And you need to be able to match up to their level of creativity, proficiency, and understanding of the craft and the business. Ultimately your competition is not with some hypothetical aspiring writers or writers in screenplay competitions, but actual professional writers. I say this not to scare you, rather to inject a sense of reality into the situation. Now I ask you these questions: “Are you ready to deliver the goods? Do you have a set of practices you have developed to get you through that writing process? Do you have the confidence to believe you can nail that story?”īecause when you sign that contract, that’s it. That is the day you will be contractually obligated to deliver the draft of the script. And right there in black and white is a date: 10 weeks from today. You get an agent! You get a lawyer! You get a hangover from a celebratory night on the town!Ĭut to your lawyer’s office. Lo and behold, they love your ideas! And the next thing you know, you have landed your first professional writing gig. You throw out a few ideas off the top of your head. They hit you up with a story they have in development. Then that script goes around town and you start to take meetings. You get that script to a manager who reads it, contacts you, and agrees to take you on. This is a scenario I want you to consider. We are talking about it and you utter these words: “How do I get an agent or a manager?” So please understand, I grasp the significance of that first script.īut imagine for a moment it’s you who has just finished that first script. The first script separates you from all the people out there who simply talk about writing a script, but never do. Finishing that first script is important, perhaps the single biggest step in a writer’s career path because it proves you can do it. And they are consumed with the idea about how they are going to use it to get representation.įine. I deal with this all the time: A writer who is finishing their very first screenplay. Hey, if it worked for me, maybe it can work for you! So why three? Oh, I could give you all sorts of theories… how after 1 and 2, three is the first number to signify a pattern… how there may be a synergistic connection to a story’s three acts… but in truth I choose three because K-9 was my third script, and I sold that as a spec. In all honesty, after you’ve written five scripts, you will look back at the You Who Wrote Three Scripts and say, “What the hell was I thinking?” And when you’ve written ten scripts, you’ll reflect back on You Who Wrote Five Scripts and say, “Gawd, what I didn’t know.” But there is a kind of knowledge you can only get by writing and completing scripts, a conscious and intuitive understanding of the craft you must have to succeed as a working writer. You can study the craft, you can read books, you can take classes, you can watch movies, and all that you should be doing. In my experience working with writers, It’s not until at least your third script that you can distinguish between your metaphorical ass and metaphorical hole-in-the-ground. You’re still not where you need to be yet. You may think you know your way around a screenplay after you’ve written your first one.Īfter finishing your second script, you are amazed at how much further along you have come in your understanding of the craft. Don’t even contemplate working in Hollywood as a writer until you’ve completed at least three scripts. Advice you may not want to hear… but advice you need to hear. This is advice for the front end of your life as a screenwriter. I just read through it and think it’s worth reprinting in its entirety: I actually addressed this subject before in a Business of Screenwriting entry. in the next few months, what is a good number of scripts to have in my “portfolio”? I know traditional wisdom says “Write a great script and you will be found” and “Write every day to get better” but I guess if there exists an agreed upon cache of developed pieces that a new-to-town aspiring writer should arm himself with, how many should be in that cache? And should they be a mix of feature and TV to show versatility? Or just whichever format you are passionate about? (Personally this writer would love to do either/or). I know there has been a lot of content generated surrounding breaking into the business, how to gain attention/notoriety (Black List, Screenplay Competitions, etc), how to get agents, etc…I guess my question is a bit of a variation on that theme: I’m wondering, as someone who is currently working on generating a large slush fund in order to quit their job and move to L.A. Reader Question: What is a good number of scripts to have in my portfolio?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |