Spec Market Round Up

While generally The Rouge Wave is more ruminative, reflective, instructive and wrist-slappy rather than industry-newsy, today I am blatantly cutting and pasting from a blog that you should absolutely be reading, Wavers, called Life On The Bubble. Jason is a friend of a friend (how Hollywood is that?) and hereby receives my "I'm not worthy" genuflection.

This is information that applies directly to you, Wavers. The spec market is where you want to be, right? Well, read this carefully because doing so will disabuse you of any pie-in-the-sky fantasies that selling a script is a cake walk. And I just have to take a moment to high-five myself for mixing my pastry metaphors. Wow. Monday morning, too. Ahhh-booyah!

Sorry. Back to Serious Things. I know this is a bit of a depressing read but you need to be aware of this stuff. While it may feel like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic to even bother sending a script to rep in hopes of hitting the spec market, you have to remember that the market will not always be this flat and that he who was busy building more, newer, better deck chairs is the one who'll be on top when the market does open up. And it will. At some point. Who knows, is it possible that there will be a gold rush of crazy spec sales in a year or two? Will you be ready for that possibility?

Anyway, many thanks to Jason Scoggins for such a terrific, informative blog. It's the sour to go with the sweet of The Rouge Wave. It's the salt to the pepper. It's the cinnamon on top of the...all right, anyway, you get my point. It's not pretty but you need to have an awareness of the realities of the market:

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Spec Market Roundup: May 2009
by Jason Scoggins
June 1, 2009

Thanks to the feedback we received from last month's Spec Market Roundup, we refined our methodology in a couple of ways this month:

* We're now differentiating between sales of specs that went out widely and those that did not appear in the marketplace prior to selling. Not only does this provide another lens through which to view the state of the marketplace, it keeps those hand-sold projects from skewing the data for the scripts that go out wide (since we're not in a position to know about every script that gets slipped to just a couple of buyers).
* We've broken Buyers into two categories: "Studios" (for lack of a better term), which we think of as the Majors, Mini-Majors and their various studio labels; and "Other," for everyone else.
* We've also broken Sellers into two categories as well: "Agents," and "Managers" (for obvious reasons).

Together, we think these refinements help provide a clearer picture of the spec marketplace as a whole.

At first glance, May's spec script sales numbers seem to be yet another month-over-month improvement: 10 out of 39 specs sold in May, compared to 9 in April and 8 each in February and March, for a sales percentage of 26%. That's the highest number of monthly sales so far this year, and easily the highest percentage.

However, 9 out of May's 10 sales were scripts that went directly to buyers, as opposed to going out wide to producers in the usual spec fashion. In other words, just 1 of the 30 spec scripts that went out wide in May sold ("The Gunslinger," out from UTA & Benderspink, which sold to Warner Bros. for Andrew Lazar's Mad Chance). That's a shockingly low sales rate of 3%. In this month's Spec Market Scorecard we'll be breaking out the numbers for previous months and rolling them up for the year-to-date figures. Suffice it to say here, though, that the state of the marketplace is not pretty: Just 6% of specs that have gone out wide this year have sold. We wish we had access to the total number of scripts that went out narrowly last month for comparison.

Here are May's raw numbers:

* 30 specs went out wide;
* 1 of those sold; and
* 9 additional spec sales were reported


Weekly Breakdown:
Week of May 4:

* 8 specs went wide, 1 of which sold
* 3 additional sales were reported

Week of May 11:

* 10 specs went wide, none sold
* 1 additional sale was reported

Week of May 18:

* 9 specs went wide, none sold
* 2 additional sales were reported

Week of May 25:

* 3 specs went wide, none sold
* 3 additional sales were reported

May 25 was Memorial Day, which helped make the last week in May the slowest of 2009 since Sundance. We'd bet the impending completion of the William Morris/Endeavor merger was a factor as well (see below). In any case, since that last week of May was such an outlier, the weekly average number of new scripts (7.5) is meaningless.


Genre Breakdown, Attachments, Etc.

Collectively, the Buyers seem to have bought their fill of Comedies over the past several months, since not one sold in May. Instead, they switched to Dramas, a genre in which not a single spec had sold in the first four months of the year. Here's the breakdown:
1 - Action
4 - Drama
2 - Sci-Fi/Fantasy (including one animation project)
3 - Thriller

On the attachment front, four of the 10 sales had significant filmmaker or actor elements attached. Two of those four had Hugh Jackman on board as producer and/or star, one had Jim Carrey as producer and star, and the fourth had John Lee Hancock writing and directing (plus Overbrook producing). None of this month's sales reported multiple bidders, and only one was a reported preemptive purchase (Intrepid's purchase of "Childhood Heroes" from Abstract Entertainment).


Buyers and Sellers

Warner Bros. was the big spender of the Studios in May, purchasing 3 of the month's 10 scripts. The other two studio buyers were Fox and Sony, with one each. Among the Other buyers, each of the following companies bought one script each: Beloved, Intrepid, Relativity, Reliance and Starz Media Animation.

Of the agencies, CAA had the best month, with 3 sales; the firm also took 2 scripts out wide, neither of which had sold as of this writing. UTA was in second position in May with two sales, one of which was the sole sale in May that went out wide, out of 3 wide attempts last month. Endeavor, Gersh and William Morris each sold a spec script as well, none of which went out wide.

Eight management companies were involved in the ten spec sales in May: Abstract Entertainment, Anonymous Content, Benderspink, Category 5, The Gotham Group, Kaplan/Perrone, The Radmin Co. and Marty Shapiro Management. Of those, two sold their projects without agency involvement: Abstract Entertainment ("Childhood Heroes," to Intrepid); and Marty Shapiro Management ("Umbra," to Relativity).

On a side note, neither WMA nor Endeavor sold a spec in May after the 5th, just as the rumors of WMA's layoffs began to mount in earnest. In fact, all of WMA's and Endeavor's sales from mid-April to the end of May fall into the "direct to buyers" category, where the scripts did not appear widely in the marketplace prior to the announcement of their sale. It's a safe bet that those sales got started well before the merger was confirmed and the writing was on the wall about which agents would be joining WME and which would not. Regardless, there's no doubt that the merger has been a distraction for both companies and an opportunity for their competitors. We wonder how badly the situation affected WMA's and Endeavor's TV Lit staffing efforts over the past few weeks as well.


About The Spec Market Roundup:
The Spec Market Roundup is a terribly unscientific analysis of the feature film spec script market based on information culled from a variety of public and non-public sources. It does not include pitch sales nor the film rights to underlying material. These are by no means official numbers, merely a fairly complete summary.

About Jason Scoggins:
Jason Scoggins is a manager and partner at Protocol, a Beverly Hills-adjacent literary management and production company. He represents writers, directors and producers of film and TV alongside Protocol's founding partners Brian Inerfeld and John Ufland. After getting his start in the entertainment business as an assistant at ICM, Scoggins became a TV Literary Agent at The Gersh Agency, followed by a stint at Writers & Artists Agency and then several years in the wilderness. He returned to the business in 2007, just in time to be impacted by the run-up to the WGA strike.

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So You Think You Can Read?

Since I started teaching the I Want To Be A Reader course, a number of students have signed up and completed it. But none with the enthusiasm and insight of Rouge Waver Michael Brownlee, who whipped up a frothy blog post about his experience:

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Rouge Wave Pictures presents a new workplace thriller –

I WANT TO BE A READER

“Selfless coverage pro, Julie Gray, with only a computer, an internet connection and her vast knowledge of the craft, has only four weeks to turn a know-it-all screenwriter into a professional reader without losing her sanity or her professional credibility.”

Can she do it? Is four weeks enough? Can a know-it-all screenwriter be taught anything?

Spoiler Alert: Yes. Yes. And, thank god, Yes.

When I learned that studios hire people to read and cover screenplays I thought - How hard can it be? I know how to read. Besides, it’s got to be a better “industry job” than cleaning some junior executive’s cat litter box. Right? But after signing up for Julie’s I Want To Be A Reader course I discovered that there’s more to doing coverage than just reading a script.

The very first week I was blown away by how many elements a reader has to be on the lookout for. I quickly realized that reading a script for coverage would be nothing like reading one for pleasure. To start with I’d have to turn off my inner critic. One of the first assignments was a screenplay written with a dialect, where the words were phonetically spelled out. I loathe reading these. To be a professional reader you have to keep a certain distance and leave your personal feelings at the door. You read only what’s on the pages. That was probably the hardest and most valuable lesson I learned. (And one that’s actually helped me with my own screenwriting.)

As I read the scripts for homework, I felt like I was trying to keep a dozen plates spinning at once. Are the characters fleshed out? Does the structure work? Is the dialogue believable? With each week more plates were added. Writer’s voice. Synopsis writing. Reader comments. Trying to keep track of everything took constant focus. I struggled not to stop and jot down notes as I went along. After all, speed and efficiency are the reader’s two chief allies.

I was feeling pretty proud of myself when I finished reading a screenplay in under two hours. Then Week Three rolled around I learned that this probably wouldn’t cut it. Because a pro can read a screenplay and cover it in about two hours. Not only that, but she’ll do it three times a day five days in a row. What the what? I had been using every minute of the week between assignments to go back over my comments. Tinker with the synopsis a little. Even re-read parts of the screenplay to make sure I had all my ducks in a row. And we hadn’t even put all the elements of coverage together yet.

But when Week Four finally rolled around, and I had to write full coverage of three scripts, I was actually looking forward to the challenge. Because of the way the course is structured, learning one or two elements a week, I never felt overwhelmed. Challenged, yes. It felt good to get through those final screenplays, knowing what needed to be done and that I had been given all the tools to properly complete the job. It also felt good to have solved the mystery of what coverage is. Sure, there’s a lot more work than just reading a script, but now there’s also pride in being able to say “I can do that.”

Over four weeks, Julie walked me through all the steps needed to become a professional reader; from writing a synopsis that faithfully represents the script to keeping comments professional and on point to where to look for work. I highly recommend this course to anyone who’s thinking about becoming a professional reader. Now I have three samples and a letter of recommendation from Julie - a major foot in the door. And even if you aren't looking to become a reader, but are constantly looking for ways to improve your screenwriting, I would suggest you take it as well. After completing the course, I can honestly say that I’ll never look at a screenplay, my own or someone else's, the same way again. It’s like having new eyes. And that is worth the price of admission alone.

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I am proud to say that Michael graduated with flying colors. Take advantage of my Economic Stimulus Discount, pay as you go and change the way you read scripts forever. Whether you're looking for work as a pro reader or just want to learn how to read scripts the way readers do, I promise you, you'll improve your own writing a thousand-fold. For more information, click HERE.

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Secret to Your Success REVEALED

Flip through your most recent copy of Creative Screenwriting or Script Magazine and focus on the ads. Yeah - that's mine, very good, thank you. Nice artwork, I know.

Look, I'm a writer just like you. And I just saw an ad for a very cool looking writer's retreat - I've never been to one and they appeal to me mightily. I have a lifelong dream of going to Yaddo or enrolling in the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Maybe one day. A retreat strikes me as a great use of money and time. Because the rewards have legs. Teach a man to fish and all that.

But some of the other ads, the ones that promise to reveal some SECRET to success - those make me so uncomfortable. Because, Wavers, there is no big secret that someone can teach you that will magically make a sale for you. There. Just. Isn't. Believe it.

With the economy in a tailspin, we are all forced to make tough decisions and really look at our expenses and test each one for how much it is really needed. In times past, we all had more disposable income and it was easy and fun to go to Target and spend $200 on stuff and we didn't think twice. We need stuff, right? Take a look at your home - look at all your stuff. I bet you have a lot. I do.

And just like anyone else, I get the feeling that some new stuff will bring happiness, security, success - whatever. When I was married, I was a shopper. Because shopping alleviated boredom and stuff feathered my nest with - well, stuff. Looking back now I see that I had been the ideal consumer - stuff makes you happy! You NEED this Pottery Barn furniture because then you'll be just like the photograph of a stuff-filled home which connotes comfort, success and classiness! Oh, and relevancy and happiness! Oh, how ridiculous. Do you know that temporary high of getting something new? Your new car, new clothes, new iPhone - it's like a new toy and it provides entertainment - for awhile. Then it's just more stuff you have. And you're no happier. Or more successful. What a line of baloney we've all been fed.

We live in a consumer driven culture and yes, there is a lot of stuff that does enrich, educate and fulfill us. But you have to check in with yourself - am I getting this stuff because I'm bored? Am I getting this stuff because it promises me that I'll be happier? Or more successful? But - will it really? Honestly?

Don't get me wrong; I'm all about seeking out joy and fulfillment. But when particular products or services tell screenwriters that they will learn some huge SECRET that will OPEN THE DOORS TO HOLLYWOOD I get kind of uncomfortable.

Because, and I'll say it again - there is no big secret that everybody knows that you do not.

Wait - no - there is. I'm charging $53.99 per view of this big secret:

Ass in chair.

Okay, you can send payments to: bigsecret@thescriptdepartment.com. Go ahead. Operators are standing by.

As a service provider for aspiring screenwriters, I obviously believe that objective feedback is an important part of your development - otherwise you can write all you want and have no idea if you're improving. If I didn't truly believe that, if I hadn't benefited from it myself, if I didn't see the impact great feedback has on writers, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Because I was born with a very strong ethical-ometer [technical term --Ed.] and I can't earn my living providing a service that writers don't actually need and also live with myself. I'm just not built that way. From time to time the board of directors of my company considers, then scraps, ideas that would earn us money but not really benefit you demonstrably. We just don't roll that way.

There are consumer junkies of every stripe. The techno-gadget junkies. The home furnishings and lifestyle junkies. The cosmetics and beauty supplies junkies. The DVD-buying entertainment system junkies. You name it. And for each type there is a whole industry set up to exploit the junkie and give him or her that HIGH of hope and safety and security.

Most screenwriters are pretty astute, but there are junkies in that world too. I have seen them browsing the tradeshows, snatching up armloads of books and software. I have seen them attend not one but three and four pitch fests each year. I have seen them attend not one but EVERY class and seminar. In a weird way, it's a great way to avoid actually writing. If you keep buying STUFF about screenwriting - somehow, by accretion, magically, your writing will improve.

R-i-g-h-t.

Look, I'm as guilty as some of you are - talking about screenwriting is way more fun than doing it. We'll do anything to avoid the terrifying quiet of sitting in front of our computers sometimes. And I really do get that.

But don't get taken for a fool. Big secret = bullshit.

I mean, look - of course you need to spend money on your screenwriting career. You do need to attend events, go to classes, buy some books and get feedback. It's all part of that five a day for writers I've spoken of before:

Write
Promote
Network
Learn
Live well

Check in with yourself before spending money on seminars, books and products. Is there a feeling there for you of desperation? Of a quick fix? If so - do NOT press "pay now." Be careful of where you spend your money and your time when it comes to screenwriting. New, better, faster and more is a myth. Ass. In chair. That's the only big secret. And even then, folks, even then, the odds are against you. Are you okay with that? You have to be.

Someone asked me the other day why I write The Rouge Wave. I thought about it for a minute. Because writing is really hard and isolating and I try to motivate you with humor and understanding. Because you need a cheerleader, a friend and a strict schoolmarm. Because sometimes you need to get over yourselves. Because somebody needs to tell the truth once in awhile. Because I want you to believe in yourselves. Honestly, I am YOUR fan, Wavers. I thank YOU for reading every day. Because writing is hard. But you're doing it against crazy odds. Because you can't help it. Because you have a story to tell. And because you want to express yourselves and make some sense in this crazy world. That is heroism. You are the ones who inspire me.

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Somebody Got There First

Well. It finally happened. You read the trades and you see it. A script that has sold that is exactly like the script you have been working on for months. Even the title is similar. Sure, sure, some of the details are different but the premise - yeah, that was your premise. And now it's out there and you're done for. Right?

Well, not exactly. Look, this is not a good situation, there's no two ways about it. If someone just SOLD a script that shares the same basic idea as yours, well, that puts you in a pretty disadvantageous position if you are a totally unknown, unrepped writer. Not quite as disadvantageous if you're repped and a known entity. Sometimes movies are released in twos: PAUL BLART and OBSERVE AND REPORT are a recent example. Then of course, ARMAGEDDON and DEEP IMPACT is probably the most famous example.

But there's a big difference between you, Joe Writer from Somewhere, working on a script and Joe Hollywood Writer who just sold a similar script. There's not really going to be an arms race there to get your movie into production as well. So if that is your situation, you're pretty much screwed. And you know what? It happens. And yes, you will cry in your soup for a few days. What an awful feeling. All that hard work for nothing.

But is it for nothing? No. It is not. Complete your script. Make it the best iteration of your take on the premise as possible. Why? Because you now have a great sample. And yes, when and if you get meetings, your script will be compared to the script that was sold - but that's okay. You are aware of that and this is a sample. To not be aware would be the biggest sin, honestly. But you're not going to query using this script. It's going to be in your kit bag as a sample. That's really the only big shift that's going to happen for you. This script is not going to the point of the spear for you. But in the big picture, while that's disappointing - well, let's be honest, it's really a blow - you still have other scripts in your arsenal.

And an arsenal is what you need to have. I know how exciting it feels to finish a script and query with it. But many writers forget that you need to have others that are also in great shape as samples of your writing. Ideally, you should have two or more really great scripts aside from the one you are querying with.

So if you find that a script quite similar to yours is out on the marketplace, just sold or even released in theaters, give yourself a minute to feel the burn of that. It's natural. But do not give up on that script. Focus on your craft and voice and screenwriting skills. Make your script the best mall cop script you personally could write. And then add it to your stack of samples. Then move on to a new script, one that you do trust is totally unique...and start again.

There's no way to prevent this situation from arising. We writers are all out there reading the newspaper and brainstorming and observing life and so it's only a matter of time before someone else has an idea similar to your own. And that writer might execute the script faster, they might be repped or lucky or an alien life form - and they get their script on the market first. So while I hope this never happens to you, if it does, stay calm, hang onto your script and make sure it is a GREAT draft because when you get into a meeting in which a rep is seriously entertaining taking you on, it is still part of your body of work. Not knowing that there is a script or movie like yours already out there - now that would be embarrassing. So do read the trades and stay up on script sales.

Here are some resources for following what's selling:

Done Deal Pro
Tracking B

-and the highly entertaining Script Girl.

So if you have been the victim of Somebody Got There First, breathe it out and do not give up on your script. You need great samples and though the issue was forced, this is a great sample. Never miss an opportunity to learn while you are on this journey. Never write a half-assed script and then let it languish in a drawer. Every script you write is potentially a great sample or, of course, in the best outcome possible, the script that got you repped - or even sold.

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Networking in Los Angeles

Good morning, Wavers! A Rouge Waver (we'll call him Pete) wrote in and asked, having just moved to Los Angeles, how on earth to meet other screenwriters and get that networking and socializing started from the ground up.

One can't exactly walk into a cafe frequented by writers and stare meaningfully at those writers and make small clicking noises until they look up, catch your gaze and become your new best friend, mentor and super-connection. Well I mean, one could do that but then you'd wind up like my friend Bob, who got a restraining order and permanent ban from the cafe.

First of all, Pete, moving to Los Angeles to further your screenwriting career was a very smart move. So congratulations on your ability to make that happen. There's no silver bullet, of course, you are going to have to be very proactive if you want to meet and get to know other screenwriters and industry types. But here are some resources that might be helpful:

Find your local LA screenwriting Meetup Group.

Check out special screenings and events sponsored by the American Cinemateque.

Contact Marc Zicree's Super Mentor Group for classes and/or admission to Marc's renowned networking group, The Table, which meets each Thursday evening in Toluca Lake.

Check out the UCLA Extension Writers' Program. They have great classes, some of which might be right up your alley - a two day weekend intensive. Classes are always a great way to meet other writers.

The Script Department will be offering weekend classes in the next few weeks and months so stay tuned in to the Rouge Wave for those announcements - but in the interim, there are two back-to-back table reads coming up, April 1st and April 8th at the Attic Theater at 7:30pm.

And this last tip comes with a caveat. The Done Deal Message Board, largely populated by temperamental blow-hards but sometimes frequented by actual nice, intelligent people, does have members who live in the Los Angeles area so you might want to gingerly check there. Again, a caveat: Message boards are generally replete with Anonymous Hostility and Heartfelt Disinformation so go to there with great caution.

So there you go, Pete, that's about as much as I can tell you. Give it some time, put yourself out there, take some weekend classes and read the LA Weekly for events and screenings to attend.

If any Angeleno Wavers have other or more suggestions, please leave them in the comments section.

Good luck, Pete. And welcome to LA. If I find you making small clicking noises at a cafe I'm going to have to intervene. Just FYI.

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Industry News Update

All righty, Wavers. I've removed the voting for the short scenes as it had petered out in a cloud of our-voting-system-sucks. Congratulations to Emily, who truly did write a very worthy short scene. I will find a better way to sort out the voting in the future.

Moving on. Here is some industry news updates for this week ending March 20th, 2009:

In Development

Blacklight
Feature
Fox Atomic, Zombie Studios, Union Entertainment
P: Richard Leibowitz
W: Jason Dean Hall
Sci-fi actioner set 25 years in the future, about an elite covert ops team sent after a rogue American CIA colonel. Project will be developed simultaneously as a feature film, video game and comic book.

Wouldn’t It Be Nice
Feature
Walt Disney Pictures, Gunn Films
P: Andrew Gunn
W: Barry Blaustein, Jason Hefter
Family comedy in which a teenage couple planning to run away together is magically transported 20 years into the future, only to discover that their lives did not exactly turn out as envisioned.

Doing Da Vinci
TV pilot; ordered to series
Discovery Channel, Pilgrim Films & TV
EP: Craig Piligian, Rob Katz, Tim Pastore
Reality show in which teams try to rebuild Leonardo da Vinci's inventions using materials from that time period.

A Ribbon of Dreams
Miniseries
HBO, Chase Films
EP: David Chase, Brad Grey
W: David Chase
Epic miniseries following two disparate men who team up to help pioneer the burgeoning movie industry through the early 20th century.

Hot Properties

The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Diamond Heist
Feature
Paramount Pictures, Bad Robot, Circle of Confusion
Based on the article "The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Diamond Heist" written by Joshua Davis and published in the April 2009 issue of Wired. J.J. Abrams produces.

This Week in Production

Howl
start - 3/16/2009
James Franco and David Strathairn star in the story of the 1957 obscenity trial launched to censor Allen Ginsberg's "Howl," the groundbreaking poem of the Beat Generation.

You May Not Kiss the Bride

start- 3/16/2009 Romantic comedy starring Katharine McPhee and Mena Suvari about a pet photographer who gets mixed up with a foreign mobster and his daughter in need of American citizenship.

Unstable
wrap - 3/14/2009
Lifetime TV movie about a woman who questions her sanity when strange events occur, after meeting her soulmate. Shiri Appleby stars.

U.S. Attorney

start - 3/18/09

CBS legal drama pilot set among the federal prosecutors in Manhattan's U.S. Attorney's office. Jason Clarke and Melissa George to star.

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Talkin' Bout Your Competition

So yesterday I had a meeting with a client, let's call him, I don't know - Robert - to go over three scripts and to review his overall trajectory and game plan as a writer. He is 20 years old. He is crazy talented. He is focused as hell and he is your competition. In other words, Wavers - I have seen your enemy and his name is Ambition.

First scary fact about "Robert:" he has innate talent. I have read two feature scripts of his in the past few months and while they had room for improvement, the general level of execution was quite high. I asked him how many scripts he'd completed. Just those two and a tv pilot (which I also read and which I think is not far from being presentable to a rep). My jaw dropped. He can write like this after only two scripts?

But it gets better. We talk about branding oneself and what other ideas Robert has. He opened his laptop and showed me an excel spreadsheet. Filled out, top to bottom with ideas, by genre and with status update columns next to each. And here's the thing - several of those ideas were great. High concept, unique, fleshed out and - well - they sounded like movies.

I snapped the laptop shut and asked Robert to be very careful who he shares those ideas with. In fact, I counseled him, these ideas are valuable, please don't share them blithely with anyone unless you are in a meeting with a somebody who is speaking seriously with you about working with you as your rep.

I asked Robert if he is willing to move to LA (he's currently visiting from the East Coast). Yes, he is. He realizes he needs to be here in order to network, rub elbows and learn more about the business. How often do you write? Every day. How long have you been writing in one form or another? My whole life. How long does it take you to write a script? Two or three months. What about this particular idea? I have a treatment written.

We made a list of the top five projects Robert is most passionate about and that are the most realized and that serve to "brand" him as a writer. Robert will continue to add to and update his idea list but he's organizing that list by commercial potential versus very indie, and by genre and status. So that the newest idea he just had goes way on the bottom; it's not developed yet.

Look, 20 is very young. Robert has a lot of life to live and a lot of emotional depth and understanding to add to his skillset as writer and as a human being. Naturally. It's one of the glorious upsides to aging, isn't it? The marinating that results in wisdom, patience, empathy and humility? But sometimes I think that's what we older writers say to comfort ourselves when we see the 20-year-olds nipping at our heels with an iPhone in one hand and a soy latte in the other. What does that kid know about life? He knows what he wants and he knows what he's going to do to go get it. And he doesn't have a mortgage or two kids or a career. Hollywood is indeed a very young industry. To say otherwise would be to lie to your faces, Wavers.

It's a bitter pill, Wavers, but Robert is your competition. He's young, he's focused, he's talented, he's ambitious as hell and he's investing in his writing career now. One of the things that impressed me the most (beyond the undeniable natural talent) is that Robert is shrewd enough to seek a mentor, which is what our meeting yesterday was all about. He knows what he doesn't know and he sought trusted guidance.

So what are you gonna do about that, Wavers? Where's your slate of ideas? Do you write every day? Do you network? Do you seek learning opportunities and guidance? How seriously are you taking this screenwriting thing?

You know by now that I have firmly planted in the ground here at TRW and in my life that writing should be playful, joyous and fun. That said, if you really, seriously want to compete in Hollywood, you have to do the work and you have to compete with people like Robert because for every 100 screenwriting aspirants who try it but give up a couple of years later when they quail at the negativity and rejection, or the dilettantes who try it because it sounds glamorous but don't have the chops or the focus, there are 10 or 15 Roberts who do have the chops, who do have the focus and who also have the advantage of youth and the time to spend writing. That's the only competition that matters. The snarky masses on the message boards don't matter -they're not going anywhere. But Robert is.

I don't mean to be negative this morning - far from it - I mean to inspire you, Wavers, to take your competition seriously and to be inspired by it.

You know, about two years ago, the director of a very large script coverage company here in LA, upon learning that I had started my own company, sniffed haughtily - well, I don't consider you competition, Julie, so good luck. That was all she had to say. It has fueled me ever since to overtake her company and while I can't share confidential information, if I were her, I'd be looking in the rear view mirror about now. Objects are closer than they appear.

So here's to you, kid. Because I love that Robert is determined and talented. And I love that he can inspire us all to work a little harder and reach a little further. And because his success is our success because he shows us what ambition and focus looks like.

Now get back to work.

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Ping Me

So this pinging thing - how did it become part of the vernacular? Ping me! I'll ping you! Let's ping him! Nonetheless it is descriptive. It's a nudge. A tinny hello down the wires. A wink. A nod. A Riiiiiicolla! (I can't for the life of me understand why Ricola me didn't take off as a colloquialism but then again I never thought the internal combustion engine would be a hit so color me dense.)

So where were we? Ah yes, pinging. Pinging might in another, more formal blog also be described as "following up." You meet someone at a networking event. They agree to "have coffee" or "read your script" but when you ping them a week later, they ignore your email. I say ignore because they saw it all right. But they had post-networking-why-did-I-promise-that regrets. So you wait another week or three and ping them again. They feel bad so they at least email back with some probably semi-true story about being very "slammed." You wait another month and ping them again.

Now this is the turning point. The fork in the road. One of two things is going at this juncture:

They are either truly, deeply annoyed and forward your email to their assistant with the note Who is this jackass? Tell him I'm having face surgery for the rest of my life!

or -

They break down some and think you know what, fine, I'll have ONE CUP OF COFFEE with this person.

I know this because I have done it. Broken down and had a cup of coffee with someone who kept pinging me. Partly out of assuaging my own feelings that I have been perhaps rude and partly - no wait - no, that's it. Just to not feel like a rude, cold or unfeeling person.

How can you tell if you've pung one too many times? Are you being persistent or are you stalking? Well, I would think that if someone SAID they'd have coffee with you or read your script, if they looked you right in the eye and said that, that you have some latitude with the pinging. Even if you feel rude or oddly persistent. Even when you're beginning to feel like a wallflower begging for a dance. Keep pinging. Politely. Sporadically. Ask the person you're pinging how they are. Comment on their latest hilarious blog entry, their script sale or fabulous new hair cut. Flattery will get you everywhere. Because what's going to happen is that you might just wear the person down and because you pinged that one, last time - they will probably break down and meet you finally.

Now I know this sounds counterintuitive, you're thinking, gosh, if I met an agent or manager at a pitch fest for example, and I ping them more than once or twice, aren't I some kind of creepy, entitled CAPE FEAR person?? The more I ping, the more annoyed they get - it'll have the opposite effect. Well - it can. It sure can. But that persistence could also lead to an amazing opportunity, introduction or relationship. You may just ping the object of your pinging on a day when he or she is bored and they might think you know what - FINE - I'll meet this kid/writer for ONE beverage. And that could be your lucky day. Persistence can pay. I have met a number of people for coffee over time because they were politely persistent or because I was politely persistent. No guarantee any professional relationship will arise - but who knows, right?

So you've met a writer, actor, producer, agent or manager at an event. Here's two to-ping-or-not-to-ping scenarios:

Scenario One:
The person you have met is polite but a bit distant and they do NOT agree to read your work, meet you or anything else. They don't offer a business card either. In fact, they move backward slightly while you talk and scan the room over your shoulder. They are polite and pleasant but totally vague.

Should you ping them later? Not if they didn't give your their business card and not if they expressed zero interest in you or your script. No random pinging, please. If they did give you their card but your experience of them was not particularly energized, ping them once, ping them twice - and definitely let it go. They're just not that into you. You'll get put on the "no call" list. I know of two super persistent pingers this happened to. Believe it. If you get rebuffed by silence more than three times - you're not pinging anymore - you're stalking.

Scenario Two:
The person you met was warm and friendly; they looked you in the eye and when you asked if they can read your script or have coffee sometime they nodded, smiled and said "sure." They really looked at you, man, they really SAW you.

Should you ping this person? Did they mean what they said? Well, they were probably punch drunk and on auto-pilot when said they'd read your work or meet you for coffee. They said that to 10 other people too. They don't remember your name, they don't care that much but it was the polite thing to say. Should you ping them? Oh, of course. Ping once, ping twice, ping three times before you give up trying, in this scenario.

Pinging persistently can absolutely pay off and pay off big. You might actually get that script read, or form a new professional relationship. But do your pinging well. If you ping someone for the first time, do it about three to four days after you met them. Hey, met you at the thing with the thing, just wanted to thank you for an informative evening, love to have coffee some time. Done. You hear nothing back, so ping them again in about three to four weeks - Hey so and so, just checking in. How's your thing with the thing? I read about your sale in the trades - congratulations! My script is coming along pretty well. In fact, I wondered if you might have time for a coffee? No accusations, no guilt-tripping, no you-never-answered-my-other-email. NO NO NO. When pinging be as obsequious the second time as you were the first time. Remind the pingee where you met. Do NOT expect them to remember you.

Persistence can be very high yield - you never know - it might just be your lucky day when you ARE able to meet up with someone in person who might be able to help you out. After three pings (at the most) please let it go.

Remember, part of the reason people agree to "read your script" or "meet you for coffee" is that they are doing a rapid-fire calculus - maybe this writer is someone I WANT to know...they never know, right? But people are busy and they do forget, so keep pinging every once in awhile until the silence or "I'm slammed" blow-offs are loud and clear to you.

There are some who would disagree with me and would champion pinging ad infinitum. I personally send those pings to my assistant with the face-surgery-into-perpetuity note. But maybe that's just me. If you have gotten a note from my assistant with any kind of blow off, you've pung too much.

Now get back to work. And find somebody to ping.

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Mentoring, Networking & Paying it Forward

So my friend Marc Zicree kept telling me about this amazing writer/director/producer/(add other hyphenates here) group that has met every single Thursday for 15 years in Toluca Lake. It's an invitation only group that has swelled to 500 members (not all of whom show up to every meeting, otherwise it would be bedlam). So I went last night, brought a friend and was just amazed by the warmth and support in this amazing networking group. My friend had just moved to LA from Kentucky a few months ago and really hasn't found a big group of like-minded creatives to connect with but I think he's found a home now, for sure. The cool thing about this group is that some of its members are Oscar winners and Emmy winners - and we even had a Hugo Award winner there last evening. The majority, of course, are not quite at Oscar/Emmy level, which is nice, otherwise one would be frozen with awe rather than really interacting comfortably.

The best thing about this group is the premise and the intentionality: Marc goes around the room (there were probably 50 people there last evening) and you first talk about what's going on with you and then you ask for what you need. It might be advice, it might be some editing equipment, it might be a new headshot - and then, because the group is so big and so multi-connected, someone offers to help introduce you to someone or otherwise get you what you need. It's networking to the nth degree. And I love that it's invitation only; it ensures that everyone in the group has been vetted by Marc and understands that this is a group interested in really, truly supporting one another.

Last night I came away with a few headshots for my table reads, the business card of an actor who does bookkeeping on the side and an offer to have coffee next week with a comedy writer. The cool thing is I could have asked for just about anything - does someone know where I can get the best deal on snow tires? I'm sure someone would have a friend they could introduce me to. People last night were looking for a variety of things and some people had some really great news about various projects they are working on.

When my friend and I left, he said wow, I had heard that people in LA were so me, me, me but this group really isn't. Very true. It isn't. It's like the It Takes A Village Creative Support Group. Marc is a huge believer in networking and mentoring and he's had a fair measure of success in his own career to prove how helpful that really is. So many of Marc's stories start off with someone making an introduction to someone else who opened a door and then...Marc got what he needed in the end. He's all about paying it forward and all about making a list of the people who are doing what you want to be doing and finding a way to introduce yourself to those people and just by making that personal connection, you are paving the way for a future involvement with them. I can't possibly encapsulate or sum up the way Marc runs his group - or The Table as they call themselves - but I was just blown away by the warmth of this group of people. And it all springs from Marc, who is one of the kindest, most generous people I have ever met.

If you live in the LA area, Marc runs another group called The Super Mentors class and I'm going to be sure my friend signs up for it. Mentoring, networking, paying it forward - it seems old-fashioned, but it's the foundation Hollywood was built on. And it's nice to see it alive and well at a small cafe in Toluca Lake every Thursday night.

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Writing is Rewriting

Forgive my absence today, Wavers. My writing partner and I are deep into a rewrite of a script set to go out to buyers after Sundance. We're having a lot of fun with it but it is time consuming.

The story of this psychological thriller is a long one. I came up with the idea probably five years ago, based on a newspaper article I read about a local man waiting for a heart donor. I was writing comedies at the time so I just wrote down one or two sentences about the idea and shelved it. I was just about to graduate from the two year program at The Writer's Boot Camp when one evening I mentioned the idea to some of my writer friends. They were completely excited about the idea. So I outlined it and then got in touch with the talented writer who is now my partner. He had written a number of psychological thriller novels and I knew he'd bring so much to the table. We wrote the script in just a few weeks and felt we had a strong draft. It didn't take us long to get a manager and we were off to the races. The script went out wide and we had a interest from some major players. One of which was a producer at Fox. We decided to work with that producer and we went into development, i.e., several weeks and months of rewrite after rewrite after rewrite. The script improved with every pass but over time, the producer got more interested in another, "hotter" script and we got bumped. So much for that. Months of our time. Down the drain. We were disappointed and yet we did have a better script for the experience. Except now the script had nowhere to go: too many eyes had already seen it. Into a drawer it went. For almost two years.

Until about a month ago when a friend of mine passed it to a producer known for hating every script he reads. Sort of a useless favor, I thought. Except - he liked it. And the rewrites were on - again. Tweak it this way - tweak it that way. No, no - too far. Bring it back. It's like trying to steer a ship into a dock. A very big, slow moving ship. Again, the script has benefitted but I kid you not, this is easily the 35th draft of the script since its inception almost five years ago.

It has been written and rewritten and rewritten again and reinvented and tweaked to make it scarier and more R-rated and less scary and more PG-13. But the bones of the story have always remained. It has been a lesson in taking notes and a lesson in executing those notes to the best of our understanding. There have been notes that we didn't agree with and that we stood our ground on. There have been notes that we hit ourselves on the head over because it hadn't occurred to us.

And now - we're back at it again. We did a draft about two weeks ago. Big changes. But not quite what the producer wanted. We made things too pointed in the first act. Then we did another draft, softening the first act and making the first act break BIGGER. We took our set pieces and added more "stuff." We tweaked the character arc of the protagonist. Which had a trickle down effect and forced changes in almost every scene of the script.

We've made changes with a chainsaw - losing entire scenes wholesale. We've made changes with a scalpel, tweaking single lines of dialogue toward a connotative meaning. We've used a sledgehammer on some of our set pieces - and a laser on others. Some drafts have clearly been better than others - other drafts have been six of one and a half dozen of another - it just depends on subjective tastes.

You can go crazy rewriting a script this many times. Seriously. It's tempting to get sloppy and lose sight of the fundamental DNA of the script that you originally envisioned. It has been an intense lesson in listening to, interpreting and enacting notes.

We've had to reconsider entire sequences and replace them with new material. We've had to repurpose sequences, moments and even single lines of dialogue. When you have this many drafts on file, you have almost a library of scenes and sequences to repurpose. The producer we're working with now has impeccable taste and I think (or hope) that the script is now in better shape than it ever has been to possibly - maybe - hopefully - get sold. The producer is a well respected heavy hitter and so it's going out to the big boys. We don't currently have rep but have already had a couple of offers. Know what? I don't feel like giving anyone a percentage of a sale, should we be so lucky. We've done all the heavy lifting and we have a good lawyer.

You know what has made this experience a good one for us and for those we have worked with? A willingness to bury our darlings, a sharp ear when interpreting notes and a resulting toolbox full of laser beams, chainsaws, sledgehammers and scalpels. But possibly most importantly, we have maintained a love of the fundamental story we wanted to tell. Even after all these drafts. We'll see what happens after Sundance. Maybe we'll finally make that homerun. Maybe not. But I'll tell you one thing - we're better writers for this experience. We've proven to be writers who are good to work with. We listen to notes carefully and we deliver drafts quickly. We're good in a room and we are totally focused on one thing and one thing only - writing a draft that is the best iteration of the story we wanted to tell.

Are you willing to take notes - over and over and over again on your script? To hack away scenes or sequences that you were really fond of? To totally reinvent, reimagine and repurpose them? To be totally flexible and yet totally focused on the essence of your story? And then to not even be sure that you'll ever earn a dime for any of it? It's a tall order.

Upon occasion I work with writers who are loathe to take notes, make changes or totally reimagine a scene, act or even a premise. To which I generally observe - silly preciousness will get you nowhere. Get limber, my friends. Get real limber. Do your writing yoga every day. Be willing to do anything to elevate your script to its highest creative potential.

You might as well. Writing IS rewriting.

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Why the Classics Matter

Hello, Wavers, and happy inexplicably named "black Friday" - the day when shoppers rush in hordes to shopping malls for day-after-Thanksgiving-bargains. I read that a man was trampled by a crowd at a Walmart in Long Island. What must the aliens looking down upon us think...

I had a great meeting the other day, as I mentioned, and my writing partner and I are doing a quick rewrite of a thriller so we can get it out on the market as soon as possible. So mama is busy and a bit overwhelmed which is why I am cutting and pasting my reply on the Rouge Wave II, about a question regarding whether watching the classics helps a writer's skill set. Short answer: It doesn't. If you haven't joined the RWII, I urge you to, since it is a fun and informative forum where you can have more and more detailed conversations between yourselves, without silly old me having to approve each comment.

*****



..."I'm just curious what you think the classics adds to the writing skills?"

Seeing the classics doesn't add to your writing skills. It adds to your breadth of knowledge about the medium itself. The history, trends and politics of film. The careers of iconic stars and directors. If you haven't seen Psycho, then you haven't seen what was at that time a seminal thriller.

Everything is ultimately repeated; you need to know what has come before you so that you don't unwittingly write something derivative. Conversely, if you've seen the classics you are able to write something that is in part an homage to another film, borrowing from and updating the thematic or dramatic gist of it.

Seeing the classics and being articulate about them has other advantages: When you take meetings with people in the industry, you'll quickly find that they HAVE seen the classics, and an inability to reference these cultural touchstones within this specific industry will be a handicap on many levels, the most obvious of which is that you will come off as a dilettante with only a surface interest in film.

In meetings, other films, past and present, usually come up in conversation. Do you want to come off as a person who just doesn't care and who hasn't bothered to do your homework? Or do you want to come off as a person with a knowledge, respect and love of the medium? The answer is obvious.

And lastly, the classics offer GREAT performances, GREAT stories and GREAT entertainment. There's so much more at the video store than the new releases.

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The Field of Dreams

It's so fun when you are working on your script and you think - this would be PERFECT for Diane Lane and Owen Wilson or Laura Linney and Ryan Gosling. An actor with the right look, an actor who seems to relish this type of role and whose work you have enjoyed in the past. I actually find it quite helpful to write your characters with an actor in mind; that way you can more clearly imagine their speech cadence, gestures and movements.

Yesterday I had lunch with a VP of production at a very cool feature film production company (and he'll be doing a guest blog soon). And we talked nuts and bolts about production and specifically, a particular script. As we talked about packaging and casting of this material, we ran into that rock in the creek - well, that actor's last two movies didn't do so well. The studio wouldn't like him/her in a package. Or - that actor already has another project like this one. That actor is good but not as bankable as X other actor. That actor is in rehab and we can't get insurance.

A glimpse into the locker room and at the strategy board is daunting. And that's just the actors - then there's budget, attaching a bankable director and the whole, complex, difficult game of, as this VP put it, "running the ball down the field and getting it in the net."

The distance between you writers out there writing a script, getting that script repped and then getting the movie made is vast. Getting the movie sold much less produced is not a genteel game of cricket - it's rugby, Wavers. Down and dirty. Intense. Constantly shifting.

But, as my friend and colleague pointed out - "a good script is more imperative now than ever."

So. Stuff to think about. You, the writer, are the center - you hike the ball to the quarterback, the agent. And the production company executive is the running back who is going to try to get the ball down the field and over the goal posts. Okay I know I'm now mixing up about twelve sports up here, but you get it. The script is the ball. The ball must get over the goal post or into the net.

Nobody is going to get all beat up and bruised in this wild game of running down the field to get the movie made unless you have written a great script. Why would they? Everybody wants to make money and to enhance their careers but it all comes down to your script. Without the pigskin, we all go home and there's no game.

You will be a happier, more successful and informed writer if you understand the strategy of the game. It starts and ends with the script but there's a whole lot of people and agendas and politics between the script being written and a movie being made. Take it upon yourself to learn everything you can about how the game is played.

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Should You Rush a GREAT Idea?

I was having dinner the other night with three talented writers who are all close friends of mine when one of them, two margaritas in, reminded me of a script idea that he'd partially worked out a couple of years ago but set aside in favor of a newer project. As he described the logline, we all went nuts - it is BRILLIANT. It is high concept, it is zeitgeisty as hell and it is completely original - for now. Unanimously, we urged this writer to drop everything and complete this script as quickly as possible. Because somebody else is definitely going to come up with this idea. In fact, in the two years between writing a rough draft of the script and having moved on, my friend did find out that there is a comic book coming out with the same basic idea. Normally, I am not one to be super secretive about loglines but this is one of those loglines that you DO NOT tell many people because it is just so fantastic.

How do you know if you have a money idea? Well, that's one of those things that is helped quite a lot by living in LA and being around a lot of industry people so you can research whether it's been done before or worse - is being done right now.

But you don't necessarily have to live in LA for that advice. It's not so hard to find out if the idea has been done before. You can do an IMDB keyword search and go to a trusted industry connection and ask them to help you out. Is this idea floating around Hollywood right now? That's harder to find out. That's the kind of thing I turn to my colleagues for, since I know so many people who are preternaturally plugged in to what's going on in Hollywood.This is when having paid it forward will be enormously helpful. I have so many people (and you know who you are) who were former clients, became friends and do me little favors all the time. And I return those favors whenever I can. And the same is true for me - I have paid it forward and I have many colleagues that I turn to as well. On my own behalf and on yours.

I know a writer who had what felt like a GREAT idea for an episode of an existing show and was so excited - until he talked to someone who just happened to have seen literally every episode and...yep, it had been done. What a buzz kill that was. Better to find out in advance than shop around a spec with something that has already been done and look foolish.

Say you have an idea like my friend does. Fresh, totally original and yet totally obvious, thematically familiar and yet fundamentally different. Is it a rush or a race? Unfortunately, yes. A very strange thing happens with writers - and it doesn't matter where you live - but we seem to share the same thinking. It is a common occurrence that script ideas come in clusters. Without going all metaphysical on your behinds, I have no explanation for this. Ideas swim around in the ether and writers are always looking for them. We are all exposed to the same media and group-think and national and international zeitgeist so it's like being in a petrie dish; sooner or later connections will be made from one news item to another and new ideas will begin to form from single cells to wriggling flagellum.

So your totally brilliant, one-of-a-kind idea is, in all likelihood, not so original. So now the race is on. Who is going to not only get their wonderful idea DONE first, but who is going to execute it the best? You cannot sacrifice speed for quality if you are an unproven writer. Yes, established writers - known quantities - can sell the idea alone. Or the treatment. But new, unproven writers really can't. Because the idea might be great, but why should someone trust you, a new writer, to execute that on the page in a way that services this great idea beautifully, when they can either steal your idea and get it to a writer they KNOW is great, or wait for that to occur naturally. Because it will. And yes, idea theft does happen.

If you are a semi-experienced screenwriter, meaning you've written at least four or five scripts and done well in a competition or any other venue, you should be able to outline and write a first draft of your brilliant idea within six weeks. Or less. I know, that sounds insane, but so often we writers actually drag out the process much more than we need to. If you are that excited about your brilliant idea, you better burn the midnight oil and get it done. I give that about six weeks because after that you're going to need another two weeks to get notes and rewrite the draft. And maybe even another set and another rewrite. If you turn in a slipshod, rushed draft, this golden idea just turned into brass. Game over for you.

I generally like to practice what I preach - be present, enjoy the process, write for the joy of it. But once in awhile, when I hear an idea as good as the one I am referring to, then I preach Getting Thy Ass in Motion. Now. Because if you don't - someone else will. It happens all the time. Enlist your friends - get notes and guidance. You have one shot and you don't have much time. So do it right.

What if you knock yourself out to get a draft out there of an idea and then you read in the trades that another script is making the rounds with the same idea? Well, if the other draft out there is by a novice screenwriter, and you have rep, there's still some chance you'll be able to get your draft out there was well. All may not be lost. But - it's not a great situation. If the other draft floating around is by an experienced writer, it's time to go put your fist through a wall because it's all over for the shouting.

A couple of years ago, my former writing partner and I had a GREAT idea to adapt a cheesy 70s book (and television movie) into a feature film. It was a slam-dunk. Until we found out, very early on in our conversations that Scott Rudin has already set it up at Paramount. What a huge let down that was. But there you go. Glad we didn't waste our time, tell ya that.

So you have an amazing idea. The first thing you need to ascertain is if it really is that amazing. Then you need to make sure it truly has not been done before. Then you need to find out if it's floating around Hollywood right now. Then you need to buy three cases of Red Bull and outline and outline and outline and get ON writing the draft.

That is all. Now get back to work.

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Tools of the Trade

The other day we talked about the fact that as a writer, you ARE a business. You need to promote your business, fine-tune it and understand the market for what you're selling. You also need to make sure that you have all the niceties figured out as well. The little things. Like leaving a message that is intelligible. Or having a business card that is not lame.*

So here is a check list that may be helpful:

Thank You Notes
Real, paper thank you notes, folks, not thank you emails. Not goofy thank you notes with balloons and dogs on them but simple, classy notes. Get them. And use them. Send them to people you meet at pitch fests, at general screenwriting events, to people like me or one of my colleagues if we help you with something. This is a business based on relationships. Never forget that for one minute. And a real thank you note will be very memorable to the recipient.

A Normal Email Address
Is your email something like writerfoshizzle4556@complicatedcompany.com? Change it. Have a business email address that is simple, easy to spell, easy to type and memorable. I cannot tell you the weird email addresses I see. Choose something very simple and easy so that it's easier to write down, say over the phone or whatever. Be professional. *

*if this post inspires anyone on my newsletter emailing list to change their email address, please email my assistant, Chaia with your new email address.

A Number Where You Can Be Reached
Does your four year-old answer your phone there at home? Then use a different number. If you have a cell phone that is exclusively yours, put that number on your contact information. Make sure it has a professional sounding message on it, not music or anything else. Speak clearly. Check your messages frequently.

Always Put Your Contact Information on the Title Page of Your Script
ALWAYS, people. Every. Single. Time. I know for most of you this is a no-brainer. I can't tell you how often I get scripts submitted to The Script Department sans contact information. Very annoying. And it just could be the one, annoying thing that stops someone from phoning you up with good news.

Business Cards
We've gone over this in the past, but get some very simple business cards printed up with your name and contact information. Bring your cards to every event you attend. Have them at the ready.

Leaving Messages
If you leave a message for someone in the industry, please don't rattle off your phone number so fast that the recipient of your message can't write it down. Speak slowly. Your name, why you're calling and your number. Here's the cadence that works for me when I'm writing down a message: Hey Julie, this is John Roberts. We met at the (blank) event last week. I can be reached at area code 323 (pause) 555 (pause) 0264. Once again, this is John Roberts and I can be reached at 323 (pause) 555 (pause) 0264. As opposed to messages I receive quite frequently: Hey Julie this is (mumble mumble, sounds like Frank-n-smith-n-heimer) we met at the (mumble mumble screenwriting thing last year) and my number is 3235550264bye. HUH? If I have ever not called you back, that's why. I couldn't understand your message. Please make it easy for the person transcribing your message. Slow. Down.

Office Supplies
Please use normal brads. And get a good three-hole punch. Use good, reliable pens and write clearly on your letter/material. Put stamps on the normal way, not the I'm-in-a-special-class way. If you're sending in a treatment that's under 20 pages, staple the pages - never send loose pages. If your treatment is more than that - three hole punch it and use brads. TWO BRADS. Don't use three brads and don't use weird brads. Just normal, brass brads that aren't too long or too flimsy. Go to The Writer's Store online if you can't find them in your area.

Software
I advocate the use of Final Draft, because it's the most commonly used software and it's easier to send files using it. But if you do use a different program, save your script as a PDF and be prepared to send your script in that format. If you don't know what PDF stands for, brush up on your knowledge of software. I'm no tech genius but these are the basic tools of sending your script electronically which is done more and more these days. Do not type or send your scripts in Word or a similar word-processing software. It makes you look like an amateur and is almost impossible to format on the other end. If you want to be a career screenwriter, make a small investment in your software and your knowledge of it.

Your Equipment
How's your computer working out for you these days? Are you backing up your files? (See my cautionary tale of just yesterday). Do you have the latest update of your writing software, internet browser and email program? Do you have a fax machine, copier and scanner? Are you prepared to jot off a release form promptly, when asked? Making an investment in your equipment is key. And for you absolute geniuses who type on a 1957 Olivetti in your attic and eschew all of this stuff, good luck to you. I'm sure you're brilliant.

The Interwebs
That's what snarky people call the internet when referring to yokels who don't know who to use it. Snarky people like me. Well, maybe we're shooting for irony. But I digress. The internet. Figure. It out. Click on new sites and blogs relative to screenwriting. Surf that stuff. Visit the websites of screenwriting services and software companies. Be aware of the resources available to you so you can stop emailing me asking for every script ever produced. Oh, uh, sorry - little personal side story there. The world is at your fingertips. When you call or otherwise contact a professional or organization, be it me, be it Final Draft or Creative Screenwriting or millions more, please have done your homework. Read the website first. Click around some. Inform yourself. Because it's really annoying when people email with lazy questions, the answer to which is already on the site.

In the Entertainment Industry there are so many odd, clashing interests and subtle mores that sometimes seem to conflict and contradict. But at the end of the day, everybody is looking for content. EVERYBODY wants it, okay? I cannot stress that enough. And you got it. But at the same time, everybody is looking for one, easy reason to dismiss you and move on to the next writer and the next script. An annoying, complicated email address, mumbled messages, sloppy looking scripts, three brads, bad breath and dandruff - you name it. Content is King but it also arrives in Hollywood late at night, in packed to the gills rail cards. Hundreds of scripts, thousands of scripts, chug into Hollywood on a daily basis. So there's no shortage of material. It's about sifting through it to find the gems.

Hollywood is a giant mining operation. Every day - BWOOOOOP - the horn blows, everybody puts on their mining hats and descends into the mining shaft with picks. Do you want your script chucked into the dirt pile because your contact information wasn't on it? Or because it was sent in a Word file and is 228 pages long? Or because you left a message that was unintelligible? Of course not. So go over this checklist and see what you've got and how prepared you are. Remember, they don't call it showfriends. Hollywood is unlike any other business in the world and yet at the same time (I told you there are contradictions) it's exactly like all other businesses. Be prepared, be polite and be professional. Have the latest software and a working knowledge of the internet. Because if you don't - someone else does. And their script will be on the top of the pile. No, you aren't such a genius that thank you notes, pithy email addresses or non-crack-pipe messages don't apply to you.

*lame business cards include: photo-shop images of balloons, ice cream, monsters, your original artwork, pull-quotes from your script or favorite movie, a headshot of you, (unless you're an actor), bright colors, rainbows, pictures of your pets or kids, etc. All real examples, by the way.

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Watch and Learn

Hello, Wavers and happy Sunday. Or Monday as the case may be. I like to think that as much as I am an inspiration, I am also a cautionary tale. Because over the weekend something totally unexpected happened. My computer died. It began making a very funny noise and moments later, the screen grayed out but for a file folder with a question mark on it. Which went on blinking and mocking me until I practically wept. Goodness - what to do? Well, I happen to have one of the most gifted computer guys in the world, Greg Madore, and he raced over to my home and fixed it inside of an hour.

Good news, right? Yeah, not so much. Because I hadn't backed up my system since July 28th. I lost 3 months worth of data because I neglected to back up my computer on a weekly basis. This is going to be like having a hang nail; every day at some point, I'll search for a document and not be able to find it. Good times!

Everybody knows you should back up your computer. It's just common sense. I often go outside during the day to walk my tiny canine and I always double-check with myself as to whether to lock the door behind me. I'm just walking a block or two, right? And I always say to myself, well, lock it depending on how you feel about losing everything inside. Uh, okay. Lock. Just takes a second. Like buckling your seat belt, flossing, setting the alarm, changing the batteries in the smoke alarm. And backing up your computer.

So learn from me Wavers. How would you like to lose all the changes you made on your script for the past month? How would you like to lose the script you wrote last year? You cannot get stuff like that back. If you aren't backing up your computer, start doing it and start doing it NOW. Once a week or more often if you are very busy on your computer. Guess who will be an absolute obsessive about backing up now? Yeah. Me. Your own personal cautionary tale.

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A Day in My Life

Ah....Halloween. Day of masks and ruses. And candy. The day before the day before the carved pumpkin starts to collapse and smell weird. Five days before a historic election and two days before the time change. It's a time to reflect and to ....okay I think I've pretty much milked that dry.

So I spent yesterday finishing reading and covering a FANTASTIC novel for Seed Productions. The main character was unforgettable as he introduces himself as a thinking man, entrepreneur and murderer. I think I signed some kind of non-disclosure something or other a couple of years back when I started reading for them so I'm not supposed to talk about what properties they are looking at. But geez, it was amazing. The trick with covering a novel is that one has to then indicate, in the notes, whether this property might make a good movie. Difficult thing to assess, since the narrative in a novel is significantly more complex than a script, and buried deep and twisted around so much internal character stuff. So one has to pluck that narrative out like the thread of a sweater and ask if that narrative is: adaptable, original, interesting and accessible to a wide audience, castable and of course, one must muse upon the expense of the whole thing. I gave this one a big thumb's up but did note that it would be expensive due to exotic locations and this falls under the category of Important Movie (aka Oscar bait) rather than a Friday night blockbuster, necessarily. I hope Seed pursues the property and that if they don't, someone else does, because I'd go see this movie in a red hot Hollywood minute.

I also cleaned my desk yesterday - I actually work at a funky dining table which sits next to two huge, old fashioned windows (in my very old place). I found, at the bottom of the stacks, no less than six scripts from casual acquaintances (to be defined as: neighbors, people I meet at events, etc.). These are scripts that they want me to peruse quickly. No such thing as perusing quickly. I did eliminate about three very quickly by doing the read-3-pages-while-standing-up-with-coffee test. I hate when I say yes I will give a script a quick look when in fact I always have so much else to do. I wind up feeling guilty and the scripts gather dust. My paying clientele has to come first. At the end of a long day of reading other stuff and administrating my business (which in fact is really three businesses) the last thing I'm in the mood for is - another script. And really nice dude I met at the Fade In Pitch Fest - you know who you are - you had a great pitch and I said I'd look at the script and it passed the read-3-pages-while-standing-up-with-coffee test and I know I said oh no biggie when you mentioned your script wasn't bound - but it is a big, fat bummer - if you bring scripts to events, three-hole punch and put brads in it!!

I also deal with business stuff on a daily basis. Answering approximately oh, these days even with my assistant running interference, 20 to 25 emails a day. Sending my bio here and there, figuring out where The Script Department booth will be located at the CS Expo and how many volunteers will be a the booth when and getting all the materials ready for that. Putting together class descriptions for an event in June 09. Fielding requests to announce or publish stuff on the Rouge Wave. Following up on scripts I am getting read on behalf of my clients at agents and managers. Dealing with the various bank accounts associated with my business(es). Making calls about ad buys past and present. And about 9,000 other things which are too specific to be of even mild interest. But you don't care about that stuff. It just keeps me quite busy is all I'm sayin'.

Which is why my favorite thing to do is to sit down with a script and a cup of coffee and a pen and just read quietly. I'm not really making decisions or judgments in that moment; I just read and let the pages fly by and absorb what I'm reading. I stop and make small notes but I think it's best for the story if it just flows like a river while being read. I make the judgments and comments later, when I'm done and I shift into note-giving mode. I really feel it's a luxury to sit and read scripts versus juggle the other, more odious things I mentioned above. And thankfully, these days I don't have to read three scripts a day so I am relaxed when I read now and give each script my all. When I used to do only production company reading I got into Reader Mode which is go, go, go, go and one gets jaded, burned out and exhausted. As I have said on the Rouge Wave many a time - this is who is reading your scripts if you don't have me read it first, so just know that. No use beating that horse again, you all know how I feel about the wisdom of getting notes before you throw your script into the lion filled colosseum of bored, tired, cranky-ass readers.

And then there's my personal life. (Insert long, uncomfortable moment of realization here).

The lines between my business and my personal lives are so blurred they are almost indistinguishable. My friends are my colleagues. Dinner, drinks and get-togethers always turn to scripts, the business, this or that agent or manager. I stay up very, very late at night since that's when I can catch up on emails and make decisions about things in a more thoughtful way. Those of you who may have gotten an email time-stamped at 2am know this about me. I also don't ever schedule anything - NOTHING - before 10am because I'm not really, truly awake until then. On those rare, awful occasions when I do have to be somewhere before 10am you'll notice I am quite pallid and inarticulate.

I can't figure out why my TiVo isn't recording all of the shows it's supposed to. I'm excited to vote this Tuesday. I left the fridge open again last night and the porch light is too high for me to fix myself. There's laundry in the dryer and six scripts staring at me and three important phone calls I have to make today. It's Halloween and I'm dressed as me - thinker, writer, entrepreneur, decider, mother of two and mother to many, a lover of movies and a lover of writing. Happy Halloween.

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Understanding the Business of Hollywood

Business. The very word send shivers down the spines of most creatives. Ew. That's why we write. Right? Most writers fancy ourselves artists for whom the mundane aspects of business management is a conscious choice we made to avoid. We can't bother ourselves with the details of the entertainment business, our taxes or god forbid the stock market! Nooooo we're too busy being dreamers, schemers, liars and thieves.

But guess what? You ARE a business. You are Joe Writer, Inc. And if you would like to pursue success, shoot it with a poison dart, drop it in a puddle of mud and skin and eat it, you need to do a whole more than study the craft of screenwriting, rent movies and watch Entertainment Tonight.

Are you keeping careful records of your writing expenses? Your software, books and classes? Are you reading the trades and following the box office returns? What about the spec market relative to new media and the general economy? Know anything about that? Well - I know it sounds odious, but you should. If you don't become an autodidact and do it now, you will be woefully in the dark about the business of Hollywood. And as much as writing is a fairly solitary, internal act, selling your writing is not.

From a post in June 2007, I repeat my snazzy catchphrase for every writer's daily activity:

WIPNILL

Write
Promote
Network
Learn
Live well

WPNLL©
*side effects may include a robust feeling of creativity, increased imagination and sense of well-being, productivity and monetary gain.

WRITE every day. You might have more than one project you’re working on; tend to at least one of them. And yes, generating ideas and spitballing is most productive and falls under this category, absolutely.

PROMOTE your material. Write and send query letters, enter competitions, follow up on calls, meetings and queries. Stay very on top of who has your material, when you’ll hear back and what new opportunities have since cropped up.

NETWORK both with other writers and with professionals where possible. If you belong to a message board about screenwriting, visit it daily seeking to build relationships. If you blog or read screenwriting blogs, visit and comment. Keep building those relationships. Are you signed up for a class? How about a one hour Learning Annex course? Is there a festival or film community gathering in two weeks? Sign up. Continually seek opportunities large and small to create, sustain and nurture relationships with other writers and filmmaking aspirants of any stripe. Networking is extraordinarily powerful. It is impossible to overstate that fundamental truth.

LEARN more about the craft and the business constantly. Follow the trades. If the Hollywood Reporter or Variety are too much to absorb regularly, read Entertainment Weekly – a quasi-trade with pull-quotes, box office and celebrity news. Subscribe to Creative Screenwriting, Script Magazine or Written By. Sign up for classes, read books and see a lot of movies.

LIVE WELL by taking care of your essential core. We writers are sensitive souls. We pour our hearts out every day. So be sure to exercise, get enough sleep, meditate or in some way return to your creative, essential self so that you can sustain and nurture the energy required to do steps one through four above. This one cannot be overstated or over-emphasized either. A burnt out writer doesn’t produce good material and isn’t fun to hang around with. Put your wellbeing before all else because everything you produce flows outward from that.

Why just today I had a business meeting with an investor and very successful businessman. As a small business owner do I get to whine in my coffee and say oh gee, I don't know how to write a business plan or think about LLCs and taxes? No. I do not have that luxury. When I have conversations with agents, managers or producers do I get to say oh gee, I don't know about what spec sold last week or how many movies Fox produced last year? No, I do not. Well - I do. At my own peril. And you do not have the luxury of ignorance either. Remember - you ARE a business. And your business in-sources to create product. Which you wish to sell. Right?

Then get busy livin' or get busy dyin' because if you don't take the time and trouble to learn the business end of things in this industry, you might as well put your script in a trunk in the attic when you're done.

Now get back to work.

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Pitch Perfect

Day two of the Fade In Pitch Fest concluded yesterday and boy, was it a long day for everybody! I think heard as many pitches as some of the agents, managers and producers there, just in a different context. I was so proud of the many writers who I had counseled the day before to be more upbeat and personable, who took that advice with aplomb and had many successful pitches.

Here's my take on pitch fests. If you have the disposable income to do this type of thing, I think it can be a fun way to network, meet other writers and industry professionals and practice pitching your story over and over again. If you are like most of us, on a more limited budget and you have to carefully choose how and where you spend your money, I'd honestly recommend spending that money on professional notes over pitching. Maybe you can afford to do both. Booyah for you and have a cupcake.

Let's clear something up: Yes the people who come to hear your pitches are lower level executives. Of course they are. This. Is not. A bad. Thing. Let me repeat that - it's not bad that lower level baby execs and even assistants go to hear your pitches. Because what does mama always say? Today's assistant is tomorrow's executive. One drawback is that sometimes these lower level pitch recipients do appear to be about twelve. Which can be off-putting. Sometimes their social skills are not quite where they will be in some time. Meaning that if they are bored by your pitch, some can actually be a bit obvious and rude about that. Pay no mind - that's about them, not you. Others are enthusiastic and dying to find a good story so they can get the promotion they are gunning for. Are there good pitches at pitch fests? Yes, of course there are. I heard, over both days, probably about six pitches that sounded really great to me. I would definitely be interested in reading the scripts.

If you do decide to go to a pitch fest (I believe that the upcoming CS Expo, starting on November 12th usually has a pitch fest as part of the festivities) here's your check list:

Bring a one-sheet
Have a great, pithy, compelling logline ready to go*
Bring business cards
Do not pass out artistic effluvia related to your script
Dress casually but nicely; do make some effort. Brush your hair and teeth**
Do some breathing exercises, drink coffee - whatever it takes to be both relaxed and ON
Practice a couple of days in advance then stop practicing so much so you sound natural
Relax; if you make a mistake, smile, back up and do it again. It's really okay
Don't take rejection personally; just get back in line and do it again
Do collect contact information if you have a good pitch
Send thank you notes a couple of days later. Make them brief and gracious

Are pitch fests worth it? Well - I cannot say one way or the other, definitively. If you can afford it, if it's something you enjoy doing and if you have a great script that's really, really ready to pitch, sure, I suppose it's worth it. You can also query your material the old fashioned way, throughout most of the year. I've been to three pitch fests since June and I have noticed a high rate of return. In other words, I have seen some of the same people at all three. Is this because these writers are very successful at this or is it because, like Trekkies, they are devoted fans of these types of gatherings? I don't know and I'm not sure I should go there.

All right everybody, get back to work and have a Monday cupcake on me. I'm a happy girl because I just discovered that I apparently own some crazily valuable rare books so today after I get my reading and notes done, I'll be researching how to sell them. If any Wavers are rare book appraisers, or know a great one, be in touch.

*I was shocked by how many writers either did not have a logline at all or who had overlong, confusing, not great loglines and knew it.

**It's not for nothing that I make the hair and teeth comment. In the spirit of kindness, that's all I'm going to say.

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Writers Wanted - Apply Within

Talk about zeitgeist. The tension in the air is palpable; a historic presidential election is less than three weeks away, the US economy is teetering on the brink of disaster, the war in Iraq drones on endlessly in the background and the impact of global warming has made itself so plain that even die hard fantasists have had to abandon refutations. LA is burning, hurricane season looms, the Dodgers are losing and the most optimistic of us are wondering if a potato with pipe cleaner arms and legs might make a rustic Christmas gift this year instead of the usual mall-bought offerings.

When things are in upheaval, it all seems very urgent and dire. One has two choices; to fall prey to the weapons of mass distraction - the media - and get whipped up into a foamy froth of fear or to be more circumspect, stay the course and let the drama pass. Because it is drama. All of this uncertainty is terrific media fodder and the older you are the more notches on the belt you have of when things felt apocalyptic but then resolved themselves in the end. So you get a lot less whipped up. It's a matter of where you choose to put your attention. On a personal level, you may choose to be more circumspect and not allow your attention to be dominated by fear-based media or you may choose to allow this stuff to create excitement and drama in your life. But there is a third way. Use this whipped up zeitgeist to inspire your writing.

Become an observer, predictor and mirror for what's on the collective mind.

Writers are the lightning rods for zeitgeist. Writers write about hope and change as much as they write about fear, doubt and blame. We are the collective mirror because we are mascots for humanity armed with pen and paper. We are documentarians. We are the world. Okay I couldn't resist that last one but you get my point.

Writers everywhere are distinguished from other, normal people because we feel compelled to share our hopes, dreams and fears through story telling. I often complain about the sameness of bad scripts. But what I don't often talk about (and I should) is the endless cornucopia of new thoughts and ideas I see in that vast middle-ground - okay scripts by writers who have graduated from absolute newbie with egregious errors, to the more intermediate level of screenwriter. It is at this level that many writers get stuck for a long time. But it is here that I am blown away by the incredible variety of expression.

Everybody wants to tell a story and to express themselves in a script these days. If you catch me in a cranky mood, I grumble about how everyone thinks they can write. But if you catch me in a more observant, reflective mood, I think it quite striking that so many are overflowing with so much to say. And I'm amazed by what I see going on in the zeitgeist of writers themselves.

I have seen a tremendous number of CRASH-like, moody ensembles which are in essence, bitter-sweet ruminations about the human condition but mostly anchored with a great sense of loneliness, isolation and confusion. Some writers are feeling invisible, impotent and frustrated. I see a lot of playful fantasy and romantic comedy scripts. Some writers are feeling hopeful, playful and optimistic and are writing escapist scripts. I see terribly cynical, hardboiled crime and horror scripts. Some writers are feeling jaded, helpless and hopeless.

Hollywood has a storied and dysfunctional relationship with writers and everybody knows it. It's like a dramatic tango - I love you! I hate you! I need you! I despise you! I can't live without you!

But mark my words, without the great influx of your scripts to Hollywood, the industry would grind to a halt. An entire sub-strata of the entertainment business is built on what's on your mind. Screenwriting services, software, magazines and events all lure screenwriters to Hollywood. Because without you and what's on your mind, the well would run dry. As much as it feels like trying to break into Hollywood is like talking to the hand, there's actually a great need for you and what you're writing. Future generations await hearing your stories. It's the great catch-22 of screenwriting - it's almost impossible to break in and yet vast amounts of writers are needed so that those nuggets can be found. It's panning for gold. Entire hillsides have to be exploded, sifted and searched over for those golden nuggets of stories that have not been told before in a particular way.

Writers are where it all begins. The fact is, you are needed more now than ever. And it is only through repetition, practice, education, feedback and sheer determination that you'll wind up in somebody's mesh sifter - I got one! I got a good one! Absolutely everybody in Hollywood drools at the thought of finding that great script. Everybody.

I recently spoke to an A-list writer who is looking to executive produce. He asked me to please pass on great scripts when I come upon them. Somebody is going to get very, very lucky - if I find that great script. That great script might come from me or it might come from somebody else - but I obviously have a vested interest if that person is me. People keep telling me to manage writers and I balk; I know very well the uphill battle it can be to get a project sold. Can I do that for a writer? Do I know enough people? Could I actually make a decent living panning for gold? I have decided to take on one proto-client to try it out.

Everyone would like to find that great comedy, that sweeping epic or that totally mind-blowing sci-fi script. Where are these great scripts? And what is the mechanism for vetting them? How many mediocre scripts have to be read until that one diamond in the rough is found? A diamond that I can get other people excited about? That's what all managers grapple with. And the sheer number of script submissions that aren't ready for prime time make them cranky which is why writers get that talk-to-the-hand vibe from Hollywood.

But the truth is, you got the goods, not us. Hollywood is like a steam engine, chugging along and it needs coal - scripts - shoveled into its gaping maw. A lot of coal. Every day.

So as much as this whole screenwriting thing seems like a long shot, know this: despite appearances, Hollywood has a sign hung around it that says: Writers Wanted, Apply Within.

I was sent a preview of a new documentary underway about the spec script market. I found it totally inspiring. Also, my friend Bob makes a brief appearance. Go Bob!

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