So you want to be a screenwriter - do you have what it takes?
The two most essential elements for a screenwriter are discipline and stamina. Only then come craft and talent.
Anyone thinking about a life (note: I did not write “career”) as a screenwriter should have an inherent passion for film. You should essentially be a film geek. You should also have a very basic need to put your ideas to paper. You should literally be unhappy whenever you cannot write down those ideas.
It goes without saying that you have ideas. But I have people coming up to me all the time with ideas – “I have a great idea for a film!” Ideas are like pebbles of sand – countless and useless on their own. Whenever somebody starts with the “I have a great idea” bit, I usually listen politely, then just as politely tell them that they should go ahead and write the story themselves (they never do). Fact is, I’ll be swamped with my own ideas for the rest of my life… but that’s not the point.
The two most essential elements for a screenwriter are discipline and stamina. Only then come craft and talent.
You can learn the craft and you can become a reliable, prolific writer without being the most talented one. But you will never be a true writer unless you have the aforementioned discipline and stamina.
Before you get hired to write, you need a body of work. So start writing. Now! Write every day. Develop the discipline to write daily. Write your own script, finish it, write the next one, finish it, write the next one, finish it. Finishing is important! Most of those people with “great ideas” won’t EVER finish a screenplay (and thank God for that – more business for the staminators among us). By constantly writing you’ll grow your writing muscle and your body of work. You’ll also increase your stamina, you’ll start to believe in yourself. And you’ll need every bit of stamina to get you through the hunger years.
People will hurls all sorts of stuff at you - mostly rejection. But if writing has become an essential part of you, nothing will be able to stop you. Constant rejection will still hurt, occasional crumbs of hope will still tear at your insides, but you will always continue to write. And all of that will get you in shape for the time when that producer’s door suddenly opens. You’ll get hired and you’ll need to deliver on time – the deadlines will be madness sometimes – but if you have discipline and stamina on your side, you’ll be able to handle every challenge.
All the talent in the world won’t help you unless you have the discipline and the stamina to deliver on the promise of your talent.
Now that we’ve clarified the importance of discipline and stamina. Let’s get a bit more playful. You may just have what it takes if
you get cranky when you don’t write.
a decade worth of rejection doesn’t stop you.
you write and cry with your characters.
knowing you’re alone on the planet, you’d still write.
it’s about your life-long passion for writing.
there’s no chance in hell but you write anyway.
rejection doesn’t make you bitter, but stronger.
These few lines can either encourage or discourage. They can show that you’re on a potential path or that you might want to do something else instead of screenwriting. These eight statements are essentially about the passion and the odds. But always remember that networks and production companies are factories - they need to produce. And that’s why writers “make it” all the time.
So, yes, those odds are stacked high against every single one of us. But if we defy the odds with our very passion, chances are ... !
