Beginning teacher…asked to coach speech…cardboard box full of contest speeches.
I couldn’t believe it. . .awful. Silly. Demeaning for kids. Some even racist. . .Little Black Sambo and his Mammy Grocery Shopping with Mama
I thought…I can’t let my kids do this stuff. Went to first contest…the same dozen scripts were being done all over the state. 500 kids in contest doing the same dozen scripts. So I wrote a duet. . . boy and girl . . called “A Beautiful Friendship” . . the boy just moved to this school. Didn’t know anyone. His mom has practiced dancing with him. . .Her mother comes to pick her up at the end of the dance.. She looks familiar.
Sold it to a company in Iowa . . Edna Means Publishing Company. It became their best seller. I thought. . .hey, I think I can do this. (Cerro Gordo “Famous Authors Day” . . William Shakespeare, J.K. Rowling, KB)
Triopia: needed a teaching job . . Can you direct plays? Yes! (high school) Came time: wrote my own. . .Who is Henrietta Hoover… Sold to a company named Eldridge. . became their top seller. Hey. . .I think I can do this.
. . . The royalties on a typical musical are maybe $500. I was writing them for nothing. The Theatre Department got so big at Triopia that it was illegal. . we were asked to spend money each year.
Now: 400 plays later.
Former supt of Jacksonville schools, Bob Crowe: You’re giving this stuff away. Let’s start a publishing company for this sort of material. . . now the biggest in the nation.
In other words: the business started because I saw a need. . .My own personal need.
My goal: write challenging material that makes kids look good. To give them challenging and not silly material.
It’s been fun. . .part of an HBO show, a movie that hasn’t come out yet, PBS television.
Things I’ve learned: ---Comedy does not come from people trying to be funny. . .it comes from real people with real problems who end up being funny. . Turn on any sitcom and you’ll see that. . Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Modern Family ---Show it, don’t just talk about it. . . people remember what they see more than what they hear. Tomorrow you may have forgotten some of what I said but you’ll remember. ..________
For example. . some of this year’s new scripts. . One Special Brother. . . a brother with Downs’ Syndrome Peanut Johnny. . . the boy who held John Wilke’s Booth’s horse An actor tries out for a Shakespearean role, but instead gets a job selling Puppy Pops So Long, Kitty. . .a funeral for a cat The Coach. . one boy coaches another on how to get a date with the cutest girl in the school ToTo Too.. . .group of actors about to do the Wizard of Oz but the dog runs off. . some guy has to play the dog WeeGee. . two girls visit a fortune teller Wonder Wipes. . . 3 actors compete against each other to make a commercial for the world’s greatest baby wipes Sunset on Camp Sunshine
Finished a new one yesterday. . The Great Awakening. . . boy who’s tired of the way his mother wakes him up in the morning. . so he day dreams. . wakes him as if Mom was a rapper, George Washington’s mother, Napoleon’s mother, a mom in the wild west, a detective. . Again. . . acting opportunities for kids.
I’m a newspaper columnist. . Once sent a column to a local newspaper as a joke. . an imaginary town in Illinois called Hubberville. . .totally made up, but written as a news column. . . became popular. . the editor had it copywritten under his name. . stole it. So I changed it to Coonridge and stopped writing for his newspaper. . now in 14 papers across the Midwest. I write under “Freida Marie Crump”
Now I also write a weekly column for The Source.
Writing a syndicated column can be tough. Weekly deadline. No excuses.
I do a lot of commissioned work. . . a business or a town will ask for a play to be written just for them. . . Recently: Bound to Stay Bound Last summer: New Berlin. . .this summer: Roodhouse
So. . .as future CEO’s, what have I learned that might help you?
I saw a need. . .and it came from my own personal need. In other words, I started filling my own need and found that it fulfilled the needs of others. I became aware of the market. . .I still do. . . Keith and Nancy track what’s winning across the nation and the state and I judge contests. I stopped sending my stuff to other companies and we formed our own. We give personal service. . .every customer gets a personal answer. I get emails and Facebook messages from all over the country from kids. Having the business close to home is invaluable. . .used to be I never knew what was selling, what was needed in the market. . .now I find out immediately. Because of the Internet, I can do everything from my home. The best part: I was at a party two nights ago. . . the premiere of a new cable TV that I’d directed. The actors were there, their families. . it was about to come on. . but all I could think about. . on the way to the party I got an idea for a new script. I wanted to skip the party and get home and start writing.