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Now, on to this week's email...
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Which project do you write next?
Every screenwriter will eventually ask themselves, “Which project do I write next?”
Early on, when expectations are low, this is less important. You’re not trying to win a championship when you first pick up a basketball.
The more expectations you put on your work, the more important the project you choose becomes.
This is often a difficult factor to grasp. We love movies, after all. We love all kinds of movies. We love big commercial films as well as those small indies that few other people know about.
They make all kinds of movies, right?
So we want to believe the quality of the screenplay is what counts.
But Hollywood is made up of dozens of little systems that all operate a little differently, with tiny variations of financial input and big variations of personalities involved.
And while there are countless variables to this, each system has its version of this question:
Can this project make us money?
And while the execution of the screenplay is obviously crucial, it is a secondary element.
The most important variable in selling a screenplay is the screenplay you choose to write.
Is this something they believe the audience wants to see? Is this something that can attract the elements that would make that possible?
You must weigh your desired result with the likelihood that this project will get you there.
But you must also weigh the opportunity costs.
It takes time to write a feature screenplay. Anything I am working on now means I am not working on something else.
The more you care about the outcome, the more carefully you must choose your project.
The biggest mistake screenwriters make is detaching their goals from this decision.
There are few quicker ways to frustration than a project you poured your heart into that has no connection with your future goals.
Do you want to sell your screenplay?
Is that the top priority? Is that how you measure this screenplay’s success?
Then there is nothing more important than a clear, easily communicable concept that gets people excited.
Hope is not a strategy.
You cannot “hope” people will read it even though the concept is muddled. You cannot “hope” people will just love your screenplay so much that they throw away their own interest to back you as an artist.
This is simply not the way it works.
If you want to sell your screenplay, it must be clear in both concept and execution that this project will make all involved a paycheck.
Win the mental battle.
This is a running battle in my teaching because it was such a glaring weakness of mine early in my career.
You must defend your creative and professional ambitions from yourself.
The voice in our head means well, but its main goal is to protect you from pain, not help you reach your goals.
While that voice loves to undermine your confidence so you don’t try and don’t risk failure…
It also loves excuses designed to protect your confidence as well.
That voice will tell you that the business is wrong and you’re right.
It will tell you that concepts “shouldn’t” matter, and the business will change for you if they just read your screenplay.
It will tell you that there is no point; Hollywood only makes bad movies, so they wouldn’t make your awesome one anyway.
And some movies are just too precious to communicate in a single concept, and yours is one of them.
Don’t fall for it.
Don’t surrender your agency to that kind of thinking.
The truth is that we are all cogs in the machine, and the business is under headwinds that are bigger than all of us. The business is the business, and we can’t change that.
But what we can influence is our work and our careers. We do that by recognizing our ambitions and understanding how our choices either help or hurt those ambitions.
“Begin with the end in mind.”
This is one of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits.
For most, writing to get better will be the goal for a while.
You cannot learn screenwriting all at once. At least not in a repeatable way. No matter how talented you think you are.
It will come in fits and starts, and repetition is key. Get those reps in. Rewrite not just to make it better, but to learn what you did wrong.
The goal is to process information at an ever-faster rate. To see the structure of the story and the scenes instantly. When you start to do that, it tends to look an awful lot like talent.
At some point, however, you’re going to start thinking about outcomes.
So between each project, you must define your goal for the next one.
This goal will be either outcome- or project-based.
That is, it’s either a project you feel the need to write, or you have specific goals you want to reach. Neither one is better than the other.
There is nothing wrong with a passion project that you feel compelled to write.
We all have them. What kind of creative person doesn’t? These projects will often produce our best work.
These are the stories that mean something to us personally, or there’s a creative challenge that excites us. Maybe both.
The key is to understand and accept the realistic chances of any subsequent goals for this project.
- Do you want to sell it?
- Do you want to find a producer who will patch together funding?
- Do you want to go out and make it yourself?
Whatever the goal, the chances are never zero, and they are never 100%, but you must have a general idea of where your project sits.
And if it still doesn’t matter, write the damn thing.
If the chances are low for a desired outcome, are you willing to accept that? Are you willing to pay the opportunity costs of not writing something else?
While it’s true that you are almost certainly not going to sell your first few screenplays, it does happen. There is nothing wrong with targeting a sale right out of the gate.
And it’s not a bad idea to practice being in that headspace.
Outcome goals are healthy and eventually necessary as well.
These goals include:
- To sell it and make money.
- To get representation.
- To get into rooms for open writing assignments.
- To raise the money and make a low-budget feature.
- To make a micro-budget feature.
If you want to sell the screenplay, there is simply nothing more important than an easily communicable concept that gets people excited.
Selling a screenplay outright is difficult WITH a great concept, but near zero without.
Not quite zero, but close.
If you do not have a great concept, do not allow yourself to be disappointed if it does not sell. Be happy if it does, of course. That’s great!
But there is no reason to have even a hope that it will. This is not meant to be negative. On the contrary, it is encouraging you to have a healthy mindset.
This mostly goes for representation and open writing assignments as well.
Not quite as merciless, because managers and producers looking to hire are as focused on potential as the screenplay in their hands.
That said, the commercial prospects of any screenplay also say something about your taste, your sensibilities, and your understanding of the business.
But you have a little more wiggle room for execution to outshine concept there.
Other goals focus as much on budget as concept and execution.
There is a major error people make with low-budget and micro-budget films. Obviously, if a film is a passion project, that is one thing, but too often in low-budget films the focus is on whether you CAN make the movie rather than whether you SHOULD make the movie.
I have made this mistake myself. I directed a micro-budget film called PLAYING HOUSE about 15 years ago.
Despite being our weakest script, we made the film because we could with the budget. In hindsight, I wish we had made something more commercial. It did not push my directing career like I hoped it would, and the weakness was the script of all things!!!!
What I want out of my next six projects.
My primary goal right now is money. I want to sell a few more screenplays outright, and I want a few more production bonuses.
Now, I write and teach for a living. These are the things I love to do the most (I fold writing in with “making movies” in general), and I am blessed to do what I love. So, I don’t see myself ever retiring in the traditional sense.
But the fact remains…
I am closer to retirement than I am to just getting started, and getting paid is more important to me now than it was in my 30s.
In addition, I no longer actively pursue open writing assignments (OWAs). This isn't something my agents and manager love, but I also don’t bug them unless I have a new spec, so it works out.
I always hated the cattle call aspect of open assignments. I don’t like pitching. It is a ton of work, and you are up against people who are really good at getting the job.
With fewer assignments out there these days, you’re also in the running against big names that get people excited.
The amount of work required to legitimately throw your hat in the ring, compared to the success rate of actually getting paid, takes a toll.
This would be worrisome, but unlike earlier in my career, I have had more success lately with my specs.
My last two productions were assignments, but my last two big checks were specs.
So, if I can round out the edges with my teaching and achieve a good batting average with my specs, I am in a sweet spot with my workflow.
Again, I am very lucky to do this.
But it means I don’t have a lot of room for error either. When I write, the goal is to sell the screenplay, and it’s not a success unless I do.
My next six projects.
There was a time about 15 years ago when I thought I was done. I had no more story ideas in me, and I feared that I was tapped out!
Since then, it has been a backlog of projects that I don’t have enough time to write. With so many that I am excited about, the opportunity cost feels more and more expensive.
Always remember, no matter how you’re feeling right now, it’s not permanent: This too shall pass.
Here is the order in which I will write them.
- BACK UP - A sci-fi film noir. Commercial, well executed, but I wish it was a no-brainer. Just completed it. My agents and my manager like it (which is huge), and they are strategizing with the producer.
- Untitled Middle Age Comedy - Commercial, but the best pitch of it is as a movie cousin. That’s not bad, but it’s not ideal either. There is a first draft to this one that no one has read.
- THE ASSIGNMENT - A sci-fi action. I think it’s more commercial than my reps do. That is not ideal. But I have been trying to find time to write this one for nearly ten years. I need to get it out of my system.
- FOREVER MAN - Sci-fi film noir. It’s mature sci-fi. Probably the same market as ARRIVAL, but without the obvious pitch of aliens coming to Earth. There is a first draft to this. It was put on the shelf because a film with the exact same premise beat us to market. It is now 15 years later. That film did not do well, did not take advantage of the premise, and is kind of, sort of forgotten. 15 years is long enough to bring this project out again.
- Untitled Ensemble Romantic Comedy - I am increasingly seeing this as a low- to micro-budget film that I direct. This means no money for me. This is why it keeps getting pushed down the list. Amazing title, fun story. I think it has some commercial appeal.
- Untitled Historical Fiction Passion Project - Nothing says cash grab like expensive period pieces with muskets! Now, there may be some unique interest in this that carries the day, and I am kind of hoping for that, but conventional buyers are going to have ZERO interest in this. In addition, the research. This is why this thing that I really want to write is last on the list.
In addition, there are two books I really want to get the rights to. They were under option last time I checked, and both are due for another inquiry.
There are no obvious sales here.
None of these has that killer idea that feels like a no-brainer. Not like MOST WANTED was. There are a couple of writers in the Pro community who have those, and it’s exciting.
If I were to generate one of those “can’t miss” ideas, I would certainly push that in front of the line. This list is very flexible.
But with the goal of selling the script, the two primary factors that dictate the order by which I write them are:
- How commercial is it?
- How much time would it take? (Is there an earlier draft? Is there an outline? Is there a ton of research?)
What is your goal?
This is everything. And it’s okay if your goal fluctuates. But impatience kills us.
- It makes us choose a project without knowing what we want out of it.
- It makes us write without assessing the opportunity cost.
- It makes us write before we properly outline.
- It makes us go to buyers without attachments to add value.
Again, for 99% of the people writing a screenplay right now, the job of this screenplay is to get you better for the next one.
But once you have an emotional investment in the outcome, you have to make decisions.
Match your project with your goals. And even then, understand that nothing is guaranteed.
But that’s actually not that big of a deal.
Why not?
Because it’s not the last screenplay you’re ever going to write.
Do not put too much pressure on yourself for any one project.
There will always be another.
That's a wrap for this week!
This was a long one. I am going to make a quick exit.
See you next Tuesday!
Tom
