Shaun St. Cyr: Screenwriter in Niverville, Canada.

My basic personality is an Enneagram 4 wing 5. If you have done the Enneagram Test you will know what I mean.

The Enneagram unmasks our Basic Fears and Motivations and for me, when I’m feeling insecure or in need of understanding I can see what’s motivating my fears.

The biggest thing I wrestle with is not identity, I know who I am, but significance. I wrestle with that word, not identity, or ability - I can write a good yarn. But significance, that damn word, yes, I fear my work will, does, lack significance. I continue to write in the hope that at some point my work will have that precious thing called significance. It no longer terrorises me, but it is that proverbial demon whispering in my ear, “Insignificant, Insignificant, Insignificant.”

What do you wrestle with? What are your basic fears as a writer?

Type Four EnneaThought®

Your Basic Fear is of having no identity or no personal significance. See how this is affecting your heart, mind, and body today.

Type Five EnneaThought®

Your Basic Fear is of being helpless, useless and incapable. See how this is affecting your heart, mind, and body today.

Teaching:

We will recognize the Basic Fears of all nine types in ourselves, although our own type’s Basic Fear will motivate our behavior much more than the others. Indeed, it terrorizes us so completely that we have to defend ourselves against it in order to function.

Glad I came across this Sean. Easy and simple are so very different. But we complicate it when it’s just head down and do the work. Such a good reminder.

Dude. That’s such an amazing story. So encouraging. I often find myself stopping because life gets in the way or my ideas are so grand I can’t flesh the out. Or I’m terrified of success. Reading this makes me want to keep going. Thank you so much for sharing. Wishing you all the success you’ve worked so hard for going forward

A lot of people say “I want to be known for my work”. Well that is a given. If you are talking to a group of people interested in writing, that is what they will use to build their opinion of you. However, they will only have an opinion if they know who you are. They will only remember what they thought of your work (unless it is the greatest thing in the world) when they have something to attach that memory to. You remember meal, when you can remember the restaurant.

So what does that mean to us writers. Me must be willing to talk about our work in public and often. We cannot expect to that we will build an audience or a reputation only talking to other writers. There are so many writers and screenplays the chance of you being discovered when you are hiding is less than zero. Any hunger an industry has for talent can be satisfied by the writers engaging in self promotion.

So what do you do?

Let’s look at social media. There is a 3,2,1 method (an organisation I worked for paid thousands for this advice). So choose a social platform that you think contains your audience. You then LIKE three posts from people of influence or people you want to engage with. You COMMENT on two posts from the same type of people (but not the same people all the time - but still target). You POST one thing yourself.

This will build an audience. But make sure it is the correct audience. The group on here will not move the needle for you. We are for all purposes, your enemy. We are competing for the same jobs. The culture here isn’t like that, but technically….

Not just social media. Make sure “writer” becomes part of your brand. Just like Uncle Phil mentioned in his post https://www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting/Building-on-your-successes

You have to be willing to talk about yourself before anyone else will.

One parting comment. People will give you your brand. It will be what they think of you. If you communicate and be proactive, you may be able to influence that.

I live just outside of Winnipeg Manitoba Canada. I’ve been into music my whole life. I had a hard time making a go of it When it got more serious and took me away from home as my kids were young. Now their more self sufficient and it’s time get back out there and create something. I’ve been real driven to write a teleplay for sometime and I’m finally getting my feet wet here. I’m working on something kind of taken a little from my life but it’s definitely a fiction. I come from a music family, so those dynamics are interesting. The clashing of talents and trying to outdo one another instead of championing each other at a young age was definitely something we had to figure out. Now in a bit of a better place we’re able to do that. I posted a log line in my profile. Feel free to have a look and let me know what you think. I’m excited to learn from you all and continue down this path.

Hey guys I’m new to Stage 32. Just joined last week. I’m also just breaking into screenwriting. I have a few ideas I’ve been sitting on for some time. I grew up in music and have been in a number of bands and explored a few genres of music over the last 10 years. I’ve always had a wide imagination and would write stories and build worlds as a kid. I’d say my ideas are probably my strong suit. I’m still learning in my writing. Getting better. But some of my ideas are too big for what I can write now. I’m working on a story. Fiction. But parts of it are taken from me and my brothers growing up in a music family. I chucked a longline in my profile. Any feedback would be great. I can’t wait to meet some of you and learn from you.

Hi Shaun. I'm RB, Founder and CEO of Stage 32. As a screenwriter, producer, actor and filmmaker, I know first-hand the challenges all creatives face finding work, landing representation, launching projects, securing funding and simply making the connections that will make a difference in their careers. That's why I created Stage 32. Since our launch in September of 2011, the community has grown to 1,000,000+ members representing every country on the planet making Stage 32 the social network uniquely populated with the most creative people on Earth.

This is a network for you, built by you. Like most things in life, the more you participate, the greater the rewards. We ask all new members to pay it forward by inviting 5 fellow creatives to the network and by spreading the word of Stage 32 through other social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The more creatives, the stronger the network. The stronger the network, the more opportunities.

Thanks for joining the movement and for being a part of this most talented and inspiring community. I very much look forward to your contributions.

Thanks, and have a creative day!

RB

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Hello Shaun -

Welcome to the community! I'm Amanda Toney, the Managing Director at Stage 32. Since 2013 I've been proud to oversee Stage 32's Next Level Education, which provides you the most up-to-date tools necessary to become a better creative.

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I'm grateful you've joined the Stage 32 community. Please let me know if you have any questions!

Amanda