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Joel Morris

@gralefrit.bsky.social

15K followers 520 following 20K posts

Writer & highwayman. Ladybird, Cunk, Wipe, Be Funny Or Die, Framley, Candidate band, Comfort Blanket, Broken Veil etc https://ko-fi.com/gralefrit AGENTS, website, links, bio etc: www.gralefrit.co.uk

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · Nov 9

Hello new followers!

If you want to know anything, it’s all on my website…

www.gralefrit.co.uk

I’m doing lots of stuff on Substack, including podcasts and writing and that.

joelmorris.substack.com

Also: Be Funny Or Die, How Comedy Works and Why It Matters… from all the usual book places.

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Reposted by Joel Morris

Tom Burgess @nottomburgess.bsky.social · 1h

Truly believe there should be more space for multi-cam drama on TV. Just as comedies are made in different ways to suit the material, so it should be for drama.

Andrew Orton @andreworton.bsky.social · 4h

The death of multi-camera TV: a thread. I know most of you will know the technical parts of this (and may have read it in the other place) but bear with me. 1/ 🧵

A shot from the studio rehearsal of Doctor Who: The Daleks' Master Plan episode 'Volcano', showing several actors ont he TARDIS set, with various video cameras around the scene.

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Reposted by Joel Morris

Jeremy Limb @jlimb.bsky.social · 1d

That really moving Marseillaise scene in Casablanca is now 400% more moving youtu.be/CbWgOpG1988

Casablanca - Marseillaise Scene (extended edition)

YouTube video by Jeremy Limb

youtu.be

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 9h

It’s my new advice for writers. There’s nothing else worth saying.

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 9h

Like most reality formats, it’s a daily newspaper. A habit that’s easy to break if you miss a few.

Episode one introduces the new characters; if you don’t get to know them as they enter the arena, why would you care? They’re not *your* guys.

Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 9h

“Have you thought about going on Top Of The Pops?”

Thanks, Nan.

Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 10h

The practical advice is usually pretty slim; either for fear of being seen as prescriptive, or revealing you’re a formulaic hack, or because the Very Respected Writer doesn’t know how they do it, but gets asked all the time, so has prepared some vague assurances.

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 10h

The really useful part of most of these is the comradely assurance that writing is hard and nobody does it well without fucking up a lot first.

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 10h

Most writing guides can be summarised as:

“Be brilliant. When you can’t be brilliant, try going for a walk.”

Stephen King’s is the same but instead of the walk, it’s cocaine.

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 10h

Reading another guide to the craft of writing by a respected and bestselling author.

“Basically, you sit in front of the typewriter, here, and move your hands up and down the keys like this.”

“Thanks, Jackie.”

How To Do It: Monty Python’s Flying Circus

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 10h

Which is handy, bearing in mind it’s almost impossible to bring the law effectively to bear in cases of coercion and sexual abuse. We have to be allowed to feel creepy around someone instead.

Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 10h

It’s more like we feel odd when a beloved artist reveals different politics than we expected. Nobody needs to be a convicted criminal for us to think “oh. Oh dear. No.”

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 10h

It’s not about “breaking the law” or not, it’s about how we *feel* about someone. Do we feel comfortable with them entertaining us?

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 10h

Ditto our relationship with the music of our teens. Those songs belong to us and have a meaning way beyond the artist’s personality flaws - especially if those personality flaws are not bound up in the music itself. We give it a separate meaning.

Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 11h

Enjoying the work has the implication that the victims are somehow not real, or their suffering is worth less than your enjoyment of the art, worth sacrificing in the name of fun.

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 11h

Or at least, enjoying it without acknowledging that the abusers are shitheels. People want to be heard.

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 11h

Very much so. I know friends who have suffered coercive control and abuse, and seeing people enjoying the work of their abusers is hugely triggering.

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Joel Morris @gralefrit.bsky.social · 13h

Maybe the exception should be if the film has Broadway in the title.

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