The Waiting...

How do you deal with it? Well... you write another script!


As an employment consultant by day, I recommend to my clients that they will have more success identifying and targeting a select number of employer's, rather than waste their time blanketing everyone and getting nowhere with any of them.

So take that with a grain of salt. Still reach out and touch whomever you can, but there's something to be said in taking the time to network and build a rapport with a target few.

It can be helpful to write on a schedule, just stay busy enough that there’s no room in that schedule for waiting. I always have treatments ready for new scripts, so I’m not having to come up with ideas and solve plot problems with a preoccupied mind. That leaves the writing to take your mind off the waiting.

Send out your queries and try to forget they exist. If you obsess it can make rejection worse than it actually is, and you can become resentful of positive feedback because of the long wait(not likely).

It’s something we all have to deal with. You need to learn how to love writing with the “waiting elephant,” have him read your dialogue back to you or something. No, don’t do that, then you really are stark, raving mad.

Keep excellent submission records. This aleviates a lot of the worry and wonder. Keep dates and updates so you don't have to try and keep it straight. Check your e-mail no more than 3 times a day. Three is the upper limit, once in the morning, once at lunch, and once at night before bed. If you do more than that you'll be wasting valuable time.

Now that you have the actual business end of it sorted, the next part is work on your next piece of writing. Always have something going. It'd be horrible if they came back at you with a "Well we like your writing but this script isn't for us, what else do you have?" and all you have is "Nothing."

"Get used to disappointment" - my favorite line from Princess Bride.

As other's have said, 'let it go'. Keep writing. You've thrown the pitch, you can't control the ball once it has left your hands - all you can do is deal with the results. If it's a hit, fine. If it's a miss - get ready to throw another one.

I got a request seven weeks ago, for one of my scripts. I keep a log of submissions, but because I was swamped with ANOTHER script I was cranking out, I had forgotten to follow up. So I sent an email.

Got a reply that was very interesting. It seems the Development Exec who had requested it, LOVED it. Sent it up to the Director, who FELL IN LOVE with it, sat down with the Producer who GOT EXCITED by it - Then... and here's the kicker - sat down with the Financial people to start to map out an offer, and the financial guy said "Oh, wait,.... I didn't make this clear, the writer has to be CANADIAN." - Apparently their big chunk of funds was dependent on that.

Moral of the story - all of these 'beat's in the process, occurred over the four weeks prior to my second contact. I can't imagine the roller coaster of emotions I would have been on to have gotten THIS close to that particular deal. As it was, the email was a bittersweet 'close but no cigar' - with a very nice. "We'd like to keep in touch" from the small studio in LA.

That's it. That's the ride. The simple and fast "Sorry... not for us." Becomes really easy to take. I think of it as having been mailed to the 'wrong address'. As you are finding out, its the long spaces of silence or no reply that are hard to take. But I think I probably get NO REPLY about half the time on submissions. Rude, but there it is.

And I keep writing.

The waiting...and waiting...and waiting...

Here are a couple of entries from my blog that might help...

http://theworkingscreenwriter.blogspot.com/2007/02/disappointment-way-of-life.html

http://theworkingscreenwriter.blogspot.com/2007/11/reality-of-screenwriters-life.html

Like everyone else, keep writing. Start on your next two or three projects. I know it's hard to let go but, move on. If you don't, you'll get the ulsers the rest of us already have.

I do have to agree with Ice...keep good records on who you talk to for another reason.

On the lighter side.......

On Monday, I got yet another of the typical thanks but no thanks letters. In my mind this was the 2,754,341,908th letter I've gotten over the years. Give or take a couple of million. Actually, it' s only about a few hundred.

Anyway, the letter kinda shocked me because I haven't submitted anything for about a year or so. In fact, this particular pilot they were talking about, when I dug through my records, I pitched in 2006! Gee, thanks for the timely response. I long ago wrote that one off as a silent pass.

I figured that some honcho caught some intern filing her nails or tweeting someone and figrured she (or he) needed something to do so they gave them a stack of pitches and said write a pass letter and send them to all these people. Such is life.

Is it OK to follow up the eMail queries with calls after several weeks?
And WBN, or anyone who's experienced this situation, did they offer to send your script to anyone who would hire an American writer?
Good work everybody!

I always thought this dorothy parker story called the telephone call would be great to rewrite and spoof in the vain of a writer/big dreamer in waiting. check it out and you'll see the potential for greatness.

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/teleycal.html

whoever transcribed it has errors in it, but you get the gist.

Verbal said:

Phase One of my plan to sell my script has come off with okay results. Been querying, spamming (using Sellascript.com) and calling like a mad bastard, and my script has been requested by a management company and three production companies so far. Rejected by agents across the board.

Phase One will continue until I sell. I mean, I'll keep firing my machine gun at the army of indifference until I get a sale, but my God, I hate the waiting.

Every day, in almost everything I do, the thought leaps from the shadows and mugs me: "Wonder why I haven't heard anything. Maybe that's a bad sign. They probably hated it and rejecting me is fairly low on their priority list. I should call. No, don't call! That'll show your desperation and probably piss them off. Then it'll take longer. Or they'll decide that I'm a pain in the ass and never read my script. I should write. Yeah, write something else so I can forget all about it.

FADE IN:

INT. OFFICE - DAY

Nervy WRITER stares at his monitor where the word "WHEN?" looks back at him along with that sadistic cursor that reports a GUNSHOT with every blink.


Well, that sucked. I should go play squash or something. I don't know how to play squash. Wonder if they'll squash my script..."


And so on, and so on.

My question is, how do you all deal with The Waiting without going stark, raving mad?

Click to expand...

To get a script in Hollywood is, what is says on Wikipedia. Sought after. This is my first post on this web site and I can tell you. Unless your idea is a world beater. You might as well stop. If you think your film is a world beater. Then keep at it. Whether its 10 years like my film or £120,000 of own cash researching and bringing your idea to life. Dont sell out.
If your script is the dogs knackers, and you have to re write it. Dont sell it yet. Sell it for a price that is what you have put into it.
$1,000,000. Syd fields set.
Beliive in your screenplay or it is in the bin mate.
sean

I just watched the documentary "Tales from the Script" - an absolute MUST watch for anyone wanting to pursue the craft. Full of tales of horror, woe and a few inspiring moments. Watch it and ask yourself if that's the life you want. If it is... keep writing.

It's only a year old. Don't know if it got much play. A LOT of "A-List" writers interviewed. William Goldman, John Carpenter, Paul Shrader, young ones too - so there's a good cross sampling.

As a filmmaker, I was a bit surprised at the uneven quality of the shooting on the interviews. Some were obviously miniDV - tough lighting conditions - but they DID get the interviews. And it's full of solid gold insights on the process, and the BS that goes into getting the deals - the headaches of development. Honestly - I can't reccomend it highly enough. An excellent 105 minute education on the hard knocks of the 'biz'.

I just ordered it over at talesfromthescript.com. I watched the trailer and I can't wait to watch it now. Shameless little plug. I found it's cheaper there than at Amazon. That was about the extent of my price hunting though.

I watched it on:

http://stagevu.com/search?for=tales+from+the+script&in=Videos

It is really excellent. I've never seen so much good advice compiled into one source. I also highly recommend it. Good post by the way.

I know the feeling well, Verbal. You actually get used to it!
With my first book I was dumped by my agent. He has a big ad in the Writer's Handbook. I went to publishers myself and success came immediately with The Random House Group (Mainstream). My second book was published six months later. Because of the hassle of getting subsequent books published, I decided again to find an agent - the result? Shight. Some of them asked for the MS and haven't bothered their arses to reply from months ago. So I started querying again with publishers. Right now I have two books with three publishers; my screenplay with three UK production co's, but I am not holding my breath for obvious reasons. I am now well into my second screenplay and totally absorbed. My plan is to finish it by next month and then devote a couple of weeks to querying. An agent would be great but I wonder if they put a fraction of what you put into getting it out there? I know the only way through some doors is to have an agent but there's a hell of a lot of doors out there and Lady Luck is behind one of them.
Best, Chris.

Why not build relationships direct with producers and directors and actors and don't wait for a reply - go write something else: if they like it they'll go to the ends of the earth to find you. If they don't, no point hassling them too much, but follow ups, even for a no, are useful so you can see what's at least been read by someone even if, as is the case frequently, it's read by an intern with their iPod switched max volume to Kesha.

My copy of "Tales from the Script" came in and I immediately watched it.

I can't even put into words how much I loved it.

Highly Recommend.