This is so true. Unless you're one of that rare and lucky breed, selling spec script after spec script, this is what you are. It took me by surprise - and you need to be ready for the change because, like as not, if your lucky to get any success in this business, this is the form it'll take. After three years working and hawking round a couple of specs I finally sold one. So, what happens? Well, you sure as shit don't rush off and get your film made. That one goes into development - maybe you get a re-write fee, perhaps an option renewal. But don't hold your breath. What actually happens is the guys who bought the script say "There's something we'd like you to take look at". And so it begins. And the truth is there's far more chance of one of these re-writes getting made than any of my own stuff. But that is the business - and I'm cool with that. I'm writing movies, doing meetings, in the business, albeit at the fringes. And I was lucky - I'd spent 20 years in advertising taking people's ideas and improving them - 20 years of problem solving and handling myself in a meeting, listening to what the guy across the table is REALLY saying, getting my point across - so this new role suits me. And you're right, it's a role any aspiring writer should prepare themselves for - it's the far likelier outcome. Thanks, as ever, for the post.

This is interesting, quite different from the "writer as artist" image most people have. "That script is a busted toilet and you, my fine young friend, are the plumber.” What a great line. Sums it up nicely. This is good news for me. I actually feel like I'm a better analyst/problem solver then a designer/creator. After 25 years in the IT business I have a lot of experience with analysis and trouble shooting. That's all I do and I'm good at it. I also think writers can do this with their own scripts. Finish the script, step away from it for a few days, read other scripts, watch some good movies, then go back and review your own script with a critical eye. It also speaks to the value of a writing partner, you can fix each others "brisket". What a crazy business. If someone likes your work they buy it, then give it to someone else to "fix", and they give you someelse stuff they also liked and bought, so you can fix it. Still, it beats working for a living. (<== tip of the hat to Mr. Bradbury)

Maybe producer Scott isn't merely the vulgarian he appears to be - one of my art teachers said virtually the same thing - "Art is basically problem-solving." And thanks Scott for the acknowledgment e-mail for my loglines (submitted under my "real" name) doing it here since I didn't want to add to the deluge of e-mails!

Instead of screenwriter, script engineer maybe?

Hey, that's a good way to look at it.

SCREENGINEER: A screenwriter's wife is kidnapped. The ransom? He must fix an unfixable script before shooting starts in a week's time.

I could actually see that one being made!

> If you’re not currently part of a writer’s group, where you read each other’s pages and provide feedback, you should do that. And if you can't find a brick-and-mortar group near you, the online peer review workshops can be good, too. I've been a member at Zoetrope for over a decade, and I've learned more from reading, analyzing, and reviewing other people's work than anything else I've done to study writing. (Others' mileage with online workshops in general and Zoetrope in particular will of course vary.)

Thank you, Shaula, for making this point. Online writing communities can be hugely helpful.