A speechwriter colleague friend recently talked to a recent recipient of a Master of Fine Arts—a playwright.
Told the playwright that play writing is a little bit like speechwriting—writing for the ear, writing the way people talk, and all that. Put the young man in touch with me, for a conversation on how he might break into speechwriting. I began as always by sending a standard “so you want to get into speechwriting” piece, meant to ward off any dilettantes.
Then I told him—and see if you agree with this, yourself—
I hear myself being particularly discouraging, these days, to folks with pure writing backgrounds trying to get into exec comms. Even at universities, where MFAs might be valued—and you should find and talk to the communication director for [the president of your university]—the focus is not on fine writing, and so fine writers without administrative experience are not valued, by and large, until they get it.
People who do communications for university presidents, especially in the current sociopolitical environment, are strategic counselors first, playwrights last.
And in the corporate world, fine writing is barely valued at all, and whole corporate executive communication departments are devoid of a single person with “speechwriter” or even “writer” in their title.
So my advice, if you’re looking to make a living beyond writing plays, is to find an institution that you think you’d like to work in, and get a foot in the door in communications anywhere … maybe starting with your alma mater, but think of arts institutions, etc.—and build your organizational comms chops with a longview of writing speeches.
That advice may differ from others … but it’s how I see it, from here, for guys like you. (Like my mother, who graduated in 1960 from the University of Michigan and went to work at an ad agency because “no one would pay me to keep writing papers on Chaucer.”)
Cheers. Let me know if you have more questions for me.
David
Garry Shandling said, “Life is short. But not short enough!” Apparently my note was discouraging enough. The guy never wrote me back.
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