On Being Tina Fey:
(photo via Onion AV Club)
Tina Fey, whom I would go on a three-state murderous rampage to be friends with, is interviewed in the Onion AV Club:
AVC: What is the difference, from a craft perspective, between writing a screenplay, writing a sitcom, and writing a sketch?
TF: Of the three, sketches are the most different, because you’re not dealing with story at all, and it will kill you if you try. With the other two, you have to tell a story in a long form or a super-short form. When I wrote Mean Girls, I went into it knowing, “Okay, I don’t know anything about story; I really have to try to learn.” I did what everyone does: I read books. Same thing here with 30 Rock. Luckily, I’m surrounded with a writing staff that has more experience in the sitcom form. It’s a good mix, because they know how to break a story into a half-hour, but at the same time, we’re avoiding bad habits or getting into a rut, because a few of us have less experience and aren’t locked into any specific way of doing things”
Cute, smart, funny. Is there anything else? Well, I’d hope she’d be kind to animals and old people but the first three take us a looooonng way.
And if you haven’t seen her new sitcom 30 Rock, I highly recommend. Smart, clever, funny. Which also take us a long way.