Jeff Messerman at 2013-01-07 17:44:46:
HOLY COW!!! A hometown boy! Whitefish Bay is a mere 20 minutes south of me! This is GREAT! Wow, this absolutely made my day!
mattmallon91 at 2013-01-07 21:40:02:
Thanks so much for taking the time, Michael. Fellow USC student here, in the screenwriting program. I'd love to know more of your thoughts on genre and branding yourself as a writer. It's a concept that I've been struggling with a lot lately. I've written 10 scripts, and although I've got 3 solid comedies in that bunch that would help me brand myself as a comedy writer, I'm also interested in other genres and have written thriller, drama, and action-adventure as well. I've evolved as a writer and as a person since I wrote my comedy scripts, a couple years ago, and I'm finding myself not very interested in comedy anymore and more interested in thrillers and drama. Yet at the moment, I've been recommended by professors to brand myself as a comedy writer because that's what I have the most to show for. So I guess my question is, how important is branding? Should I try to rekindle my comedy muse to brand myself as that type of writer, or should I follow my artistic inclinations and forget about branding? Thank you so much!
MichaelWerwie at 2013-01-08 03:02:01:
mattmallon91 – There are benefits to branding yourself but I believe the most important thing is to feel passionate and connected to the material you’re writing. If the passion’s not there, the genre’s irrelevant because it probably won’t be that engaging of a script. I’ve come to reject the idea of being a “thriller” writer or “comedy” writer or “sci-fi writer” and just concentrate on being a writer of good stories. Now the business people love to put you in a box or on a list and that will always be out of your control, but if you’re writing your next spec, go with what gets you excited each morning. My Nicholl/Black List script is a character drama, despite the genre label attributed to it on the lists. It’s dark and small with a weird tone and something no studio would ever touch. But guess what? I’m meeting at every studio about all sorts of projects ranging from drama to thriller to sci-fi to action to you name it. Even though my sample isn’t studio fare, the execs are excited by the voice and my handling of character and are curious what I might bring to their more commercial projects. The two scripts that have done the most for my career are my two least commercial stories. The first got me my manager; the second won the Nicholl, placed on the Black List, and essentially launched my career. The commonality between the two? My passion for the material. Write what you want to see. Also, if a manager or agent tells you that writing in different genres “confuses the marketplace,” find someone smarter. Jeff Messerman – Great to meet another cheesehead. Go Pack!
Erica R Maier at 2013-01-08 09:23:58:
Thank you so much for sharing your story! I look forward to reading the rest! How difficult was it to secure an agent/manager who gets your writing? When in the process did that happen?
MichaelWerwie at 2013-01-08 13:53:11:
Erica R Maier – I started working with my current manager about seven years in. Most managers at legit management companies are smart, hard working, well-intentioned people but it’s a lot like dating – you’re not going to click with everyone, and you’re only going to know it when you feel it. It’s also important to note that there wasn’t a specific moment when he “offered” to represent me. We just had reason to keep meeting and the relationship grew organically so that when I started needing him on a daily basis, the relationship was already there. Looking back, I can clearly see I wasn’t an official client for the first two and a half years, but he always made himself available to me so that the good will was already there when it came time to make it official. Also, I’m a firm believer that a new writer should begin with a manager rather than an agent. An agent will come when it’s time.
Scott at 2013-01-08 14:38:34:
Thanks, Michael, for taking the time to respond to reader questions. Looking forward to the conversation tied to your interview during the rest of this week.
Erica R Maier at 2013-01-08 15:55:12:
Great insight. Thanks again!