Hi everyone!
This is my first post. I think, anyway.
I'm at a crossroads in my life where I've involved myself in a few writing programs, but I've let it all kind of just "happen." But that's not cutting it anymore.
It's time for a career and I'm looking for a pathway forward to that new life.
I'm looking for advice on programs or books that will help me focus my energy on moving forward.
I get that we all have unique journeys. Mine certainly has been outside the norm up until now. It's time for better.
Thanks in advance,
Mark Holm
I think the post is a great start to a new beginning. I find just surrounding myself around other like minded people, can propel you into new adventures. Maybe find a writing partner, and schedule a time to brain storm together. Have a wonderful day!
The creative part is what I've worked on for many years. The practical means of building a career is where I've failed. I'm just looking for a means to build a map for my own success.I have a distrust of "gurus" and life coaches, but maybe I should look into it.
This is great advise Richard!
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You said that the creative part is where you have been, but that's a little low on information. So it's hard to advise you.
The average professional screenwriter wrote 9 screenplays before selling anything, so let's start there. Is part of the creative side a stack of finished, polished screenplays? 9 or more?
If so, your next step is to get them out into the world. Query production companies and managers that fit your writing. Everyone is different, so you need to do your own research to find the ones that fit what you need.
I have no idea whether the creative part you have done includes making contacts in the business, but now is the time to drop some subtle hints that you have a new script that you are trying to find a home for. The script needs to be amazing because you only get to ask your contacts for a favor once.
There are also a handful of Screenwriting Contests that matter - and if you enter a great script in the Nicholl, it will start your career.
All of this is very difficult. There are around a million scripts in circulation in any given year, and 100 sales. The odds suck. Most work is assignments - writing a script on a deadline based on someone else's idea or an IP like a comic book or board game or toy.
Good luck.
I think I gave the impression that I'm new to this. I've been working on scripts for the last 15 years, and made a bit of progress made way back from doing all the recommended stuff. Back when Triggerstreet was a thing. I made some progress in contests then my life imploded and I threw away all the contacts and friendships I was building and almost died from my own lazy excesses.
I'm building my "stack" of scripts through a professional development program ans should have three solid ones soon enough. I know a lot of people pop up here with wild expectations. I'm neither new to this path nor assuming I'm going to make millions. I'm talking about mindsets, building a bio, practical day to day goals to move myself forward in a way an entrepreneur would.
Shane Black did more than shop a pile of scripts around. I want to understand that mindset, that process of building a career. Part of that is understand why and how I let my failures overcome me, but I never had the competitive spirit or the business mindframe I know I'll need to push to the next level.
I get up, I run, I write. Then what? The expectation is that they'll come for you. I don't think they will. I think the difference between writing for a web-series for a buddy that can't afford to pay and a challenging, mind-bending gig writing for a Netflix series is a level of commitment to the career path that I don't have and don't understand. Yet.
I'm looking for the answers. I'm rebuilding my life and my stack of screenplays but if my head's not in the game, if I don't have a trajectory, I'll crash again. Honestly, how many minutes do I have left on this Earth to do this again? I know that I have to learn to fail without letting it kill me, I know I have to chart a path, to find the right people to make the journey with.
That's what I'm asking. Is going the production gig route worth it? Acting classes? I hear these things but I don't know.
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Replace the word screenwriter with Painter. You would go to galleries. Go to showings. Reach out to museums and staff.
Now what is the equivalent.
Writing scripts and not engaging with people is like buying a car and locking it in your driveway.
Go to film festivals. List your scripts on services. Enter your scripts in the big comps. Reach out to the people you knew 15 years ago (they may have great careers now).
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Anyone else looking for similar advice should check out: https://www.stage32.com/blog/You-re-an-Entertainment-Entrepreneur-Act-Li...
Hey Mark Holm I am the Director of Script Services at Stage 32. I would be happy to connect with you over email and give you some thoughts on how to shorten your path to success. Feel free to reach out to me at j.mirch@stage32.com - I look forward to hearing from you!
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The mindset is: write great scripts.
Scripts in a popular genre with amazing concepts.
If you entered any of the handful of top contests, like the Nicholl or Austin, and you were a finalist - you would be in right now.
If you don't have 9 screenplays in great shape, statistically you are not ready, yet.
It's all about the writing.
People don't want to believe that, but it is true.
You need a script that travels. When one person reads it they have to pass it to their best contact... and it moves up the ladder until it lands in the hands of a production company that buys it or wants to meet with you. That's what happened to me. I know a bunch of other professional screenwriters that had some similar experience - someone handed their script to someone else and said, "You've got to read this!"
That's all about the writing.
My Script Tip today is on Breaking In.
http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip122.htm