HAVE A VOICE

Ever
heard this one? “We’re looking for a writer with a really strong voice।” Ever wonder…। What the hell does that mean?







Well it’s like the difference between hearing a U2 cover band or hearing…. U2. Same song, same notes, but they don’t sound the same, do they? And that’s one of the major reasons why U2 is flying in a private jet and the cover band in an ’89 Ford Econoline Van.

If you don’t have a voice, you need to cultivate one. All the best writers have one. It’s the special way that writer or team looks at the world and describes it. His or her surprising way of using humor, distinctively vivid action, or dialogue so nuanced that less is truly more. There are many other examples, but they all do the same things, enhance the script and make the writer standout from the crowd.

You need to stay within the same guidelines of structure, character, film economics etc. that every other writer must. But within those you need to create something that is simultaneously familiar enough to us as to be accessible, and yet feels totally new. And do it in a way that is distinctively your own.