People ask me what’s it like writing for famous and influential people. Let me tell you about a project I just finished.
Recently, my client got married. He wanted to say thank you to some key people and to say, in romantic and literary terms, how much he loves his bride and how committed he is to being a great husband. I love wedding speeches for this reason.
He loved what we did together, and he received compliments for his speech.
This is how I would describe every wedding speech that I write. It wasn’t like any other wedding speech, though. Not exactly. This one was delivered by one of Hollywood’s most influential people in front of an audience which included some of the entertainment industry’s most notable leaders. You know their stuff.
That’s the only difference. The client was nervous about getting things right, he didn’t practice as much as he wanted, and we were pressured for time. The matter of nouns and verbs, when to speak metaphorically and when to speak literally, and how to get it all said in a short window of time still remained. Being well known didn’t change the challenges of his wedding speech.
That’s all. If I had been writing a speech for a groom, who, say, was a teacher in Florida, or a project manager in New Jersey, the writing process would be the same.
They wouldn’t have likely requested an NDA, but I presume one for every client. Kissing and telling was bad form in high school and it’s bad form for a speechwriter with over three decades of experience. So, I wrote for a guy who did a thing and it was glorious.
That’s what it’s like working for famous people.
