Job Overview
For a one-hour episodic television series, the story editor has a
number of duties; some specific, some more loosely designed. On Walker,
Texas Ranger, executive story editor Duke Sandefur worked with other
writers, developing and constructing stories before they went to teleplay.
Then, he rewrote scripts for production. "Writing for production is a little
like cutting crystal in a mudslide," Sandefur explains. "Sometimes, it's a
trophy. Other times, you wind up with broken glass and mud.
"There are a lot of practical concerns that arise before and during pro-
duction that call for rapid rewrites on-the-fly. A little rainstorm or an
injured actor can cause a sequence to be totally reconstructed in a matter
of hours. Personally, I love that kind of work. It's fast and exciting and
entails the same kind of deadlines one finds in newspaper journalism.
I work best under pressure."
Special Skills
"It's worth noting," says Sandefur, "there are two skills one needs for
writing prose that one does not need for writing screenplay: spelling and
punctuation. There are machines that spell for you. That part's taken care
of. And as to punctuation, the most important thing is to write the way
people speak. People generally do not punctuate or spell very well when
they speak. Listen to some of David Mamet's dialogue and tell me how it
should be punctuated on paper. Good luck! As far as education . . . read a
book on screenwriting, any book. Pick one; they all contain the basic
formats and conventions of screenplay. It also helps to take a class,
because it will force you to write and you can't learn this stuff without
actually writing. Talking about writing doesn't get it done. You don't
have to go to college and major in film and television to write a screen-
play. Many successful professional writers I know started off doing some-
thing quite different. My 10-year-old son says he wants to be a writer.
I told him to learn how to build bridges first."
Advice for Someone Seeking This Job
"Write," says Sandefur. "Secondly, don't stop writing. Lastly, finish
each thing you start. If you don't finish, it doesn't count. It's like sailing
halfway across the Atlantic. Glub! It's like playing 17 holes of golf. It's
like drinking three beers out of a six-pack. If you build a house without a
JOB TITLES: WRITER;
EXECUTIVE STORY EDITOR
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