5 ms·

I read this in the article, " You have to be an amazing writer, the best writer people have ever read… and you have to have a large Rolodex of personal/professi

I read this in the article, " You have to be an amazing writer, the best writer people have ever read… and you have to have a large Rolodex of personal/professional contacts who will hire you, rehire you, support you, recommend you." Based on what I see on TV I have to believe that the Rolodex counts for far more than the writing skill because there's a ton of crap getting produced. On the bright side, there's way more stuff than I can reasonably keep up with, so the relatively small amount of good stuff is maybe about enough.

dkarl 16y ago
I agree that there's a lot of terrible stuff being produced, and you can go to any indie film festival and see movies with great scripts. But when you drop below the A list and look at the marginal, non-blockbuster movies, do you really need a good script to make money? Do producers and directors need a good writer? Is a good script or a good writer an asset to them at all? To put it another way, what is a "good" script from the point of view of the movie industry, and how many people actually want to write one, and would be willing to put their real name on it? If you look outside the blockbusters, and even at many blockbusters themselves, most scripts aren't that good. I know a few people who watch a lot of terrible movies who are kind of allergic to quality, or at least allergic to the aspiration to quality. They are tolerant of crap and want their movies to be tolerant, too. A friend of mine is a huge fan of horror and action movies, and the only movie he has ever walked out of was "The Thin Red Line." Why did that movie offend him, out of all the movies he's seen? It wasn't because it was bad. (He and I saw "Deuce Bigalo: European Gigolo" in the theater.) It offended him because it insulted his taste. It aspired to be better than the movies he liked. That's what I'm guessing, anyway. So if you're in the movie industry and trying to get a non-A-list movie made, you have to think about who's going to go see it. Writing a "good" script by your own standards may be a mistake. Maybe writing a "good" script only proves you don't understand the business and won't be an asset to the people who can help you. Maybe showing some hustle, some talent at getting noticed, and some crass instincts is necessary, not to draw attention to your good writing -- nobody gives a shit about your writing -- but because hustle, self-promotion, and crassness is how you prove you can succeed in the industry and help them make money in the future.
toolate 16y ago
"Based on what I see on TV I have to believe that the Rolodex counts for far more than the writing skill because there's a ton of crap getting produced." Like, for example, "Reality Binge" or "Celebrity Drive-By"? Which happen to be the author's two shows (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1941257/ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1941257/).
- jamesbritt 16y ago
  Not only haven't I seen those shows, I've never even heard of them before. Based on the titles, though, I would hazard a guess that they would trigger my Crap-o-meter. But as another poster pointed out, "crap" depends on your goals. If eyeballs and ad revenue are the metric, maybe these shows are models of quality. Discussions on "How to be Successful in $INDUSTRY" really need to clarify the meaning of "successful." For some, the prospect of selling scripts so long as they are in the realm of low double-digit-IQ appeal may not be considered a win, while others might see that as hitting pay dirt. Either way, you should know before following someone's career advice where it will lead.
ZachPruckowski 16y ago
The Rolodex counts for more because it's almost always hard to determine from the early script stage what's viable and what isn't. Unlike Silicon Valley, there is not Minimum Viable Product or prototyping in Hollywood - by the time you can see any sort of film, you've spent 80% of your total budget. There's also a lot more emphasis on individuals - if Charlie Sheen goes to Sing Sing, then "Two and a Half Men" is boned, but Facebook can still build products without Zuckerberg

dkarl 16y ago

I agree that there's a lot of terrible stuff being produced, and you can go to any indie film festival and see movies with great scripts. But when you drop below the A list and look at the marginal, non-blockbuster movies, do you really need a good script to make money? Do producers and directors need a good writer? Is a good script or a good writer an asset to them at all? To put it another way, what is a "good" script from the point of view of the movie industry, and how many people actually want to write one, and would be willing to put their real name on it? If you look outside the blockbusters, and even at many blockbusters themselves, most scripts aren't that good. I know a few people who watch a lot of terrible movies who are kind of allergic to quality, or at least allergic to the aspiration to quality. They are tolerant of crap and want their movies to be tolerant, too. A friend of mine is a huge fan of horror and action movies, and the only movie he has ever walked out of was "The Thin Red Line." Why did that movie offend him, out of all the movies he's seen? It wasn't because it was bad. (He and I saw "Deuce Bigalo: European Gigolo" in the theater.) It offended him because it insulted his taste. It aspired to be better than the movies he liked. That's what I'm guessing, anyway. So if you're in the movie industry and trying to get a non-A-list movie made, you have to think about who's going to go see it. Writing a "good" script by your own standards may be a mistake. Maybe writing a "good" script only proves you don't understand the business and won't be an asset to the people who can help you. Maybe showing some hustle, some talent at getting noticed, and some crass instincts is necessary, not to draw attention to your good writing -- nobody gives a shit about your writing -- but because hustle, self-promotion, and crassness is how you prove you can succeed in the industry and help them make money in the future.

toolate 16y ago

"Based on what I see on TV I have to believe that the Rolodex counts for far more than the writing skill because there's a ton of crap getting produced." Like, for example, "Reality Binge" or "Celebrity Drive-By"? Which happen to be the author's two shows (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1941257/ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1941257/).

jamesbritt 16y ago
Not only haven't I seen those shows, I've never even heard of them before. Based on the titles, though, I would hazard a guess that they would trigger my Crap-o-meter. But as another poster pointed out, "crap" depends on your goals. If eyeballs and ad revenue are the metric, maybe these shows are models of quality. Discussions on "How to be Successful in $INDUSTRY" really need to clarify the meaning of "successful." For some, the prospect of selling scripts so long as they are in the realm of low double-digit-IQ appeal may not be considered a win, while others might see that as hitting pay dirt. Either way, you should know before following someone's career advice where it will lead.

ZachPruckowski 16y ago

The Rolodex counts for more because it's almost always hard to determine from the early script stage what's viable and what isn't. Unlike Silicon Valley, there is not Minimum Viable Product or prototyping in Hollywood - by the time you can see any sort of film, you've spent 80% of your total budget. There's also a lot more emphasis on individuals - if Charlie Sheen goes to Sing Sing, then "Two and a Half Men" is boned, but Facebook can still build products without Zuckerberg