I think it’s safe to say that I enjoy a drink, now and again.

I also think it’s safe to say that I enjoy making television shows and movies. “So,” says Random, one evening a mere two weeks ago. “Should we do a show where you go to bars and drink?”

“Yes, we should. Absolutely,” say I.

And that’s where I find myself today. Preparing for a shoot tomorrow that involves me being entertaining on-camera whilst drinking. There’s never been anything in my life that I wanted to work more than this show: Me, being paid to travel around the country and drink. It really is a drunkard’s dream come true.

Without going into the whole pitch, the show involves me visiting bars and interacting with the patrons and bartenders. As far as these shows go, this is pretty short notice. It was only this morning that I secured the final location for us to shoot in. And I don’t have any dialogue scripted. This is going to be entirely ad lib on my part. And largely ad hoc on the crew’s part.

This probably can serve as a good lesson for new filmmakers: Don’t do what we’re doing. Instead: Plan, plan, plan. Planning is your friend and savior. Do not run off and do a shoot without a firm idea of exactly what you’re going to be doing. Write an outline. Then, write a script. And shoot to the script. Your life — especially the part of your life you spend at an editing console — will be much easier for it.