Screenwriting : Anyone else get this? by Lisa Clemens

I used to get the same comments from friends and family - until they saw my name in the credits of a movie on the big screen. then my 'hobby' became a career

Hopefully when "Case 13" is made (they are casting and have completed location scouting!) I can get the same results, Leonard! Counting the days...ok months haha

I know what you mean. I've been in the music industry on and off since 1994. Some good success and some not so good. I went to college majoring in music and it's so nice that I spent all that time and money learning my craft just to have people say oh that's a wonderful hobby what do you do for work? grrrrr and even better is all the blood sweat and tears that go into making and learning music and there are people out there that actually want me to pay for the opportunity to play music. How many business majors have to pay for the opportunity to run a business? what a nice hobby it is to be a business mogul. lol ooops I'm venting again :D

Lisa, you're right. I try not to talk about music (my "hobby") with my friends anymore, unless I have something cool going on and I can't resist telling everybody. ;-) But just out of interest - how do you get into screenwriting? Can you go to college and do a major there or maybe that isn't the best way at all? All the film jobs are so exciting imho.

Yeah...I always love when people say "Oh cool, so you want to act and produce..." and I'm like yeah I want to and have been for the past 7 years!

I don't see writing as a hobbie. Even suggesting it makes me think it's a put down. Writing is my life and something I do everyday just like I brush my teeth. Don't listen to it, girl. You know what you do and just don't tell anyone. Let them see your name on the big screen and then watch how stupid they feel.

Johannes, I got into screenwriting in a rather different way. (settle in for a long story!) I started out as a fan of Hong Kong films, especially films of Jackie Chan..Okay I love ALL films and have ALWAYS been fascinated with how they are made. I won't even buy a DVD unless it has behind the scenes extrasI Anyway I used to find websites and message boards about Asian films and post news I had found to them. A magazine editor noticed and asked if I'd write articles and reviews for his magazine. While I was doing that I was also writing stories that friends thought would make cool films. I had toyed with changing some of the stories into screenplays but never got further than that. Then I got my first interview assignment. It was a phone interview with Andy Cheng from Jackie Chan's stunt team. I was thrilled and we had a good long talk. After the interview I said I hoped he'd keep in touch and he did. We became friends. Four or five years later, Andy needed a script re-write and asked if I had ever done any screenwriting. I told him that I had played around with turning my own fiction into scripts but nothing more. He gave me a chance. He gave me free rein to change anything I saw fit as long as it followed the basic plot. Long story short (too late, I know) after he read it I said I really enjoyed the experience and I hoped he'd keep me in mind if he had another someday. He said, "As far as I'm concerned you can be my partner for as long as you still enjoy working with me!" He's in LA and I am in the Rochester NY area but we use skype and the internet and we work very well together. He is very visual and had some cinematography and directing experience and my forte is dialog so we compliment each other well. I also help him in other ways , acting as his "Long Distance Assistance" by checking out scripts he has been offered, writing e-mals or helping him prep for meetings and pitches. He was asked to direct a film by a producer friend of his that also needed someone to write the script for the idea he had on a found footage. Andy told him that he and I could write the script, and so we did. Andy had to drop out from directing due to other upcoming projects but we co-wrote it and it's gong into production. That producer liked working with me and wanted to help me get more work, so he suggested me to another friend. After giving him a sample of my writing, they hired me to write a script, solo, for a direct to DVD film that is currently seeking funding. That first producer, Andy's pal, recently asked if I wanted to work on another solo script. Meanwhile Andy and I are working together to try to get a rewrite job on a film! So things are getting busy and I am building my resume! So no I didn't go to film school, I have an amazing mentor and friend who not only teaches me but helps promote me as well. (He joked once that if I write a screenplay he does not want to direct, he'll pitch it around and take 10% haha

Writing isn't a hobby. It's a disease. A sickness. It's progressive and malignant and it will eat you alive. There is no cure.

Funny you should say that! A few screenwriting friends have posted this on Facebook..."Writing is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand." — George Orwell

And Kenneth, you are a screenwriting INTERN :-)

Sometimes I think it would be more enjoyable as a hobby. When it pays the bills instead of draining the budget probably not a hobby anymore. Good Luck!!

Quite natural Lisa :(. I worked for some years in television busting my a... in front of a tv, computer and mixing console doing audio. My friends use to say: "Lucky guy. Spending all day in front of a computer...". They didn't do that in a mean way, they just didn't know. So I ask sometimes some of them to go to a day work with me... Then they started understanding my hobby lolol

Hey Lisa - your story then is quite a unique chance and I'm very happy to read that there are good mentors out there helping the young artists to get better and hopefully break into the business sooner or later. :-) Yes, nowadays - a remote assistantship can work. Skype is good, although I'm very happy when I have the chance to meet that or that composer in person at a festival.

Do you really care what they say, Lisa? You know better, right? :-D

Never let anyone deter you from your path. Only you have Power over you. I was just reminded this yesterday by a good friend of mine. Best. Peace

So true, CF! ~Maggie

Its true, right...And sometimes when we lose sight of that we have to be reminded not to.

Very true! Someday I'll receive an award for what I do and in that acceptance speech I'll say, "I told you guys it's not a hobby!" haha. And Kenneth, my oldest daughter wants to be a Genetic Engineer...they have creative writing classes but nothing in the way of descent science classes for her major!! Wanna trade schools?

I am a published poet, have written internationally recognized advertisements, own an advertising agency (since 1994) have four cars, two boats (used to have six...) a 3500 square foot Victorian House and have eight kids in college. My in-laws want to know when I am going to stop fooling around and get a real job. I answer "I don't know what I want to do when I grow up yet.

She'd freeze! She wants to move south!

I agree Lisa. People are so stupid. Just let people who know that I do video work and say "Wow you make a lot of money!".. But they don't realize the work does not come that often. Or I hate when people think it's "Easy"... And then I tell them how MANY Hours I spend working on something, then they shut UP!

Writing isn't a hobby, it's a way of life!

I wholeheartedly agree! ~Maggie

I call it my hobby but I think I really will start calling it my job -- screenwriting is hard work!

I once got "thats nice dear but wouldnt knitting be more pratical?" There will always be people who dont understand. The trick is to tune them out and find people who DO.

PS; I do books, screenplays, stage plays and even commit poetry from time to time. writing isnt my hobby or my job its my vocation.

Your post line really moved me. It keeps surfacing throughout the day, And I keep thinking how cool is it to have a profession you love (think hobby) and some day the B'och from high school may call for tickets to an event. . As Wayne says, "Party on.' Do what you love.

I'm so tired of hearing that my writing is a hobby. Hobby? I have a series in pre-production, another I'm seeking a home for and I'm a consultant on two more. I've been a reader and script doctor for a production company, I have two novels in the works, a book on screenwriting and a book of poetry due for release in two weeks. Oh, and I'm a working journalist. With my hobby keeping me so busy, it's amazing that I still have time for a day job.

Lisa -- just tell them to buy tickets to your "hobby". Or they should buy a copy of your "hobby" now out on DVD. Roll with it. lol.

I learned to ignore those people. Though it is rediculous to hear stuff like that sometimes. My favorites, from my dad, are, "What's this?" (On TV, a music video I directed and edited. You saw it two years ago.) And, it bothers me that I've been doing location sound on several shows for years and none of that ever sinks in. "What's this?" Your son's career.

It’s my hobby and the more people know about it the better I like it just because I look at it as cheap advertising and a good marketing tool.

"What's this?" lol Michael Olson.

Haha yeah I once had a teacher tell me, "Oh I have a great idea for a movie you could write! Teachers as SPIES! Think about it, we know everything that goes on in the school right? Teachers would make great spies! Can you write that?!" Then I said , "Sure I'll do it for $8000 down and the rest on completion plus back end. Oh and what's your PLOT? We need a story here."

PJ, everybody I know I am pro, but that doesn't sink in either. It's that TV/Film is not recognized as an actual career by a lot of people. Sadly.

If I could hit "like" on this post ten times, I would do it.

True Dan...I suppose that as long as the people who COUNT take us seriously, that's what matters! (like the people that we want to work with and for!)

I know the feeling. I always get asked, "so how's your novel coming along." Or, "how's the play?" People seem to have the idea that movies are made by someone going out with a camera and filming actors making up their lines! lol. If only there was a way of getting the same recognition that published book authors get!

Just laugh all the way to the bank.

That's odd. I've never had anyone say that.

@ Chris - Absolutely true. The problem is that "Creation" often does not understand the interests and demands of the market when they are creating.

I just hate that story has not entered the minds of many who put things out there.

@Chris - The "good thing" about the film business today is that anybody can make a movie. The "bad thing" about the film business today is that anybody can make a movie. :-)

no problem! Interesting to see the conversation evolve!

Rule #1: Never write for free...unless it's for yourself. Rule #2: Never let anybody (i.e. a "producer") tie up you script without putting down option money.

The best advice I got was ask for a percentage upfront. If they say no, they never had it and probably won't.

I got ripped off on the book I wrote. I was promised 50% of profit on it, never saw a dime then had to nag to get copies of my own book! Karma happens though and the magazines he created (which I also wrote for ) are no more.

Honestly I have no real hard feelings or regrets! He did give me my first interview which lead me to my screenwriting career!! His magazine focused on Hong Kong film/film makers and I was asked to interview Andy Cheng from Jackie Chan's stunt group. Andy had gone from doubling Jackie to becoming a choreographer and director in the US. After the interview I said, "Let's keep in touch!" and Andy took it seriously. We became friends and four or five years later he asked me to try my hand at rewriting a script for him. He liked my work enough to become my partner and mentor. So in reality, I got something more valuable than a check. I made a friend and partner andI am learning lessons that I could never get in film school!

Small indeed! I think Andy worked with Charlie on Martial Law with Sammo Hung for the first season. :)