Since everything gets a sequel nowadays, might as well do one for my piece on annoyances in screenwriting. These were the common fears and pitfalls that can trip up a writer and lead to doubt, confusion and upset. I attempted to offer some remedies, new angles at which to look at them.
Now, for four more headscratchers, and how I think you can fix them.
- When a contact ghosts you, it doesn't mean you caused it.
Ghosting is one of the worst things in this industry: silence is always worse than a flat 'no'. You have no idea what the person (producer, director, exec etc.) thought of your script, or if they've even read it. This can be a deeply painful experience, especially if the first meeting was positive and the person seemed nice and genuine. Maybe you think you pestered them too much, or did something wrong.
However, you should not shoulder the blame on yourself. The sad truth is this often has more to do with workload and time than you. People are always reading and being sent stuff, and inevitably, some take greater priority over others. Your follow up emails can, alas, be drowned in overfull inboxes. People are busy, they forget and sometimes, it's just rotten luck. You did what you could - be proud you were able to pitch well, get your script out and always remember, you can have dozens of nos, but all it takes is one yes. Don't let the guilt weigh on you.
- When you're told a character isn't likeable, you don't need to make them so.
A classic note you'll get sooner or later: your character isn't likeable enough, so the reader didn't get invested in their journey. They may be too nasty or harsh; they may be greedy, cruel or narcissistic; they may just be unpleasant to hang around with. The common fix is to, well, make them likeable; give them a cute cat or some funny lines or have them do one nice thing amidst all the bad.
Thing is, this one is super-contextual: I've found 'likeability' is really a shortword for 'interesting': your character may be a bad boy, but they're not actually interesting or engaging. Characters like Don Draper, Walter White, Raymond Reddington and Villanelle are all deeply bad people, but they are engaging because they are textured, three dimensional characters. If you are writing a script that demands a morally grey protagonist, then before you 'cute up' your mob boss, really go over and ask - are they interesting? Are they complex? Are they making tough and interesting choices? IF, on the other hand, you're writing, say, a fun kids script and the main kid or animal is just an unlikeable dick - that then is a case of your character not fitting the story, or even the genre. Match the protagonist to your genre and audience.
- If your writing is getting too much, you shouldn't be ashamed of stepping away.
We want to give everything to our art: it's the suffering artist trope. Everything else in our lives doesn't matter: we HAVE to get the script written. We HAVE to get it done by x date for this or that opportunity. We HAVE to make it revolutionary and different and so utterly unlike anything else. When a script bombs, or is rooted heavily in personal trauma, it's tough to deal with that. You feel like you HAVE to hang on, have to keep fighting.
However, you're only human: sometimes, it's not only good but necessary to wave the flag, step away and re-calibrate. A single-minded drive can be deeply toxic to your physical and mental wellbeing. I gave three years of my life to one mad pursuit of a tv script, and when it came crashing down, when I had to stop, is where I actually learnt what I was doing wrong and changed my routine and philosophy. It may have hurt, but it was the right thing to do for me. It wasn't cowardly, or lazy, it was the smart play for the sake of actually being able to have a career.
- If you don't live in London (or Los Angeles), it doesn't mean you can't have a career.
The old wisdom was you had to move to the big media hubs, spend a lot on rent and gamble on being able to network and meet people. London, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Hollywood - that's where the cool kids are at. Especially the cool kids with money. If you live in a small town or village, well, you're screwed right?
The pandemic did a lot of harm to peoples lives. There is the tragic aspect, of course, but there is a silver lining: it blew up online communication and meeting. Programmes like Zoom and Microsoft Teams have upended a lot of the old rules when it came to getting meetings with some of the biggest of big cheeses. The ability to set up a meeting any time, anywhere, never mind the sheer freedom of email and social medias, means so long as you know how to find people (IMDBPro, LinkedIn, Twitter, company websites), you could and can get yourself out there.
