No one’s written more episodes of The Simpsons than John Swartzwelder.
He’s written 59 of them.
His secret?
“Since writing is very hard and rewriting is comparatively easy and rather fun, I always write my scripts all the through as fast as I can, the first day, if possible, putting in crap jokes and pattern dialogue – ‘Homer, I don’t want you to do that.’ ‘Then I won’t do it.’
Then the next day, when I get up, the script’s been written. It’s lousy, but it’s a script. The hard part is done.
It’s like a crappy little elf has snuck into my office and badly done all my work for me, and then left with a tip of his crappy hat.
All I have to do from that point on is fix it.
So I’ve taken a very hard job, writing, and turned it into an easy one, rewriting, overnight.”
Learn more of John’s secrets here.