Direction Matters.

The Academy Awards nominations were announced yesterday.   It coincided with the arrival of a badly titled Netflix rental called State of Play.

Turns out, it was badly acted as well. 

All the A-list stars were uniformly awful:  Russell Crow dialed it in, Ben Affleck was flat, Rachel McAdams was miscast, Helne Mirren was shrill. In other movies, all have given top-notch performances.

This makes me think it was the director's fault. 

And that brings me to the point:  a weak, inexperienced or unskilled hand at the helm--even with top talent--can spell disaster.  It's true in movies and it's true with writing.

The best creative processes are collaborative, no doubt.  But you must ensure that the particpants are well matched in terms of skills. And, if things start to sink, you have to be willing to make changes to guarantee great results. 

A good writer knows that.  And so does a good client.