SCREENWRITING IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT IS - PART 2: PATHWAYS TO FAILURE

PATHWAYS TO FAILURE

In my experience, most screenwriters fail because they do not know how to take their “undercooked” early ideas and transform them into something effective (There’s that word again). Something that could sell. Something of professional quality. And specifically, something that could be turned into a successful motion picture. In short, they don’t know how to complete the job they’ve only just started.

Something is by definition “undercooked”
if it hasn’t been in the oven long enough.

*This is the process of writing a screenplay, aka “the oven”.*

The writer has not put in the required amount of time and effort. For a script to be “fully cooked” it needs to be conceptualized, developed, distilled, redeveloped, first-drafted, then pondered upon, shared with others for critical feedback, reworked, polished, slept on, and so on - for as long as it takes.

And there are two basic influences that contribute to undercooking your work:

Being in a hurry and simply not spending the necessary time developing, polishing, and elevating the work until it has been PROVEN to be effective
(* NOTE: I’ll talk specifically about the word “effective” and why I think it’s so important in a later post).
Feeling self-satisfied with work that YOU are excited about, but that has not been proven to excite anyone else

This attachment to and mischaracterization of the quality of your own work - likely by not receiving quality feedback throughout the entire process - prevents you from giving the work the time and development it needs by allowing you to convince yourself it does not require it.

Self-Serving Writers

Part of the problem is that many new screenwriters focus too much on themselves and believe that as long as they find their work convincing or compelling or exciting or emotionally impactful, everyone should. Worse, they believe everyone WILL.

And this isn’t simply because the writer in question is an egomaniac. That is sometimes the case, but in most cases, it’s because they have not developed the awareness to understand that what they’ve written on the page does not yet accurately reflect the concepts and ideas they had in their head when they began.

Something significant has been lost in translation. And that loss has crippled the screenplay. The writer still “sees” their work as being exactly what’s in their mind - what they intended to write - but the rest of us only get what has been poorly translated onto the page. We read an ineffective screenplay that doesn’t work.

Correcting this issue is relatively simple. You share your work for high-quality feedback during every step of the process which will help you develop the much-needed skills to service your audience. I’ll say this many times during this series of posts because it’s critical you never forget:

You are not the audience.

I hope you can see how believing that yours is the most important opinion can be extremely problematic. We cannot write for ourselves or get comfortable with the idea that ours is the only opinion that matters because it doesn’t. We are not the audience. Why would anyone buy a screenplay that only one person (the writer) enjoys? How could you possibly make a profit from something like that?

I’ll say this more than once as well: If you are going to find success, you’ll need to embrace the idea that …

The PROCESS is for YOU.
The PRODUCT is for THE AUDIENCE.

It’s the process itself that should make you most happy. You write because you love to write and there’s no pressure on you or your work to achieve anything beyond that. Forcing any other pressures onto yourself as a new screenwriter will eventually lead to pain and suffering. And you will most likely quit.

That is why we have to keep in mind that the product (your amazing screenplay) needs to please an audience (the general public or industry professionals who want to do business with them) by providing them with an experience that elicits a specific and intended emotional response - something so compelling and effective that people will go out of their way to PAY FOR IT.

So, one of the most important skills you will need to develop is PERSPECTIVE. You need to be able to observe your work from the perspective of other people - the audience. And, if you can’t do that very effectively (which is a rare skill indeed), then you absolutely must test it on other people at every stage throughout the process and be sure that what you are writing actually works as intended. And NO, …

…friends and family DO NOT COUNT.

To find success, you need to draw in and entertain an audience of strangers. You need to create something that people who do not know you will be willing to go out of their way to pay for. Nothing else really matters because …

…this is, after all, SHOW BUSINE$$.

*Does your work elicit this kind of response?*

And if your work can’t generate business, then it will literally have no value to anyone but you (and perhaps your friends and family).

If you’re doing this for fun and have no desire to become a professional, then great. No big deal. Screenwriting will be a fun hobby to explore for completely personal reasons. I’ll never try to make anyone feel poorly about using it as a hobby. But, if you want to sell your work or get hired for paid assignments, you’d better recognize your opinion doesn’t matter all that much. More importantly, convincing yourself that it does - or should - will lead to disaster. Full stop.

Self-Sabotaging Writers

Some screenwriters do not suffer from that artificial feeling of self-satisfaction. Some new screenwriters suffer from an overactive internal critic. This particular breed of new writers doesn’t actually believe their work is any good - but they do believe it should be. Right from the start. And, when it clearly isn’t, they panic and one of two things tends to happen:

Pathway to Failure #1

Their fear of creating garbage creates intense writer’s block or procrastination so immobilizing that they barely write anything at all.

If they do produce anything, they obsessively write and rewrite every one of the few lines they get down in an attempt to complete their first draft in an unreasonably “polished” or “perfect” state, continuously spinning their wheels - and getting nowhere.

Or …

Pathway to Failure #2

Horrified and embarrassed at the realization that their early work is, in fact, garbage, they refuse to share it with anyone, throw it away, and start over, only to then discover that the next first draft is also garbage.

They fail to recognize this is normal, so they try again and again, never getting past the first draft, never sharing their work, until they ultimately give up screenwriting (because they have never benefitted from getting useful and constructive feedback), ultimately concluding they don’t have the skills to be a screenwriter.

If you’ve experienced anything similar to what I just described, let me be the first to tell you that ...

It’s not skills that you’re missing.

It’s healthy expectations

and

a better understanding of the process.

Shake off your fear of embarrassment. Give yourself permission to fail. Understand and accept the fact you aren’t Aaron Sorkin or Shane Black or Walter Hill (and if you don’t know those names, that only reinforces my point) and that you don’t yet know the things that these successful screenwriters know. But, you can and you will if you give yourself the time and find the focus and discipline required to get there. So …

Expect to write garbage. Embrace this.

Understand your garbage is simply not finished.

Share your garbage often.

Get comfortable with being vulnerable and lean into it. You want this to happen. You NEED this to happen because that experience will teach you more than any screenwriting instructor or author can. You need to witness firsthand how your work affects other people and then, when the results are not what you intended (which will often be the case) you can adjust and learn and grow and evolve and go back to your garbage and transform it into something that actually works. Something that is EFFECTIVE.

Skipping this valuable experience for any reason is wildly COUNTERPRODUCTIVE.

It’s not a weakness to admit you have a lot more to learn. In fact, it’s a great strength, because once you admit it, you’ll be open to …

Taking the necessary time to do this properly. Not chasing the beginner’s idea of “perfection” or falling victim to the belief that - without proof - you already know what works.
Writing garbage and sharing it often. Embracing constructive criticism from high-quality, reliable sources and benefitting from real evidence of your work’s effectiveness.
Embracing the fact that you are going to make mistakes and making those mistakes is how you are going to learn, grow and evolve into the writer you want to be.
Reshaping/altering/making changes specifically in service of the audience.

Without the willingness and, in fact, the eagerness to participate in the above list, I don’t like your chances. I recognize that what I’m about to state sounds cliché, but …

Screenwriting must be more about the journey
and less about the destination
if you have any hope of finding success.

Especially when you are just getting started.

Let’s now take a closer look at some of the most common and destructive misconceptions:

Common Misconception #1

“I am an artist creating art”

We often think of an artist as having total control over the final product and to a certain degree this may be true for other types of creative writers, but this is simply not true for screenwriters. Screenwriters are engineers creating the blueprint for art. We are what I like to call…

…NARRATIVE ARCHITECTS.

A traditional definition of “artist” states that an artist is a principal creator, creating a work that is directly consumed by their audience. That is also not the case for screenwriters. In fact:

Screenwriters are only one of the dozens if not hundreds of people that will be involved in the creation of the final work of art - which is NOT a screenplay, but a motion picture - a MOVIE!
Screenwriters never get the chance to sell or even show their work directly to the public. There are no screenplay stores and the general public – even those who are avid readers - do not care to read screenplays.
Another important part of any true work of art is the dialogue that occurs between audience members about the art after consuming it. They talk about it. They share their feelings about it. Screenwriters never get to witness that kind of experience - not with the general public, and not until it becomes an actual motion picture!
Your contribution to the creation of a film is primal and foundational, but it is still only a contribution. It may be a cornerstone of the product, but it is NOT the product.

The Point of This Distinction:

In my humble opinion, it is really important that you jettison any belief that you - as a screenwriter - are an artist. Forget any notions of art or artistry or art for art’s sake. Believing any of it is an occupational hazard that will often lead to:

Over-preciousness in regard to your work
A need or demand for complete control
A belief that you are entitled to realize your exact vision and that your sensibilities should be the only ones that influence the final product.

As a screenwriter, you cannot afford to hold onto ANY of these ideas. They will cause you a great deal of stress and create serious problems for you. Producing an effective screenplay may or may not involve some element of artistry and arguably should include artistic merit, sure, but do not be fooled.

If you want to think of screenwriting as art for those reasons, fine. I disagree with you, but arguing with you and trying to convince you I’m right is not the point. The only point of this is to once again reset your expectations so that you avoid unnecessary stress and disappointment.

You are an architect. You are an engineer. You are a designer. You are the person that provides the blueprint to other experts who will then add their unique and valuable expertise to the project and then, together, this village of experts will collectively create the final product - a movie.

SOBERING FACT:
Few people are impressed by a completed screenplay. Many, however, hold motion pictures in high regard.
Part of your job is to understand your place in the bigger picture, your place within the industry as a whole, and to provide that industry with what it wants and needs (a fresh, innovative, and effective screenplay).

That is your pathway to success.

Common Misconception #2

“The work is done when I say it is”

Not even close. Firstly, as mentioned, you are not alone in this process. You are merely one of many people involved in trying to bring your story to the screen. Other people will want to have a say in what the final product looks like too. Any party interested in buying your screenplay may want changes made before you even see a dime. Part of your job may actually involve rewriting your script to suit your buyer.

Of course, if you are also a filmmaker and you are about to write and/or produce and/or direct your own screenplay, then you can certainly skip some steps. You will definitely have fewer people to answer to. But, never forget that filmmaking is a collaborative process. You simply can’t do it alone and trying to control everything single-handedly rarely works. When done well, it’s the act of collaborating with other creatives that makes a project better, not worse.

Having said that, at some point in the process, you won’t have anything more to give to a particular screenplay. You’ll stop writing it. But, in order to be complete, to become that final work of art (a motion picture), it will have to move on to another writer or team of writers, or a production team who will then try to create the film your screenplay is describing.

So, if you have no interest in selling or producing your screenplay, fine. You can just enjoy screenwriting as a creative outlet - a hobby. But if you want to sell your work or turn it into a film, then you actually don’t get to decide when your screenplay is finished. At best, you get to decide when you are finished with it and that’s another important distinction.

SOBERING FACT:
Once you hand your screenplay over to a producer, agent, production company or studio (ideally, after a sale), it will often be transformed into something very different than you intended.
This can be painful to experience – especially for new screenwriters - because although the changes can sometimes be positive, scripts are routinely transformed into something much less than the screenwriter had envisioned.

If you are lucky enough to be paid for your work, and once another party takes ownership of it, they will then own the “blueprint” you created and can change or modify it however they see fit. The executives may ask for someone else to rewrite it. The producers may ask that more “marketable” elements be added. The director may change things to suit their personal style and once it goes into production, changes may occur based on budgetary constraints or because someone else with influence has a dramatically different creative vision for the project.

It happens. It may also change because the people making the film are not very good. Or don’t care. That is also a very real possibility. But...

That is not your problem.

Do not take it personally.

If you got paid for your script,

YOU WON.

SUMMARY:

My goal here is not to discourage anyone. Quite the opposite, in fact. My goal is to reset your expectations and understanding of what the job and the process are actually like so that you don’t put unhealthy pressure on yourself or freak out when things don’t quite play out the way you dreamed they would.

I want you to enjoy yourself. I’d like it even more if you can have some real fun when you write your screenplays. I hope you find creative, supportive allies that will help shepherd your script into production and make you feel like the important part of the process that you are. But, that’s not always the case and you need to be able to handle events like that when they occur.

Part of the key is to be very patient and to take care of yourself - especially your expectations and your mindset. Again, if you can’t have fun now without money changing hands, the chances of you enjoying yourself under the pressure of deadlines and contracts seem slim to nil.

NEXT TIME: EFFECTIVE

In the next post, I’m going to talk about my obsession with the word “effective” and how it can not only relieve a ton of pressure but also provide a much clearer idea of what you need to do to succeed.

Want to finally complete that screenplay that's haunting you? Then consider a very special "2-4-1" collaboration between two of the most innovative and results-driven screenwriting coaches in the industry as your INCITING INCIDENT!

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jordan@thescreenplayfactory.com