This past Autumn I began learning and gaining experience as an extended script & bit writer for a television series ‘Eyes for the Job’.
Eyes For the Job is a ‘do it yourself’ television series of two hosts who tackle different projects in and around Halifax.
What I’ve been Learning
Integrated Described Video (IDV)
What is unique about this series is that it integrates from the ground up described video. This is done so that a viewer who couldn’t visualize the show clearly, can still fully apart take in the show and know as much as any fully sighted person what is going on, and how it looks without the typical ‘Described Video’ overtop.
This means I have been learning over the past few months how to write in a way that includes this information. What does the project look like, where are they, what does something feel like?
Having worked four years as an American Sign Language interpreter this type of writing style is a fun challenge and taps into a side of me I haven’t used in a while.
Bits
Currently I am working on bit writing. The transition segments that take about 30 - 60 seconds long that tackle a quick tip or project in-between the bigger projects. I am having a BLAST with these. I am verbose by nature, so this work is not only a challenge for me, but a practice I am learning to embrace whole heartedly and find a unique satisfaction in.
The Takeaway
This experience is giving me active feedback on my writing and an active way to grow in this industry that fits where I am in this season of my life. I am learning not only the craft of brevity, but what is required to get a series like this on air.
& in honour of that learned brevity, to sum up:
knowing that the work I am doing here is contributing to a bigger project that gives others more equal access, is a satisfaction that goes beyond the work itself.
