I’m not a contrarian, but here’s my optimistic forecast: keep writing and you will win!
I’ve received a lot of emails lately from writers asking if they should continue. These are smart writers, who are approaching this very difficult business with good work ethic, focus, and cool aplomb. But the grind is getting to them. The sound of “one hand clapping” is starting to get unnerving, and Aunt Fern (my mythic relative who always corners me at Thanksgiving to ask “How’s the writing going?” — when in fact that’s really not what she’s asking!) is ever on the periphery, waiting to level her loaded question. We are hardy and resilient folk, but seriously, tick-tock, man, bills to pay, responsibilities to meet, I’m still on it…
But is it worth continuing?
The odds of selling a spec script are long enough to make any reasonable person go pale. How can we continue to compete when the recent headlines from Variety show not only a slowdown in the entertainment sector, but also a tendency to go with projects with brand names. They are putting into production a lot more Tarzans and sequels, and hiring more veteran creatives with track records. If we neither have a brand, nor a track record worthy of veteran status, maybe giving up is the logical choice?
Yet I remain bullish.
Look for instance at this weekend’s #1 at the box office: a fun, friendly, family comedy with a great poster and title, Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Family movies almost always do well and there aren’t enough of them — and I happen to love them. But the same can be said for horror films, a genre I don’t like as a rule. Still, The Strangers was such a hit, they’re making a sequel, and Saw is into its fifth incarnation. Got a snappy comedy? We saw several grabbed up in the past few weeks, a few by first-time writers. And the action movie business is thrilling — is there more of a Dude With A Problem than Eagle Eye, last week’s #1?
Each of these movies started with something any of us is capable of coming up with: an idea they can’t say “no” to. And that is where it all begins — as tried and true a tradition as any entrepreneur must aspire to.
The well-executed, high concept, smartly-targeted screenplay is gold. Do we have to be more clever at finding partners, attaching talent, and building buzz around our project — yes, absolutely! Do we have to work hard at both our writing skills and our political ones to keep making those valuable contacts? Yes 2.
But in troubled times, the need to be taken away from the day to day grind is our job!
People besides Aunt Fern are counting on us: don’t let them down!
Blake Snyder
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Thanks Blake for sharing your foresight into things, you’re right that movies are going to thrive through the tough times!
Depending on ticket and rental prices, people always fall back on the imaginary world of movies as a way to escape the realities of their own lives.
Boy did I need this post! Thanks Blake. The past week I’ve been feeling pretty overwhelmed with all the things I have to think about while working on a script. Most of the times we are our own toughest critics (at least I am) and sometimes you just have to remember why we got in this racket in the first place. It’s because we love movies and we want to give back to that community. I want to write the kind of movie I saw as a kid or a young man in the theatre that made me go “wow” or “cool”, or made me cry, or even changed the way I view the world. It’s powerful. But it’s also fun.
Make it fun… and it’ll be done!
Keep writing guys!
Oh, so timely! Thank you, Blake!
Aunt Fern didn’t wait until Thanksgiving to descend on me. She arrived on Friday and has been staying with me, going “Tsk. Tsk.” I would love to send her onward to some place else.
I need some “fun juice.” :)
Blake, I envy your optimism.
Sometimes I think my classes are too much.
(I need to fill a 60 page quota in all of my classes.)
Honestly, I think I’m getting sick of writing.
So next semester I am going to swtich from Fiction Writing
to Playwriting! =]
I’m very excited!
You just gave me a boost of confidence and drive!
Thanks Blake!
P.S.~~ I finally got ‘Save The Cat’!!
Nice post Blake, keep up the enthusiasm, it’s hard somedays, but easier others.
Thanks
I think the thing that pushes me from day-to-day to keep writing is having a belief in the story you are writing that it’s like not exactly like anything out there already, that the characters are worth bringing to screen, and that if its made into a movie, will touch/entertain all those who view it. And being stubborn, that helps too.
Excellent optimism and excellent writing.
Sometimes, when I get down about the rejection letters, I imagine my acceptance speech for “Best Screenplay/Nobel Prize in Literature/Greatest Guy In The World/Grammy (’cause why not?)” in which I thank everyone who helped me and then add: “You people who rejected me? Too bad.”
Excellent optimism. Writing should be fun; if writing is a grind, then you’re writing the wrong kind of thing. Be like the guy who wrote “8 Simple Rules…” and start writing something you think is fun to write and that you look forward to working on.
If you don’t enjoy writing it, how will someone enjoy reading/watching it? And if they won’t enjoy it, why will they pay you for it?
Excellent optimism. Writing should be fun; if writing is a grind, then you’re writing the wrong kind of thing. Be like the guy who wrote “8 Simple Rules…” and start writing something you think is fun to write and that you look forward to working on.
If you don’t enjoy writing it, how will someone enjoy reading/watching it? And if they won’t enjoy it, why will they pay you for it?
Enjoying writing is what gets me through the downsides when it looks like success will never hit; at least I’m having fun doing it.
If everytime you read your screenplay, you say “wow!”, then chances are that someone else will say “wow!”, too. At least that’s what I’m crossing my fingers for. Thanks for the pick-me-up, Blake.
Pardon me for saying so, but don’t we write because we need to write?
Certainly most of us might have difficulties to earn a living on our writing, but don’t we write never the less? Continue writing or not is not a question for me at least. I must write. I need to write. I will do that even if no one is interested.
A person at a publishing company told in an interview that a surpringly amount of writers called only to ask if it was worth the trouble to write the novel. The reply was “not if you feel that you need to ask”.
Of course I can feel dispair sometimes when no one is interested in my latest grand script, but it passes.
For all of those of you whom love family movies as much as Blake does, check out “Whiskers”. I caught it on late at night on the Pet Network, it’s very indy and possibly Canadian, but it literally is a ‘Save the Cat’ movie.
It’s about a boy who finds a cat and through a gypsy, the cat is turned into a human, and is a male in his late-20’s. I don’t want to spoil the ending, but it’s worth seeing the movie for alone.
Blake you are so right. The screwball comedy flourished during economic times much worse than today. In times like these we have an even better chance at succeeding at our craft. Thank you for the positive reminder!
Speaking of optimistic, Blake how could you ignore the success of “Fireproof?”
$500K and some willing helpers and look. Can’t you smell the smoke?
Wonderfully encouraging piece, Blake! I too receive emails & calls from fellow writers, many of them talented voices with something significant to say, and yet they have become disillusioned by the process.
I tell them that the hard times (we’ve ALL had them), they build character, and often adversity is something as writers & artists we will be able to use in our work, eventually.
Everyone’ s journey is different and there is no one surefire way to make it as a writer. But giving up should NOT be option. A writer WRITES! If you’re doing it strictly for fame or fortune, you WILL be disappointed. But as long as it feeds your soul, it is bound to touch the minds, minds and souls of others as well.
So, the best advice is simply this:
KEEP WRITING! KEEP FIGHTING!
Once we hit bottom there’s only one direction we can go…
I believe in a lot of writers who write themselves off; remember it’s people that quit or become disillusioned that give the rest of us a chance to get into the industry with our great spec piece.
Judging from the comments and Blake’s contest last month, there are a lot of great writers out there; it’s just a matter or time…and maybe a little bit of luck ;)
Have no fear… Retrograde is here. Writing is an evolution. It is a process of development. It is progress not perfection. Blake knows and we all know. I have a bookmark from the Writers Store that reads, “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit!” How great is that! Or even better when I met Steven Spielberg at my summer camp in Maine 1999. In reply to my comment that “I felt my life was a movie, I wish I had a camera on my head.” He replied, “If you write a screenplay, it will change your life!” How inspiring! Any professional started where we are all at now. Julia Cameron’s ‘Rite to Write’ is also a God-send. Keep the faith! Drop me a line :-)
Blake, I will gladly quit writing when they throw dirt in my face. I wrote my first novel with a broken hand, and I will be typing one handed for months after shoulder surgery on the 30th. Take a break, change your routine, alter your style, and go out of your comfort zone and write about something you are not used to focusing on to give yourself a new view of your own creativity.
Never give up.
Once again Blake, you come through when I’m feeling low… ok, here’s my re-vamped logline:
“Confessions of a Salesman”
– The first step is admitting you have a problem
On the verge of being evicted from his apartment, a goody-two shoes young man takes a job as a sleazy salesman and is abandoned in Reno during the orientation weekend by his new co-workers; but when he hooks up with a reality show dreamer on her way to California, and a biker gang of recovering preachers, he must learn to sell himself, and prove to the world that nice guys don’t have to always finish last.
Whaddya think!?!
The good thing is in tighter economic times people often band together to come up with indy productions and find new ways to get their movies made and seen. The opportunities have never been great with all the online media outlets from YouTube to iTunes and with more affordable production gear (Check out the Red camera and the Sony EX1 camera). Figuring out how to monetize and create publicity for indy projects may well lead to an indy venue akin to what CDBaby is to musicians. Waiting to be discovered is never a good option for creative people. I highly advocate small, reachable goals along the way to your career as a major Hollywood screenwriter.
CORRECTION Ouch! The above post should read “The opportunities have never been GREATER than they are right now – with all the online media (from YouTube to iTunes) and with more affordable production gear (check out the Red camera and the Sony EX1 camera). Sorry about the typo – I hit the “submit” key a little too quick!