Ten Ways You’re Killing Your Screenwriting Career Before It’s Even Started
Where I find myself right now is straddling both sides of that wall we all face with the amateur scene on one side and the industry world on the other. From this perspective, I have a great vantage point to see what is and isn’t working for screenwriters who want their passion to eventually bring in paycheques.
So, after nearly seven years, countless scripts, and endless chit-chat with everyone from first-time writers to long-time producers, here goes.
1) You’re Giving up Too Easily.
You’ve written one or two features, maybe some shorts. You’ve been trying for maybe a year and you want to give up. Perhaps you’ve entered some competitions and not advanced, suffered poor Black List/WeScreenPlay scores, not seen any responses to query letters, or someone simply told you you suck. Maybe you feel like you live in the wrong place to ever succeed.
Why it’s killing your chances: The film business is a marathon, a life-long-one, and even a decade, especially when trying to break-in, is a relatively short amount of time. Rejection is part of the routine and often comes after an initial period of apathy. Motivation constantly needs to be nurtured. If screenwriting‘s your purpose then giving up isn’t really an option and talking about…
