The Reality of Life as a Professional Writer

Brown Out in Los Angeles prevented my notes from coming in yesterday. I got a brief text which indicated that things were good - I believe it started with "loved it" but I won't post about the next step until I've met with all parties concerned.

In the meantime, I thought I might say a word about the life of a writer. Which since the last strike has been evolving at a rate that would make Darwin flip in the ground.

For a rare handful life as a screenwriter involves foreign sports cars and warm nuts being served on airline flights. For the majority of us it's feast or famine. Your life vacillates between having no money and plenty of time to tons of money and no time at all to enjoy it. Finding a balance and a way to make your fiances stretch through the lean times is as important as knowing how to write. I'm not joking.

Because understanding how to save for a rainy day and invest your money wisely (I was never tempted to buy a sports car) keeps you free to write. Keeps you in the game. And nowadays allows you to diversify.

My current reality is that not only am I taking writing assignments (when they come)and finishing this feature spec I've been blogging about. I'm also writing a novel - in hopes of expanding into a new revenue stream. I've also recently found a directing project - because the reality of the business in good times and in the Great Recession is you must keep as many plates spinning as possible. You have no control over what will take off and what will die - you just have to work on perfecting the juggle.

Here are some tips:

1) You have to do everybody's job. My agent told me this during my last meeting. He actually said, "You know, Jen, you have to do everybody's job." Meaning think through the marketing, the cast appeal factor, etc. You can't ever just write what you have in your heart - unless your heart lines up with something people in the biz will recognize how to sell.

I would add something to "You have to do everybody's job." I would say - You have to do every body's job BUT never forget WHAT YOUR JOB actually is. Yes, it is important to think like a studio, director, marketing VP, producer - but you also have to know how and when to listen to the people that actually have those jobs. You are the writer. Know the game, but then let them teach you the rules.

2) Make everything you put your name on the best it can possibly be. There are no little jobs. Every project should be a passion project. Find a way to fall in love with your work. When you make it fun, it's fun for everyone and things move forward.

3) Read everything people give you right away. Waiting on notes is painful. As a writer you will spend too much of your life waiting by the phone like a teenager with a lust-crush. Don't do this to your fellow writers.

4) Take the time to celebrate the victories. Be them small (a good meeting) or large (a movie premiere). Good things happen few and far between - if you can appreciate them, they will sustain you through the awkward calls and the rejection.

5) Don't let the disappointments define you. Never look back. If a project is meant to happen, it will find its way. When people don't respond to a piece of material - move on. Let "your people" circulate it when they find an opening. Never look back - it will eat up time you could be using to write new stuff.

The script will soon be making its way to the market. And that is simultaneously a fast-paced and stagnate process - I may expand this blog to include the making of the movie I will be directing next year...

Happy writing!