There are a couple of gems that I found myself nodding like crazy to as I read them:
I'd been given the following advice early on, and I should have heeded it but didn't, said advice being: It's better to have no representation than it is to have bad representation or the wrong representation.
I scoffed at this at the time, but now I can see that's indeed true. I should have stopped worrying about agents and focused harder on my work. If you write enough scripts that people love, you'll find the right people to represent you.
Having been in a similar situation, I could not agree more. I have no regrets about walking away from a situation that didn't work (not a bad manager, just not the right one for me at that time), even if it means I had to start all over with the search.
And then he said this, about making time to write:
You have until the end of your life, but when is that? Fifty years. Ten? A week? Tomorrow? No one knows, right?
My friend Scott Myers has said, "Writing doesn't owe anyone a living" and that's so very true, so if you're doing it, do it because you love it, and try (this is hard) to write like there's no tomorrow.
I feel guilty if I don't write for a long time. Even if I'm not typing pages, I'm ALWAYS workshopping something in my head. In the shower, in the car, as I'm trying to fall asleep at night, any down time I have I spend working on my story because I don't want to waste anymore time than I already have.
It's a really good, informative interview, and he also has a great rant about passion that filled me with loving feelings. Check it out.
great quotes. Yeah he's right about the stop worrying about agents part, and just go out there and DO IT. I made a film last year, and it was truly a great learning experience and helped me network, but it's not over. I still have a long way to go.
ReplyDeleteI haven't found an agent yet, but I don't care anymore. I'm doing it all myself.
Sabina and all,
ReplyDeleteListen up.
Two kinds of screenwriters on this competitive world -
I think Joshua should one day direct. What is holding your back?
UNO PERSONALITIES
They write their own script and they do not give a smelly rat ass care what Readers and the public think. They write to actually piss Readers off and make them bitter and jealous. They write to direct themselves, eventuallly. And they get financing from friends, families and high-paying full-time jobs and cool producers with expensive taste for the good life. They are strong and very dominating directors. Very Alpha personality. Like a PITBULL the size of a horse. And they have skins made out of IRON MAN metal. So they will crush most negative idiots out there without a vision.
DUO
They write and most look like Woody Allen, Spike Lee and your typical Accountant looking-burn out pretending to be smart covservative complainers. They are not risk takers or brave souls in this BRAVE NEW WORLD. They like to hide in their room or living room and type cliche ridden scripts with Act 1,2,3 on the mark. That is it. They write for others and they usually are very humble and low personality types. They are not your typical take charge of situation kind of guys. And they do not want to direct and they will never direct. Usually they write tons of cookie cutting scripts. And speak with a low voice.
Billy
That's awesome, Sabina. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteBilly, that's a sort of fantasy some writers have of what the industry is like, but in truth it's far more complicated than that.