130814 scr wri selling-careers
TRANSCRIPT
-
7/29/2019 130814 SCR WRI Selling-Careers
1/5
Balls of Steel:
The Magic Trick To Selling a Screenplayby JEANNEVEILLETTEBOWERMAN
SEPTEMBER 12, 2013
Dear Jeanne,
Can you please tell me how to sell my scripts?
Thanks!
Yes, thats an actual email I received recently. In fact, every day brings another variation of the
same query from a screenwriter, wanting my advice on the magic secret to selling a script.
I wish I could shoot off a quick response, saying, Hey, just do this one super-duper-special
magic trick and youre set!
I also get Facebook messages from writers, lamenting about their frustrations and depression
over yet another rejection.How do I keep at it? How do I not bury myself under the covers,
crying for days?
Oh, I get it. I absolutely get it! I have been there. I have no shame in admitting I reached for the
tequila bottle after beingbitchslapped by Sundance. Redford may have rejected me, but Jose
prides himself in being my numero uno writer anesthetic. Every writer has sought the Holy Grail
and felt like screenwriter roadkill after a stampede of Hollywood executives barreled us over and
our unworthy scripts.
Welcome to Hollywood. Seriously. This is it. This is our world. The world I personally navigate
every single day, without quitting. Withoutlosing faith. Without bellyaching.
Oh wow, I just realized I do know the super-duper-special magic trick! Ready?
-
7/29/2019 130814 SCR WRI Selling-Careers
2/5
Work a hundred times harder than you are right now because you have to want it more than
youve wanted anything else in your life.
Becoming a professional screenwriter is one of the hardest things youll ever do. Not even
birthing a child with no drugs after 86 hours of labor is harder (yes, that was my firstborn and
I survived by pretending I was a monkey in the wild, but thats another story). Why? Because
labor eventually ends when that baby is released, but there is no end to the labor of being a
writer. None. Even after you sell a script and have a box-office hit, you still have to come up with
the next great idea, the next pitch, and the next sale and then sit your ass down and write it.
Youll always be competing with the latest new voice, the latest trend, and even the state of the
economy.
Idea. Pitch. Write. Script Notes. Rewrite. Meetings. Repeat for decades, if youre lucky.
Sure, at some point youll get an agent to help you find gigs, but before that, you are on your
own, competing with over 40,000 new specs every year.
How do you make your script stand out in the crowd?
There are a few sure-fire things you must do to succeed:
1. Learn your craft inside and out.2. Write multiple scripts from solid, high-concept ideas.3. Learn to love rewriting and taking notes.4. Learn the business side of the industry.5. Have the patience of a saint.
In my experience, most writers can handle steps 1, 2, and 3. But the ones who really succeedmaster steps 4 and 5. They do the research on whats selling, they learn how to meet executives,
and they put in the hours on social media to network as well as trips to L.A. to network in
person. They make it happen. Cant is not in their vocabulary. In short, they eat, sleep and
drink their passion to be a screenwriter.
-
7/29/2019 130814 SCR WRI Selling-Careers
3/5
Beyond passion, they patiently pursue their career. Theygo to pitchfests, they cold call
producers, they write script after script, and hear pass hundreds of times. They try the indie
route. They write novels. They do anything they can to open a window if a door is shut. But after
rejections, they dust off and get back to writing the next day. They simply cant imagine their
lives without writing. No matter how long it takes, quitting is not an option.
Pursuing a screenwriting career is a job in and of itself. Read that again:It. Is. A. Job.
Why do you write?
Most of us have day jobs, myself included. I dedicate my working hours to my paying job, but
nights and weekends are consumed with my writing projects. For example, in just the past week,
I scoured through my producers notes, worked on the script rewrite, outlined a new story idea,
and I also wrote a chapter of a novel I outlined this summer, the first in a trilogy. I even got a
care package off to my college girl and my other teen ready for high school, with a home-cooked
dinner on the table every night. No take out for my boy.
To have a day job plus a job of a writer, you need to be organized.
Plan your days, hour-by-hour, if need be. But always make sure you spend an hour a day
scouring the Internet for screenwriting and movie news. Learn who the players are. Learn whatproduction companies are buying. Find the right match for your project so you can strike when
the script is done.
You need to be hungry to learn. Starving, in fact. You need to needwriting like you need air to
breathe.
But isnt great writing enough to get me noticed?
I thought a lot about this question this past week. I wish being a great writer was enough to
succeed. I really do. It certainly would make life a lot easier if you could just whip out script afterscript, a few novels, some articles, and magically turn them into money.
Ive preached before about focusing on your writing, first and foremost, and I dont waiver from
that opinion. But the reality is, passion for the art and the ability to write great prose simply
arent enough.
-
7/29/2019 130814 SCR WRI Selling-Careers
4/5
You need to be someone people want to work with, which is something Ive discussed before
(paying it forward, positive attitude, hardworking, etc.). But you also have to understand
the industry, the odds of success (and failure) and be passionate to the point of insanity.
How passionate is passionate enough?
This past weekend in church, I watched our priest, who is about to retire, talking about his
vocation. His calling. His liturgy was exactly how I feel about my quest to write. Id die if I
couldnt create stories and touch peoples lives with my words, just as he would die if he couldnt
deliver his sermons.
Later that night, I watchedMountain Men. In that one episode, multiple of the real-life
characters proclaimed they love living off the land so much, theyd rather die doing that than
have a 9-to-5 job. Those werent just words. They meant they seriously would rather live with
the threat of death, potentially not finding food, not being able to survive, starving, or being
eaten by a bear, being completely free to live off the land than be guaranteed food by taking a
corporate job in an office. To them, the life many of us live is a death sentence to their soul.
Then today, I watched the September 11th remembrance coverage on television, as I have done
every year since that dreadful day 12 years ago. Reliving the moments of terror that struck ourcountry moves me to tears each and every anniversary. But this time, something else struck me.
I watched firefighters, police, and rescue workers run into the buildings, neither flinching nor
hesitating.
Their passion to protect their fellow citizens, their need to be of service, their utter conviction to
save lives, compels them to go against all natural survival instinct and run into danger, hoping
beyond hope they would save someones life and make the risk worth it.
Yet in taking that risk, despite being trained and prepared, many never reemerged from thewreckage. Gone forever.
The 9/11 anniversary puts the risks of going after a dream of being a writer in a bit of
perspective, now, doesnt it?
-
7/29/2019 130814 SCR WRI Selling-Careers
5/5
If you want to write, just do it. If you want to sell your scripts, pitch them. If they say no, who
cares? Pitch someone else. If you want to succeed as a writer, learn and understand the risks
involved. Do the work. Dont expect someone else, like me, to give you a magic answer. It takes
guts. Sweat. Tears. Patience. Dedication. Insanity.
Trust me, putting the hours in it takes to learn about the industry and building your network
isnt going to kill you. What have you really got to lose?
If you read this and think Ugh, Im exhausted just thinking about how long this is going to take
to succeed, then maybe you dont want it badly enough. Youre better off being honest with
yourself. After all, there are other ways to be involved in the movie industry. You could produce,
direct, critique films, or even sell popcorn at the local theater. But if you cant give this 150%
percent of your heart, do yourself a favor and stop the insanity of piling up scripts only to collect
dust.
Imagine if one of those NYC firefighters stared at the crumbling Twin Towers and said, Ugh,
Im exhausted just thinking about going in there.
I think you get my point.
Write or die. Thats my plan.
Related Articles:
Balls of Steel: Becoming a Professional Screenwriter Whats Holding You Back? Balls of Steel: Seize the Day and the Opportunity
Balls of Steel: Pitching Insights and Tips for Before You Submit Your Script Balls of Steel: Hope vs. Faith Balls of Steel: Checklists for Pitchfests and Conferences