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#scriptsky
Table Read Workshop - please read if interested. All information on poster!
Look, I’m not the most informed guy but I think I know the answer
In
@nytopinion.nytimes.com
Younger generations “have fallen out of love with Harry Potter because they have fallen out of love with the worldview the series represents,” writes Louise Perry. “Which is to say that young people have fallen out of love with liberalism.”
Opinion | Why Gen Z Doesn’t Love ‘Harry Potter’
The wizarding worldview is naïve.
Dear Canadians
I’m am not mad at y’all the slightest
I have not seen One Battle After Another but I cannot imagine pulling Maya Rudolph and not marrying her so I’m applying my dislike to his films 😄
But I’ll say the pro writer community that I’ve seen is the warmest, more generous, humblest creative community in film
I have received more than I deserve or earned from them
Treat everyone w kindness and respect
But don’t let people cross the line no matter who they are
In general have a hard moral line that you won’t compromise bc those are the people LA breaks the hardest
If you’re wrong apologize
If you’re not, sunlight is the best disinfectant and time is the ultimate revealer
Shrewd people will figure out the truth, and dummies will get conned
However no matter what I write it will not land for some people bc I cannot hide my blackness
I don’t write copaganda, or frat boy characters, or fragile women or dozens of other things
The thing that gives me my voice alienated others
Such is life
For a script to succeed it has to go to widest audience possible
The white audience is very very skittish, if they don’t feel included or centered they ain’t supporting
My blackness is my rooting for the underdog, being an outsider, being grounded
But I can’t be BLACK
Handling my blackness as a writer has been a journey
A reductive view would make you think that black people would be your biggest allies
No one has pounded the table for me more than white men and the ugliest calls were from inside the house
I’m lucky in that there are better writers than me technically but they write bigger stuff in genres that no one is buying
But I also had no idea how to ‘network’ which worked out bc that was the best way to network 😂😂😂
If you wanted an apple would you go to the store and get one? Or would you buy one online you couldn’t touch and wait 5 days for it?
LA is full of writers and you don’t live in LA and don’t have experience but you’re mad you’re not in a writers room
Goals have to match reality
I’m a nobody from the wrong coast and I’ve pre-WGA writers elevate and pay the worst scammers bc they got flattered by them
No your contest eval wasn’t Ai
You never say that when it’s positive
You can’t use IMDb to see if someone is ‘legit’ bc it doesn’t count stuff like polishes, ghostwriting etc
Everybody in LA knows everybody
If a writer ‘guru’ is on social media and the pros don’t talk to them a certain way or they’re chasing them they’re frauds
Avoid people who always want the shortcut
They’re transactional, super nice to people w perceived momentum
I’ve seen success separate‘friends’ more than failure
If your circle is constantly praising you they’re useless
Enable people in your life to succinctly tell you the truth, good or bad
I get sternly corrected in private a LOT
The biggest red flag I’ve seen is people that can’t take notes/criticism.
It usually means their scripts are just self inserts and they’ve lost distance from the material
It means they think they are special snowflakes and those are the people LA breaks the hardest
I’m a straight talker from the East Coast but I’m pretty friendly and very loyal and very forgiving
I legit didn’t know how to deal w West Coast people
I damaged my rep by associating w some the worst people in the community bc I didn’t know red flags and didn’t take advice
In terms of reps they’re going to sign people that look just like them
The material is inexplicably more ‘compelling’
Most reps are white guys w dark hair a few are blonde white women and those are the deals you see in the trades
Just work small, until they come to you
Franklin Leonard just dropped gold on making salable films that escalate
I lost time writing stuff that wouldn’t have sold, at a time when no one wanted samples
I blew opportunities bc I didn’t understand loglines/elevator pitches/comps bc of my bad structure
Hollywood isn’t ‘fair’
You picked this, so stop crying about. The history of the business is very clear, and it doesn’t treat writers well or think much of them
Billy Wilder died begging for work and you’re not better than Billy Wilder
The biggest problem w my writing career?
I mostly wasn’t good enough.
I’m a talented writer but I was coming from historical fiction. I simply did not understand structure.
There were a bunch of ancillary skills I had to develop but that was huge.
So, on average, it takes seven years to break into feature writing
I’m actually ahead of schedule!
Today, I’d like to go over my own self inflicted wounds so you avoid some
