So I have decided to pursue a career in Comedy. I extended my remaining two years at University to three years so I can take courses at Second City in Toronto and work on a Screenwriting Certificate at George Brown College. It is my plan to build my skills and my resume throughout my University years to get that dream job.
Ideally, I would land a tv writing job for a comedy sitcom. I love writing. I love comedy. So that would be a perfect job.
But I plan on learning more than just comedy. I plan on refining my storytelling and writing skills by screenwriting in many genres and by writing in general. Writing this blog, writing for the school paper, submitting op-eds to local newspapers, entering writing/screenwriting contests, copywriting, etc. By the way, copywriting is a big interest of mine. It’s the ultimate writing exercise. It forces you to focus more on crafting your words in a way that stands out.
I also have a strong interest in the process of getting a show or film from idea to the screen. So on top of my writing, I hope to learn as much as I can about preproduction, directing, producing, cinematography, postproduction, and maybe even distribution.
Come to think of it, maybe I should be in film school. They teach everything I’ve mentioned above. Oh well, too late for that now. Plus, I really enjoy being in a Communications degree. A lot of the courses are geared towards the television/film industries. But maybe I should go to film school after this degree, hmm…
Anyways, on top of thoroughly learning screenwriting and the process of making a show or movie, I’ll be taking improv classes. My main goal of taking improv is to get over my social anxiety. I’m a right-brain thinker so I already get a lot of spontaneous and crazy ideas, so my goal is to feel comfortable enough around anyone to share those ideas. Trying to get into the entertainment industry is apparently all about networking, so I should work on being able to meet people more comfortably.
Oh yeah, keep in mind that this blog is my journal. Usually people don’t care about hearing another person’s goals so I don’t expect anyone to read this or care about it. My hope with this blog is that people already in a comedy career will leave advice or people with similar goals will meet me through here. It will also be cool to look at old posts, see how much I’ve improved, and be embarrassed that I wrote such awful posts when I first started.
And who knows, maybe my journal will become useful if I make it into comedy. Then I could offer advice to people who are in my current position.
