This post summarizes some of my most important tips for making your content compelling -- whether it's a book, post, video or film.
1. Write it down: If you have an idea, write it down and create a one or two page treatment. If you're still interested in the idea after you flesh it out, it's worth further development.
2. Make High Cal Choices -- The stakes must be high for your characters -- Life and Death, love and happiness, financial security, etc. If it's important to them, it will be important to the audience.
3. Create the first draft for yourself, the second draft for the audience. You must be excited about what you create, but always remember you're creating to reach an audience. Keep that in mind while polishing the draft (or sample tape) that you use to reach them.
4. Develop ideas that networks and studios don't have -- the market is saturated with teen wizards, super heroes, and police procedurals. That's why a show like 'Hot in Cleveland', a throwback sitcom, seems so fresh today. They weren't making them any more.
5. Keep the story clear -- Even if you hide the payoff from the audience to increase suspense, you need to know at every moment in your story what's going on. If you're not clear about what's going on, the audience will never understand it. People tend to like things they understand.
6. Get constructive feedback -- we are not always the best judges of our work. Get feedback from people you trust. Pay particular attention to when they say "I didn't understand why ..."
7. Work on multiple projects -- This keeps your creative juices flowing, and gives you an answer when an executive says, "I like this. What else have you got?" You will be able to work on multiple projects if you follow the advice of number 8.
8. Block out creative time in your schedule and stick to it. -- Creating great content takes time. If you want to be successful, you have to be willing to put the time in to develop your idea and stick to it. For example, it took the producers of 'Precious' ten years from when the novel was released until the film premiered, won great critical acclaim, and Academy Awards. Creating compelling content is a fun job, but it is a job, and you have to treat it as such.
9. Explore web distribution and other non-traditional outlets -- Take your idea directly to the people via You Tube. Self publish your novel. It has never been easier to get your content seen than now. If you get an online following, like the Twitter Feed "S** my Dad Says," you might land a network sitcom deal just like he did.
10. Learn from the Masters -- Read, view, and study the enduring work of our great artists. Pay particular attention to the classics in your genre. There's a reason why these works are still popular. How can you make the same things work for you?
If you have questions or comments please post them or e-mail them to me at petermgordon1@gmail.com.
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