Guest Blog: Why I Skipped the Oscars

by Pete Considine

After weeks of worry and anticipation, last night was the night. The red carpet unfurled just as it always has and that little golden gigolo named Oscar went home with a handful of lucky nominees. However, unlike all the other good Rouge Wavers, I was not glued to my television set last night. Rather, like the rest of the movie industry that wasn't at the awards, I was at a meeting in a church basement, sipping coffee and listening to all kinds of hard luck tales of life on the bottle. Because let me tell you, folks – if there's one thing that can drive me to drink like no other, it's the Oscars.

I know the "official" position is to be happy for the winners and to try to learn something from their path to success, but sometimes that's just more goodwill than I can muster. Call me a Neanderthal if you must, but let's be honest – I'm not the only one who's had at least a fleeting thought of "Why them and not me?" I mean, we're just as talented, aren't we? Our ideas are just as good, aren't they? This has been a tough year on the ego for writers especially, what with the fantastic success of first-timer Diablo Cody. Not only was her first script actually produced, it turned into a box office smash AND it got her a freaking Oscar nomination! Sure, our more evolved selves can acknowledge that she might indeed have some talent with words and that there's nothing wrong with getting lucky now and then. But our other selves – the ones we hide from polite company, the ones that harbor our secret sour grapes – still think that we'd respect her more if she wasn't always described as "stripper-turned-scribe" in the press.

First, let me say this: envy is completely natural. Watching the Oscars, all we see are people who have everything we want: a produced screenplay, WGA membership, the adoration of millions, a fancy outfit, fame, wealth, the opportunity to pal around with the A List – they're living the Dream. But we can't dwell in envy, so as a friend says, we acknowledge and move on. The question remains: Why them and not us?

Well, like everything else in life, it's a mix of that which we can control and that which we can't. Check your writer's To Do list and see how many of the things you can control you're actively working on:

• Have you plundered your concepts to find the one that screams "YOU MUST MAKE ME!" and discarded all the rest?

• Have you completed at least one script from such a concept? Has it been written, rewritten and polished till it gleams like a diamond on Ms. Cody's million-dollar shoes?

• Are you risking rejection and putting your work out there? Are you entering contests? Are you sending brilliant query letters to well-researched production companies? Are you at least getting qualified feedback on your work?

• Are you giving thought to being the kind of person people want to be in business with? By that, I mean are you open to input, whether you agree with it or not? Are you a person of your word, delivering what you promise when you promise it?

• Have you looked deep within yourself and found that you have the right personality for the movie or television business? Are you sure that you can do all the things that will be asked of you as a professional screenwriter and do them with a smile?

All these things are completely within your control and any one of them can keep you from getting your shot at the Dream. But what about the infinite number of things we can't control?

For those things, we acknowledge and move on.

And drink heavily.

Pete Considine is a writer and photographer living in Hartford, Connecticut. Currently on hiatus from screenwriting, he's an occasional contributor to the Rouge Wave whose photos have been frequently selected for Pic of the Day. He can be reached at pete.considine@gmail.com.

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