Feedback: The Pleasure And The Pain
Saturday 14th November 2009
We had another great workshop on Saturday with some excellent work from the writers and actors involved. Thanks go to all of those present who made the day so worthwhile and enjoyable.
Something that's been brought up on the British Comedy Guide forum is the pain associated with feedback. Many writers find the process of having their work read out to be hugely challenging. Writers, by their nature, can often be shy and insular (especially the male of the species), preferring to observe, study and comment on life rather than grasp the nettle and actively get involved.
So anyone who puts their work - the labours of their ego - up on public display must be applauded (unless, of course, it's utter crap).
The usefulness of this exercise depends heavily on the writer's attitude. If a writer had her work read aloud so that she can see what works and what doesn't, make cuts and changes where necessary and expand on the successful parts, as well as benefit from the wisdom of her peers and those actors who can share their experiences of reading the piece, the day will be an exhilarating one. If her desire at the beginning of the day is to improve, to hone and to increase her knowledge, she will embrace feedback as a tool, as essential as her pen and paper.
We now record the readings and the feedback they receive and send it to the writers as an MP3 that you can listen to at your leisure. The workshop can be very intense and full of emotion, so listening to the feedback when you are feeling less vulnerable means you can take in information you may have missed on the day.
If, however, a writer is either overly fearful or arrogant, he is going to miss the opportunities the day presents. Most writers, actors and artists will be scared when it comes to sharing their craft - who are we to judge and be judged? This is natural, and it's our job as facilitators to make the writers feel as comfortable, relaxed, supported and encouraged as possible. It's far less likely that an arrogant writer would come to a workshop anyway, because they probably have the view that they know it all already, but one or two have come along to have their work read out. They are the ones who will leave disappointed, however hard we try.
And please don't think I'm calling writers who don't attend a workshop 'arrogant'. That would be arrogant.
From our own point of view, we thrive on feedback. We cannot improve without it. More than wanting to know what we've done right (and it's wonderful to read the feedback from BCGers on the forum, these people are doing our advertising for us and it gives us the warm and fuzzies), we want to know what we can improve.
Success in business comes from adding value, and the workshops have improved in content and structure (we hope) since our first one in July 2008.
At the end of each workshop we send out a feedback form and beg/plea/threaten with tweezers the writers to fill them in and get them back to us. Without them, we can only imagine what people think, and we have pretty vivid imaginations.
So feedback is our servant. We respect it and are grateful for the progress and improvement it brings. We choose whether or not to use it, but we ignore it at our peril.
And we love the pleasure it brings.