Congrats Keith I know that more good things are heading your way

Keith is absolutely right. If you don't throw yourself into the pool of producers, managers, and other industry pros willing to hear about you and your projects, others will. And they'll find a match to take their writing career to the next level. If it weren't for Stage32, I never would have learned how to write a great script. Now, because I had specs to share with managers, I have a great manager who understands my voice and is a cheerleader for my work. But I only found her after querying at least 50 different ones who all said no. This is a creative industry, so while there are many people who know the business, only a few will like your creativity. That's okay! Just keep looking until you find the right person for you. 

Excellent story Keith I want the same experience you had thats why I join Stage 32

Congrats on landing representation through Stage 32, Keith. Thanks for sharing the process, success story, and advice.

I'm so impressed Keith. I know the Seattle area offered you opportunities to build your business - but the success of it is all due to you.  Congrats and I hope L.A. offers even more opportunities. I will remain in the Seattle area and hope Stage 32 can help me with my projects.

Congrats Keith. A validation of your hard work. I wish you the most successful of futures. 

Excellent blog, Keith. Great advice. Congrats.

Profoundly inspiring, @Keith Rivers. I hear and feel ya. Been having my own struggles here at Stage 32 during the past two years, but some truly uber-cool pitches, too, where I felt (erroneously or not) that I really "connected" with the exec via Skype. Now developing projects with some major filmmakers attached, but not in production yet. Major kudos & Godspeed to you, brother -- you have a GOOD heart and soul, and sometimes they matter THE MOST in this crazy, Machiavellian racket called film biz. 

Spot on advice! Perfect read for today.

Great article. It's so easy to get discouraged and overwhelmed. Articles like this keep me motivated. Thank you.

Hey Keith, Let me begin by congratulating you on your great achievements.  After reading your article, I thought of sharing my own experiences.  Below is the conversation between myself and a Producer, which left me with mixed feelings about my writing skills - but I'm still here.  Here it goes: Hi Sandikazi Yes it was. For some reason I spent more time on your 'rejection' than all the others. Perhaps because I see something in you. If you feel it was my intention to crush you then you have my sincere apologies. That was not the intention. My intention was to raise your bar. Perhaps I believe that you can even be a great writer. But you need to aim higher. Why would I give you all those tools and advice if I wanted to crush you? It doesn't make sense. I said what I did because I'm just a few steps ahead of you in my own writing journey. I've pitched to Hollywood producers, I've been to Europe to meet production companies and distributors, I've dealt with rejection more times than you know. What did I learn? Exactly what I told you. Nobody is going to treat us with more favour simply because we come from Africa. Breaking in to international scriptwriting is terrifying. You've got to be not just 'as good' as them. Because you're already at a disadvantage coming from Africa, which they regard as a cultural backwater, you've got to be BETTER than their best writers!! That's what I learned, and that's what I was trying to tell you. Not to crush you, but to encourage you to lift your bar higher. It's tough out there. Nobody is going to 'give you a chance' because you're African. You're going to have to prove yourself and earn respect on the merit of your writing alone. Not who you are. Not where you come from. Your scripts have to be brilliant. No spelling errors. No typos. Clean plot lines. Compelling characters. Perfect structure. Great narrative arcs. They expect that as a given. That just gets it past their first gatekeeper. Then, if your story has heart, if it's something different and fresh, and they believe it's bankable, it goes to gatekeeper number two. And so on, up the ladder. I gave you the tools. They are the same tools that Tyler Perry, Shonda Rhimes and Aaron Sorkin used to get to where they are now. If they took the time to use them, what's stopping you? By the way, what are you referring to about lies? I never lied to you once. About anything. Please clarify. Yours sincerely, On 03 Feb 2019, at 08:54, sandikazi scwebu <ssnscwebu@hotmail.com> wrote: Your original response was supposed to be " Sorry we can't work with you". I don't know your intentions. I never lie, I hate lies, I never pretend to be what I'm not. I therefore will never write about anything based on lies. But. If your intentions are to crush me, you will never succeed. In fact this is the story of my life - Now I know I am a writer. Criticism motivates me. BE BLESSED From: Sent: Saturday, 02 February 2019 7:19:32 PM To: sandikazi scwebu Subject: Re: COLLABORATION HEY SANDIKAZI, SEE MY COMMENTS BELOW. Dear I appreciate some of your comments. However my advice to you is never make assumptions about a person you don't know. You sound angry and negative. NOT TRUE - IMPARTIAL ACTUALLY. BUT VAGUELY ANNOYED THAT YOU APPEAR TO BE A MARKETER WHO THINKS THEY CAN BE A WRITER. What is my world? My little experience made me realize realise that one can never write about something he/she doesn't know, 90 page screenplay is not a child's play. AGREED. Excuse my spelling I am an indigenous African, I believe I'm doing well as a product of Bantu education. NEVER MAKE EXCUSES. YOU'RE SHOOTING FOR THE BIG TIME. IMAGINE SAYING THAT TO A HOLLYWOOD PRODUCER!! HUH?? IT'S EITHER WORLD CLASS OR IT'S NOT. 'AFRICAN' OR 'COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARY' WON'T CUT IT WHEN YOU'RE COMPETING AGAINST THOUSANDS OF OTHER WRITERS, THEMSELVES DIFFERENT ETHNICITIES AND NATIONALITIES, AND WHO CAN SPELL BETTER THAN YOU. Places mentioned in my stories are my own favorite favourite destinations - intention is to market them. THEN YOU'RE IN THE WRONG JOB. YOUR JOB AS A WRITER IS TO TELL STORIES. IF YOU WANT TO MARKET DESTINATIONS, GO BE A TOUR GUIDE OR A MARKETER, BUT DON'T BE A WRITER. A WRITER'S JOB IT TO TELL STORIES SO WELL THEY MOVE US TO TEARS OR MAKE US FALL OUT THE CHAIR LAUGHING, OR GIVE US A DEEP, PROFOUND INSIGHT INTO SOMETHING WE'VE NEVER KNOWN BEFORE. TO INSPIRE, TO MOVE, TO PROVOKE, TO MAKE PEOPLE UNCOMFORTABLE IN THEIR ASSUMPTIONS, TO CHALLENGE, TO REDEFINE, TO CREATE AWE, WONDER, DELIGHT, ANGER, LAUGHTER. AND WE DO ALL THAT BY WEAVING STORIES WITH TASTE AND ART AND ECONOMY AND GRACE AND POWER. WE ARE STORYTELLERS. WE ARE NOT MARKETERS. Have you thought about what a film "Madea in SA" can contribute to our tourism? WHO ARE YOU? A MARKETER OR A STORYTELLER? BUT LET'S WEAR THAT MARKETING HAT FOR A MOMENT - YOU WANT 'MADEA IN AFRICA' ON THE SCREEN, RIGHT? SO YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO SELL THE SCRIPT YOU'RE WRITTEN TO TYLER PERRY, WHO WROTE ALL THE OTHER MADEA SCRIPTS. OH, AND HE ALSO PRODUCED THEM AND DIRECTED THEM. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT MR PERRY? TYLER PERRY WAS RAISED IN NEW ORLEANS AND HAS WRITTEN, ACTED IN, DIRECTED AND PRODUCED MORE THAN SEVEN MADEA MOVIES. HE STARTED WRITING PLAYS WHEN HE WAS 18. HE'S NOW 49. HE'S WRITTEN OVER TWELVE PRODUCED MOVIES AND FOURTEEN BROADCAST TV SHOWS. HIS FAVOURITE MOVIES ARE 'WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT' AND 'THE COLOUR PURPLE'. HE'S LISTED AS ONE OF THE 50 SMARTEST PEOPLE IN HOLLYWOOD. HIS PLAYS HAVE GROSSED $75MILLION AND HIS MOVIES TEN TIMES THAT. YOU WANNA TELL HIM ABOUT YOUR BANTU EDUCATION AND BAD SPELLING WHEN YOU SEND HIM YOUR SCRIPT? GOOD LUCK WITH THAT. NOW, I'M GOING TO SPEAK TO YOU AS A WRITER. I READ YOUR SUMMARY. THERE'S NO PLOT. WHY DO THEY NEED TO GET FROM A TO B? WHAT'S THE URGENT REASON MOTIVATING THE TRIP? WHAT IS THE IMPEDIMENT PREVENTING THEM ACHIEVING THEIR OBJECTIVE? THAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A STORY AND A TOURISM VIDEO. YOUR CHARACTERS LACK MOTIVATION AND ENCOUNTER NO MEANINGFUL OBSTACLES - IF THERE'S NO INTENTION AND NO OBSTACLE, THERE'S NO CONFLICT, NO DRAMA, NO STORY. ARE THEY MARKETING VIDEOS OR STORIES? LISTEN TO WHAT AARON SORKIN SAYS ABOUT INTENTION AND OBSTACLE, AND WHAT SHONDA RHIMES SAYS ABOUT DECONSTRUCTING EXISTING MOVIES OR TV SHOWS IF YOU WANT TO WRITE SOMETHING SIMILAR. IF SHONDA RHIMES WAS GOING TO TAKE ON A MADEA ROAD-TRIP SCRIPT, THIS IS WHAT SHE'D DO: 1) WATCH A TRUCKLOAD OF ROAD TRIP MOVIES LIKE 'MAD MAX: FURY ROAD', 'RAIN MAN', 'NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION', 'DUMB AND DUMBER', 'THE BLUES BROTHERS' AND 'EASY RIDER'. I'LL BET YOU NOT ONE OF THOSE WRITERS SAT DOWN AND SAID 'HEY I'VE GOT A GREAT IDEA TO MARKET ?? AS A TOURISM DESTINATION!' 2) DECONSTRUCT A FEW EXISTING MADEA MOVIES. FOR EXAMPLE, TAKE TYLER PERRY'S 'MADEA'S FAMILY RENION': - WHAT IS ITS PREMISE? - DID YOU BREAK DOWN THE CAST-LIST AND WORK OUT WHAT EACH ONE WANTS AND NEEDS ? (DO YOU KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CHARACTER'S WANTS AND NEEDS?) - DID YOU USE, SAY, THE 'SAVE THE CAT' TEMPLATE TO BREAK DOWN THE FILM'S STORY-BEATS AND ACT STRUCTURE? - DID YOU ANALYSE THE KEY PROTAGONIST'S AND ANTAGONIST'S STORY-ARCS AND HOW THEY MOVE THROUGH THE MOVIE? - DID YOU IDENTIFY THE KEY CONFLICT POINTS AND THE CLIMAX POINT, AND HOW THE STAKES WERE STEADILY RAISED TO GET US THERE? BECAUSE IF YOU'VE DONE ALL THAT AND THEN SET OUT TO WRITE A MADEA SCRIPT, YOU'LL PROBABLY DO A HALF DECENT JOB THAT TYLER PERRY WOUDN'T EVEN LOOK AT ANYWAY. AND THEN MAYBE ON YOUR TWELFTH RE-WRITE, YOU'LL START GETTING SOMETHING VAGUELY PRESENTABLE. AND MAYBE BY YOUR TWENTIETH DRAFT, YOU MIGHT STAND A CHANCE OF IMPRESSING MR. PERRY. IF YOU'D DONE THAT WITH 'MADEA IN AFRICA', YOU MIGHT HAVE HAD A VERY DIFFERENT STORY. Rough Edges is about success of a woman who raised a girl with albinism, abandoned by husband and defeated cancer. Who is that? Whose world is betrayal? Who knows about siblings meeting unable to introduce themselves as brothers or sisters. DO YOU HAVE A SIBLING OR FRIEND WITH ALBINISM? DO YOU HAVE A PARENT OR SIBLING WHO LIVED WITH CANCER? IF SO, GREAT. YOU HAVE A DEEP WELL OF FERTILE MATERIAL TO DRAW FROM. IF NOT, WHAT RESEARCH DID YOU DO? DID YOU SPEAK TO PEOPLE WHO HAD LIVED THROUGH THAT? DON'T DISRESPECT SOMETHING SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU THINK IT'S A BURNING ISSUE AND GOOD STORY MATERIAL. IF IT'S NOT GOING TO BE REAL, AND TOUCH US DEEPLY, THEN YOU'RE DOING THE STORY A DISSERVICE. I shall continue writing about my life experiences and things I like. I am currently writing a story about a girl whose father is an Afrikaner but raised by my father, I doubt you will believe that but will send you the screenplay anyway as you requested - my Afrikaans is worse. IF IT'S WHAT YOU KNOW AND HAVE EXPERIENCED, EXCELLENT! GO FOR IT! SHOULD BE A GREAT STORY. IF IT'S SOMETHING YOU'VE COOKED UP BECAUSE IT FEELS CONTROVERSIAL, THEN IT WON'T FEEL REAL BECAUSE IT'S NOT COMING FROM YOUR HEART. THE VIEWER KNOWS IF S/HE'S BEING RIPPED OFF. RESPECT YOUR VIEWER ENOUGH TO WRITE WITH YOUR OWN VOICE AND TELL THEM A PROPER STORY WITH HEART, TRUTH AND FIRE, NOT WHAT YOU THINK IS CONTROVERSIAL OR POPULAR. SANDIKAZI, WE WRITE STORIES BECAUSE IT'S IN OUR BLOOD. WE WRITE BECAUSE IT'S OUR WAY OF FACING DOWN OUR DEMONS. WE WRITE BECAUSE WE CANNOT NOT WRITE! IT'S A COMPULSION, A VOCATION AND AN ART. IT'S ALSO REALLY, REALLY HARD. IT'S LONELY. IT TAKES FOREVER. AND YOU HAVE TO RE-WRITE MILLIONS OF TIMES. BRAIN SURGEONS HAVE IT EASY, COMPARED TO WRITERS. AARON SORKIN SAYS 'WRITER'S BLOCK IS MY DEFAULT POSITION.' STARING AT THAT PIECE OF BLANK PAPER OR BLANK SCREEN. BUT YOU START TYPING ANYWAY. IF YOU'RE THAT, THEN WELCOME. BUT IF YOU WANT TO MARKET STUFF, BECOME A MARKETER. NO JUDGEMENT. IF THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE WIRED TO DO, GO FOR IT. DECIDE. Thank you, Sandikazi Scwebu I wish you all a blessed week - keep writing.