The Write Life

Just keep crapping it out...

This started as a post on Emily's site:
(if you don't already stop by - please do - it's a good one.)

Summary:

Em is getting some specs out to a manager and feeling insecure.

I tried to post a response on her site - unfortunately - blogger ate my reply and so I decided to just post about it here.

Here is what I've learned about the writing gig.

This is a business that thrives on insecurity. And it's top down. You think its just actors - but the thing is - its everyone - all the way to the heads of studios. And the reason its this way is because gabillions of dollars are spent trying to make a movie that makes money - and no one knows how to do it.

Yes - there are formulas. Yes there are a lot of factors. But the biggest one comes down to this.

I can hire him because he just did that and it was successful. If it fails, its not my fault - because he was a proven commodity.

So if you're trying to break in - you have to be better than a proven commodity. Or at least have something so marketable that people have to jump up and take notice.

But here is the thing about writing.

When you start - most people suck. And they continue to suck for awhile.

One of the worst things that can happen to you is that you have success while you still suck. You're like that kid that just starts playing basketball and you make an incredible behind the back pass - and then think you can do it everytime.

Writing takes time. It is a craft learned by doing. It takes discipline.

But there is one saving grace. Each time you do it - you get better. I swear that this script will be better than the last.

One of the biggest mistakes we make - and by "we" I mean me - is sending our stuff out there and waiting for someone to tell us if we are good or not. We crave validation. We want to be told that we are brilliant. That the hours spent locked away from human contact is worth it.

And we might be. Emily might be. If her blog is any indicator - she is well on her way.

And so we wait. We watch the phone. The email. Praying that the next call is the one. The next "you've got mail" is the note - saying all my troubles are over. Trust me - they're not. I got an agent a year ago - I've met with every studio two or three times - I've done takes for the biggest ones out there - I've had my script picked up by three big companies and green lit for production - and my troubles are still going.

The biggest mistake I made was wasting days with anxiety about people's reaction to what I wrote. It usually was good. Sometimes it was bad. But either way - I was waiting and not writing. Instead of messing with it - I could have done two or three more scripts - honing my craft.

But the best way to become a brilliant writer is to keep writer. Its like the drawings you did in elementary school. At the time - you thought you were Monet...Looking back you see you weren't even Basquiat. But you were on your way to a Monet...

Let's face it. Some people suck. They should not be writers. And that is why you need to get in a group that doesn't spare your feelings. Its fine to encourage someone - and everyone can write. Just not everyone can write well...

But the best way to get better is to keep going. Don't stop. Refine and fix what you've done. Read books. Live life. Study your craft. Watch movies. But don't wait for the manager to call. The better you get - the more they will chase you. The more you have that is good - the better you are.

Don't miss those opportunities - but don't expect them to be your "silver bullet." The thing that saves you and rescues you from obscurity and makes you a writer.

You are a writer because you do what writers do.

Procrastinate.

No... I mean write.

So keep on crapping out Ice Cream.

I'm sure there's a Baked Alaska in there somewhere....