As one junior producer who works for an A list producer told me -- "My boss really just wants me to find writers we can control" The same goes for agents and managers. It's an epidemic mentality in a business that cannot survive without writers. The number one quality a writer can have when starting out is the ability to create the illusion that they (Producers/Reps) are controlling you. If you can do that and be sufficiently competent in the craft of screenwriting (although talent is a plus) you can have a great, lucrative time. Hollywood's desire to control content begins with the young writer's mind, not the finished picture. Some people can flourish in that kind of environment. But let's be honest about one thing - writing is secondary to relationships in a business that is more about business than show. Not in the indie world but in the high paycheck studio world this is generally the case. I'm not saying it's good or bad - it is what it is. Perfect example -- I'm friends with a Black List writer whose movie was made. I know the way in which the movie was conceived by an executive and then pitched to the young writer who wrote it -- then the exec nominated it and it made the black list to create the illusion of something being genuine and truly discovered. It was all a set up for financing. And the writing was atrocious beyond belief. Hardly in line with the quality of most movies that have been made from Black List scripts. The writing of this movie was panned by all and mentioned in every review as "the problem" yet the overall package was good enough to ensure a profit for those involved. This reality is not of the sort thing where you wake up and read that someone has sold an idea similar to your own. This is a reality that should give all writers pause - not to be discouraged but to be aware of the actual playing field instead of the illusion that is painted outside the door. You must be ready to play ball and by play ball I mean "fetch" Relationships trump craft unless you're writing a novel. I doubt it was always that way. Maybe I'm wrong. I'd love to be wrong.

I'm familiar with enough development horror stories through the years that this anecdote doesn't surprise me. But as a fairer representation of the way things generally go -- admittedly speaking from my own experience -- I would substitute the word "empowerment" for "control". That is there is a subtle dance that goes on between writers and the Other Side [producers, studio execs, talent] where it behooves us [writers] to get them invested in our stories so that they begin to think of it as their story. Not literally, of course, the writer is writing it. But certain key ideas, suggestions here or there, tweaks to dialogue and characters, even down to how they interpret the story and our embrace of that all feed into this dynamic where they feel more and more invested in the project. The end result is that empowers them because they are personally connected to the project. It's no longer just the writer's script, it's our project. It is so hard to get a movie made, the ones that do will always have certain key advocates who feel empowered through their personal connection to the story. Perfect example is Moneyball. When Sony dropped Soderbergh, that project would have died had it not been for one person: Brad Pitt. That story had become [psychologically] his story and through his clout and sheer force of will, along with substantial rewrites by Zallian and Sorkin, and distinct vision of the director Miller, got that movie made. I don't have time now to look it up, but if you review the Screenwriters Roundtable I did with 7 top young Hollywood screenwriters, this very subject came up. Again a writer wants to find ways to allow producers, studio execs, talent to become invested in your story, then empowered to push it forward.

I will def read that roundtable. I should have guessed that you would have already sorted this factor out. Empowering them is a much better way to put it. We must learn to wag the dog and get a treat at the same time.

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