never worked much as writers again.
The breakup of writing partnerships happens more often than not. It is, without a doubt, devastating to the careers of both writers. Let me reiterate that if you can write alone, please do so.
At some point during your pursuit of a career, another writer may ask you to partner up on a project. The final product will never be a good writing sample for you because no one will know which one of you did most of the creative work. Writing samples are paramount to your writing career. You need as many of them as possible, and all of them should be original scripts that have been written by you alone.
Recently I was a guest speaker at a writers’ conference and had a private consultation with an interesting woman. Here was her conundrum: She was just starting a screenwriting career and felt that since she was middle-aged and female that it would be impossible for her to be accepted into the male and obsessively youth-oriented “biz.” She had decided to put her adult son's name on her screenplays as either the writer or perhaps her co-writer. She suggested that if her scripts garnered any interest and generated any meetings, he would go to them alone. She asked my advice about this situation. I was appalled.
My chief horror was that it was a lie. Lying in any business or in any facet of one's life is always a poor choice. This terrible subterfuge cannot continue in a writer's career. Suppose she was to have a meeting. How would her son be able to talk intelligently about the project, or pitch her other ideas, or come up with ways of making the script better? How would he be able to answer on-the-spot questions about the characters of “his” writing process? All in all, it just wouldn't work. I explained to her that when it comes to original screenplays, no one cares how old you are or which sex you are or if you are a green elf. It is all about the script itself. If it is great it will sell. You will probably be re-written no matter who you are. Be proud of having done a great job. Be proud of who you are. Writing samples are usually sent out prior to a meeting so the reader doesn't know anything about the writer personally. The written word speaks for itself. If you have the talent, people will want you and your work. I've found that your attitude is more important than your age or sex. If you are older than everyone else in the meeting and you have a condescending or patronizing attitude toward these younger people, you will not be welcomed back. I know it's difficult to listen to advice from people younger than you are, but that's the name of the game.
If you have a good sense of humor and a positive attitude you will be accepted. It's up to you.
Here is another issue that I've known to be a hard choice for writers. Currently, novel agents and novel publishers want books that can be sold later as motion pictures. It is a very high priority in this field. Opting for whichever medium suits you and your story idea is completely your choice. This is a question of following your heart or perhaps following the momentary fad of the business. If you write purely for a sale, and out of panic, there will be a hole in the work that the reader can detect either consciously or unconsciously, and your reputation will be hurt. You simply cannot please everyone. Writing is difficult at best, but when it is forced into a genre that you don't love, your writing will suffer. When writing from your heart you may not sell the work but you will have a wonderful writing sample. This will eventually do more good for you than you can imagine.
The harsh rules of business have intruded irrevocably on your esthetic world. Not only must books be movies, but movie producers and studios want to sell their soundtracks and turn their movies into video games, DVD sales, board games, and toys because the “backend” monies can be huge to a studio. Motion picture financiers want big movies based on comic books, so people are trying to get comic books published before they think they can sell their scripts.
No matter what changes occur in our business, the same rule will always apply to writers working on spec screenplays: Write that project in which you believe.
The movie business has become so complex that it may seem impossible to navigate it in terms of knowing whom you want to please. My experience tells me that writers should always please themselves first and foremost but to always keep the market in mind. I know that sounds contradictory; however, it's possible and it works. The quality of your work will rise along with your passion for your project. When you write only because you want to get a sale, it will show in the work. Everyone in town is always searching for that special writer with that special spec script that rarely comes along. Very often, your script may not sell or even be optioned; however, you may be hired for a different project and you will use those skills that shone in your original screenplay to rewrite someone else's film. Your spec script may be ahead of its time, or perhaps other screenplays with the same or similar themes are already being developed at a movie studio. I can't tell you how many times this has occurred while I was an agent — sometimes an idea is in the air and is being developed in more than one place. If you have a great script, it will serve to open many doors for you, whether it is sold or not. If the story is wonderful and the characters even better, people in the film industry will know it and will find you. The people who are making movies often find a novel, short story, news article, etc., that they will need to have a good writer translate into a movie script. Perhaps you will be the writer they hire to write that movie.
There is an old saying that “rules are made to be broken.” I believe that to be true. So, if you hear that no one is buying unpackaged spec scripts, or that only books that can be movies will be published, or that you must only write big action-adventure flicks, even though you love writing relationship dramas, you are being sorely misinformed. The only real reality is that things change. The pendulum is constantly swinging back and forth. When you are absolutely sure that no one will buy and produce a western, someone remakes the very old movie, 3:10 to Yuma, starring Russell Crowe. I don't suggest you fight only uphill battles. Try to be circumspect in your choices.
A big no-no is to spend your time and creative energy writing the same project in more than one medium. I've seen people write the same story in different mediums thinking that they will then have a better chance at a sale. It is much better to write each story idea in one format that you really love. When you do so you will write with more quality and it will show in your piece. You must always be moving forward to your next beloved project. I knew a successful writer who became too attached to one idea. He wrote his “story” as a screenplay and a novel and when they didn't sell, he also wrote it as a play. All of these efforts took their toll in time, thought, energy, and work. It was an enormous waste of all of that and it ended his career.
The simple answer is and always has been: Write what you love but remember that you are in the business of writing.
Another huge question that arises is when to let go of a script that hasn't sold. Writers quite often continually push their agents to send out an old script. It is great to believe in your work; however, here again you must trust your agent or manager. It is very hard to define why a good script doesn't sell, but usually there is a reason. You and your agent may never figure it out. It will also be possible that your agent will know, but not want to share, this information with you. Perhaps your agent feels it will hurt your feelings or that you are so tied to the project that you won't listen to the advice presented to you. The point is to simply let it go and move on to your next spec script, treatment, or pitch idea. There is no such thing as successfully selling defensively. If you force your agent's hand he or she will be put in a position of having to go against his or her own instincts or to let you go as a client. Either of these decisions are potential disasters for you. Like the old saying goes, “It doesn't matter if the window hits the rock or the rock hits the window, in either case it's bad for the window.”
Similarly there is a huge problem if you write a script that your agent doesn't believe in and doesn't want to submit. This is a dead zone that can destroy a perfectly good agent-client relationship. It has happened to me. I once represented a brilliant writer who blindsided me by walking into my office with twenty gold-stamped, leather-bound, completed screenplays about the murders of elderly people in an old age home. A script doesn't get more depressing than that. The story
