Film Courage: Jen, are you a writer?
Jen Grisanti: I am not.
I am an author.
It’s interesting because people ask me all the time and it catches me off guard and I
have to remember, yes, I’ve written three books.
I am an author so I am a writer and in that sense, I am not a screenwriter.
Film Courage: So what is it that you do aside from the books?
Jen Grisanti: I’m a speaker.
I’m a blogger for the Huffington Post.
I am a writing instructor for Writers on Verge of NBC.
I’ve been a writing instructor there for eight years and I’m a story career consultant
at Jen Grisanti consultancy.
Film Courage: When someone approaches you through your website and they say “I’m
considering hiring you,” how can you determine between a writing that is dabbling in the
industry versus those who say this is my chosen career path?
Can tell the difference in terms of commitment level?
Jen Grisanti: You know, it’s interesting.
I get writers who are coming out of college to a co-executive producer, staff writer all
the way up to co-executive producer level.
This is because I was a former 12-year studio executive and when I was an executive, I staffed
over 15 top prime time TV shows.
And I got to know a lot of writers, whereas I know a lot of consultants get the brand,
brand new writers.
But because I have been exposed to the professional writer I do get a lot of professional writers.
I think my feeling, as part of being a current programming executive, really was identifying
new voices.
I like working with the green writer who hasn’t developed bad habits and who is open to the
process, so I really don’t have a problem if I have someone who is dabbling versus totally
committed as long as they are committed to the process that they signed on for.
Film Courage: You said something that caught my ear and that was bad habits.
So in terms of being an established writer or someone who has done it for several years
and has “their way of doing things,” what are some different tip-offs where you see
this person is more all closed arms and not open to the process?
Jen Grisanti: There are many tip-offs.
I would say probably the biggest tip-off is the inability to hear a note before defending
the note.
I think the biggest tip-off …well, I mean the first tip-off is on the page.
You can tell in the first three pages if a writer knows how to write.
What I can also say is you can also tell a voice and you can have a writer who has a
voice but doesn’t have the formatting down.
The voice can still be found through the bad formatting, so that’s why I say I’m open
and I have no problem working with brand new writers.
I love that.
I also love working with produced writers who do have a stronger sense of the craft.
However, the gift is really in recognizing when you have the newer writer who makes faux
pas like defending a note before hearing a note which is a very big mistake that many
newer writers make.
Also, it’s a mistake that writers make on staff.
And so it really is helping them to feel safe when you’re giving a note.
I can say when I was a studio executive, the agenda was that of the network and the studio
that I was carrying.
Giving notes as a story career consultant independently I have no agenda other than
making the story the best that it could be.
So this is why I encourage writers to be open and to recognize my only goal is to make their
story the best that it can be.
Film Courage: You said something earlier about you can overlook maybe formatting if
the [writer’s] voice is strong and authentic.
Does that mean if the story is original or it has nothing to do with that?
Jen Grisanti: No.
It does.
You know voice comes down to so many different things.
A voice could come down to character description.
It could come down to writing poetic and lyrical action lines.
It could come down to the original concept.
It could come down to knowing how to write a flawed character well.
I mean there are so many ways … I always try to figure out if I could really pinpoint
what voice is and help people understand.
I think for me a large way that I define voice is an idea of what is your world view?
What has happened to you in your life that has caused you pain and given you something
to say and how does your writing reflect that?
Film Courage: Have you ever seen someone be too emotional and too…because we all
feel that our story is intense and it is because we’ve lived it.
But have you ever seen it in the writing where possibly a writer should tone it down, whatever
it is, the anger in one scene or something?
Jen Grisanti: Oh, yeah.
I mean I would say a much great problem is not enough emotion.
I think too much emotion is not nearly as common.
It’s more the how do we elevate the emotion so that we feel this more.
Film Courage: And when you see this do you feel like that writer is phoning in that character?
It’s like filler or is it that maybe they’re not totally in touch?
Jen Grisanti: I think that comes from being green and not really understanding.
There’s so much that goes into strong character work.
I work with writers on the idea of thinking about the wound.
Thinking about the childhood wounds and in a TV pilot, how this series of triggers splits
open that wound.
And then the idea of what is the negative narrative that has come from that wound and
how is that getting in the way of the central character achieving the goal?
And then how, through the pursuit, is the central one step toward healing that wound?
Question for the viewers: Are you quick to defend your writing?