After I submitted my last screenwriting post, I received feedback for my latest WIP. Although it wasn’t what I wanted to hear, it did provide some key feedback I needed to improve my screenplay.
Feedback is crucial to writing the best possible story. That’s why I am more than willing to pay for others in the business for their thoughts on my writing. A lot of new writers don’t want to share their work for fear of rejection. However, critical feedback is part of the business of screenwriting and it serves a few purposes:
- Helps us grow as writers.
- Helps improve our screenplays.
- Helps us better understand the business.
As much as we writers like to romanticize screenwriting as an art, we need to understand it is a real big-time business and sometimes a brutal one! As the great Irving Berlin once wrote, “There’s no business like show business!”
Show Business!
Since most of us enjoy our art, we assume we will enjoy show business, but unless you’re a business-minded person, your passion for the art may be snuffed out by the business of being a screenwriter. Although I am new to the industry, I can vouch that the idea of screenwriting has been heavily romanticized.
The belief that you just need a great idea of a story to make it in the business is garbage—ideas are a dime a dozen. There is a lot more to screenwriting than just a great story. That is why there have been so many movies made about show business, there is plenty of drama!
- The Player
- Sunset Boulevard
- Once upon a Time in Hollywood
- Tootsie
- Barton Fink
- Get Shorty
- Sullivan’s Travels
- Tropic Thunder
- Hail Caesar
- The Artist
Hollywood is so much of a business, screenwriter and teacher Scott Myers writes a weekly series just on the business of Hollywood. 1 Aside from actually writing, learning the craft and making the right connections are two of the most important parts of the business of screenwriting.
As most of us writers know, the concept of the lone nomad writer is another romanticized myth in the business. Writing is a team effort. And just like learning to dance, we must pick our partner carefully!
Pick Your Team!
As this post goes live I am returning from a writer’s conference where I studied the craft, networked, and pursued representation for my nonfiction writing. Regardless of which area you write, writing is a team effort. So be sure to put your team together carefully.
- Manager (coach and industry guide)
- Agent
- Entertainment Attorney
- Studio
- Distribution team
Each of these are a part of your screenwriting journey. These are just a few of the key players you need when working in show business!
Martin Johnson survived a severe car accident with a (T.B.I.) Traumatic brain injury which left him legally blind and partially paralyzed on the left side. He is an award-winning Christian screenwriter who has recently finished his first Christian nonfiction book. Martin has spent the last nine years volunteering as an ambassador and promoter for Promise Keepers ministries. While speaking to local men’s ministries he shares his testimony. He explains The Jesus Paradigm and how following Jesus changes what matters most in our lives. Martin lives in a Georgia and connects with readers at MartinThomasJonhson.com and on Twitter at mtjohnson51.
1 https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/the-business-of-screenwriting-111b5d087f7d
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