Homework assignment: Be a better writer

I'm often asked if great writers are born with talent, or simply worked hard to hone the craft. Well, you might say it's a little bit of both. There are hundreds of stories about great writers whose manuscripts were rejected dozens of times before they were published.

News writing is a different animal, of course. Words are at a premium when you have a story that runs ninety seconds, or a voice over that runs fifteen. Every word counts.

So today's exercise may sound like a simple one, but it is one that helped me years ago when I was breaking into the business.

Take a bunch of scripts and re-write them. However, you cannot use the words "is" "are" or "was" in your copy.

Consultants are always telling people to use action verbs, so here's your chance. You might be surprised at how difficult this is, especially if you're a producer writing an entire show. But it will force you to stretch your imagination and vocabulary so that you end up with copy that is more interesting and hopefully exciting.

We'll have more exercises in the weeks to come. For now, try this one and drop me a line to let me know how things turned out for you.