As I've learned (the hard way when I used to work with writing partners), once the fun of the honeymoon period ends and writing the damn script truly becomes work? That's when most people quit. It's also why I prefer to work alone on my own projects these days. If the script doesn't get done, the only person I have to blame is myself. As I've been reminding myself for 20 years now, "I'm the only person who's gonna get it done. So do what it takes to finish it." Then, this saying applies and resonates, "Deferred joys purchased through sacrifice are often the sweetest."
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@Stuart and @Fiona... excellent posts by both of you. My challenge with writing partners was finding someone willing to commit the same amount of time and focus to the collaborative project as myself... who left his engineering career to focus 100% on my writing and musicianship. So my advice would be to find someone with an equal level of commitment... because once the project really does become work, every single of my full-time-careered working "partners" tended to drift off in their writing... leaving me to do all the work... because I didn't have any other options than to focus on finishing it in order to get paid upon completion. That, for me, was hard to find... and why I now have 32 books published... all by myself.
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Yes Fiona... 32 books published... yet, as of tomorrow, I will have been at it for 20 solid years. In my engineering career, I won a $1.3 billion (yes, Billion) dollar contract. We won it with Focus. I've applied that same work ethic to all of my projects... which is why I'm (now) at 32... and (I hope) counting. Yet, my writing royalties this month were a whole Eight Bucks... and I have to remind myself constantly, "At least, Brian, it's better than the 14 years they (my royalties) were ZERO (I published my first in December 2009)." So do to math... (24 hours a day) X (365 days a year) X (20 years)... and only 32 books published to show for it. Oy! ;-)
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I just did the math Fiona... being that tomorrow is my 20 year anniversary, I've worked a solid 175,200 hours just to publish (a measly) 32 books. Yet, I'm now on Stage 32 tonight. Coincidence? ;-)
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@Bix... Love the Sherlock Holmes/Dr. Watson reference! Huge fan of their stories. And as a philosophy disciple of Plato... also loved the Socrates/Plato relation reference too. Great Post!!! Bravo! Major Kudos for your share. BTW, currently have on Jazz 24 (on a local NPR station), and they're playing the song "Brasil"... one of my favorite Desert Island S32 movies! Coincidence???
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Brian: I attempted three collaborations last year. This included being hired for a writing team. Though I got a small pay day for that, all three ventures were failures. This taught me enough to know I'm not built for co-writing gigs.
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Same here Philip... in your words, "I'm not built for co-writing gigs." To quote Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure"... a most Excellent post! Neither am I a fan of social media...'cept S32 and LinkdedIn... business first, pleasure (and $$$) later. To quote Scarface: "First comes da money, then the power... then da women." ;-)
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Love your share Glenn!!! BTW, I did save 2 bucks of that 8 dollars I received yesterday. Hid those 2 bucks away for a rainy day. It's the lesson of The Seattle Squirrel I learned in Seattle in 1997... I opened a bag of shelled sunflower seeds (my last name is Shell) on the pavement, hid, watched, and waited. Finally, a squirrel found the pile... and literally did a backflip of Joy! What did it do first? Eat it all? No! It immediately started burying those seeds... for a later day. As I was taught in early 1999, "Deferred joys purchased through sacrifice... are often da Sweetest."
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@Bix... that's exactly what the co-writers of DUNE say... after Brian Herbert (Frank Herbert's son) and Kevin J. Anderson took over the series (after Frank Herbert's passing). They write first (separately)... then decide what's good or not... Together.
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@Bix... the issue with a writing team selling a project is that one person my want one thing while another person may want another. On the other hand, you two can always play good-cop/bad-cop when it comes to the negotiating price. For me and my 1st co-writing experience, we wrote an 800 page book... and then that guy didn't want it published "Because it was too personal." Truly, it was probably my first WTF moment. For me and my 2nd co-writing experience, we conceived a supernatural suspense drama script and wrote 2/3's of it together before parting paths because she just wanted to sell it... while I wanted to direct it in order to ensure its concept was executed properly. My last co-writing gig (where I was paid)... I wrote my half of the he-said/she-said part of the book... she quit, ordered me to write her she-said parts, turned into a very bossy, non-civil person, and then took me to small claims court last year to get her money back. I was "Yeah... me? A guy? Writing a woman's perspective of online dating? Yeah, right... sigh..." Fortunately, the judge recognized that she had quit and that I had honored the spirit of our contract... whew! Oy!
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That brings up an important topic for considering a co-writing gig. The Contract. As the small-claims judge told me last year, "Invest in an attorney to draft one." He called mine, "Vague."
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You and me - both - Bix... ;-) "Red Rover, Red Rover, please send A Sweet Deal over."
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I've co-written with a fabulous partner who used to be my mentor. She's a great 'idea' person and really gets structure. So, when we decide on our next script, she 'talks' it as I scribble furiously (we co-write long-distance). Then I start the script, write a bunch of scenes then she reads it and rewrites - we go through this process several times. We respect each other -- very critical. On our latest project (which I started individually then asked her to come on board) she'd call me and say, "You might hate what I did at the end of Act 1!" I'd read it and LOVE it. She in turn loved my description and action sequences and we're both strong on dialog. It's been a really great partnership. Our first project together (an MOW) we sold and it was produced and aired within 1-2 years from conception. Probably the biggest benefit in this relationship is we had known each other for a long time, so we already had a relationship, we knew each other well. Having that friendship made our commitments stronger, I know. But I must say, it is really nice to brainstorm with another writer who has an equal creative investment in a project. So try it, but pick your writing partner carefully.
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@Marla... sounds like a great partnership you share with your writing partner. What I've liked about my collaborations is when my partner complimented me through our characters' dialogue... an in-reference only I got. On the flip side of the coin, when partners start using their co-writing to take personal cheap-shots (again, only in-references I get)... that's when it's time to abandon that partner.
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@Brian… Clever way to compliment your partner… I like that. One thing that was really interesting for my partner and me was that by the time a script is finished (well they're never really finished… but…) neither of us could remember who wrote what! It's also been nice to have a partner when we go to pitch… she used to be an actress so she's really great in a room and I'm the one who remembers many of those important little details. We are lucky, we balance each other out.
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@Marla... sounds like the perfect Sword & Shield writing partnership that you two possess. Gotta love it when that happens. :-) Like in the movie "Rocky" when Paulie asks why Rocky likes his sister. Rocky replies, "I dunno... we fill gaps... she's got gaps... I've got gaps... and together, we fill them."
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@Brian… Exactly! What I didn't mention is we certainly don't always agree on a direction/a scene/even dialogue. But that always leads to more discussion which I believe, leads to better writing. I've recently had the pleasure to work with a talented filmmaker who hired me (through Stage 32) to revise/rewrite a short he's now in the process of producing. It's a story that is very personal for him and he's very passionate about the subject matter. We spent hours on the phone discussing belief systems, ideas before he welcomed me in. We worked well together, also -- a few areas where we saw things differently but we worked through it and it has been, but overall, a great experience. I hope to continue to be involved with the film as it progresses. Check out "Life and The Lady"...