Introduce Yourself : All by myself by Sarah Marrie Burge

Welcome to Stage 32 and screenwriting, Sarah Marrie Burge! :D How many scripts have you written?

Hi Sarah Marrie Burge! Nice to meet you! Welcome to the world of screenwriting lol. Have you checked out the education on Stage 32? They're are some really great courses on screenwriting taken by people of all writing skill levels

https://www.stage32.com/classes/Stage-32-Screenwriting-Lab-Write-Your-1-...

https://www.stage32.com/classes/Create-Your-Feature-Film-Outline-With-A-...

Sarah Marrie Burge Hi Sarah, welcome from a fellow author. I work between writing fiction and screenplays.

Wow, 14 books! May I ask why you think the books hardly sell? What release strategy did you have for them? Live book launches? Loading the bases with reviews for the release? Virtual book tours?

Hi Sarah ! Nice to meet a fellow indie author - I understand you, most of the time the difficulty for a self-published author is to sell themselves, I opened a specialized bookshop for this reason. Anyway you are in the right place to learn and grow as a creative!

Welcome Sarah. The "life of an author" is indeed one of trials and trails. I have several successful author friends, some are self-published and doing fairly well, one, Alex Shaw has representation by Harper Collins now and doing exceptionally well. It is as tough a business in many ways as screenwriting is, even more so, filmmaking.

I admire your tenacity as it can take years of stubborn persistence to succeed. As far as memoirs are concerned...whow, I finished mine a couple of years ago after 3 years of writing (off and on...a good, long life) and finally got an answer from a publishing agent with a good company who politely said he wouldn't take my manuscript because he was having trouble getting sales of well-known star/celebrity works he already had. At least he was honest.

Screenplays? Well, its a brutal business in some ways, but I can give you my own perspective based on years of experience. If you don't do adaptations (I do), then study and take classes (I took countless ones online..S32 has some, there are other masterclasses, as well) from TOP, Successful writers (e.g. Aaron Sorkin) to learn the basic formula for good screenplays...seriously.

Hollywood does what Hollywood does and it has "rules" you need to know and follow (in the beginning) if you want to have a relatively 'easier' trail to traverse, IMHO. Follow those guidelines regardless of genre. Read the books, develop your style. Buy Final Draft writing software. (Or full equiv.). Yes, its expensive, but it is the Industry Standard and good to use. Then, GET FULL COVERAGE from well recognized professionals in the genre you choose and do what they tell you...not once, not twice, but as long as it takes to get a RECOMMEND rating. Then submit your work to screenplay contests and your odds of getting noticed, optioned, or produced will be very greatly improved. Good Luck. I wish you success. NEVER GIVE UP...as I always like to quote the late singer Jane Marczewski: "Don't you want to see what will happen if you don't give up?"

Hey Vaughan,

I messaged you and not completed 2. In the works.

Hi Geoff,

Thanks for the insight. Will do.

Hi Stephanie,

Yes, I am glad your are here too.

Hi Eric,

Wow that's amazing amount of information and I use Fadein. So yeah.

Thank you all,

Sarah

P.S. All information welcome.

14 hard landings! Yikes. Here's the thing, Sarah. You could have the cure for cancer in your books and nobody is going to read em. It has nothing to do with how you write, but everything to do with how you sell! Writing is easy. Selling is the Heavy Lifting. Everyone has written a book and everyone's dog has written screenplays. I heard that at a bar in Santa Monica, btw. Although the orator went on, adding, 'and all of the dogs fleas are literary agents.'

The secret to success in this industry is to give up! No kidding. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Live a life you and others want to live, are drawn to. Be a hero, not a victim. Who cares that you can't get read, published, famous, validated by others. The only one that can do that for you, is you. And when you're not pissing off some gaffer in a North Hollywood bar, whispering your story in their ear, but you listen to them, maybe talk about something they are doing/interested in... Bam! You're taking the first steps in the hero's journey.

Either that or you can throw a shedload of money at your books. And I mean a bloody big shed. Starting with an editor, then various designers, then market research/targeting, festivals and placements... And last, and absolutely not least: advertising. And you better be able to outbid the real publishers and media giants.

Gentle is fine. But life is finite. Reality is often a kindness.

Don't be blinded by the stars in your eyes.

Thanks, Morgan that's some sound advice. Odd but sound.

Sarah: Morgan is spot on. True story: I paid $500.00 to attend a writer's conference in Indiana. (Not including travel & hotel) Most of the presenters were romance writers. Anyway, one of the writers told us about how she gets her novels to be so accurate as to place and characters. Why, she travels, of course! Doesn't everyone? And she writes from experiences she's had meeting ------- fill in the blank with famous people. What did I get for my half-a-grand? I already knew I was a poor nobody, who saved for 8 months to attend.

Go to walmart and look at the new books, any genre. Why do we see Bill O'Reiley's "Killing " books but no McBrearty novels on the shelf? I've had my stories, poetry, book reviews, essays, and photos published in over 360 venues since I entered into a (free) MFA program. (In Kentucky, over 65, you can go to college free). I've had a how-to book published by a small press, and I had an e-zine editor ask me if I had anything available for an issue on witches as the main author/story didn't have rights restored. Luckily, I did.

So, why is it that names like Stephen King, James Patterson, Dean Koontz and Janet Evanovich. keep getting published? They 'have a following' and maybe ghost writers. Because advertising is so expensive, publishers are looking for someone they don't have to advertise.

Odd is what I do best. Thanks for the network invite, Sarah!

Ok, I'll check the message, Sarah Marrie Burge. Thanks.

Morgan - That's good to be unique even if other's think it's you're a weirdo (referring to myself)

Maurice - np.

Books, screenplays, stage plays, songs...doesn't matter. Yes...you need to write well to sell something, but far more important is the idea, the characters, and the conflict. You want someone to read something? That starts with a killer elevator pitch and an amazing pitch -deck. We live in a very visual world...with a short attention span. Small movies still get made...but they don't get sold...and investors see no money back again. Even with the streamers, talent has become much more important. Talent is expensive, and only wants to work in projects which will be watched...hopefully by millions of people. So if your books and screenplays are built around great ideas and characters...agents will beat a path to your door.