Don't give up your day job

What may be meant as a put-down, coming from someone who doesn’t believe you can write, is actually very healthy thinking.

Unless you make a consistent solid bundle with your writing, I definitely advise you to keep your day job.

These days I focus my creative attention on novels. I thoroughly enjoy knowing that every word and every choice is mine and mine alone. Screenwriting is a very different world - there it is all about collaboration. That collaboration means development phases (or hells, in some cases) - and more often than not those phases are long (and often unpaid or badly paid) and then projects peter out and end up on someone’s shelf - meaning that the big paycheck never materialized for you.

After eight produced scripts, two dozen unproduced commissions and always more stuff in the works, people continued to ask me why I kept my day job... couldn’t I make a living with my screenwriting? The answer was “Yes, I could... but I don’t want to.”

Four major reasons for keeping that day job:

Security and stability: As a family man this was absolutely key to me. I loved my regular pay check - it always gave me great piece of mind. Which brings me straight to point number two.

The freedom to write: Knowing that I didn’t have to rely on X writing money to make it into my account by Y date, meant that I didn’t have to think about mortgage payments while writing.

The luxury to choose: I’ve been able to turn down projects, many projects. As a fulltime writer I’d have had to take jobs I wasn’t interested in, simple because of the money... and frankly, that isn’t the never the good reason to get involved in a project. What you want is a passion for story.

Creativity: This may seem counterintuitive, but it’s well researched that creativity often doesn’t happen when we ‘hunker down to be creative’ - as a professional writer, you can always write, sure. But you do so in the knowledge that brilliant sparks are elusive. Discipline will give you structure and plot and character - but the muse is far more likely to kiss you when you sit on the train, walk the dog, take a shower - or work that day job. When you’re not trying, that’s when those brilliantly inspired flashes happen.

When you maintain your day job, you may worry that you don’t not have enough time to write. And another concern may be that you think you won’t taken as seriously as someone who’s a fulltime writer. Both of these worries are simply a matter of getting your head around them - which happens with time and experience.

The more you write, the more you develop your writing muscle. I’ve learned to be very disciplined with my writing - when I decide it’s time to write, I write. When I dedicate time to writing, I crack pages. Over the years I’ve come to realize that other colleagues of mine, fulltime writers, are never faster than me. That doesn’t make them lazy, it just makes me more disciplined - this, in fact, really is hugely important if you keep your day job. The producer won’t care what you do - as long as you deliver on time. Never miss a deadline. 

Initially you may be worried that producers, directors or agents won’t take you seriously if you reveal that you have a day job and ‘only’ write in your spare time. Get over it. You are a hired writer same as are the others who have all day every day to write. You are as much of a pro as they are. The people you hopefully get to talk to are human (most of them, anyway) like you. They know that you have responsibilities, that you need to pay the rent and put food on the table. Be proud of who you are and where you are in life (and, by the way, you’ll discover stories in there, too).

Fulltime writing - it has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? But I can assure you that it comes with its own hassles. I’ve known more than a few fulltime writers in my decades as a screenwriter, and they’ve all hustled to make it all work out. Most often, fulltime writers have - and have to have - four or five or more projects in the works, well knowing that most will never be produced. By working on several projects, you can be fairly sure that at least one will get the green light (and pay for rent and food and vacations, etc.).

But wait, it may of course also happen that more than one of those projects are greenlit! Doesn’t happen often, but it can happen and, financially speaking, that’s nice. But it is something I wouldn’t wish on you, because then you’ll end up having to give up any life you may have (partner, children, friends) to deliver on increasingly steep deadlines on the road to the shooting scripts everyone’s waiting for.

Having kept my day job, I was able to take one one project at a time. And when one was done, I’d agree to do a next. Just once (when the kids were still little, no less), I made the mistake to agree to do two jobs simultaneously. It was a massive strain on me, on the relationship with my wife, and on my time with my wonderful kids. I decided to never do that again.

As in life, my friends, try not to multitask. Multitasking is a myth anyway - it just means you do more than one thing simultaneously and less well. Do one thing at a time, give it the time it needs and deserves. Then do the next. That goes for your creative time, that goes for your time with your partner, that goes for playtime with your kids. Just like walking. That’s your life, or should be your life - one step (dancing and bouncing and hopping and skipping steps occasionally, I hope!) at a time.