screws up or misses something. It doesn't mean your whole script is useless or is not salvageable. Always look for the note behind the note, and sometimes, an absence of a note can be illuminating in its own right as the fault behind the other faults.

If you want a more detailed solution, check out Screenwriting is Rewriting by Jack Epps Jr. A great resource and hey, who wouldn't take advice from the writer of Top Gun?

• When you get a rejection, unless specified by the person, it doesn't mean the door is completely closed. 

You took a gamble and it didn't pay off: they didn't like your script. It can be for any number of reasons and it almost never is personal. Everybody gets it. It can be a devastating feeling.

However, that's far from the end. Say your thank you and then retreat for maybe 6 months to a year and come back, refreshed and with a newer, better and more appropriate project. Do ask if you can stay in touch, and always be polite and maybe even a little humourous in your catch ups. Half the job is networking and just being genuine.

Even in business, like in fiction, there is creative license. Use it.

Five things I learnt from writing Pablo - Working in Preschool TV

Almost a year on from delivering my last draft of my second episode, and I still can't believe I got to work on this amazing and progressive little show. Pablo has helped open up a conversation and humanity previously not common in mainstream representation of autism, especially with an audience this young.

Having just had such a wonderfully humbling experience, attending the launch for Series 2 (starts today, Oct 7), I figured I'd go back and talk about what I learnt, as a screenwriter, from working on the show with PaperOwlFilms and Andrew Brenner.

1. Tailor your ideas to the show; don't be generic.
Kids shows, especially pre-school, can often seem like they recycle a lot of plots and concepts: birthdays, making friends, sharing, family troubles, playing games, learning about rules and manners etc. However, the nature and cast of the show will often provide a framework that dictates what will and will not work, so going broad doesn't work.

In the case of Pablo, it was important to tailor the stories to be about autism and how it can affect one's perception and interaction with the world. Generic stories of mischief and messing about were not going to cut it (I foolishly tried early on), and through that, I came up with Headache Volcano and then, through a lot of trial and error, Oink Cluck Neigh.

2. Be concious of other languages and cultures.
Every language is different: not simply in the obvious, but also in terms of colloquialisms, sayings and maxims. Not every phrase or word can be translated, and this becomes even more tricky when dealing in metaphor. The saying 'peachy' may have a clear meaning in English, but does it make sense in Italian or Greek or Swahili or Japanese? And that's just one example.

It's also a matter of practicality: the animation's audio can be dubbed easily, but the live-action requires lip-sync and, of course, animation cannot always be redone for visual symbols anchored to a specific saying and culture. When you are selling to countries whose languages don't have equivalents can create problems for whoever's doing ADR and even the editing (alternate cuts of episodes are hardly uncommon). In an increasingly globalized marketplace, accessibility is key.

3. Even when you get commissioned, you get rejections.
Many newer screenwriters believe that just being commissioned is the end of the struggle: you've been hired, so you're good enough. You just pitch and write, cash and cheque and that's that.

Well, not exactly... 

 Aside from just coming up with appropriate ideas, as discussed above, there's also the process of redrafting and rewriting.

One pagers, treatments and even scripts can get shot down or scrapped at any time, for any reason. Even if an aspect or the core is good, it may simply not be doable on the budget; the time; be too similar to something they're making concurrently or evolves into something that doesn't fit. It happened with Oink Cluck Neigh: that went through several versions and alternative plots that were just unworkable with what we had

4. Don't underestimate kids.
An enduring stereotype about kids TV is that it's made by cynical hacks who believe kids are stupid and need something bositerous and loud to keep them amused while their parents do something they're actually interested in.

While bad media does exist, it's important not to assume that as the default and come into work with a negative attitude. Children are the most honest audience: if you're boring, they will let you know. However, they can quickly pick up symbols and meaning, and get deeper implications of relatively simple stories (think of say, Aesop's Fables or various fairy tales)

5. 'Being gentle' is not the same as 'dumbing down'.
Pablo is a gentle, delicate show: it's light and fun and colourful, perfect for the intended young audience. However, as anyone's who's watched it can attest, it is not twee or slight in the least: we've used the show to talk about everything from communication difficulties, social anxieties and illnesses to science, maths and art.

The key is being mindful: we don't go too hard or be really obvious when discussing something potentially distressing like social events or life changes. Using metaphor and proxies, creating universally-comprehensible subtext, enabled us to tackle an impressive amount of topics that children with autism face on a daily basis. This, paired with the above-conciousness for the wider market, challenged me and others to create something anyoen and everyone could get.