How do you picture success? Creative people are often horrible measurers of success. We tend to work a piece (in any medium) more because we don’t like letting go than the fact that it may not be finished or ready to move to the next phase. Much in the way we have to craft a journey for our characters with a clear goal, and stakes if the goal isn’t achieved, we need to step back and ask when will I be satisfied with my process/project/career? It’s easy for writers to get into a comfort zone where they write, X amount of pages a day and celebrate when the hit FADE OUT, then put off a rewrite, toy with something else or immediately send out for feedback and then start the whole process over. What is at the top for you? And when you reach it, will you be prepared? Will you even want to stay? For instance, if your goal is to write 2 features a year, then what? Is that your plateau or your summit? Do you want to make a living as a writer or just sell one piece? Or are you happy just writing with no monetary gain? If it’s a career thing and not a hobby, you may have to come to terms with the fact that there may be projects you have to take on to prove yourself, that may not be your favorites. Just like the more your characters are put through the ringer, the more satisfying their climax when they reach what you define as their success, the same goes for you and your journey. If you want to get beyond FADE OUT, look beyond the page. It’s the only way you’ll get there. Keep climbing, and send the rope back down when you get there.
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I think it's accurate for me to say that I love to tell stories/write scripts, and would love for those stories to be disseminated through a mass medium that would result in financial compensations; awards/acclaim; and requests to write scripts for studios and production companies. All of that would be "at the top" for me. If I don't achieve any of that, other than to write scripts that go nowhere...I'll be disappointed, of course, but it won't be the end of the world for me.
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I think this is where my freelance writing career has helped me. I'm very pragmatic about my writing and I understand all too well the concept of writing about things you aren't interested in so that you can move forward in your career. And I can think of worse things than getting paid to write someone else's scripts. I know people who make a very good living that way, as well as making contacts that help them move their own projects forward. That's kind of how it works.
I completely agree, Jody. There are many who think otherwise, and that's fine for them, but it does beg to question what are they in it for? If it is just to create their own material, they just need to get realistic with the difficulty in reaching that point. I have to read so many scripts in so many genres that it too has helped keep me pragmatic when I have to do work for hires or ghostwriting. It's not the way I thought I'd be doing this full time, but it has certainly kept me from being a starving artist.
As a novice in this system of writing and screenplay interactions towards a worthy mutual goal, I am finding so many wise people that I feel inferior, so far. Who has time to collaborate with a new comer?
Craig, I think you have to define to others and yourself, what you want out of a collaboration. Do you want a writing partner, a mentor or peers to bounce ideas off of? In any case, there a countless people who take a stab a screenwriting every day so you are not alone. The best thing you can do is learn the business alongside the craft, (there are countless resources -- Stage 32 is a great place to start) and as a part of that process join a writers group where there is bound to be writers of various experience. If there isn't one in your town, look online (or on Stage 32). Take classes, (beware of scams), study scripts, study the business, that way you won't come off as a newbie, but someone who is informed. But to the point of the post, success is measured differently for everyone, as is the path to get there. Your idea of what constitutes success may change along the way, but you have to start with some notion of what you hope to get out of the process as a writer. Best of luck to you.
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Love your posts Laurie. Great stuff. Personally, I'm making this a career path. Luckily I'm tenacious and will do what ever I have to do in order to make that happen.
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Thank you!!