Let’s face it, becoming a professional screenwriter is a very difficult goal/dream to achieve. The competition is fierce and the chances of success are very low. But someone has to succeed. Hundreds of people submit scripts every year to competitions, scholarships, production companies, networks, anchors and managers, with tens of thousands of them from all walks of life.
If you’re prepared to face some hard truths, it will happen. And be prepared, because these hard truths may be hard to swallow at first. But they had the tough love of a 20-year industry veteran who had been involved in many studio meetings, professional script contracts and produced feature films.
This is what it takes to move from a novice screenwriter to a professional who is ready, worthy, and capable.
3 facts every screenwriter needs to face
1. You need to stop relying on feedback from others
feedback yes A must-have learning tool for novice screenwriters. It can take the form:
- Feedback from mentors (lecturers, teachers, industry contacts)
- Peer feedback (writers’ group, writing partners, family, friends)
- Professional feedback (script consultant, script reporting, competition/scholarship description)
It’s good to give your material some fresh looks at the beginning. It is natural for novice screenwriters to become confused about their works. You will be blinded by excitement, enthusiasm, and fantasies of grandeur. Every screenwriter goes through this process.
Seeking feedback from mentors, peers, and professionals can be extremely helpful in bringing you back to reality through constructive criticism and script/story/character analysis.
But after the first few scripts, you need to stop using feedback as a crutch. You have to start improving your processes until you are self-reliable and able to view your work as objectively as possible. This is perhaps the most amazing achievement a screenwriter can achieve in their screenwriting career—the ability to look at your own work and see the strengths and weaknesses without having to rely on someone else to point them out for you.
The hard truth is that when you take on an assignment or pay to do the first required rewrite on the script you just sold, you can’t rely on anyone else. You can’t take it to a mentor, peer, industry contact, or consultant. Under contract law, it’s up to you.
The sooner you get to the point where you don’t need or want to send your latest draft to other people for feedback, the sooner you’ll be ready to become a professional screenwriter.
Studios, connections, streamers and production companies are not going to hire you and your support team of mentors, colleagues and paid script consultants. They just hire you. They want and need individuals who can develop, write, problem solve, apply notes, and collaborate.
Read more: The difference between script comments and feedback
They hire writers to express their personal voices. Finding those unique or specific types of sounds is a coveted part of their development process. They need and want it to fit the project they are developing.
In your case, finding your voice as a screenwriter is one of the most magical stages of the screenwriting process.
But you can’t do that when you’re constantly asking others to give back. Everyone who gives you notes and feedback injects their wants and needs into your story, and it’s their input that is changing your original voice. While they can certainly point out things you may not have noticed in the script, it’s your job to make it happen yourself.
The only way to do this is to stop sending drafts to other people and take charge of your own work.
2. You need to believe in yourself and take control of your writing
All screenwriters need to have confidence in themselves and their work.
- You don’t know everything.
- Learning never stops.
- You can improve.
But you need to be confident that you’ve told the story you wanted to tell the way you wanted to tell it.
No script consultant, mentor, or peer can get you to this point. It’s all up to you, that’s what it means to develop and have your own voice.
When you are writing a specification or completing the first draft of a professional assignment, you Decide when the draft will be completed. You can’t rely on other people telling you.
That changes when you submit your assignment, yes. It is then up to those in power to decide what they need and want further from the draft, which is different from seeking input from others to get feedback.
But you need to learn to trust yourself and take responsibility for your writing so that you can effectively say, “Okay. I did everything I could to get it where it needs to be.”
The most underrated talent in screenwriting is knowing when a screenplay is finished. It’s not a first-round pick, it’s not a second-round pick, it’s not a draft where you go in the first round.
Final draft.
You never touch it again until it’s leaked to someone in the industry and they either:
- Hire you for rewrites (studio, network, streamer, production company).
- Sign you as a client and require you to make some changes before they can use it widely (manager).
You can do this by taking ownership and not letting these insecurities seep into your decision-making process.
Read more: 5 ways to determine if a script is complete
Taking ownership is scary, but necessary. This is part of the screenwriting process when you’re a professional working under contract.
You know, once you become a paid writer, insecurities don’t go away. All professional screenwriters struggle with self-doubt, and it never goes away.
- Sometimes we submit a draft of an assignment that we are sure will have few comments, but end up with a lot of comments.
- A few other things we weren’t sure about and wished there were major notes ended up being almost none.
Gaining that ownership sometimes involves working to a deadline and delivering what you feel is your best work, despite lingering questions that may or may not become problems for those in power.
- No script is perfect.
- No draft is smudge-proof.
- No script is truly finished until it’s put on the screen.
Take this worry off your shoulders and get yourself to a point where you can stop relying on others and take personal ownership of your writing. As you prepare for the big leagues, this will be the most liberating part of your screenwriting journey.
3. Your spec script may not sell
This is the mod most novice screenwriters crave:
- Write a high concept or ideal script.
- For sale represents a high concept or ideal script.
- Keep repeating to have a successful screenwriting career.
The harsh, eye-opening truth is that this mod is unusual in Hollywood. For most screenwriters, this would never happen.
- In 2020, reported spec sales hit over $20B, mostly from screenwriters who were already represented.
- By 2021, there are an estimated 34.
“But that’s because of the pandemic,” some countered.
- In 2019, reported spec sales were just 35 units.
- 2018? 40.
This is not to say that speculative markets are dead. Not anyway. This is just something novice screenwriters need to know and understand. 99% of script contracts in the industry are Operationrather than sales.
Read more: Why screenwriters should focus on getting assignments rather than selling scripts
Instead, the spec script is used as a calling card to get you in those coveted Hollywood doors. Your screenplay is a testament to Hollywood talent.
Canonical scripts do sell well, but you can’t hang around in the cloud expecting them to make a ton of money. That said, you shouldn’t change your goal of writing a great script with an ideal concept and great characters.
Keep in mind that when you start getting contracts (and hopefully get some production credits), you can always have these hot spec scripts in your back pocket to use during meetings and to make some good connections with Hollywood Then get a new life.
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Don’t let these hard facts stop you. They are the essential knowledge you need to become a screenwriter who is ready, willing, and able to become a professional screenwriter.
Ken Miyamoto has worked in the film industry for nearly two decades, most notably as a studio liaison and then as a script reader and story analyst for Sony Pictures.
As a production writer, he participated in numerous studio meetings with companies such as Sony, DreamWorks, Universal Pictures, Disney, Warner Bros., and numerous production and management companies. He previously signed a development deal with Lionsgate and has had several writing assignments, including starring Anne Heche, Sean Patrick Flanery, Billy Zane, James Brolin, Haley ·The miniseries “Blackout” starring Duff, Brian Bloom, Eric LaSalle and Bruce Bucklina. Follow Ken on Twitter @ken电影
