Beating the Odds
For many writers, getting a script read, much less "considered" can feel like trying to climb a steep glass mountain. There's just no way to get a foothold when all you hear is "no" over and over again. And yet writers read the trades and see six-figure sales, development deals, pitch sales and options listed each week. Are those deals happening in some kind of parallel universe? Sometimes it feels like it.
The Wave-inatrix just had a lit manager say the other day that he's seen writers get million dollar spec sales and field so many offers they couldn't accept them all. Really?? That actually happens? Yes, it does. Just not very often. How does a writer keep up their mojo in the face of terrible odds?
Just today the Wave-inatrix took her little red basket and went networking. Lo and behold, I met a very smart and interesting young producer who said: I am always looking for really interesting, well-written scripts. And he listened earnestly while the Wave-inatrix pitched scripts of a couple of favorite clients.
Wavers, Hollywood is like a fearsome, fire-breathing dragon, laying waste to great swaths of countryside. But the truth is, the dragon needs to eat in order to breath that fire and the dragon needs - SCRIPTS.
Yes the system seems stacked, yes the odds are long but make no mistake, Hollywood needs new material and there are careers built on finding good material and getting it on desks.
The time investment for writers is enough to make the most courageous pale. A writer may spend six months to a year and more on a script. This same script will take a reader or exec about ninety minutes to read and about five minutes to draw a conclusion about. And that's just one script among piles and piles. Piles so high that the scripts slither off of mail carts. Piles so high that readers and assistants need tourniquets for the paper cuts. Piles so high there's an entire industry centered around making brads. And these piles of scripts get shoveled into the belly of the beast daily. The beast belches and breathes fire and roars for more.
Wavers - there is a bottom line and that bottom line is Hollywood needs material. Speed up your production; don't allow yourself two years to write a script. If you can possibly write more efficiently than that - do. The larger your inventory, the higher your chances. Spending years on one script is like walking barefoot to Vegas just to drop a dollar into a slot machine. The machine spins and spins and - woops. Sorry. That was your only dollar. Bummer. It's a long, hot walk home.
The truth is your odds improve the more scripts you write. And your writing will improve the more scripts you write. Persistence, experience, inventory and a bit of luck might just result in a jackpot. The Wave-inatrix knows two writers who have worked long and hard and might just get their scripts read by an up-and-coming producer this week. But that's not the best part. The best part is that those writers have more where that came from in terms of talent and inventory. So if this doesn't work out - they're still playing the machine. Get comfy, and have that bucket of quarters ready, Wavers. If you're in it, you're in it for the long haul.
The Wave-inatrix has said it before and she'll say it again - the difference between writers who make it and those who don't is that those who made it never quit trying.
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5 comments:
my problem is that I just don't think it's good enough and I am constantly rewriting and reworking it to death... I am waiting for that buzzer to go off that tells me to stop, save, print, market and move on
Comes a time (and it sounds like you've arrived) to get your script evaluated by someone in the industry. Whether a script consultant or a reading service, getting feedback from an industry professional will help your rewrite center on specific elements and also give you a check up as a writer; is your writing competitive? Is your material well executed? There's really no way to know unless you get an industry read. Rewriting and reworking a script to death is not only not productive for your budding career, it doesn't generally bode well for the script.
Great article. Very encouraging :)
Yup, if you’re gonna go around claiming to be a screenwriter, then you gotta produce product. Saleable product. (Sadly, most scripts fail in the ol’ salability department.) You’ve also got to be prepared to have more than one script in your briefcase. On my own website, I address this topic. Here’s a snippet:
Not long ago, my manager and I had a meeting at the home of a fairly well-known producer/director. We brought along three scripts that we felt might compliment his abilities. So we pitched the first script, a comedy. Nope, he doesn’t want to do comedies anymore. A psycho-thriller? Nope, not his cup of tea right now. A creepy horror tale? Bingo! He took the script, promised he'd have it read soon. This sort of thing has happened to me several times. If they don’t like one idea, hit ‘em with another, then another, then another. Nope, I can't imagine having just one or two scripts in my repertoire.
This reminds me of a guy I knew years ago. He wrote a big budget action script. I guess it was pretty good because he got a read and an interview at one of the big (big!) lit agency in Beverly Hills. So he’s in this meting and the agent says, “We like your script but we can’t sell it. What else have you got?” My friend told him he didn’t have anything else. End of story. My friend was so upset that he completely gave up on his writing. Pretty stupid, eh? Yup, it sure was.
If you’re a writer, WRITE!
Jim
TheWorkingScreenwriter.com
Great comment as always, Jim! There are probably a million permutations of the old saw: The secret to writing is WRITING or Apply butt to chair or writing IS rewriting. Take your pick, it all boils down to one thing.
It's hard when you get the wind knocked out of you to keep writing. And it's hard when the realities of the day-to-day close in around you. But write we must.
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