Bridget Visser is a talented and multifaceted LA-based writer, and the Filmmatic TV Pilot Awards Season 7 Overall Winner for her amazing half hour sitcom project "The Coven". Some Q&A with this gifted scribe below.
1) How long have you been writing?
All my life in one medium or another. But I’ve been writing screenplays since I was in undergrad.
2) What screenwriting training have you received?
I have a BFA in Dramatic Writing (a mix of screenwriting, playwriting & TV writing) from the Conservatory of Theater Arts & Film at SUNY Purchase College. And I have a MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA’s School of Theater, Film & Television. In between Purchase and UCLA I studied and performed improv and sketch at multiple comedy venues/schools in Chicago, including iO, Second City and The Annoyance.
3) How many hours a week do you write? Do you have a day job as well, and how does it influence your writing?
Not as many hours as I want! Since I do have a day job, my ideal writing schedule is 20-30 minutes to an hour a day on weekdays, and a minimum of 2 hours a day on weekends. But obviously, life doesn’t always allow for that. Regardless, I try to do at least a little bit of writing every day, even if it’s just jotting down ideas in my notebook. One good thing about having a day job is that it gives you structure and a schedule – which can be helpful in creating consistent writing habits.
4) What writing habits work for you? Do you write in short or long shifts, at scheduled times?
I like to write in long shifts at scheduled times and I try to block out “writing time” into my weekly schedule. I also really love doing “writing dates” with my writer friends, where we get together at a coffee shop or one of our apartments or even on Zoom and work on our respective projects for a few hours. It’s a great way to keep each other accountable.
5) What genres do you lean towards? Are most of your works TV projects? Comedy?
A lot of my scripts are TV projects, but I am a big cinephile, so I’ve written a few features too. I do tend to lean toward comedy, but I’m also very much a nerd about women’s history, so I have written a few historical drama projects as well. Honestly, I love a lot of genres and I have a lot of random interests, so “staying in one lane” has never been my inclination. Overall though, the through line of my work, whether its comedy, drama, or what have you, is feisty female main characters whose stories subvert expectations.