The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 159 - Trying to Come Up with New Script Ideas

Let's face it, coming up with ideas for new scripts can be hard. Especially if you're like me, you don't often just sit down at the computer or with a notebook and spend an hour trying to come up with ideas. The best ideas generally hit you when you least expect it - when you're walking to the store, on the train to work, or in the shower - and the source of their inspiration can be impossible to find. Maybe you saw something that triggered the idea. Maybe you remembered something. Maybe there's no logical explanation for it at all, but whatever electrical synapse that just fired through your brain left you with the germ of a script that you cannot wait to start writing.


For me, those experiences that come out of nowhere are how I generally come up with new ideas. I rely on those eureka moments to keep me in pages for the next three to six months. But what happens when you don't have the time to wait for those moments to hit?


As it happens now, I'm in that less desirable place. I need to get my agent new ideas, because we haven't found one that quite clicked for him yet. Sure, I have dozens of ideas logged in my "Logline Master List" document, but I track the market and know that a lot of them aren't right yet. Also, since the project that I have producers, a manager, a lawyer, and an agent for is a tentpole action piece, that's the kind of script I'm working on developing more of. Problem is, a lot of my ideas in that master list are much smaller, more appropriate for an indie production company than a major studio's summer flagship.


On Friday, I made myself sit down for an hour and come up with other loglines. I think I got about five. Of those, there were maybe only two I'd really want to invest a lot of time in now, and many of them were quite similar in nature, only set in different worlds. I had a bit of an ah-ha moment yesterday while taking a walk (which I did in part to get the creative juices flowing), and as much as I like the idea, I think it still might be too small. In the end, though, I need more ideas and as much as just staring at a blank drawing board can be frustratingly unproductive, an hour spent with a notebook in hand is better than a night spent without even trying. The routine you find yourself in can be essential to your writing process, and I know that by forcing myself to sit with a pen and paper for an hour, no matter how much my mind might want to wander, but focusing and concentrating I will eventually come up with something (even if it's just the fuel that sparks an idea while I'm on the train to work the next day).

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 158 - Patience and Expectations

Here's an interesting paradox: new writers tend to think that getting an agent or a manager or a lawyer is the end all and be all first major goal of breaking into Hollywood, that once that is accomplished, everything is smooth sailing ahead. (If I'm the only writer to have ever thought that, I'll need some help picking my jaw up off the floor.) The truth of it is, though, getting an agent or a manager is not a perfect cure. It is not a guarantee.


If you've been reading my posts for a while, you're aware of the fact that it has been over two years - two! - since I've been repped up. Those two years, the hours and rewrites and development calls, have, for our purposes here, all been related to my post-Apocalyptic spec. My second and current manager, who I have been with for over a year and a half now, has helped get the script to some very important and influential people. He's helped further it along to places that still really exist first and foremost in the realm of dreams to me. Producers have come on board, and, through them or with their help, my agent and current lawyer. 


Still, it's been over a year and a half, and there's no sale to show for our work. (This is a point, not a complaint. We're still waiting to hear from a major studio any day now and have a meeting with a production company before this month is out.) Before him, there was four months with my first manager, and two month after him in which I wasn't with anyone. The point in all that is that these things take time. Lots of time. Landing an agent or a manager or a lawyer or a big time producer does not mean your script will necessarily sell tomorrow. Especially with the state of the industry still being the rocky, insecure, ghost of its former self that it is now, buyers are acting with much more hesitation than before. The thinking that, "I got an agent, time to quit my job" is no longer anywhere near logical (not that I'd have advocated such rash behavior before, either). 


The truth of my situation now is that I'm still trying to come up with the project that really tantalizes my agent. I've sent him a few ideas that I thought were slam dunks, and they were both received luke-warmly, at best. He knows the market now; I have to trust that. Still, the difference is that, in the past, I was writing for myself. Now, I'm also writing for him, and if he says something might not fly, or isn't for him (and he's the one who is going to try to sell it), I have to listen to that. Was I wasting time before, when I was writing whatever I wanted to? No, I don't think so. At least, no more than I sometimes feel I might be wasting time trying to develop yet more ideas, when I have pages that I feel equipped to begin working on now. The game has changed for me, and I recognize that. 


I say it time and again, and I'll do it once more here. If you're reading this, I hope it might be because you're looking to break into screenwriting as a career, and are interested in what it takes, what to expect, and how to go about getting your foot in the door. Well, the two biggest things I can advocate for emerging writers are: patience and managed expectations. Be patient with the industry (readers, agents, producers, everyone). It might take them a long time to read your script, to get back to you, to sell material to people who are interested. Put it out of mind and work on something else in the mean time. And, so as to not drive yourself nuts, do enough reading and preparation to have reasonably managed expectations. A meeting does not mean a sale. A sale does not mean a million dollar. Know what to logically expect, and train yourself not to deceive yourself. This is a tough business, and, I've found, patience and managed expectations are two of the most valuable tools you should bring to it. 

The Writing Week (Vol. 4) part 157 - New Computer, New Script, New Year

2011 is starting out as a year of new things for me. For starters, it's my first foray into the world of Mac since I was in sixth grade. I'd found that my Dell was growing slower and slower, especially recently. When working in Word, there'd be a noticeable lag between when I typed something, and when it would actually appear on the screen. I stopped trusting the machine I was working on, and as I'm sure you can relate to, that's a horrible thing for a writer. No matter what your medium you write in, whether it's paper or computer or voice recording, that becomes an integral part of your process, and for it to become a potential hindrance means it's got to go. It's sort of like wherever you choose to write, be it a coffee shop, office, or your home - when it stops helping you produce pages, or hurts your concentration, it's violated the most basic tenet of being a writer's tool.


So, this year, thanks to a generous gift from my parents, I became a Mac user again. (When I was really young, we had one of the first PowerBooks Mac - then still officially MacIntosh - made.) I know that the fact the computer is about two years newer than my old one means it will, by its very nature, be faster, but I'm quite pleased with it. I could do without all the pretension from the employees at the Mac store I spoke to when needing help with a few start-up issues, but the machine is much sleeker and far less clunky than the old one. I had to hold my breath as I installed Movie Magic 2000, not sure if it would take (my version's almost 7 years old at this point), and then had to reanimate my first laptop (intermittently dead and alive for 3 years now) in order to uninstall the software so I could boot it up on the new machine. But all seems to have been brought over successfully, so hopefully 2011 will further acquaint me with the pleasures of writing scripts on an Apple machine.


Speaking of writing in 2011, as I lay in bed last night, a terrible worry came over me. It was the realization - at midnight, no less - that two weeks from now will mark the three month point since my trip to LA, in which I was instructed to just keep writing. The reason for the cold sweat is that, in all honesty, I have produced nothing since then. Well, no pages, at least. I've come up with a dozen loglines and settled on a couple to pursue. But there's no script to show for it. For a lark, I opened Movie Magic and wrote an off-the-cuff first scene for a project I like, but it's not one of the two I'm to pursue. I spent not nearly enough time over the holiday week conducting a bit of research, settling on a location, and doing some general outlining for the spy project I've decided to launch into. On the whole, though, I wasn't sure the next step.


Then, as fear and worry can often spark creativity, I had an idea. More specifically, I envisioned the opening shot of my script. Such a small beat, yet such a relief. My mind settled, eased, reassured that there can and will, in fact, be more than just research sessions to show for the script. With the first beat can come the second, and with the second, the third, until there's a first act, a second, and an entire script.  The goal for this week is to complete a rough outline, and arrive at that three month marker with at least the treatment, if not the first few pages, as well. 

Entertainment Weekly's 25 Movies to See Before the Oscars, 2011

Entertainment Weekly's latest issues revealed their 25 Movies to Watch Before the Oscars. See below for a complete list.

The Social Network - on DVD Jan 11
The King's Speech - in theaters now
Inception - now on DVD
The Fighter - in theaters now
Toy Story 3 - now on DVD
True Grit - in theaters now
Black Swan - in theaters now
The Kids Are All Right - now on DVD
127 Hours - in theaters now
Winter's Bone - now on DVD
The Town - now on DVD
Rabbit Hole - goes wide Jan 14
Another Year - goes wide sometime in January
Get Low - DVD Feb 22
How to Train Your Dragon - now on DVD
Blue Valentine - goes wide sometime in January
Biutiful - goes wide Jan 28
Animal Kingdom - on DVD Jan 18
Waiting for Superman - on DVD in Feb
Alice in Wonderland - now on DVD
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - now on DVD
Inside Job - goes wide Jan 28
The Illusionist - goes wide Jan 14
Tangled - in theaters now
Burlesque - in theaters now

I was surprised by a few things when I saw this list. First, mainly, that I had only seen 12 of the 25. Granted, a few haven't gone wide yet, but it's a safe bet that if they're out there trying to sneak in for Oscar 2011, they're playing in New York City. Second, movies like Tangled, Burlesque, and Alice in Wonderland surprised me. Maybe some technical awards for Alice are possible, but I'd be surprised if it gained much more recognition than that (other, ahem, than it's epic box office). Get Low and Animal Kingdom were pleasant surprises, and the first 11 were, in my opinion, givens. 

Anything you feel they left out?

Happy 2011

Happy New Year, writers! May 2011 bring scripts, sales, and success to all of you, from all of us at The League.

The Writing Week (Vol. 3) part 156 - Year Three Recap

This has been quite the writing year - both productive and educational. My post-Apocalyptc spec, which ended 2009 in the hands of a creative executive at a production company in Hollywood, evolved over the course of another three drafts (and many smaller revisions) since then. In May, the independent producer who optioned it a year and a half ago (Gretchen) and the creative exec agreed that the then-current incarnation of the script was just about industry ready. In June, I renewed my option with Gretchen, a move that really protects her as much as if not more than it served me at that point. Finally, after agreeing that the script was just about all there in May, we spent a week doing final proofreading and minor problem-solving in August, having subjected it to another few months of filling in gaps and making tweaks. Toward the end of the summer, not long before Labor Day, the script went out to agents and was slipped to a lawyer. 


We got positive responses from a few of the agents, namely at UTA and WME. While waiting to see if either interested agent was keen enough to meet with me and possibly take me on as a client, and while waiting to hear back from the lawyer who the creative exec had given the script to, I dove into a new project. My firefighter script, a fun, semi-absurd action spec, took about a month to write, after outlining and character sketching was through. During that month, my manager gave me confirmation that someone at UTA was indeed very interested and had a strong working relationship with both the lawyer (who by that point had read and liked the script a lot) and the creative exec still working with us. 


With the interest from those parties secured, my manager set up meetings for me. I flew out to LA in mid-October, three days after finishing the first draft of my firefighter spec. My manager and I met that weekend to prepare for the upcoming meetings and to discuss the draft of the firefighter script. While he liked it, we both acknowledged that there was a tone issue that warranted addressing before the script went out anywhere. That Monday, I had successful meetings at UTA and at the law firm. A lunch with the creative exec revealed that the production company she works for would not stay on as a partner on the script, either officially or unofficially. However, she was still devoted to the project, and secured the ability to remain on board, independently, developing the material with us on the side, apart from the production company. Both reps I met took me on as a client, and I was back to NYC with a promise to deliver two specs a year.


Not long after returning from LA, I was bound for the Middle East for vacation. It was a great trip, but also served as a two-week break from all things writing. My return to the States preceded Thanksgiving and year-end madness by just a few days. In the time since, I came up with a handful of other ideas for potential scripts, some more plausible than others. I've now settled on three that I'd like to pursue, though one of them might be less marketable than the others. My charge now is to dive fully into one to have it ready to begin working on and talking about soon into the New Year. And, finally, as 2010 wraps up, my reps and I are awaiting news from a read we are getting at a studio over the holiday, and regarding interest we have from another producer who read and really liked it. With Hollywood effectively closed until January 3, there's little for the post-Apocalyptic spec any of us an do for the next week, other than wait. Still, it could be a result very much worth waiting for. 


One thing that's captured my attention regarding this whole process, is how a writer's script's future is completely out of their hands at a certain point. (I'm talking mostly about unproduced or emerging writers like myself here.) I spent nearly three years writing the post-Apocalyptic spec, yet at this point, I am making very few decisions regarding it. My representatives and independent producers keep me in the loop regarding everything, but the ball is very much not in my court. Sure, I can weigh in, and they're all great to deal with - this is in no way a knock against any of them; I couldn't have lucked out more in terms of the type of people I'm dealing with. Still, when all is said and done, while I think about the script a lot, it can be weeks between phone calls or emails about it. To have gone from so much time with it and being the only person involved in its development, to the one discussing it the least and the last to be responsible for mapping its future is just a very strange feeling, one I've come to terms with, but which still seems odd when I think about it.


It fails to elude me, either as I write this now or when I frequently think about it, that my experiences in the industry - or at least on its periphery - have all been due to one script. The representation I've secured, the lunches and coffee meetings, the development calls and countless rewrites, all of it has been due to one project, for one project. Naturally, this begs the obvious question (while I'm sure my reps are thinking it, I'm the one who has so far vocalized it) - will there be another script? Will I take meetings and lunches and generals and calls for another project that people are interested in?


The honest answer, is that there's no guarantee. Certainly, I hope there will be. The agent and lawyer and manager who have invested time and energy in me definitely hope so. I am working to make a viable follow up script a reality (and soon, I hope). But, as with so many other things in this industry, there is no absolute affirmation. No guarantee. The thing is, though, I don't think that should be a grim revelation. My work is cut out for me, as I love to recall my agent's words; it is both "very easy and very difficult, [I] just have to keep writing." So there it is, my mission for 2011: more writing. If this, my career trajectory, is a script, I like to imagine that I've come to the end of Act One; 2010 (and some major events in the two years preceding it) set up a possible outcome for my venture into screenwriting. As we turn the page into 2011, the difficulties of a self-sustaining second act become readily apparent, and despite the obstacles, highs, and lows I might encounter in the coming years, my directive is to continue writing throughout, and to do it better than I have in the past. I feel ready for the challenge. Onward, into 2011. 

The Writing Week (Vol. 3) part 155 - The 3 Ps of Being a Client

Hollywood is closed. Until January 3rd, very little will be happening in Tinsel Town. People will be reading a lot of scripts, but in terms of deals and meetings, there will be next to none of that going on - especially officially. 

Because of the two week break at the end of the year, this is a difficult time to really break in. It is, on the other hand, an amazing time to get some major writing done. With the industry going silent for a bit, we writers - especially those of us who are still trying to get our names and work out there - have the perfect opportunity to polish off current or start new scripts. Managers and agents won't be clamoring for new material, and the buyers are out of town (or at least away from the office), so there's no pressure now to go to the industry. It's an amazing time to just focus and write.

That said, just to continue relaying my experiences to other hopeful scribes, I'll give you my year-end update. I spoke to my manager at the end of the day yesterday, and 2010 ended on a fairly positive note. There was some positive feedback from a production company, though again nothing concrete beyond that until after January 3. We also have a read at one of the studios over the holidays, which is great. Beyond those, my manager's also been in touch with a head of development at a company here in NYC, looking to arrange a general (i.e. meet and greet meeting) for me come 2011. All in all, a few nice things to look forward to after ringing in the New Year. 

One other important realization I had yesterday while talking to my manager, which I'd stress to anyone with or hoping for representation. Last week, I wrote a lot about being a proactive client. This week, I'll put on the other shoe and discuss being a patient client, a bit. I know that my manager's doing a lot - trying to set up meetings, determining if my ideas for other projects are already out on the market or not, building contacts for me. I might not hear from him, but in reviewing everything with him then, I was reminded that I don't need daily or weekly updates to know he's on the case. (Mark this under the category of "obvious, but bears repeating." If/when you have representation, just because they don't reply immediately or the meeting they're setting up doesn't happen in a day, remind yourself that they have your best interest in mind. I know my rep does, but I felt that such a crystal clear indicator of that was worth mentioning. If months go by, that's a different case. But representatives - agents, managers, lawyers - do a lot. Would you rather have them calling every hour to let you know there's no update, or out on the phone and in meetings trying to sell you and your work?

Proactive and patient - that seems to be the best way to go. And I'll throw in a final adjective to round out the "three Ps of being a client;" pleasant. Be pleasant to work with, to give notes to, pleasant in meetings, and to develop a script with. Saying "yes" or knowing how to say "no" in a kind way will make people want to work with and for you. It will make them want to protect you. As a writer, that can be invaluable. Proactive, patient, and pleasant. That'll do it.