...is that they aren't excellent.
That's all. And then all the chatter is just rationalizing. Note: I did not say they suck. Or even that they are bad. Some are quite good. But good is not good enough.
Your screenplay has to be excellent. It has to have a story that's compelling, so compelling that the reader waits to eat dinner or turn on Howard Stern or go in the other room and have sex. It has to have dialog that actors will fight each other to say. It has to have a few moments that make someone want to email someone else to say: I just read this scene that's so twisted or funny or dark or sexy or insane or brutal or magical.
It has to ****ing announce itself the way Obama with his 2004 convention speech.
I can tell you why each and every one of my original screenplays that got made got made. And I can tell you why the ones that didn't, didn't.
Just flipping write. And send em out.
People, friends of mine, will say 'it's harder now' 'more difficult, fewer buyers.' All true.
But it was always hard. I remember the year we sold our first spec a stat came out that 90 scripts had sold out of 100,000 submitted. And that out of those 13 were made. If I had known those odds, maybe I wouldn't have started. Now everyone knows those odds. And I understand that it's daunting. if you can be happy doing anything else, do it.
But please, if you do this, stop trying to look for the Magic Formula.
There is none. There is only your natural curiosity, enthusiasm, intellect, vocabulary, people skills, sense of humor, and critical thinking ability.
And then, most importantly is the discipline to shut the world out--the 'rules' guidelines, advice, harsh realities--to sit down and write every single day.
Guess what: you can sell your first screenplay. You can use voiceover. You can use We See. You can do whatever the **** you want to. If you do it so well that it is undeniable.
Anything less and it probably won't happen.
That's all. And then all the chatter is just rationalizing. Note: I did not say they suck. Or even that they are bad. Some are quite good. But good is not good enough.
Your screenplay has to be excellent. It has to have a story that's compelling, so compelling that the reader waits to eat dinner or turn on Howard Stern or go in the other room and have sex. It has to have dialog that actors will fight each other to say. It has to have a few moments that make someone want to email someone else to say: I just read this scene that's so twisted or funny or dark or sexy or insane or brutal or magical.
It has to ****ing announce itself the way Obama with his 2004 convention speech.
I can tell you why each and every one of my original screenplays that got made got made. And I can tell you why the ones that didn't, didn't.
Just flipping write. And send em out.
People, friends of mine, will say 'it's harder now' 'more difficult, fewer buyers.' All true.
But it was always hard. I remember the year we sold our first spec a stat came out that 90 scripts had sold out of 100,000 submitted. And that out of those 13 were made. If I had known those odds, maybe I wouldn't have started. Now everyone knows those odds. And I understand that it's daunting. if you can be happy doing anything else, do it.
But please, if you do this, stop trying to look for the Magic Formula.
There is none. There is only your natural curiosity, enthusiasm, intellect, vocabulary, people skills, sense of humor, and critical thinking ability.
And then, most importantly is the discipline to shut the world out--the 'rules' guidelines, advice, harsh realities--to sit down and write every single day.
Guess what: you can sell your first screenplay. You can use voiceover. You can use We See. You can do whatever the **** you want to. If you do it so well that it is undeniable.
Anything less and it probably won't happen.
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