Home | Sure, Give This Wanker A 7 Figure Salary »
24’s Jack Bauer Made Me A Better Copywriter
In case you’ve just landed, that’s Kiefer Sutherland’s character “Jack Bauer.”
Absolutely focused and he will not stop, no matter the opposition, until the mission gets accomplished or he ends up dead. Of course, as the lead in a hit TV series, he doesn’t end up dead — but a lot of other people do.
Another favorite “character” of mine is a real one who writes fictional characters — speculative fictionist and essayist Harlan Ellison. In the forward to “Stalking The Nightmare” Stephen King says some nice things about Harlan Ellison:
King praises Ellison for being a ferociously talented writer, ferociously in love with the job of writing stories and essays, ferociously dedicated to the craft of it as well as its art, and adds that the force of personality in his writing tends to make other writers, even King, sound like Ellison after reading him.
Personally, I’ve noticed this is very true. If I’m reading anything of Ellison’s, I do my best to only do so when I’m working on something that calls for a Bill O’Reilly level of outrage and holding people accountable.
Two of my favorite lines from the King introduction:
“Of some people it is said they will not suffer fools gladly; Harlan does not suffer them at all.”
And this one . . .
“If I knew I was going to be in a strange city without all the magical gris-gris of the late 20th century — Amex Card, MasterCard, Visa Card, Blue Cross card, driver’s license, Avis Wizard Number, Social Security number — and if I further knew I was going to have a severe myocardial infarction, and if I could pick one person in all the world to be with me at the moment I felt the hacksaw blade run down my left arm and the sledgehammer hit me on the left tit, that person would be Harlan Ellison.
Not my wife, not my agent, not my editor, nor my accountant or lawyer. It would be Harlan, because if anyone would see to it that I was going to have a fighting chance, it would be Harlan. Harlan would go running through hospital corridors with my body in his arms, commandeering stretchers, I.C. support units, O.R.s, and of course, World Famous Cardiologists.
And if some admitting nurse happened to ask him about my Blue Cross/Blue Shield number, Harlan would probably bite his or her head off with a single chomp.”
Absolute focus, unwavering intent and an unstoppable attitude and determination to get the job done.
Just like Jack Bauer in each season of “24.”
Now, wouldn’t you want someone like that working on your team? Writing your copy? Making sure that your investment has increased responses and boosted you revenues?
Sure you would.
By Walter |
Topics: Inside The Mind |