The Crown: A Perfect Writing Example

Sopranos, The Wire. These two television series were probably my biggest teachers in the absence of a film school. I studied them both relentlessly. They opened up a door into a world where I could understand themes, metaphors, the potential of dialogue, and the potential of the absence of dialogue.

I'm a bit of a traditionalist, not often embracing too much new material. This is mainly because I want to maintain my independence, and I feel I've learned a lot of the basics of my work through books and the aforementioned television series.

The Crown features the most symmetrical writing, the most aesthetical

So, when I started watching The Crown on Netflix a few years back, I was pleased to discover I still had a thirst for learning new things. I think Peter Morgan's work on The Crown, as a creator and writer, is nothing short of phenomenal. In his work, I find the strongest contemporary cinematic language, so clear, yet not sanitized, so human yet not chaotic. Of course, the television series we connect with are based on personal taste and where we stand in life at the moment.

The Crown features the most symmetrical writing, the most aesthetical, without being devoid of life, as is often the case with beautiful things. There is a heartbeat in The Crown; it is a timeless mirror that can relate to any family, any pettiness, any glory, and the striving for invisible ghosts of ambition. The whole series can be seen as a metaphor for what time does to one. The series is a mirror of the human mind, rather a mirror of the human mind in contemporary society, of values, what really matters, and the pain of discovering the worthlessness of things that lack value, through pain and experience. It shows how we are judged simply through our age, that all of us need to experience certain things to see through them.

So, justy sayin' if you want to dive into fantastic writing. The Crown is a great teacher independent if you're interested in the content or not.

This type of writing makes my creative heart skip a beat. When I watch each episode, a universal hush envelops me, enhancing my perception and allowing me to see my life in a new, positive light. I'm not sure why, and it is, of course, a personal opinion of where I am in my life at the moment, but I find a sense of hope, that there exists this kind of contemporary work where I can see the honesty of discipline, the raw pain and dedication to the art of writing come across on the screen.

So, justy sayin' if you want to dive into fantastic writing. The Crown is a great teacher independent if you're interested in the content or not. One of my favorite things is to talk about how Content doesn't matter, or at least it doesn't matter as much as you think it does. Your plot, your story pitch, should be way in the back, way behind theme and metahopers. If you're drilled in the art of using these two fundamental tools, you should be able to write about anything.