People are always complaining about the crap that’s currently at the theaters, and is getting made on television, (yes most of the cable networks get a pass), and that their stuff is better yet they can’t seem to get arrested. I’m sorry to tell you this is just not the case. When your work gets good enough it will in fact garner attention.
Why do I know this? I’ve worked inside a funding agency, as well as having worked at several production companies reading all of the material that came through the door seeking either a producer to take it on, or money to actually see it go into production. I’ve read hundreds of scripts and television series proposals over the years and I can quite plainly tell you that through all of that time, I actually came across only a handful of real winners. It was in fact a matter of choosing from those projects that had some merit, and could hopefully be massaged into being something better. And in most cases there was a heck of a lot of massaging required.
Maybe it was an original premise that caught our attention, or some interesting characters that were well shaped and fully dimensional, or the writer did in fact show some promise and we thought they could be worked with to get the script(s) where they needed to be in order to be given a green light. In all of that time I probably picked up five things and said YES – this is worthy of getting behind and doesn’t require major surgery.
The big fallacy that so many writers have is that they just aren’t getting paid the attention they are due. As Robert McKee, the guru of screenwriting said in his book “Story”, this is anything but the case. The industry is starved for good material, and what you are seeing on screens is actually the best that is out there. That, in a convoluted way, is some very good news for you. McKee is a bit of a tough bunny so I will cite someone else on the ability of a writer to get good. Stephen King believes that just about anyone, given enough time and effort can become a competent writer. And competency is what the industry is looking for. If you keep at it and keep working and keep pumping out scripts, you will eventually reach your goal and start getting calls for meetings.
I know a woman who has written eight scripts with hopes of getting one produced for the US cable market….no luck yet, but she hasn’t given up and gets up and puts words to paper every day. Through this effort she is finding her voice, her skills are improving, her ability to create real and compelling dialogue is getting better, and she is testing herself to keep coming up with interesting plot lines. Her work will not be in vain…at least I believe it won’t, because with each script she is getting better. Writing is a process and it takes time to achieve your dreams of seeing your work on the screen or in print. The author Malcolm Gladwell believes that real mastery of any skill comes with 10,000 hours of practice…I’m praying it’s a little less, but that’s his theory.
The key is not to send stuff out before its ready to be seen by the world. That’s the mistake so many junior writers make. They think the first thing they’ve done is absolute genius and is going to win an Oscar, and they pepper every production company and agent known to man with it. The possibility existed that they had something good on their hands, it was a winning idea, but the material just wasn’t there yet. They’ve lost an opportunity because maybe, just maybe, that script could have been worked into something brilliant….if they’d only taken a few breaths and let it sit for a while, and worked it and re-worked it until it was without fault.
I had a script come across my desk one day. The woman who had written it told me she had sent it to the agent of a major actress. There was an original concept to her story but the writing just wasn’t where it should have or could have been. She shouldn’t have sent it out. Then about two years later guess what? I saw a movie come out starring this actress with a concept that was identical. The writer of the produced film had just taken a different spin on it. I of course would never tell her this….but I had a sneaking suspicion her story had been the inspiration that someone else took and ran with. And what recourse did she have? Absolutely none because one script did not match the other in any way….it was just her idea they ripped off and used, that anybody could have come up with. Problem was she came up with it first, and let her baby out into the world before it was ready to be seen.
Another problem is that people remember names, and if yours keeps coming through the door attached to sub-standard work it’s not even going to be looked at – and if you’re lucky it will be put at the bottom of a very large slush pile which they may get to two years down the road. You need to put your best face forward, and if they don’t accept what you’ve submitted at least you will be flagged as someone to watch out for in the future because you’re good at what you do. You have skills and those skills will be recognized. And how do you demonstrate those skills? That brings me to my next piece of advice…your first 15 pages.
Writers think that their whole script it going to be read. Unless it’s great it’s not! “But my third act is stellar….you really have to read it. The whole film really comes together.” Trust me, no one is going to make it that far. The first act and those opening pages have to hit it out of the park. If it’s not there in those first few pages the script will be closed, and set aside for somebody to write you a letter of rejection. A thanks but no thanks.
You have to grab the reader by the throat and not let go. You have to entice them to keep going. Make them want to know what comes next. You have to draw them into a world that is so real they feel like they are there. You have to create a compelling protagonist that makes people care about them and want to know what plight is about to befall them. Stuff has to happen, worlds have to collide, and you have to take the reader on a ride they don’t want to get off of – hence the reason they are going to keep reading.
And I will be honest here…some writing has been so bad I have read as little as 5 pages. There was no point in going on. It would have been a waste of my time when there was so many more scripts and proposals sitting on my desk waiting for attention. Some people in the industry will read that miniscule amount of your work and make judgments based on what they’ve seen – scary yet empowering at the same time. Because you have the ability to keep working on those opening pages until the cows come home.
Everyone in the industry is looking for promise – the great hope that they are going to discover an unknown and yet unproduced writer whose work is gold. Trust me…that’s the dream. Everybody wants it. They want your work to be good. They want to read something great that thrills and inspires them. They want it so bad they can taste it. There is such anticipation when they start to read what you’ve written the air is thick with electricity. They are on pins and needles waiting to see if you are going to wow them. So why not put the time in and be that person? Be the one that makes them get out of their chair, pump their fist in the air, and say YES….I have a winner!