THE HARDEST PART OF BEING A WRITER…

You know what the hardest part of being a professional writer is?  Focus.  Or rather, figuring out WHAT to focus on.  Because once you have a modicum of success and people generally agree that you have something resembling talent as a writer…

…it’s GO TIME.

Every (and I mean EVERY) producer and exec in Hollywood has an armful of projects.  Projects that cannot proceed until, well, someone writes them.  With this kinda blackmail material, you’d think writers would OWN Hollywood, wouldn’t you?  But…I digress.

So with all these projects comes plenty of opportunity, right?  Just pick a project and start rolling!  The problem is, it’s not that easy.  You see, the producers all want detailed takes on what you would do with the project before they hand it over.

Meaning you have to come up with, oh, I don’t know – THE STORY!  While you’re at it, throw in – THE CHARACTERS.  And most times you’ll need to reconceive – THE CONCEPT.  In other words, take a black marker and “X-off” about oh, a month, month and a half.  And by the way, you’ll be committing to these 6 weeks — pay-free.  Cool, huh?

But if you like the project enough and really want to chase the assignment — the general process is (normally) as follows:

1)) Go in for a general meeting.  You sit down with the producer, get to know each other a little and then he/she lays it out for you.  They tell you about the project — what stage it’s in — what previous writers have done well/wrong — and ultimately what direction they see the project going in.

2))  You run back and talk to your agent.  Hopefully he’s got the REAL scoop for you as far as…

– How many other writers the producers are going out to (i.e.:  your competition)
– How far along are those other writers?  Have they been working on the material for weeks or are they starting from scratch like you are?  Are the producers close to approving a take from anyone?
– What does the studio REALLY think of the project?  Was it in turn-around (dead at one studio, picked up by another)?  How viable is the assignment in the studio’s eyes?  Do they love it?  Do they really wanna make this movie?

3))  After considering the above and comparing the pros and cons with any other projects you have in front of you – you pick one and decide to come up with a take.   This, of course, is the hard part.  You’ll need to come up with a take on exactly how you would write the script.  The level of detail in this take varies from writer to writer.  It’s safe to say that the bigger deal you are as a writer, the less detail is expected.  They assume you’ve got the goods and everything will work out.

4))  Fast forward a few weeks and now you’ve got your “take.”  It’s time to pitch the producer.  You do your best, heart-felt song and dance.  If they like it, you take it into the studio.  Let’s assume they did.  Now it’s…

5))   Studio time.  Same process, but this is generally your final stop.  You now pitch the idea for the studio exec assigned to the project.  Depending on the juice of the producer, the exec will be under a varying degree of pressure to accept your pitch.  But ultimately, the exec and the studio in general will decide.

And that’s it!  The rest is obvious…they love your pitch — you write a great script — they make the movie — it makes a 100 mill and you sit back and prepare for the onslaught of coke and hookers, I mean onslaught of success.  It’s that easy!

But, before the spoils, comes the work.  And again, all of this is a lengthy process.  It’s going to take weeks and weeks of your time.  And getting back to the theme here – if you’re lucky and doing well, you might have 5 or 6 projects to chose from.  OR should I say, 5 or 6 to competitively try and book!  Because there’s a ton of competition.

Some producers will go out to as many as 8-10 writers at a time.  Like dropping blood in a piranha tank.  Some not-so-cool producers do this simply to mine for ideas.  I was told by a friend that works for a HUGE producer that they met with 95 writers for an assignment to write a giant sequel.  In the end, they simply re-hired the writer(s) that wrote the original movie script.

Think they were fishing for free ideas?  Kinda?  Maybe?  Most legitimate producers would never do this.  Most are friends of the writer and would feel this is exploitation.  Interestingly enough – as would the writers.

All of that aside, you just have to trust that your agent is looking out for you and hooking you up with decent people.  Then you have to choose where to direct your time/effort.  Because for a compulsive freak like me that loves to obsess on things, the hard part is always – what to focus on.