The 10 Year Apprenticeship

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  • The 10 Year Apprenticeship

    I started out writing scripts in 1996. Back then, I was very naive and thought of it as a way to win the lottery. Fortunately, I had a friend break in the following year and with his success came sage advice.

    (An aside: He sold a script and a novel for 1 million in 1997 and his agent told him not to quit his job yet. Amazing.)

    I asked him for his take on how hard one must work to get their craft to the point where it could garner a script that could sell. He thought about it and told me that the average unspoken "apprenticeship" that most aspiring screenwriters endure is 10 years before they are truly good enough to write saleable material.

    Back then, I scoffed. Surely at the ripe age of 21, I was ready. After all, I had already written two terrific features (which sucked major a$$, but I didn't know that then). I would be the next Shane Black. Only time would tell.

    And boy did it...

    I wrote year after year, getting better with each spec, but still not up to what anybody thought would sell. My first big break came with my third script. I was referred to one of the big five and I got a fancy, custom-written letter (thank God it wasn't a form letter) that said I had real talent as a writer but the script's central idea was big enough to be a feature. So, back to the drawing board. But, at least they left the door open to read more of my work. I felt somewhat vindicated that I wasn't wasting my time.

    My next spec (my fourth) did a little better. This time, an agent from the same big five agency called me and said "I had done a terrific job." He stated that they would work with me on developing the script before going out with it. Sadly, as the months passed I never really heard back from them as their money-making client roster was clearly their focus (as well it should have been).

    So, I toiled onward, writing three more scripts. Now, I'm up to 8 years and going. I talked with my "pro writer" buddy who had since sold more novels and more scripts as well as being hired for major rewrites by various studios. I asked him how in the world did you ever manage to break in? It seems impossible. He told me that at the time he broke in (97'), the studios were hardly spendthrifts. They threw money around at any halfway decent concept (as evidenced by his admission that his own script was only mediocre at best). The money was there because the box office was overflowing. Times change. Just like the dot com burst, tough times made their way into Tinseltown. Suddenly, there was a huge "tightening of the belt." Studio fat cats had spent too much on too many flops. It was time to cut the fat and really strain out the gems from the zirconia. Studios got smart and reined in the amount of money and opportunities to cast around to fledgling wannabe's. Studios were now unofficially "penalizing" future screenwriters for their lavish days of yesteryear. I sighed. He said that now in order to break in, it takes pushing past the midnight hour, giving it one more go when everything within you tells you to hang it up. He told me that that is in fact the only real gate keeping most people out -- perseverance past total and complete exhaustion/frustration. So, I lumbered on.

    I did make a pit stop on my ninth script to write an indie -- just in case I actually did want to ever see one of my scripts made as a movie. Who'dathunkit?

    So, here I am in year 10 (96-06), just having polished my 10th spec. (I know, I know -- in 10 years I should have written like 20 scripts, but I'm married with a kid and work full time, so nyaaah!) The script having been read by others I'm told is my best ever and will probably be "the one." (How many times have I heard that before.) So, I brace to find out if my ten years and ten scripts can possibly shove me over that one foot high perverbial gate.

    I now believe in the 10 year apprenticeship, fully. Not just because I've had to endure it, but because I do see the lessons it brings -- you have time to learn about life, to learn what didn't work in your older stuff, to learn about the entire filmmaking process, to learn about marketing and its pivotal role in your concept mining. Sure, there will be those who get lucky or are wunderkinds and skirt the 10 years of metamorphasis, but I'm willing to bet that more often than not, the 10 year gestation period is spot on.

    When asked about their smash hit "There's Something About Mary," the Farrelly brothers replied, "It takes ten years of hard work to become an overnight success."

    WM
    Last edited by writeman; 07-03-2006, 07:17 AM.

  • #2
    Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

    good luck. I hope it turns out for you.

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    • #3
      Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

      You've worked your arse off, that's for sure. 10 years is easily one year times 10. Hope you sell that big script.
      Smile Is Best Makeup!

      -A Grammatically Incorrect Japanese Proverb

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      • #4
        Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

        I heard the same 10 year thing from my second agent. I was like, WHAT! No way!

        He-he... She was right.

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        • #5
          Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

          I remember hearing about a poll the WGA did with its members and the average was ten years of writing, pitching and options before the first real sale.

          Fortune favors the bold - Virgil

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          • #6
            Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

            You guys are all hacks. For me it's 9 years and 7 months.

            Hacks, I tell you.

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            • #7
              Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

              Wow, even your post is fun to read. Too bad that doesn't count for anything in a pitch.
              Never mistake motion for action. ~Ernest Hemingway

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              • #8
                Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

                Well, Bellabell if you can be discouraged as a writer, you should be.

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                • #9
                  Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

                  and of course it's ten year of hard work, not then years of writer's block!

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                  • #10
                    Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

                    I think all of you are making the mistake of thinking that it is impossible to become a good, sellable screenwriter in less than ten years. I'm sure it'll very comforting to think that if I haven't done **** years from now, it must be normal and hell I've only failed for eight years, I've still got two left to become a decent enough writer to get a nice, friendly, hand written rejection letter. I don't think it's that you are a bad writer, but that it might take a good writer 5-8 years to get enough luck to actually get a fair shot in the business side of things. Of course it takes time to get better, but if you apply yourself and work hard, I don't think you have to expect a decade to go by before you show any progress. Putting time limitations on these things just doesn't serve a point as far as I can tell. Don't you think buying into this ten year thing is just a way to build up defense mechanisms and to justify things? Forget about it, just write.
                    Last edited by TodayIsTomorrow; 07-03-2006, 02:39 PM.

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                    • #11
                      Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

                      Originally posted by TodayIsTomorrow
                      I think all of you are making the mistake of thinking that it is impossible to become a good, sellable screenwriter in less than ten years... ...Don't you think buying into this ten year thing is just a way to build up defense mechanisms and to justify things? Forget about it, just write.
                      First, re-read the post. Second, I certainly didn't state it is impossible to sell without the ten year period. I merely stated that several industry pro's along with others who know them seem to find that the notion of the 10 year apprenticeship period rings true. And third, of course I've "just written." Ten scripts if you remember from the post.

                      Originally posted by BestWriterEver
                      "Apprenticeship" makes one think that at the end of the ten years, you're likely to get a sale. You may be *slightly* more likely to sell after practicing for ten years, but the odds are still overwhelmingly against you.
                      Agreed. Nothing is guaranteed at the end of the rainbow. Again, the original spirit of the post wasn't to state this as an absolute rule but rather an intruiging notion that seems to be backed up by many real life examples. Therefore, again, I feel it has some merit.

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                      • #12
                        Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

                        Originally posted by BestWriterEver
                        If a writer hasn't made a dime and he's been at it for ten years, I just don't think that's a suggestion that success is imminent.
                        I don't think Writeman was talking about NOT making a dime. He was talking about the big spec sale. A lot of us have made money on this board and have had films made. But that BIG sale can be elusive. That's what I think he was talking about.

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                        • #13
                          Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

                          Took me twelve novels in twelve years before my thirteenth--my first published book--was accepted. And it started my screenwriting career, as well.

                          A long apprenticeship, but well worth it.
                          Last edited by Jake Schuster; 07-03-2006, 06:42 PM.

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                          • #14
                            Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

                            Funny enough and without knowing anything from anyone about that ten years...I thought to myself I will venture that amount of time to learn and sell/option at least one script.
                            Yes, I'm somewhat optimistic.
                            A talent for drama is not a talent for writing, but is an ability to articulate human relationships.
                            Gore Vidal

                            "Aisatsu Yori Ensatsu"
                            Money is better than compliments.


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                            • #15
                              Re: The 10 Year Apprenticeship

                              i have to agree. i takes about ten years to shake the bugs out. everyone goes through the 'i'm so damn talented' phase, but few get through to the other side. that's where the real work and progress can be made.

                              disagree about the perseverance thing, though. i don't persevere, or even try. i just write. i do it because i want to, because i like it. i won't quit as long as i feel the way i do. if that changes, i'm out. it won't be about persevering, it'll be about moving on. on the flip side, as long as i love to write i don't have to convince myself to keep going - i just keep going.

                              z
                              moovyboovy.com

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