No motivation…
Posted on April 7, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized
Okay okay… I keep getting email from you guys asking what’s wrong. Why aren’t I making posts? Am I sick? Yada yada.
Nope.
I just haven’t been motivated to share anything as of late. I think some of that is due to the fact that so often I read the same kinds of comments over and over and over again. I’ve actually grown weary of arguing my points.
Why?
Because it just makes me tired… Like I’m beating my head against the wall… LOL. But that’s the way people are so no harm — no foul.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for debate and arguing one’s point if one believes without a shadow of a doubt that one is correct but folks… This is fucking screenwriting. LOL.
To me, there are certain truths that simply cannot be ignored and to argue them with me is pointless. I have my opinion and you obviously have yours. Mine is no more or no less valid than yours, is it not?
By the same token, I 1000% accept the fact that your opinion is no more or less valid than mine. In any case, we can always agree to disagree.
I don’t even feel much like explaining what I’m trying to explain here and now… To me, it should be obvious and like I’ve said, I’ve grown weary of spelling it out. Save your arguments for something worth a shit.
And if you’ve emailed me lately, please don’t fret… I’ve been on a whirlwind of travel lately and I will eventually get back to you. I’m just tired.
So today, I’m going to share an email I just finished writing to someone — a regular reader of this site whom I’ve decided to lend a hand to…
Here’s his email… I won’t mention his name because I don’t have his permission but I hope my answer makes sense of what The Unknown Screenwriter is all about…
Hey Unk,
I know you’re a busy man so only respond when you have the time… But then again you never do have the time. So maybe not. LOLI think I already know the answer to this question but curious cause maybe there’s more than I thought (knowing me, there always is).
Script Doctors… What does it take to become one? I can only imagine it comes from knowing the script industry inside and out. Reading and writing tons of them. Education whether on my own or through school.
Probably the biggest aspect of it… Have a knack for it. Knowing what needs to be done and what doesn’t need to be done with a script.
The way I figure it. If I were to become one (obviously with time), then I would be able to write a script very well and know what to do and what not to do. If that makes any sense? That’s what I want… I want to perfect the art of screenwriting. I think perfection is impossible, but it’s a goal and I need goals.
When I was younger in high school. I was into baseball like no other, and Ken Griffey Jr. was and is my biggest baseball hero/idle. Watching him swing his bat effortlessly and knocking the ball out of the park. The way he plays outfield is so smooth. He has perfected swinging the bat.
Now times have changed and my goals have changed since high school. No longer playing ball… Just working for my family. I’ve always had an interest in screenwriting and was sick of putting it off. Let’s just say that you are Ken Griffey Jr. to me. So it really does go a long ways when you do what you have done and I really APPRECIATE IT ALL.
Kinda weird cause I could tell you all of Ken Griffey’s stats, but when it comes to Unk…. Well, I just really appreciate all of it. So only respond when it’s appropriate for you.
Thanks,
Regular Reader
LOL. I think you’re actually the ONLY person I am responding to lately… I put up a post about Charlton Heston dying but lately, I just haven’t had the interest in making any new posts… I keep getting a lot of email asking WHAT’S WRONG and I don’t even bother answering.
Just don’t have the motivation.
Maybe it’s because I just turned 50? LOL.
I doubt it…
I was discussing this very thing yesterday with someone else I’m trying to help become a screenwriter…
All the shit that I post on the site is basically written to help bring anyone interested up to a MINIMUM BASELINE. With this other person, I used the metaphor of driving a car.
When we learn to drive a car, we don’t know shit… We’ve seen everyone drive from having been a passenger but when it comes to actually getting behind the wheel, many of us make the same mistakes right off the bat…
-turning too tight
-braking too hard
-not braking hard enough
-not coming to a full stop
-too fast acceleration
-not looking in all the rearview mirrors
-and on and on and on…
Right?
We need that EXPERIENCE BEHIND THE WHEEL. Now to finally get our driver’s license and be legal to drive, we obviously meet the basic minimum standard. However, the more we drive the better we get.
We get to our destinations faster and just as safe. We anticipate oncoming traffic even better. We can stop and start the vehicle without any sudden jerks… We can park into a spot without more than one try. And on and on and on.
EXPERIENCE is what lifts you ABOVE the minimum baseline. Hence, the more experience you gain, the more people want to read your stuff. Hence, the larger network you have of people “in the business” that want to read your stuff.
This above the baseline experience is a totally new kind of experience. Those with natural talent will often rise above everyone else yet those of us who stick to it long enough will eventually rise above the baseline and when people read your stuff, THEY IMMEDIATELY SEE THAT YOUR WRITING IS ABOVE THE BASELINE.
This excites people because most of what we read day in and day out is SHIT.
So just like your baseball player, enough experience CAN get you above the baseline. Experience and talent can make you a superstar. And the timeline for everyone is obviously different because everyone works and learns AT THEIR OWN PACE.
Which is why I STRESS THE BASICS all the time… These assholes that argue semantics with me in the comments just make me tired. Everyone wants to break the rules. I have no problem with that EVER. Hell, I’ve broken more rules than anyone I know except my Dad… He was in prison for 9 years… LOL.
If you break the rules early on, it’s very likely that you’ll never actually MEET the minimum baseline of screenwriting and then, with enough rejection and people telling you that your stuff needs a hell of a lot more work, you give up. This happens to thousands of people just like YOU, every day.
This is why you learn how to put your script into perfect format standards. This is why you go through it 50 times to make sure there are no typos or spelling errors. This is why you learn basic story structure… So that you can MEET THE MINIMUM BASELINE.
Once you know all that shit backwards and forwards, you then start rising above the baseline and it’s usually THEN that your stuff gets noticed.
When your stuff gets noticed by enough people and even IF you don’t sell anything, you’d be surprised at how these people (in the business) will come to you when they need a script fix. Script docs (good ones) are so fucking expensive that many producers tend to go with those less known because of a few things they’ve read from that screenwriter EVEN if they didn’t sell.
Which is once again WHY you need to know the minimum baseline. Without knowing that, you can’t fucking fix a screenplay because you can’t figure out what the fuck is wrong with it… LOL.
Know this shit backwards and forwards and problems STICK OUT AT YOU LIKE A SORE THUMB.
And then you can fix them.
Above the baseline.
Make sense?
Unk
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11 Responses to “No motivation…”
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Hey Unk,
I hope it’s not me, I don’t think I’ve argued with you for a few months, at least!
And I do listen to what you say, muchly, very much muchly. . . and very much agree with what you say about baseline . . . so I hope I haven’t heckled ya too much . . .
And I know I still owe you a few beers!
You just turned fifty?
I only date men fifty or older.
Carbon Date, that is.
Miss you! Stop in and see me. My life is a major disaster and I need some Unkalish.
Hey, what happened to my comment?
We need that EXPERIENCE BEHIND THE WHEEL.
This is a great analogy. I’ve been writing screenplays for about 10 years now. But just recently I’ve began to fully understand instruction I’ve been reading about for the past decade. Like “rewriting is throwing away 80% of your script.”
I read that or was told this more than a few times. I understood it and accepted it… you have to change a lot of stuff when rewriting.
But it wasn’t until I worked on the rewrite of my latest script and found that 80% of the stuff from the first draft was now gone, that I fully understood that rewriting is throwing away 80% of your script and just how much of screenwriting happens after draft one is done. And just how intensive and seemingly endless that process is.
There are other examples, like “kill your babies.” When I first heard this, I understood it but still kept scenes I liked in a script just because I really liked the scene. It wasn’t until I understood that what makes a successful script is the flow and arc of the story and everything needs to work toward that goal, that I started to cut stuff I liked but realized wasn’t meant for that particular script.
I’ve pointed a few people who have just started screenwriting to this site. I don’t know of any book or other Web site that has so much great screenwriting information in one place. I stumbled to across it relatively recently, so much of what’s on here I already knew, but it always helps reading it again.
But I think the thing I learned most here is that writing is a personal process. You learn all this stuff and you figure out how YOU are going to make it work. In fact, that all-caps “YOU” is probably the defining image of this site for me.
So, I guess I understand your frustration, but even if you never share another insight into the art of screenwriting, what you’ve already written is amazing and should serve as the educational foundation for any aspiring screenwriter. It’s just great stuff.
Thanks
Josh… I knew you’d wonder about that one. Not at all. I enjoy our debates because I think everyone who reads them benefits.
I guess it’s really more of a cross between some of the comments and a lot of the emails I get. LOL. I go ahead and read ‘em and then wonder why this person isn’t doing something a little more productive with their time.
Also… I get a LOT of “after the fact” comments… New people that find the site and then make comments months after the original post. I have to wade through these along with some of the spam shit that makes it and I don’t know… After a while you just start wondering why you even do this shit. Hell, I could have written at least a couple of more screenplays instead of almost two years of posts.
I’m not whining about it… I just get tired. This site gets a phenomenal amount of daily traffic for some reason and so of course, you get the emails and the additional comments. No… The regular readers are very cool. People I wouldn’t mind working with.
You included you left wing punkinhead. LOL.
Ann,
That made me laugh! Carbon dating. Never tried it. Does it work? Will visit soon.
And the reason your post didn’t show up right away is because after a while, WordPress treats it like a new email address apparently. All new comments from new email addresses have to be approved. Unfortunately, because of the amount of spam that still gets through with all the protection I have, I have to wade through the garbage to get to the cream.
Tom,
Welcome and I’m glad you’re getting something out of it.
Hey… I actually don’t feel quite as TIRED now… LOL.
Unk(alish)
Unk, keep the faith.
I’m between draft one and two in my first screenplay and while I try and get my mind around the massive changes I already know I need to make, I try to keep learning as much as possible. The regular updates of your blog have been the perfect thing to read at work to keep me thinking throughout the day.
Thanks for all your help.
John,
I have a LOT of faith… Some people tell me I have too much faith. LOL.
Keep learning.
I need to apologize to several lurkers out there who left comments. They ended up in my spam section.
I painstakingly went through the entire list of over 2,000 spam entries since yesterday and marked the 6 comments from those of you who’ve never commented before that they were in fact NOT SPAM and then, after doing so, I deleted all the spam that was left and none of your comments showed up.
I guess it’s time to upgrade.
Again, I apologize.
Unk
Well, as you may know, I think you do too much for others. I can appreciate the discourse you allow, but I hate it when people think that you got to where you are with someone holding your hand all the way.
Sure, it’s great - perhaps necessary - to get advice but screenwriting is not something that anyone can REALLY help you with.
My brain is on fire with all the reading - and writing - I do. IF I were you - and I’m not, I only get periodic visits - I would collect a list of books and send links to them.
Writers have to help themselves.
I totally enjoy your posts as they do make me think, but I try not to monopolize anyone’s time.
Rant ended.
Keep writing as writing is the revealing of the soul.
This post made me think of something inherent in the studio writing system and why it throws so many new writers to learn how hard it is to get script doctoring jobs.
If you want to become a teacher you go get a teaching job and take a few classes and do some paperwork and BAM, you’re a teacher. If you want to be a secretary or a lawyer or a doctor or even a news reporter, you go to school and learn the trade then you go find a job. And even though not everyone is as good at it as others, they all find jobs.
But screenwriting doesn’t work like that, and I think part of the problem is that most newbies don’t realize it. I certainly didn’t. You can’t go to school and learn the trade and then hold up your degree and go “Okay! I’m ready for my job now!” because nobody cares.
SO it’s a shock to everybody’s system that instead of on-the-job training like so many other professions, screenwriting requires extensive pre-job training before anyone will even consider hiring you. It surprised a lot of people.
You should take a vacation to some island for a week or two. Don’t even look at your site or think about it for a couple weeks. Relax and enjoy life without biatches burning you out on arguments.
Come back refreshed and they maybe all those biatches will get the point. Yeah right on that last part, right?
Tell me who they are and I’ll rough them up, Internet style.
Thanks for all the great “Golden” information that you pass on SELFLESSLY. Much appreciated… And for those fuckers!!!! Back off and do something else instead of wasting peoples time!
Unk, this might make you feel a bit better…
Until you took the time to respond to some personal emails from me and pass on some of your tried and true way of your structure process - plus the hundreds of posts you have pasted on your site - everything I have been doing over the last 14 years finally clicked.
You have helped me take that step over the edge to where it all makes sense. Since then i have rewritten two of my scripts to fit perfectly to the structure, and I mean to the page. And just recently, both of those scripte have been optioned.
No joke.
And I’m not patting myself on the back, I am patting you on the back. You are a great shining light in a sea of darkness, that swears.
Love ya like a brother form another mother, Unk.
Cheers.
Scottie screenwriter.