Smart Moves I Made

Wavers no doubt had a wonderful time commiserating and maybe even identifying with the poor Wave-inatrix’s dumb mistakes of yesteryear. Well, after some wound-licking and pride-restoring, yours truly got back in the saddle and made some better decisions.

Signed up for an online screenwriting class at UCLA. Developed a relationship with the teacher, flew to LA, worked with her privately.

Kept writing.

Signed up for another online class. Flew down to LA for specialized screenwriting weekend workshops every two to three months.

Stayed in touch with my instructors, built mentorships.

Kept writing.

Flew down to LA each year and attended UCLA’s annual week long Writer’s Studio. Had lunch with other students, traded reads, built relationships.

Went back to the screenwriting message board, traded reads with other writers, met the good eggs in person whenever possible, began to be respected and well liked.

Kept writing.

Entered scripts in select competitions. Continued to be disappointed with results but entered again the next year. And the next.

Moved to LA.

Kept writing.

Won a competition at the Creative Screenwriting Expo 2003. Prize: Two-year tuition at the Writer’s Boot Camp in Santa Monica. After some hesitation – took advantage. Studied for two years, made great friends, built relationships.

Started reading at production companies. Up to 10 scripts a week. Learning curve takes sharp upward turn.

Switched genres from comedy and romcom to thriller; approached a friend and writer I knew to be extremely intelligent, fast and a good writer.

Partner and I cranked out thriller in 4 months.

Abrupt personal loss, life fell apart. Picked up thriller, walked it into the office of a friend with whom I had built a professional relationship, slapped it on her desk and with nothing to lose asked for her help. She made some phone calls.

Got a manager and the rest is still unfolding.

Kept writing.

Wavers will notice something that appears again and again in the Wave-inatrix's Wised Up Trajectory: building relationships with other writers, professionals and screenwriting teachers. Along with continuing to write, this is probably the single most important and helpful thing you can do. The Wave-inatrix continues to build professional relationships at every opportunity. Networking and relationship building simply cannot be under-estimated in its power to get your work read and evaluated, for introductions to be made and for growing a reputation as a writer. Wavers, take every opportunity you get to develop that network - in a business built on relationships, it will serve you well. Today's assistant is tomorrow's executive. Last weekend's classmate is next year's sold writer.

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