Screenwriting : When is it time to hang up the cleats? by Jateca Springs

The time to semi-retire it is when you have something new to shop. Then the old screenplay becomes the back pocket material to answer that dreaded question, "what else have you got?"

You might want to re-adjust your thinking. Every screenplay you write serves two purposes. Showcase your writing ability... Hopefully turned into a movie... For a few, the former is likely. For the latter, even less. My manager said, "most people who call themselves writers fail, because they don't have a body of work to back it up". Think of every script you write as a step towards improving your trade craft and if it ever gets made, that's a bonus.

Having a 'body of work' is crucial. Preferably different genres. If one or two are 'incomplete' that's fine. You can always go back to it/them later. I have a Sci-Fi one that stares at me and says 'finish me'. I say no - I'm too busy with other new ones. It can wait.

Never give up on a script, there had to be a good reason you wrote it in the first place. As others have said, just keep it within your body of work.

I don't think any project should be given an old yeller treatment unless you realize something is so fundamentally wrong with it that you'd rather it never see the light of day. I've stopped many script mid-writing because of various factors, but I do intend to go back and finish most of these at some point or other. I think there are good times to set a script aside, write something else, and approach again as a stranger to it for a variety of reasons. 1. Something comes out so similar it feels like a rip off. 2. Piece requires intensive research that you don't have time for at the moment. 3. The outline/direction eludes you at the moment (aka writer's block). 4. Wrong mood or mindset. If I'm feeling depressed, I enjoy writing darker stuff then as I take it further, go down darker roads, bur I struggle to write comedy in those times. So people know, I have actually returned to several projects that have received this treatment and finished some of my favorite scripts.

I write on a couple of different things at different times. One reason is because I know what I want for each project. I know my characters for each project and each script has a different emotion or feel to it. If it ever gets to a point I can't go any further, I back off and let it sit. It's important to me to feel what I'm writing and if I can't feel it, it makes no sense to force it because then it reads like I lost it. But, that's just me.

Maybe this is God's way of telling you that you are the person you are looking for. Often times when others say no, that is our yes to take matters in our own hands...

If it's good and you remain passionate about it - even after repeated reads and revisions and rewrites and dialogue polishes (all of which hopefully keep making it better), then NEVER. The biz makes you work hard for your living. You have to be like a dog with a bone. But that being said - also try to be as objective as you can about the material - if it's never taken flight with potential buyers and you get the same comments over and over - maybe forget it and go on to the next. I have a couple that have consistently garnered raves over the years - and been passed on for various reasons having nothing to do with the story or the quality of the writing (coverage at one HUGE agency - where I was not even a client - said it would attract A-list actors and directors, be solid at the box office and big at awards season - and still didn't sign me as a client or try to sell the script) - under those circumstances - I do not give up. Any angle I can play - I do. Any talent I think I can get it to on my own - I try. Until every door in Hollywood is closed (and there are a LOT of doors) - I ain't goin' nowhere.

You never hang a screenplay. You put it on the back burner and start working on a new one. An old screenplay is still a writing sample and usually when you sell one buyers want to buy multiple. It is never a smart idea to put all your eggs in one basket! Who knows it could be make in 10 years.

You may want to pay for notes or have someone you trust to be brutally honest with you give you feedback to see if there's a problem with your script. But the problem may not lie there as much as with your logline, pitch or query letter. If those three don't pass muster, you'll never get your script read no matter how good it is.

I've written 6 screenplays, and as long as I feel passionate about them, I'll keep pitching them. Writing is essentially re-writing.

Who are you writing For ? No re-writing is going save a bad story ( define a bad story, One Def: nobody is going to want to spend 90 minutes watching, downloading, let alone paying for) If screenwriting is easy then everyone would be doing it..oh wait , everyone is doing it...and that is the rub, You need to have a marketing plan and contact those who might be interested in your story... Get some opinion from sources from which you trust. AND For your own sake get your First ten pages dialed in... There are sites that will critic your 10 pages and if 3 or 4 other writers - someone in the profession.. come back with the same notes.. Then fix it. spend time and money.. AND see a counselor - 10 years for Cowboys and Aliens to get picked up and we know how that turned out. Wayne I am over two years and $4000 into my Historical drama ( research, Pitchfest, travel) just to be able to see the door, let alone put one foot into it>

I'm new to screenwriting, but have had several books published. I go to writing conferences where I pay for commissioning editors from major publishers to read one of my stories (or part of one) and then give one to one discussion of the work for half an hour. My new book out in May 2014 results from such an appraisal. Is there anything like this available for scriptwriters? I, too, pay for advice from those who truly know what is needed. I know getting an agent is hard - but if they believe in the work, agents never give up ...or at least, they keep sending out the manuscript much longer than most writers do - and you can get on with writing the next one.

Peter, there are reputable people out there offering script coverage. Four I would recommend are: http://www.onthepage.tv/

http://www.scriptshark.com/

http://www.scriptpipeline.com/writers-workshop

http://www.scriptcoverage.com/ Good luck.

I don't toss anything I write. There are some pieces that sit back and percolate for years and I've gone and pillaged some stuff for other projects and even though something has has been shelved, I find my brain is always gnawing away at it, turning it over and over until the prisms line up. Good luck!

Many thanks, Leon and Mark. I've got to do the writing first...

To Patrick - you're on the money when you say that a good idea is never out of date. As long as you have a single champion for a piece of material - even if it's only yourself - it's like a vampire - never dead. As for taking 10 years to get made - I'm living proof of that. I literally wrote a script that was produced a decade later. That's the upside. The downside is it went through a number of hands on it's way to grossing close to a half a billion dollars - and the studio left my name off the credits. Ahh - showbiz - what a concept. And to Peter Taylor - I would wish you nothing better than finding the sort of agent you described - one who "never gives up". The reality is - most agents - even the good ones - get all hot and bothered initially over a piece of material - but after the first round of phone calls and submissions - if they don't get a fast bite and/or offer - it goes into the dead letter file. Their enthusiams only extend as far as their headset and primary call list - they rarely even follow up after a submission - because the rule of thumb is that if there's no response - that means the reader didn't like the script - and the agent throws in the towel. I've had about a half a dozen agents over the years - some better than others - one terrific one - one awful one - all who shall go nameless. Last go round - an agent read and LOVED an action script I'd written - called me and told me "we'll have this sold by Friday".That was on a Monday. And one of his best friends is one of the busiest and most prolific producers in the business. Not a nibble. Nothing. Last I ever heard from the agent. There were extenuating circumstances here - I may have been shit-listed by a certain MAJOR studio after suing them over that missing credit on that aforementioned hit movie - and after begging the agent to send out this other script under a pseudonym - he didn't feel that was necessary - and went out with my real name on it. The rest - is zip. Lastly - to Leon - I'm jealous that you have your WGAw splinter group in Texas to commisserate with and share scripts and get advice etc. Fantastic. Wish I had the same here in CT. I lived in LA for many years - and being close to a number of other writers to share war stories and find trusted ones to give material to and get solid feedback from (good, bad or indifferent) was a major plus. I was even on a WGA softball team. We played ball every weekend - and then went out to McDonalds afterwards for burgers and shop talk. Miss those days.