Unraveling the complexity

It was the fourth or fifth week of business of writing course when the professor made a prediction. A top agent, he had worked in Hollywood for years. "You're about to graduate," he told the auditorium filled with graduate students, "but only a few people in this room -- maybe five, six at the most -- will work as full-time screenwriters." I wondered if this was the first time the students had heard this.

At USC, I listened to content creators (writers, screenwriters, playwrights), agents, actors, directors, managers, attorneys and studio executives discuss what types of content would be consumed in the future as well as how it might be experienced.

In an advanced motion picture script analysis course, the class studied a new, award-winning movie each week. It was the most challenging course I've taken so far. 

After watching movies that had been produced in the United States, we studied films from Asia and South America. The international films followed a similar structure to those developed in the U.S.; each contained powerful storytelling devices (coding) that enabled the viewer to suspend disbelief. 

One day, about halfway through the semester I waited for the break and asked the teacher why so few screenwriters created scripts that went on to win awards. He said he didn't know.

One of the most important things I learned at USC -- it's all about the story. News articles have become documentaries; short stories and books have become plays. Ideas for blockbuster

movies have come from each one of these sources.

At the end of the script analysis course our final test was a take-home, open book, open note test. The information covered was so intricate and complicated that I worked on the essay questions for about 10 hours. The teacher later told me that he had used my answers as a key when he graded the rest of the tests. 

I will share much of what I learned here, as it contains clues about why a seven-second video or a local news story may go viral.

In addition to storytelling devices, the note program on my phone is filling up with topics I'm looking forward to writing about. Here are just a few:

•managing stories within an organization

•the "rainmaker"

•video

•creative teams

•photography/images/infographics

•deadlines

•creativity vs./and science

•developing content during live events

•search

•planning that enables effortless creativity

•the importance of organizational self-confidence