That Sense Of Accomplishment

Why do we write? The question plagues every screenwriter who has yet to successfully market a project. And yet, we continue to plug away.

I have a dozen finished scripts. Most of them are not the best, early efforts. But I take pride in every one of them. Because I did it. I took an idea and turned it into a completed work.

How many people think about, talk about, dream about writing a screenplay? But they never do. They go to the movies and leave feeling as if they have been cheated by the poor quality crap they just watched. And paid good money to do so. Many think they could do better but never try.

Those of us who have sat down at the keyboard know how really difficult it is to turn out a good story. Forget writing a great story, just pounding out a story worthy of consideration is hard enough. The idea sounds so good inside your brain. You walk it though and work it out. Make notes and develop the characters. You pin the cards to the storyboard. Then you sit at the computer and begin to type away and junk flows. What happened!? It sounded so great inside your head. However, finally, after weeks or months or even years you have the completed product in front of you. You print it out, punch the holes and insert the brads. It is done!

Perhaps no one in the industry will ever read it. Perhaps the only people you will convince to give it a look are friends and that special mate. They will patiently read every word and try their best to be positive. Or you will take it to your screen writing association and they will pick it apart or give you the big thumbs up. Regardless, you did it. You did the work, put in the time, sweat out the details. You have a completed piece of work you can hold in your hands.

And at that job you need to pay the bills, you will listen to people complain about how much their lives suck while they do nothing to change it. But you, you did something to try to change your life. And you can hold it in your hands with pride.

Congratulations.

Hollywood Is Broken

The fix lies out there beyond the entertainment business.

Americans are starved for entertainment. A recent survey found that most teens are … wait for it … bored. You did not misunderstand. The average US teenager is bored with his/her life. That is why we witness on TV and the Internet some of the most bizarre, some would say, stupid behavior in the history of the world. Here is the punch line; most movies are cut for a teen audience. And yet, the average movie released this year will fall short of insider expectations at the box-office. In other words, Hollywood cannot seem to make films their target audience wants to see despite the fact that the audience is bored to tears and looking for distractions.

That is where we come in. We, the aspiring screenwriters located out in flyover country, the non-insiders.

An unfortunate reality is that the odds of a writer living outside of Los Angeles or New York selling a spec script is about as good as winning the lottery, for now. But for how long? Hollywood is run on money. Those of us out here in the boonies find that hard to believe given the poor to terrible quality of most films, especially those considered blockbusters.

Case in point, 10,000 B.C. I recently attended a private showing in a pristine theatre. The showing was private because my daughter, son-in-law and I were the only ones who bought tickets and the theatre was sparkling clean since no one attended the previous screening. $150,000,000.00 to make a film with a weak plot, little character development and an ending that left one saying, “What?” And before you defend this massive failure as non-typical, remember King Kong, The Golden Compass and I could name a dozen if pressed to do so. The movie business is currently clueless on appealing to their customers' desires.

Back to my point, money makes the film go round. So, how long will the money people continue to give huge sums of cash to people to produce movies with sketchy track records of returns? Especially given the entertainment industry’s ability to manipulate the numbers to reward some and screw others. Eventually, one would think, the money people would seek out new. New, defined as anything but those currently wasting money hand over fist.

Aspiring writers keep writing. Continue to search out any and every opportunity to sell your work. Dare to dream. It may be a long shot but the odds are shrinking.

The Scriptwriter - Beginnings

Wisdom does not always emanate from wise men. Over the years, I have learned that fact by hearing and assimilating truth from individuals who proved unable to apply their intelligent thought to their own lives. And so it is with this thought, spoken by a man in the process of leading a righteous organization down a destructive path.

Writing a novel begins by sitting down and typing.

A few years ago I was frustrated. Frustrated with my job, my life, my everything. I needed a change and had no idea which way to go. I pulled out a notebook and started to write. When I had enough pages, I sat at the computer and pecked away. It was the Great American Novel. Only, it was not that great. Actually, it was not that good. I still have the completed manuscript. I think it is a good story but needs a lot of work. Anyway, I wrote several more stories but, as those who have tried to have their material published quickly learn, the market is so tight; a writer must have the entire universe aligned to hope for a publishing deal. More frustration.

Then I received a request for one of my stories. But, it seems, I made a mistake. I had sent a query letter to an agency representing both screenplays and book manuscripts but failed to specify that the material was a novel. They requested the screenplay. I had one month to send the requested material before the offer expired. Not wanting to lose the opportunity, I bought a cheap scriptwriting program, dumped my novel into it and began frantically changing the format.

Yeah! It seems funny now. I knew nothing about how to write a script. The completed manuscript was more than 200 pages.

While I was waiting for a response, I purchased a couple of books on the subject and did a little internet research. It did not take long to realize that my “script” was going to be soundly rejected and it was. But I was hooked. Sure, the odds of selling a script are not that much better for an amateur writer than for a amateur novelist but you do not tell a dreamer the odds. They do not care.

Since that time, I have written a dozen screenplays. Each one is progressively better. I am discovering my strengths and weaknesses. I am learning technique and style. I have no illusions but I do have dreams. And is it not dreams that keep us moving? Dreams that allow us to tolerate the mundane of life?

Let the dreams continue.