Summary: TV Writer, Producer, and Author Dee LaDuke is committed to using what she has learned about writing stories for TV to influence new writers coming into the field. She has written two books on the topic, Making Great Television: Four Essential Ingredients, and Gardner's Guide to Writing and Producing for Television, and of late has been developing seminars to support the development of new writers for television. Sounds like a committed and engaged media stakeholder to me. How about you? Our conversation for this program was especially wonderful for me because she wasn't stuck on just talking about her own work. We realized early that our respective businesses demand that all the “players” be at the table when planning decisions are being made. Without everyone physically present to engage and collaborate in establishing a shared vision, that vision has no hope of being realized. This led me to ask if her desire to mentor new writers was focused exclusively on writers in Hollywood. What about the “writers” for communities across the United States who are trying everyday to write a new vision for their home towns? At first I thought she might perceive that as a flip question, but on the contrary, she went with it. And from this began Dee’s incredible engagement with Birth2Work. Birth2Work Co-founder Rick Stephens and I have been working with leaders of Vermilion County, IL in an ongoing effort to advance the County’s own 10 years worth of transformation initiatives. You can hear our radio interview with Vicki Haugen, CEO of the Vermilion Advantage, for more information on the scope of the effort (http://www.birth2work.org/radioshow.php?id=103 ). It’s relevant here in that the interview with Dee occurred as Rick, the Birth2Work team, and I were in the planning stages of the first Vermilion County Lyceum, and it became startlingly clear that Dee had the opportunity to play a valuable role. Utilizing the agreed upon values and integrated vision of the stakeholders from day one of the Lyceum, lead byBirth2Work, Dee employed the principle tenants of writing for episodic television on day two, entitled “Telling Your Story.” Her involvement took stakeholders through the process of literally plotting their future personal, community, and county “story lines”. In a unique twist on the “Does TV reflect life? Or does life reflect TV” debate, participants used story planning strategies, popular with TV show writers, to share ideas, give new perspectives, and possible actions that could be associated with their own imaginary roles in the area’s future society. The opportunity for participants to map their futures in this way offered an incomparable opportunity to apply uninhibited, broad future planning on their present day actions. The results of the Lyceum were astounding and we have much more to do with the community. I look forward to sharing about it with you more. But today I hope you will join me for this dynamic conversation that sparked the opportunity. - Elane V. Scott www.Birth2Work.org
