The Three P's

Julie will be back in a couple of days, which means I have only a couple of days left to post Oldies but Goodies. This one, about sticking with it, never goes out of style.

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The difference between a writer who makes it in Hollywood and a writer who does not is that the one who made it never gave up.

Patience, perseverance, perspective…

I had lunch the other day with a well-known and respected screenwriting teacher and author of a screenwriting how-to book. We compared notes about our own writing experiences – the close calls, the successes and the failures – and we shared a wry laugh about how much difference a few years make. When I started writing scripts eight years ago, I was fueled by a conviction that my talent and my amazing script were going to earn me money and respect in only a matter of months. That didn’t quite happen for either one of us.

Year after year has passed by, with many more scripts written, screenwriting classes taken, failures, small successes, teases and huge disappointments. But Rouge Wavers, as Elton John once said – I’m still standing. And from where I stand, I’m proud as I look at my achievements and the way I have used every experience to help me build knowledge, relationships, skills and perseverance.

As we begin competition season, many readers may have entered their scripts in one or more screenwriting contests. As we collectively hold our breath and await the results late this summer and into the early fall, I encourage writers to roll their shoulders, let that breath out and keep writing. Competitions come around every year. This isn’t the last chance and it isn’t the only way.

The best way to raise the odds of being published, optioned, repped or even sold is to be like a writing machine. Never stop writing and never stop believing that you can do it. Disabuse yourself of the quaint fairy tale that your script is more brilliant than any script ever written and that two scripts into the process, you will be an overnight rockstar.

Don’t get me wrong – those who know me well know that I actually subscribe very much to visualizing exactly what you want in this life and holding that vision steadfastly until it manifests. But you can’t sit in a park dreaming of your wonderful, successful writing career, and you can’t weep into your beer after dozens of rejections, sure that it is all doomed. This is a hard knock business. Get used to it. But never say die and never let it crush the joy out of the phenomenal gift you have been given: the desire and talent to create and express through the written word.

As my friend and I compared writing scars, horror stories and triumphs over lunch, it struck me that I wish I knew then what I know now. I wish I had put myself through less drama and depression about just where my writing career was going and when. I wish I had just known that this thing – this writing – is a gift unto itself. Take everything in stride – the validation, the rejection and the dull, grey days that make you wish ardently you’d just gotten a regular job like a regular person. Slow down, enjoy the process. Be present for it. Soak it up.

Nothing succeeds like determination. As Woody Allen said, 80% of success is showing up.