It seems to me that everyone
I meet thinks they can write a script and make a quick sale of it to Hollywood. As soon as they hear that I am in “the biz,”
they drone on about how terrible movies are now and how they could write better
pictures. “Well,” I reply, “why don’t
you?” Of course it’s not as easy as it
seems.
Just
ask anyone who has really sat down in front of that computer and seriously
tried to write a good movie. Yes, it’s
lonely, scary, frustrating and often infuses one with a real sense of panic,
but it’s more than that.
Writing
is very really, really difficult. The reason it’s so difficult is that there
are some hard and fast rules that you are not born knowing. You have to learn them!
As a former Literary Agent in Hollywood, and now a working
Screenplay consultant, I have
and do read an enormous amount of
scripts. I am constantly amazed that so many writers have
the same
problems. They are missing the most important rules of
screenwriting basics. There are no
character arcs. The three (3) act
structure is missing, the star doesn’t resolve the conflict, or there is no
real plot development. These and other
script rules are ignored. Finally I realize,
as I work on these pieces, that the writers have not taken any writing classes
and are “winging it.”
If a first time writer spends their hard-earned money on a
script consultant without having studied writing, they might as well set fire
to their cash. Consultants are not
Teachers, per se. We are here to help
make your scripts better and more saleable and ready to be seen by agents. You must first know how to write a
script. We can only help to improve that
work.
When we go the movies we see writers portrayed as people
who sit down at their computers in great looking homes (often with desks that
overlook lakes or the ocean) and simply begin to write for
hours at a time. Well, this ain’t the way it works. First you take the class, and then you read
the books by Michael Hauge and/or Linda Seger, Pilar Alessandra, Syd Field,
Paul Chitlik, and me, etc., then you come up with a great idea, then you write
an outline, then you write a treatment, then you try to write a script, then
you re-write it over and over and over again, then you put it in a closet and
start your second screenplay and do the whole thing all over again. You will find that the second script is far
better than the first script and you can’t believe that you wrote that first
script. Finally, you might be ready for
a script consultant.
Now you are on your way to becoming a screenwriter. There are no shortcuts. It is a long and arduous road. However, it is a very gratifying and
potentially rewarding trip in many ways.
Remember that it is possible to get that great agent who believes in you
and does a great job for you. It is
possible to sell screenplays to major motion picture studios that will pay you
lots and lots of money for your efforts and cast wonderful actors to say your
words. It is also possible that millions
of people will sit, transfixed for two (2) blissful hours, in theaters around
the world, watching a movie that exists because of you.