"The concept is insignificant"

I read an interview by TVLine where Jeff Wachtel and Chris McCumber, co-presidents of the USA Network, talked about their successful TV-shows*. The interviewer asked them what percent of a show's success was attributed to casting versus concept.

This was Wachtel’s answer:

“If I might, it would be casting versus writing; the concept is insignificant. The writer is almost half, and the cast is the other half. There’s a little bit about the concept, but it’s almost the excuse for the show to take place.”

According to google a concept is an abstract idea; a general notion.

What I get from this, is that the premise of your story doesn’t have to be very original, fantastic or engaging.

You don’t have to wait for the perfect idea to write a story. The idea (or the concept/premise/[insert other buzzword here]) is insignificant. It’s just the excuse for the story to be created. I’s the writing that can make (or break) a story.

Stop waiting for that perfect idea to come slamming into you. Just write. It doesn’t matter if you feel like it’s the most unoriginal story ever. It doesn’t matter if you feel like all you write is a bunch of clichés. It’s not the concept of a story that matters. It’s the writing.

So write.

*USA Network is responsible for TV-shows such as Monk, Burn Notice, Psych and my personal favourite Covert Affairs. Do you know why I love that show? Other than the fact that it’s very entertaining and well-written, it also features the awesome and adorable Chris Gorham.

Who can say no to that? So yeah. You should watch that show. It’s good.

CopyCats

For the longest while, I would see all these cool things around me and marvel at them. I would never dare to make them my own and try to get the coolness into my own life. I would just sit by the sideline and appreciate the beautiful things around me.

Who was I to think that I could pull of that hair-do? Who was I to even consider pursuing a career as a writer? The only place I’d ever be awesome would be in my dreams. Who was I?  No one special. And as such, I couldn’t do anything special.

But you know what? That’s not the way life works.

It’s not a case of ‘She has it, so I can’t have it too’. Being awesome isn’t some kind of child’s toy that only one person is allowed to play with at a time.

I wish somebody would have told me that. Maybe someone did. I wish I would have believed them.

Life is not a case of you either have it or you don’t.

If you see something you like, you are allowed to copy it. I’d even encourage it.

Somewhere along the way, it became a big no-no to be a copycat. You were supposed to be awesome just by being you. And maybe there are people out there who can do that, but I couldn’t. As a teenager I had no idea who I was or even who I wanted to be.

It sucked.

And because I felt so decidedly un-awesome, I came to the conclusion that I just didn’t have what it took to be awesome. I obviously wasn’t anything special. I didn’t deserve anything special.

But that’s not true.

I’m not saying that we’re all unique little snowflakes with superstars and rockstars inside of us. We’re not.

Tyler Durden agrees with me. 

But that doesn’t mean that our lives can’t be awesome.

Quite the contrary.

Not to be a Debbie-downer, but we are all going to die. It’s pretty much the only thing in life you can count on so get used to the idea that this is all you get.

Since this life is all we get, doesn’t it makes sense to cram as much awesome in it as humanly possible?

If I see something I like, I mimic it and try to adapt it to my own life.

I’m a CopyCat and proud of it.

Where did June go?

I know that time is on my side, but it’s moving very quickly at the moment. A lot is happening. A lot of good things.

Awesome things that have happened to me in the last month:

• I got the acceptance letter for ITU. I’m going to be a student come this fall. And even though I had a little resistance toward returning to school (understatement of the year), I’m really looking forward to it now.
• I got a roommate.
• I got short hair. Like, really short.
• I got a desk at the IT department in G4S.
• I got wireless internet in my apartment.

All those awesome things? They happened because I made them happen.

It’s odd, but sometimes good things happen. Sometimes when you go after what you want, you actually get it. I’m still not quite used to this whole ‘Life is good’-bit that’s been happening to me lately. But if you’re out there, and you’re struggling, I guess I just want you to know that good things to happen to good people.

I found this video on YouTube today, and I thought I’d share it with you guys.


Formula for success:
10 % luck + 20 % skill + 15 % concentrated power of will + 5 % pleasure + 50 % pain = 100 % reason to remember the name!