Why haven't you broken in yet?

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  • #46
    Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

    If your definition of "making it" is having one of your screenplays actually produced, then the odds are slim to none -- sorry to say. There are too many variables that go into getting a movie made, even for the very best spec scripts. However, if you're talented, persistent and most of all, flexible, you can make it in some form of writing -- perhaps industrials, corporate videos or commercials.

    You may even get real lucky and receive some feature assignments if you live in Los Angeles and acquire a really good agent and/or manager. But I wouldn't quit my day job to do screenwriting full time. It was mentioned here to look at past spec sales and see what sells (in terms of genre, story, etc.). I would say to take it a step further: look at spec sales by "first time writers" and see HOW they were sold. Most were sold via big agencies by writers that already had strong connections within the industry. For example, I've seen several cases where a former "executive" with a studio or large production company makes a sale to his or her former company. So if you live in Los Angeles and are really intent on becoming a screenwriter, maybe one possible way in is to get a job in the industry and keep writing on the side. However, even then it's extremely hard to get produced with an original spec these days.

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    • #47
      Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

      My definition of success has been a steadily moving target. After all, it took me nearly 20 years of determined not writing to realize that I'm really a writer at heart. Ever since I realized that, I have been churning out words at an alarming rate. Not always screenplays, but always writing.

      After a while, I thought it would be nice to get paid for my writing. Any of it, really. After I got that first check ($50 for a few paragraphs I wrote for a friend's web site), I decided that it would be nicer still to get paid for a script I had written.

      And that's where I am right now.

      But you know what my biggest hurdle has been so far?

      Fear.

      Fear of success. Fear of failure. Fear of fame. Fear of anonymity. Fear of never fitting in anywhere. Fear of letting my one chance slip away. Fear of not being as good a writer as people have told me I am. Fear of L.A. Fear of risking everything for a career that even the most successful people doing it seem to hate half the time.

      But I think I've finally gotten to the place where I can say, "so what" and do it anyway.
      "The only reason most scripts are bad is because most people can't write." Leslie Dixon

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      • #48
        Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

        Originally posted by Pasquali56 View Post
        However, if you're talented, persistent and most of all, flexible, you can make it in some form of writing -- perhaps industrials, corporate videos or commercials.
        Like W.S. Gilbert in "Topsy-Turvy" (written by Simon Channing-Williams) famous staircase scene, I love the "voice of reason".
        "The writer is the most important person in Hollywood, but we must never tell the sons of bitches." -- Irving G. Thalberg

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        • #49
          Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

          Originally posted by pconsidine View Post
          Fear of success. Fear of failure. Fear of fame. Fear of anonymity. Fear of never fitting in anywhere. Fear of letting my one chance slip away. Fear of not being as good a writer as people have told me I am. Fear of L.A. Fear of risking everything for a career that even the most successful people doing it seem to hate half the time. But I think I've finally gotten to the place where I can say, "so what" and do it anyway.
          Thanks frigging God! And thank you for this. Write your own "Dinner with Andre" with a fear as a theme. Tell it all and have no fear of exposing yourself completely.
          "The writer is the most important person in Hollywood, but we must never tell the sons of bitches." -- Irving G. Thalberg

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          • #50
            Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

            I'm surprised by the whole "any spec that sells is a masterpiece" mentality here. I mean, while I'm happy for Deus and anyone who sells a script, I really didn't find Armored to be much of a masterpiece. I'll be probably the only who says it here, so flame away.

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            • #51
              Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

              It is a good thread.

              I say: I want to drink a soy-latte.
              I drink it.

              I say: I want to write a story.
              I don't write it.

              If I could explain this difference, that would help me.

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              • #52
                Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

                Yeehi a simple would have done justice.
                One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it. - French Proverb

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                • #53
                  Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

                  Originally posted by OzFade View Post
                  Yeehi a simple would have done justice.


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                  • #54
                    Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

                    Originally posted by Jeff_Shurtleff
                    Too bad my ex-manager was a lier and a drug addict.

                    Now dealing with my third manager . . .
                    I guess some people just never learn

                    I doubt if anyone will make it if they treat it as a hobby. It's why, if I don't get lots of positive feedback from my first script, there's a chance I'll devout my energies elsewhere, like setting up my own business. To make it, most people need to excel themselves. To do this you need to be obsessive - I know I am. You need to be constantly striving to improve and at the back of your mind you will always know that even then there's a chance you won't make it.

                    So I don't get when people say that writing is fun. Some of it is, some moments bring elation, but for the most part it's an obsessive battle against your own talents.

                    Except for Dalt Wisney who sounds like a kid genius
                    A lovely being, scarcely formed or moulded,
                    A rose with all its sweetest leaves yet folded.

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                    • #55
                      Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

                      You're probably safe from flames on this one szy. Deus himself was one of the most vehement critics of the claim that "It takes a masterpiece" to break in. There was more than one long thread where we debated this contention ad nauseum.

                      It's one of the points I agreed with Deus most strongly about.

                      ARMORED's exactly what Deus (and myself and a few others around here) have long argued is the price of admission: a good concept competently executed.

                      That's why I implore all beginners to read First Timer Spec Sales. For the most part, these scripts are the quickest, most empirical way to dispel the It takes a masterpiece to break in... myth.
                      Also, I have to wonder about the egomaniac who would declare his own script a "masterpiece." I mean, could you see yourself leaning back in your chair after finishing the fourth draft of WAITER, THERE'S A FLY IN MY QUANTUM SOUP and saying, "It's friggin' brilliant! NOW I can send it out"?

                      Because I couldn't see myself doing that... unless I'd gone off the deep end.
                      Ralphy's Fvcking Blog

                      "
                      Ever notice how 'monogamy' rhymes with 'monotony'?" -- Christian Troy

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                      • #56
                        Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

                        The problem is too many people think their script is great or ready or even good - and it's so far from ready it's frightening.

                        And when you've read finalists for some small contest, and most fit the frightening categorey, you want people to know that it's not the average script that gets you in. It's the script that works.

                        Now, some people have different ideas of great and good - and those definitions may have zilch to do with marketplace. Guess what? The guys who buy scripts care about whether the script will be popular with a mass audience. That's what's good to them.

                        And you know what? That ain't easy. If it was, this thread wouldn't exist.

                        - Bill
                        Free Script Tips:
                        http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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                        • #57
                          Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

                          A lot of this depends on your age.

                          If you're in your early to mid 20's, then I say go for it all the way. Move to Los Angeles, do whatever you have to do to pay bills, and write full time. Write the best you can and network like hell. That's your best chance at success, although the odds are still against you.

                          When you're in you're late 20's and you still haven't broken in, then you better start thinking real quick about a back up plan -- unless you don't want to even think about settling down, having kids, etc. But you may end up in some lousy job/career if you don't get serious about an alternative profession at this point in your life.

                          When you're in your 30's and still haven't broken in, you should already have your back up plan working. Although you love screenwriting and still have the dream, it's definitely time to get a reality check about the business.

                          Beyond 40, assuming you now have a family and still haven't broken in, you'll be working full time in some other profession, while writing when you can.

                          I'm 50 and started out doing this when I was 20. I didn't move to Los Angeles, but rather to New York where I started my advertising career (still do it today). On the side, I've had quite a few sales, options and assignments over the years -- but nothing produced (except for commercials). The bottom line for me is to start young and give it your all before family obligations start to kick in. Priorities changes as you get older.

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                          • #58
                            Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

                            I've not broken in because...

                            Frankly, I have no idea why.

                            I prefer to blame my writing. So, I'm trying to become a better writer. Beyond that, it's out of my control.
                            "I believe that discrimination exists in Hollywood, but ... its much less of an obstacle then poor writing, poor marketing, poor networking and being a whiny little bitch." -- JKK

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                            • #59
                              Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

                              Originally posted by Priya View Post
                              Frankly, I have no idea why.
                              Can you try to look more... Indian? Just a thought, sari, red dot, whatevs...

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                              • #60
                                Re: Why haven't you broken in yet?

                                Pasquali --

                                Your age breakdowns seem pretty arbitrary (to me, anyway).

                                Then again, I've never been one for following any sort of a practical approach to life.

                                I have no plans to settle down/get married.

                                I have no plans to raise kids.

                                I really don't care about living "The American Dream."

                                So, yeah, I'm in my early 30s, and screenwriting is still my Plan A. Sound crazy? Good.

                                (No one I know has ever accused me of being sane.)
                                Ralphy's Fvcking Blog

                                "
                                Ever notice how 'monogamy' rhymes with 'monotony'?" -- Christian Troy

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