Re: favorite Stoner Comedies
There's a couple of reasons.
I have a great job now that pays well and isn't demanding, so it isn't like I'm hoping to win that lottery by breaking into Hollywood. I have neither the time nor the inclination to jump through all the hoops in a futile effort to try to get someone in Hollywood to even look at my work, much less buy it. I don't have any contacts and don't live there, and have zero interest in living in LA.
I write for myself because I enjoy writing and enjoy the challenge writing a screenplay with the page limits presents. I could write a novel, but anyone can tell a story in an unlimited number of pages. Getting down to under 120 is trickier. I've filmed a few of the things I've written, so I've lived that dream of seeing something I wrote on screen. I've adapted novels I've read into screenplays and miniseries just to see if I could. Some worked, some didn't, but I gave it a go.
Even if I were to manage to sell something, and even though I know that at least one version of my work exists encased in amber and that the suits can neve change the copy I have, do I really want a bunch of suits mucking around with the stuff I create? Changing the characters I build out of clay to suit the needs of an actor or changing the ending to make it more commercial, or building spinoffs and sequels and take the characters in places I don't want them to go? There's a reason I made the characters the way I did and don't want to see them mangled by people who count beans and don't even try to see the subtext of the story.
For me, screenwriting is a hobby. It's not my dream, it's not what I want to do when I grow up, I just enjoy writing and I enjoy movies and it's just something I can do in my spare time that combines the two. I come to places like this site because I want to get better at it, not because I'm trying to hone my craft so i can live Barton Fink and Entourage.
Originally posted by SimplyE
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I have a great job now that pays well and isn't demanding, so it isn't like I'm hoping to win that lottery by breaking into Hollywood. I have neither the time nor the inclination to jump through all the hoops in a futile effort to try to get someone in Hollywood to even look at my work, much less buy it. I don't have any contacts and don't live there, and have zero interest in living in LA.
I write for myself because I enjoy writing and enjoy the challenge writing a screenplay with the page limits presents. I could write a novel, but anyone can tell a story in an unlimited number of pages. Getting down to under 120 is trickier. I've filmed a few of the things I've written, so I've lived that dream of seeing something I wrote on screen. I've adapted novels I've read into screenplays and miniseries just to see if I could. Some worked, some didn't, but I gave it a go.
Even if I were to manage to sell something, and even though I know that at least one version of my work exists encased in amber and that the suits can neve change the copy I have, do I really want a bunch of suits mucking around with the stuff I create? Changing the characters I build out of clay to suit the needs of an actor or changing the ending to make it more commercial, or building spinoffs and sequels and take the characters in places I don't want them to go? There's a reason I made the characters the way I did and don't want to see them mangled by people who count beans and don't even try to see the subtext of the story.
For me, screenwriting is a hobby. It's not my dream, it's not what I want to do when I grow up, I just enjoy writing and I enjoy movies and it's just something I can do in my spare time that combines the two. I come to places like this site because I want to get better at it, not because I'm trying to hone my craft so i can live Barton Fink and Entourage.
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