Harsh realities and hope.

Good stuff, Joe.

Personally, I know people who have succeeded outside of LA, and I know tons of people who are doing McJobs in LA.

Eventually, you might want to move to LA, to have more opportunities. But it's not necessary. And truthfully, I think your odds are better if you start out somewhere else.

Perhaps this post could be something all newcomers can take a look at Joe.

But good advice, well said. Hopefully it will hit a few, who may in their own life be finding out just how hard it is to "break into the business", which is the reason for all thier negative postings. Some people tend to think, that anyone can just pick up an idea, jot it down and its the answer Hollywood needs thats gunna rise them to fame and stardom, just like that. Forgetting that countless others have aquired a formal writing education and are still having difficulties getting 'in there'.

So its a two way street with one off-ramp ~ skill, luck, timing, destiny.
Anyone can drive trying to get there, but only the people who devote time to learning the craft, dedicate themselves to fine tuning their writing skills, and have thick skin enough to help them through the grueling initiation process that welcomes anyone attempting to earn a living or even just make a buck in that funny ol place called Hollywood. It does happen, it can happen, I hope it happens to everyone here. Yeah everyone.
So lets all do our part, in helping eachother get there.

Either way, good job with this post, way to keep this a positive place.

Opportunity will knock, and everyones waiting. But how many are truly ready?

Enuff said, back to work

That was a great piece, Joe, and I think the screenwriters ought to have a little mercy on themselves, even as tough as it is sometimes to consider what kind of odds you're up against. Though I don't have any screenwriting credits, I did happen to go up against Gary Bradner of Howling fame, for a couple of spots open for two horror radio plays--it was my first time at writing any kind of a script, but I had to put in sound effects. Very strange stuff. Anyway, we were in a dead-heat competition--I wrote and turned in 11 scripts, and I think he turned in six. I beat him out on both counts and took credits for two 15-minute horror tapes to be produced on cassette.

I had lunch with the producer one day while they had voice-over actors and actresses doing my material in the next sound room. The producer said, "Ya, know, we knew who Gary was, and that he had a name draw. But to us, it just seemed like you wanted it more, and it showed in your quality and output."

That was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me. And I knew then that dogged determination sometimes paid off.

Someone else told me once, "You want fame-friends-and eight-by-tens? You
CAN write yourself into Hollywood."

Triceratops

Well, you can hook up with producers and directors at your regional film festivals or other places where artists hang out.

Hook up with someone good, and if they shoot your script, you will have a much easier time getting people in the industry to view your work (a shot film) as opposed to reading a spec script. It's fairly easy to submit a completed film to a distribution company and if they like what you have, you can get a deal. The big agencies also have agents that specialize in indie deals.

A lot of the people I know who broke into the industry and who came from New York, London, Chicago, or other cities broke in this way.

However, working with indie producers may mean you'll have to substantially help them with non writing stuff like production. They're small (if not one man/one woman shops) and will need all the help they get.

Timing is everthing.

Joe,
Thanks for the words. It's so hard for most of us who spend a good deal of our lives in fantasy (composing stories) to walk in the light of cold realism.
The MAIN reason I wasn't the emperor of Rome, is because I wasn't there. There is no guaranty I would have been had I been there.
If we're not out there in the game, we have zero chance of selling anything.
Quit your bitchin' and write.

I just want to meet hot women. Is this the right forum?

-Derek
Derek's Web Page - stories, screenplays, novels, insanity.

bison said:

Joe,
Thanks for the words. It's so hard for most of us who spend a good deal of our lives in fantasy (composing stories) to walk in the light of cold realism.
The MAIN reason I wasn't the emperor of Rome, is because I wasn't there. There is no guaranty I would have been had I been there.
If we're not out there in the game, we have zero chance of selling anything.
Quit your bitchin' and write.

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But for those who can walk in the light of realism, you can begin strategizing and dealing with things as they are. In any walk of life, or in any aspect of it, ignoring things won't make them go away. Admit you have a situation, and you can deal with it and make improvements.

Con artists are often able to expolit writers who refuse to deal with reality. Precisely because they can tell them everything they want to hear.

Con artists are often able to expolit writers who refuse to deal with reality. Precisely because they can tell them everything they want to hear.

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Indeed, and many of them are behind most of the script "consulting" websites/services out there.

'Forgetting that countless others have aquired a formal writing education and are still having difficulties getting 'in there'.' well, heh heh, formal training doesn't equate to talent. that's my hope, that despite my location in ohio, good scripts are good scripts no matter where they come from, and my level of edumacation, or lack thereof, has absolutely no bearing on whether i'm one of the chosen few. history is simply too replete with high school drop-outs who did something no intensely trained person could ever do.

i believe all those things joe mentioned will help. duh. i also believe if you consistently write superior scripts, you'll get noticed even if you live in alaska and can't move because you just really like your ice floe. who wouldn't drop everything to take a flight to hollywood, anyway? personally, you couldn't pay me to live in hollywood. i sort of did. not my thing. indeed, actually living in h'wood can be detrimental for a lot of screenwriters, i bet.

i'm sure being able to do lunch and impress yourself upon people in the industry helps more than it hurts, and i'm sure great scripts get passed over to do a friend's project or something with a bigger name attached. at the same time, isn't this what your agent is there to do, is hawk your stuff for you? are there agents out there that turn down good screenwriters because they live in iowa? if so, i'm screwed. i think it's, like it's been mentioned already, luck (your odds are better if you make your own luck) and talent (obviously you have to be proficient enough in your own language to be understood as best as possible *while* putting forth what someone will buy), having a good agent, etc.. i hear a lot of 'it's who you know.' i'm not sure i believe that in every case. okay, i've know people in real life who 'achieved' certain high positions based on next to zero merits (i call these people 'pieces of management'), but most of 'em are qualified to be where they're at. what qualifies a person to be a screenwriter? is brunch with spielberg something that makes me more qualified than someone in arkansas?

i'm not trying to seem like i'm viewing it through rose-coloured glasses, just that if you do what you can from where you're at, provide timely, good scripts, that shouldn't it work out? it might take longer, true, but spielberg's not going to produce horrible scripts his nephew wrote just because he likes to lose tons of money, right? i guess if it's between you and some guy they like who's right in front of them, then you're screwed. are an overwhelming amount of produced screenplays done by people living in and around the h'wood area? hm, i question that. i bet you find a lot of them having moved there *after* they sold one or two or whatever.

i also have to wonder if your chances are so low also in part of there not being a million great scripts out there to compete with, but with five million that reek. that is, if you could magickally eliminate all 'C' grade scripts, your mathematical odds will improve.

i think the danger here is being naive about your script's chances, but also implying that you have to uproot your family, quit your job, and live in a dingy apartment while working a crappy job just to have a chance of being looked at. i don't buy it. correct me if i'm wrong on any of this.

btw, my step-father-in-law was hit by lightning. don't they say that once you've been hit once, that your chances of getting hit again go up dramatically?

AMEN to that Joe!

I've said it before and I will say it again. The only odds are MY odds. Sure, it's difficult to get into Hollywood, but the screenwriters who made it didn't sit around pouting about how difficult it is to get in. They did what they had to do, they got out there, wrote great scripts, made their connections, entered well known competitions, eventually got noticed and became who they are. All this with WILL and DETERMINATION, and let's not forget good writing. Each of us are in control of our own destinations. Where we go in life is up to us, not some agent sitting in an office, not a producer, not the guy who lives down the road, who knows somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody. Yes, these people are apart of it, but they are only foot stones leading down the path. The power inside your mind that says, "yes, I can do it!", is what creates the path. Each of us has to decide wether or not we are willing to do what ever it takes to get that path started and begin building the foot stones that lead to where we want to be. That includes the willingness to learn, and learn, and learn some more, wether it be reading books or scripts. Growing a thick skin so not only can we accept what we are doing wrong from the critiques of others, but so that we can also accept our own critical eye in our own work. And the strength to never give up, to rewrite, rewrite and rewrite until we have accomplished our very best. With that said I will end on a quote...


"A great being, Swami Muktananda, a Siddha master, once said, 'Whatever understanding you have of yourself, that is what you become. You can become anything, because this world exists through the power of feelings. There is nothing fixed about a human being. He is whatever feeling he has about himself. He is what he thinks. A person acts according to his feelings and according to his own understanding.'
In other words, whatever you put your mind to, whatever you focus on, whatever you believe, that is what you will become.
Because the future is as you see it."

Syd Field "Selling a Screenplay" last page, last paragraph.

Steph

Good post, Joe. Me, I've noticed some folks are hardcore a-holes who, behind the mask of "just being realistic", often seem as though they're going out of their way to kill a person's interest. Sometimes I get the idea that these folks are trying to increase their own chances by decreasing the competition lol

But, I tend to think it's best to be honest, yet encouraging. Sure, someone's stuff may suck rotten *** but that doesn't mean they don't have potential. I much prefer to share the love and help with what I'm able to help with rather than nay-say everyone. But, that's just me.

As far as breaking into Hollywood...naturally I'd love to sell a script to a major studio and get rich quick. However, I'm realistic enough to know it takes a lot of hard work and there is no guarantee. Yet at the same time, I'm optimistic enough and have enough faith in my abilities to know that it'll happen. Whether it takes two years or twenty, it'll happen.

This, by the way, coming from a guy who lives in Butt Scratch, Indiana, and who has no desire at all to move anywhere even close to Hollywood.

Boo_Radley said:

Good post, Joe. Me, I've noticed some folks are hardcore a-holes who, behind the mask of "just being realistic", often seem as though they're going out of their way to kill a person's interest. Sometimes I get the idea that these folks are trying to increase their own chances by decreasing the competition lol

But, I tend to think it's best to be honest, yet encouraging. Sure, someone's stuff may suck rotten *** but that doesn't mean they don't have potential. I much prefer to share the love and help with what I'm able to help with rather than nay-say everyone. But, that's just me.

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Boo, yes, there are a lot of jerks who will go out of their way to trash someone's work, under the guise of being "realistic".

However, people who are actually in the industry generally would never trash your work. You never know who going to make it, and if you totally diss someone, when they write that oscar winning script that blows everyone away, they might remember you.

I have never come across an actual producer, agent, actor, etc. or anyone who went out and trashed someone.

Be professional when you deal with people.

uhh....

dp

As you can see, I live in L.A. Most of the struggling screenwriters living here will never sell. Just like most of the screenwriters living elsewhere will never sell. Why? Not because of where they live but because at least 95% of the screenplays written are not good enough to sell.

As screenwriters, we have very little control over the selling part. What we do have control over is the writing part - total control. That's where every writer's focus should be - on writing the best possible screenplay/story and then rewriting it several times to make it even better. Producers are looking for people who can write, and writers with great ideas. If you have an original (accessible) idea and you execute it well, chances are you can make a sale and/or pick up a writing assigment. If your stuff isn't up to par and professional, it won't matter if you live here, in Ron Howard's guest house and date the head of development at Paramount - you're not going to sell.

So, I suggest to everybody here, whether newbie or pro, to focus on your writing so it rises to the top 5%, then worry about the rest of it.

Good Luck to everyone!!!

Joe Calabrese said:

Gee, thanks Opti. I love you too.

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That wasn't directed at you, Joe.

However, even you have to admit that there are many, many so-called "script consultants" or "doctors" or people who offer "script coverage" who have absolutely no business providing such services. These people are hacks and charlatans whose only motive is to bilk naive newbies out of their money.

My 2-cents...

I guess the best thing to do is to try. I have finished my frst screenplay, and yes, I'm going to try to sell it.

I think the nay-sayers do this just to get their kicks and make us lose hope. The hell with them.

Also, Holywood is not the only place to make films. There is also a lot of places where independent cinema is growing, for example: Austin, Texas!

Anyway, people, Let's keep on going, someday soon, we'll be able to see our movies on the big screen!

Good piece

Excellent post, Joe. Maybe it should be required reading for anyone signing on to the forum.

Chesher Cat said:

As you can see, I live in L.A. Most of the struggling screenwriters living here will never sell. Just like most of the screenwriters living elsewhere will never sell. Why? Not because of where they live but because at least 95% of the screenplays written are not good enough to sell.

As screenwriters, we have very little control over the selling part. What we do have control over is the writing part - total control. That's where every writer's focus should be - on writing the best possible screenplay/story and then rewriting it several times to make it even better. Producers are looking for people who can write, and writers with great ideas. If you have an original (accessible) idea and you execute it well, chances are you can make a sale and/or pick up a writing assigment. If your stuff isn't up to par and professional, it won't matter if you live here, in Ron Howard's guest house and date the head of development at Paramount - you're not going to sell.

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As screenwriters, we do indeed have a lot of control over the selling part. However you do it, you must get your work in the hands of the right people. You must convince them why they should read and consider your work. You'll have to be responsible for marketing and sales yourself until you get an agent.

how exactly do you market your own script? is there a tradeshow? 'marketing' is kind of a nebulous term for a lot of people.

the apparent difficulty of finding a suitable agent is saddening. not everyone wants to or even can be his own agent *and* a creative person. i'm sure, for example, stephen king could make vastly more money if he self-published, and i'm sure there are big-time h'wood screenwriters who could make significants amounts more if they handled their own business like an agent. why don't they? it's a lot of work, time, cost, risk (well, not so much for some people), and headache involved and that's even if the creative person had any head whatsoever for it.

i've read several times on this board where it's been 'suggested' that perhaps the only way a screenwriter will make it is if they write, produce and direct their own movie. who really wants to do all that? naturally some people would, but not me: directing a movie is like asking to be a mid-level boss and have a vision to save the company on top of that. i guess it could be fun and it might be something to be proud of in the end, but someone like me has absolutely no clue how to direct a movie.

How?

preyer said:

... how exactly do you market your own script? ... only way a screenwriter will make it is if they write, produce and direct their own movie. who really wants to do all that?QUOTE]

That, unless you're a control freak or have the ego the size of a barn, would be taking the easy road, even if you edit out "direct." "Produce" is subjective too, and expendable because while you want/must be the starting quarterback, you don't want to play the whole game.

Might I suggest that you take your script, link a talent (it isn't that hard to do), scout locations (for show and tell time, along with a head shot and bio of the talent - e.g. - gather props, pictures they can look at and relate to rather than read the script, which most of them wouldn't understand if they did) and show it to people who do venture capital investing and/or private placements while you form an LLC (or, better still, an off-shore corporation in the Cayman or Bahama Islands) and set up an escrow account through your lawyer and bank. Cost? Less than $1,500, more, depending how much of your own money you put in escrow ($1-500) to "seed" the account (and make it appear active).

Then start pitching the script to agents, managers, producers, even directors, etc. because their hearing is vastly improved whenever "money" is mentioned during a conversation.

Word of caution: don't over-do getting money in escrow because you might end up having to produce the thing (to protect your backers), and that's more complicated than directing. e.g. - pass the (rolling) ball off as soon as you can, per the terms and conditions of the escrow.

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Yes

JustinoXXV said:

As screenwriters, we do indeed have a lot of control over the selling part. However you do it, you must get your work in the hands of the right people. You must convince them why they should read and consider your work. You'll have to be responsible for marketing and sales yourself until you get an agent.

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You know? I hate to admit this, Justino, but you're right, only you over-wrote it a bit (see the bolded words in the quote and delete them to make it totally true and realistic).

preyer said:

how exactly do you market your own script? is there a tradeshow? 'marketing' is kind of a nebulous term for a lot of people.

the apparent difficulty of finding a suitable agent is saddening. not everyone wants to or even can be his own agent *and* a creative person. i'm sure, for example, stephen king could make vastly more money if he self-published, and i'm sure there are big-time h'wood screenwriters who could make significants amounts more if they handled their own business like an agent. why don't they? it's a lot of work, time, cost, risk (well, not so much for some people), and headache involved and that's even if the creative person had any head whatsoever for it.

i've read several times on this board where it's been 'suggested' that perhaps the only way a screenwriter will make it is if they write, produce and direct their own movie. who really wants to do all that? naturally some people would, but not me: directing a movie is like asking to be a mid-level boss and have a vision to save the company on top of that. i guess it could be fun and it might be something to be proud of in the end, but someone like me has absolutely no clue how to direct a movie.

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Hollywood screenwriters often do get their own work. The agents negotiate CONTRACTS for them. It's the same for actors too. While your rep gets you work, you are still doing things yourself to find work. It's your career, and ultimately you are responsible.

Enigma just gave you excellent advice on how you can get things started (talent attachments, funds in an escrow account).

Preyer,

This is another reason why I at least advocate screenwriters going to Los Angeles, even if at least for only a couple of weeks. Every waiter, bartender, janitor, homeless person on the bench, gas station attendant, etc has a script (I'm exagerating, but not by much).

Many of these writers may have the best work, but others may be burdened by poor marketing skills (a good screenplay is no good if the writer doesn't know how to get the word out).

For people who have their work shot or filmed, you are well ahead of the pack because it is so much easier to get people to watch a dvd or tape than it is to get them to read a script.

You should be looking to team up with producers and directors and be willing to do at least some of that work yourself in the beginning.

You'll be competing with film school graduates, all of whom have to learn directing, producing, and screenwriting. Of course people end up specializing, but they all have some background in all three.