If you’re a CREATIVE writer, why do YOU write?
For the money? It’s a job? Competitions? Hoping for the big break? You like to read what you write? You love when others read what you write and they tell you, they liked it?
When I first started writing, I read somewhere: “So, you want to be a screenwriter? You should: move to California, get a job in the industry, net-work.” I didn’t.
Now, I’m an old man in a wheel chair. I worked almost 40 years for a large corporation. I’m retired, financially sound, don’t need a job; great family, plenty of friends…. I know, big deal, good for you. No one cares. I get it. BUT, help me here. I still write. WHY?
Woody Allen references an old joke at the end of ANNIE HALL. It’s kind of a metaphor about relationships and why we keep getting into them.
This guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, “Doc, my brother’s crazy. He thinks he’s a chicken”. The doctor says, “Well, why don’t you turn him in?” The guy says, “I would but I need the eggs”.
So, it is 3:00AM, I’m lying in bed staring at the ceiling. I’ve been doing this for 2 hours now. I’ve had it with the “gentle rain” application chiming softly, from my I Phone.
Face it, moron! Your second act “ain’t” going nowhere. I have a headache. What do I do? I need to do something! I rise, roll to my laptop and boot it up. While it boots, I brew some coffee.
My coffee sipping routine becomes more productive than my typing routine. Nothing is happening. I review what I’ve typed. Line after line of: “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, Jack Nicholson, THE SHINING. I’ve got to get out of here!
I get into my van and start driving; 5 MPH circles around my neighborhood. An idea comes to me. I pull up. I’m excited! I turn my head in response to a tapping on my window. I lower it and face a police officer. He says, “Are you okay sir? Do you need some assistance”? To which I respond, “MY SECOND ACT SUCKS”!! As you might guess, the new idea for my second act has vanished.
Suddenly, I feel someone’s hands on my shoulders. From behind, my head is pulled back and up from the keyboard. I’m staring at a blank screen. Only my reflection is visible. My nose is running, indentations from the keyboard riddle my forehead and the channels of the keyboard are filled with spittle. My pajamas are soaked with spilled coffee. I have to pee.
I turn to face my wife. She has that look on her face. I’ve seen that look before. She smiles and says, “Why don’t you quit”? My response is always the same, “I would but I need the eggs.”
If you’re a creative writer, why do YOU write? I’m curious. Have you set a goals? Are you achieving them or do you just need the eggs?
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Another angle:
Each page of a novel costs some additional paper to print. The cost difference between a 400 pages or 700 pages novel is marginal. But movies are different. Each page of your script cost...
Expand commentAnother angle:
Each page of a novel costs some additional paper to print. The cost difference between a 400 pages or 700 pages novel is marginal. But movies are different. Each page of your script costs a lot of money to produce (around 1,000 USD per page in a low-budget film to over 660,000 USD per page in a Hollywood blockbuster).
Each time you write over the industry-accepted 120 pages, you will need significantly more money in production, more investors, or more pressure from the producer. The difference between a 120-page good script and a 150 pages good script in the same genre is that the first one costs from 30 TUSD to 20 MUSD less than the second one.
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My latest script was 131 pages initially, now it's 123. I don't think 3 extra pages are going to be that much of an issue.
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Claudio: For my screenplay it will take at least 200 thousand pounds for page, between actors, places to shoot, costumes and etc ... and in any case and the synthesis of a trilogy written in 17 years...
Expand commentClaudio: For my screenplay it will take at least 200 thousand pounds for page, between actors, places to shoot, costumes and etc ... and in any case and the synthesis of a trilogy written in 17 years ... so it is not even possible to translate it into money!
However what you say is very true and I agree!
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I don't have trouble writing within the page limit. I do write horror and thriller and they usually come at 85-97. Maybe non-genre is harder to be under that 120?
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Haven't got a feature making up 90 let alone 120, 130 pages so far...like to keep the storyline clean and simple, less tirades, more action sequences...
Yet, I see most of the, say, blacklist script entries are all over 100 pgs...