Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

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  • #61
    Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

    Originally posted by SBScript View Post
    >Don't know about WYWS, but I remember the first two getting immediate, enthusiastic responses.<<

    Yes, I think that's right, specifically, American Beauty actually sold pretty quickly even in its original, flawed form. Funny enough, I had lunch with the guy who bought it, and he said he and another studio head were trying to figure out why he had bought it when the other Studio head had passes. It turned out he he had read the script, while the guy who passed had only read the coverage...
    And Alan Ball has done pretty well for himself.

    http://www.pjmcilvaine.com/

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    • #62
      Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

      Originally posted by Scripted77 View Post
      To be fair, he was speaking of development people. Not sure if he feels the same about reps. But, seriously, if you have a compelling story that works within the realm of Hollywood as a whole, you should be able to find plenty of people interested in reading it.

      Granted -- but first you have to get the rep to get you to the producer. Usually a manager if you're cold querying.

      We see posts on DD, "I queried 100 managers this week." Add in all the Scriptblaster type services -- imagine how many cold query loglines are delivered to managers every day?

      And your operative statement - "if you have a compelling story that works within the realm of Hollywood as a whole" - has a LOT to do with it and it's a topic all on its own.

      All of the above factors into the odds against a never-sold spec writer. That's all I've been saying all along.

      Can't we admit the difficulty out loud?

      Perhaps it will save a lot of people a whole lot of grief when they read general statements about "what it takes to make it" and, given the human ego's tendency to think "I am great," they end up chasing a near-to-impossible dream without being informed.

      I personally have taken a different approach. I'm not putting all my career eggs in this basket. But some people are, and as the years click by they have felt no need for a Plan B because, "Hey - I'm talented. I'm gonna make it!" Or, "Oh, I had a meeting in Starbucks with an exec -- I'm selling any day now!" Or, "I got a no-money option from some guy who ran an ad on Craig's list! I'm selling any day now."

      Can we simply be honest about the odds against breaking in?

      Or, is it that we who embrace the dream are so overwhelmed by the cold, hard reality of what we're up against, today, in the year 2009, that it's easier to have "debates" over statements like, "You have talent you'll make it."
      Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

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      • #63
        Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

        Regardless of the obstacles...

        I'm so freakin' happy I'm a woman.

        Jeez!
        Brown-Balled by the Hollywood Clika

        Latino Heart Project's MEXICAN HEART...ATTACK!

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        • #64
          Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

          Originally posted by writerly
          Take the Coen Bros for example, from my hometown, you really think they are not artists? Or Woody Allen?
          In the best of best case scenarios, you end up with a blend of art and commerce. I'm not saying that art and commerce cannot coexist; I'm simply saying that on the major studio, corporate-controlled level, business trumps art every day of the week.

          I don't believe that necessarily excludes quality. There are a lot of studio movies that are both profitable and good. But the idea that Hollywood is about nurturing artists in any way, shape or form is fantasy. It's about capitalizing on product. There's a great deal that's still good. There's a great deal that isn't.

          Take SLUMDOG as the most recent example. It wasn't considered a lucrative property with WB, so they released it to Fox Searchlight. Searchlight did it right and it made a boatload of money. Everyone at B obviously loved the MOVIE, but they didn't love its believed earning potential, so they cut it loose. Business over art every day. But if they'd have known that it was going to be such a box office sensation, you think they'd let it go?

          Remember, the whole thrust of this script is to get you to worry about controling the ONLY thing you can control: the quality of your work. You can't control corporate tendencies. You can't control distribution. You can't control that Hollywood, but its modern nature, is a business first. All you can do is write great material and, if you do, you'll make it. Everything else will shake out on a case-by-case basis.

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          • #65
            Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

            Originally posted by umo View Post
            Regardless of the obstacles...

            I'm so freakin' happy I'm a woman.

            Jeez!
            Ditto.
            Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

            Comment


            • #66
              Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

              Listen, if people made it on talent alone, this thread would be moot. So much more goes into it: luck, timing, connections, networking, the time of the month, did the exec get laid last night (or not), etc., etc., etc. If this were strictly a talent competition, why, we'd all be living in Laurel Canyon sipping rum and coke.

              http://www.pjmcilvaine.com/

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              • #67
                Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

                Originally posted by LIMAMA View Post
                Listen, if people made it on talent alone, this thread would be moot. So much more goes into it: luck, timing, connections, networking, the time of the month, did the exec get laid last night (or not), etc., etc., etc. If this were strictly a talent competition, why, we'd all be living in Laurel Canyon sipping rum and coke.

                You're making me thirsty, Limama...

                It's too early. Or is it?
                Brown-Balled by the Hollywood Clika

                Latino Heart Project's MEXICAN HEART...ATTACK!

                Comment


                • #68
                  Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

                  Originally posted by sc111 View Post
                  Granted -- but first you have to get the rep to get you to the producer. Usually a manager if you're cold querying.

                  (...)

                  Or, is it that we who embrace the dream are so overwhelmed by the cold, hard reality of what we're up against, today, in the year 2009, that it's easier to have "debates" over statements like, "You have talent you'll make it."
                  Not true. I am one example of a writer that fostered alternate relationships to get his first sale without a manager or an agent. It happens infrequently but it does happen. Assistants, interns, readers...you don't have to have a rep to get to a producer. All you have to know is one person in the right place.

                  And I'd assert that the "cold, hard reality of what we're up against" is less a series of hypothetical barriers to entry. The main barrier to entry is lack of talent. And you're right - more people should be honest with themselves about that.

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                  • #69
                    Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

                    Originally posted by LIMAMA View Post
                    ... If this were strictly a talent competition, why, we'd all be living in Laurel Canyon sipping rum and snorting coke.


                    If you really like it you can have the rights
                    It could make a million for you overnight

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                    • #70
                      Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

                      Originally posted by goosetown View Post
                      Not true. I am one example of a writer that fostered alternate relationships to get his first sale without a manager or an agent. .
                      Didn't you work as an assistant to a studio exec? Didn't you develop the exec's idea about LD relationships and put his name on your script as co-writer at first? Is that the relationship you fostered?

                      (Edited to add "as co-writer" sorry for error)
                      Advice from writer, Kelly Sue DeConnick. "Try this: if you can replace your female character with a sexy lamp and the story still basically works, maybe you need another draft.-

                      Comment


                      • #71
                        Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

                        Originally posted by writerly
                        stepping way from your suit in disguise personae that's really freaking me out...

                        then how on earth do you explain the script I read last Tuesday?

                        because, 'gouge my eyeballs out' still comes to mind as preferable to reading one.more.page.
                        I think talent for networking, self promotion, and making connections with powerful people has to be factored into the equation. This talent, call it "people talent" or "power aptitude," is as big a factor as writing talent, IMHO.

                        Not just in Hwd, but everywhere.
                        If you really like it you can have the rights
                        It could make a million for you overnight

                        Comment


                        • #72
                          Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

                          Originally posted by DBense18
                          A reader becomes a writer and now he has ALL of this wisdom on the subjects of business, talent, and gender equality in Hollywood? -- Big ****.
                          Well...yes. Would you rather not take advice from someone who's been working in the industry for several years and who's sharing his experiences and observations with those trying to do the same? Am I missing something? I'm calling things as I've seen them. Should I instead be misleading?

                          Luck, business, gender equality, the economy, studio politics...on and on and on and on. Yes, these are ALL factors in whether or not a screenplay sells. They're also all modes of operation completely out of your control. Which is the whole point of this thread: as a writer, you can control ONLY the quality of your material. And if you write great stuff, you will succeed. It's the most intrinsic part of the formula, though it seems to be the part that some are most willing to cast off as a mere brick in the wall.

                          Comment


                          • #73
                            Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

                            Originally posted by sc111 View Post
                            Didn't you work as an assistant to a studio exec? Didn't you develop the exec's idea about LD relationships and put his name on your script as co-writer at first? Is that the relationship you fostered?

                            (Edited to add "as co-writer" sorry for error)
                            Um...no, I was not a studio assistant, I was a reader. However yes, I developed an idea with a studio exec based on both of our personal experiences. And no, he was not a "co-writer" at first, as I wrote the screenplay entirely on my own. He was listed as having co-story credit - much different than a co-writing credit - but he decided to relinquish it so there was no conflict of interest with the studio.

                            Let's at least get the basic facts straight, yeah?

                            So...yes, that's exactly the type of relationship I fostered. I feel like you're trying to nail me to the wall for something here, but that's exactly what I was talking about. Do you think that's the first time a situation like that brought about the sale of a script?

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                            • #74
                              Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

                              A quick PS -

                              Someone made the comment earlier that this thread is spent, and I think someone else jokingly referred to it as "spinning out of control". I couldn't disagree more. If you're uncomfortable that people who have opinions and stand their groud disagree, I understand. But I think this is not just healthy, but necessary in our community.

                              I don't think there's anything wrong with heated debate. And I don't think there's anything wrong with some verbal punches being thrown. It makes the banter more lively and interesting. But the fact that we're discussing it at all makes me perfectly happy, because these issues - whether you agree with me, others on this thread, or you have a more Switzerlandish POV - I believe don't get brought out into the open enough.

                              I appreciate everyone who's participated so far. This is a good thing.

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                              • #75
                                Re: Aspiring Writers: Worrying About What You Can Control

                                Man people get tense and on edge around here.

                                I think the moral of the WHOLE STORY goose was trying to say that is IF and WHEN your in a position for one of the key-holders in this town to read your script, the QUALITY OF THE SCREENPLAY trumps all cards.

                                Everyones story of how they got there is different. But no matter how you got there its your material that closes the deal for you.

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