"I think the characters are incredibly important. It’s going to evolve a lot, so it’s not like in a first draft that is the most paramount thing, because you’re going to want to attract a director, and the director’s going to attract the actor. The character is going to evolve, but you want to give that character enough conflict and enough opportunity for backstory, so if it’s not there, that we can layer it in there without it feeling forced. Character is really important, but more important is the character’s emotional journey, to me. I may not feel like the character is as worked through as I would like, but I buy his emotional journey." I have been reading this itw - I read every blog post, there's always something to learn - and it's very interesting, indeed. Obviously, I agree wholeheartedly with Emile's observation above and I'm sure that there are lots of other producers who do as well. The ones who understand story are obviously the ones that we writers would gladly sacrifice virgin pens for in order to work with them :) But they're not the only ones out there and the same goes for directors. There are lots who believe that it's just not necessary to put that much work into the "small, visually-oriented and dialogue-poor" film that they want to make because they don't understand that telling a story through images takes a solid written foundation. Amateur writers who feel lucky to be able to work don't wan't to walk away from every writing gig they get despite the frustration - it's akin to that age-old question of "To work for free or not?" Obviously, at some point, they do because it's so discouraging to work like that repeatedly and I wouldn't be surprised if lots of writers gave up altogether. It's understandable. There's so much more to being a screenwriter than just learning the craft - developing thick skin, having passion, patience and perseverance (the 3 P's) and also, the ability/courage/faith to walk away.

So true, Marija. I wrote a post which echoes your sentiments: There are three groups of people in Hollywood.... Some don't know a damn thing about story. Some can tell you what's wrong, but not how to fix it. And the third group, which is where writers should be: We know story, we can identify what doesn't work, and we can fix it. So as part of that, some just don't get character or the need for it. But let me zero in on this part of your comment: "There’s so much more to being a screenwriter than just learning the craft – developing thick skin, having passion, patience and perseverance (the 3 P’s) and also, the ability/courage/faith to walk away." Those three P's sound like a blog post waiting to happen. You don't mind if I quote you? Just keep at it, Marija. You can only lose if you let the bastards get you down.

Please do :) And I'm not one for giving up!