I say this with a certain amount of reserved optimism...

Could it be that we are in or approaching the BEST time to be in this game?

The BREAKING or already BROKEN system was never 'writer-friendly' to begin with...

Since Hollywood is not in the business of making MOVIES anymore (they make 'product,' they make 'franchises,' remember?), SOMEONE will. I think we're seeing the beginnings of that now...

cut to:

JEFF
(doing his best Dylan voice)
Oh the times, they are a-changin'...

Studios have devalued the star system? Every cloud has a silver lining.

Interesting point, Jeff. The studios haven't been too crazy about writers since the 30s. Now that the studios are the ones on the defensive, anything's possible. "Reserved optimism" is a good term to apply here.

The idea that all you have to do is "Write a Great Script", which I've read over and over from many different sources, is myopic.

If any of us wrote an amazing script, say the best script ever written, I doubt most of us could even get it read by someone who's in the position of selling it for us or buying it.

And sure we can send query letters and enter it into contests, and so on and so forth. But the biggest problem is that we are on the outside. We can toil day and night to produce a great script and the great thing is that it’s completely within our control to do so, but we have little or no control when it comes time to market the script, especially within a closed system.

Writing a great script is easy. Selling is hard.

Charles said, "The idea that all you have to do is "Write a Great Script", which I've read over and over from many different sources, is myopic.

If any of us wrote an amazing script, say the best script ever written, I doubt most of us could even get it read by someone who's in the position of selling it for us or buying it."

Everybody knows somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody who works in Hollywood. Whether it's six degrees of separation or one, there is always a way into Hwood.

Like me, for example. In the past year, I've helped one writer get an agent, another one a manager, and another one currently has their spec script out with a manager-producer attached. Each of them wrote a great script. I read the script. I got the material to a rep.

But the key is the quality of the material - or there's no point in putting the script into a potential buyer or rep's hands.

I'll grant that me and people like me (who have at least some contacts in Hwood) may not be an ideal solution. In my case, I am so overloaded with commitments and material, it generally takes me months to get to the scripts I agree to read. But as I noted above, there are some success stories.

"Writing a great script is easy. Selling is hard."

Hard - but not impossible.

Scott,

I think it's commendable that you've helped people move their writing careers to the next level.

Too bad there aren't more people out there like you.

And while there are many great resources on writing scripts, there seems to be few if any truly useful resources for marketing scripts.

The Goldman quote, "nobody knows anything", couldn't be more true regarding marketing screenplays, especially for unknown writers.

Thanks so much for this blog. I really enjoy reading it.

...write a great script...
I far from Hollywood, so that's definitely my greatest goal.
A good story always find its way, i believe so.
I've always been an optimistic person anyway.

Thanks Scott for sharing so many interesting thoughts about scriptwriting.