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Working with Carol Burnett taught Alan Alda how to be a better writer
Previously, Alda wouldn't accept notes from actors, until that note came from Carol Burnett.
Being a writer is not for the faint of heart or the proud. If you're someone who can't handle criticism, your best bet is to never pursue a career as a writer. Receiving notes and critiques on your work is the best way to become a better writer, and this feeling is only multiplied when the person offering you a critique is themselves an amazing writer.
While Alan Alda is best known as an actor, he's also seen success as a writer and director in films like A New Life, and Betsy's Wedding. But while Alda has a catalog of amazing work, there was a time when he was much more protective of his work than he is today.
In an interview with the Sioux City Journal, Alda revealed that previously, he held a firm belief that his scripts should be followed by actors to the letter. He revealed, "I gently insisted every word I wrote stay intact. Every writer says, 'It's not engraved in stone.' Well, mine was. I could come down from the mountain with two tablets, one under each arm, and that would be it."
That all changed when Alda worked with the great Carol Burnett on the 1981 film, The Four Seasons. There, Alda explained that Carol Burnett made a script suggestion that he said led to "the best scene in the movie." The moment spun Alda's professional viewpoint on its axis, and it led to an adjustment period that ultimately changed his creative process, presumably for the better.
He said, "Now, I try to meet with actors during the rehearsal period, hear all their complaints, and try to solve their problems." Alda confirmed, "It works quite well."
So, if you don't do well with edits, remind yourself that it can only help you. Plus, someday it might be Carol Burnett giving you those editing suggestions, which is undoubtedly a sign that you've done well in the world.
11 Comments
No writer should ever refuse to listen to the actors' suggestions. He or she may or may not accept them, but it will have been a product of his or her hearing the line spoken -- as opposed to just in his head, the only place it had existed up to that moment -- and also the process of give-and-take and, one presumes, gentle persuasion on the part of both writer and actor to reach the final result as to what's going to be spoken before the camera.
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