style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> Screenwriting can be frustrating, no doubt.Rejections. Blown deals.Inexplicable
heartbreak.It’s all part of it.But don’t take it all so personally, because
there’s something I’ve learned along the way: So many decisions about your precious career have nothing to do with you
at all.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> As just one example, here’s a quick story about
an agent at a major agency who went out of his way to help me — for reasons
that turned out to have very little to do with anything I wrote.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> A producer I had gotten to know recommended one
of my scripts to this agent.The agent
was a major player.He’s repped some
seriously famous acting talent, and I was way over my head to be in a meeting
with this guy at all.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> An underling, whose role seemed to be to prep me
for the meeting with this very busy power broker, told me that I’d be sitting
down in this guy’s office, then we’d chat for a minute or two, and then I was
to “make him laugh.”Apparently that
was this guy’s litmus test:You had to
make him laugh on the spot.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> When the time came for the meeting, this agent
seemed insanely busy and kept taking phone calls.Our “chat” consisted of this guy telling me
how time-starved he was and that he needed to get up at five in the morning to
fit in time on the treadmill.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> I resorted to a comedy pitch I had used a few
days before at a production company, one that had gotten a positive response.But this agent just stared at me.No laughter. Not even a smile.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> I figured the meeting was a bust, but then this
guy proceeded to recommend me to some of the top management companies in L.A.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> Given that the meeting didn’t go very well, I wondered
why this busy guy was taking the time to help me.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> That is until the agent found out that the
producer who had recommended me had interest in managing me.The agent called me up in a huff.He was hugely concerned that his
recommendation of other managers might offend this producer.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> Around the same time, it came to my attention
that this producer who had recommended me had a movie in the works, and that this
agent had clients in mind for this movie.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> Hmm. It was all starting to come together.The agent was helping me to curry favor with
that producer so he could get work for people other than me.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> I was a pawn in an industry where relationships
are 90% of the equation and substance is 10%.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> In this case, being a pawn actually helped me
gain some exposure.I have other
anecdotes in which the movie-making chess game didn’t go so well for me, but I
prefer to focus on the positive.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> Don’t beat yourself up when you get a no.Or when a meeting doesn’t go as planned.Because there’s a very good chance that what
happened had very little to do with you.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> And when things do go well, and your name is up
there in the credits, don’t let your head get too big, because the same truth
applies to your success.
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> When I say cheating on your loved one in this blog, I’m of course referring to cheating on your screenplay’s plot. Our stories are dear to our hearts, and they depend on us, so in the New Year let’s all resolve to cheat less (in our plotting). style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none;…
Do titles matter? Here are two brief anecdotes that say yes. A few years ago, I was in L.A. pitching ideas to a well-known manager. He sat quietly on his living room couch as I tossed log line after log line his way. Nothing seemed to resonate with him. Finally, I pitched a new idea…
A few years ago my manager submitted a script of mine to Sony. After a weekend of nail-biting anticipation I finally found out that they!!!!!!! — passed. The reason, I was told, was that they have a policy of making films offering “wish fulfillment” and this particular script didn’t fit the bill. It got me thinking…
Feeling out of creative steam? It happens to every writer at every level. There’s so much resistance, so much rewriting, so much everything – it’s easy for any writer to lose momentum. But momentum is everything. All you really need, to eventually succeed, is to move forward. All you really need is momentum. If you…
This month I’d like to talk about fear in our screenplays. I’m not talking about the horror genre. I’m talking about the writing process itself. I’m talking about writing in a state of panic – fueled by the fear of failure. This is a phenomenon I’ve seen fairly often. It goes like this: A…
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> I’ve pitched original TV shows. I’ve judged TV scripts in a major screenwriting competition. And I’ve been hired to write for television. Based on these experiences, here, for what they’re worth, are three thoughts on writing for TV: style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace:…
