Treat Yourself Like a Studio

It seems like the days are gone where a brilliant script from an unknown writer can break through and earn a six-figure deal. We’re still in an era of safe bets, remakes, and reboots. So how can a newbie creator get something made? 

This struggle is often framed as a David vs. Goliath dichotomy, with gatekeepers erecting impenetrable walls to keep newcomers out. But this is a mischaracterization. Hollywood decision-makers are not willfully and antagonistically blocking new voices. They’re just searching for something that they can sell. Entertainment is, before anything else, a business. Your job, on and off the page, is to convince people that your story will make them money. Either because it’s a brilliant, one-in-a-million idea (not likely), or because you’ve invested the time into creating killer marketing materials. 

I wish the writer’s job ended at FADE OUT. But that’s where it begins. Nobody wants to read your script (or mine). It’s time-consuming and they could be doing a million other things with that time. But if you’ve pre-sold them with a concept trailer, a pitch deck, or even just a really tantalizing logline, you’ve done a lot of the work for them. Ideally, they’ll already be interested before they’ve read a single word. They’ll want to like it. They’ll be excited to take that material to their boss and say “hey, look what I discovered that will make us money!”

The problem for most writers is anonymity. Even if you’ve won a writing contest, designed a splashy website showcasing your work, and filled your calendar with networking events, getting people to think of you for potential writing jobs is still an uphill battle, and one that can feel like shouting “remember me!” into the wind. This is because it’s much harder to market a person than a product. It’s why Whiteclaw has become a household name while its founder hasn't.

I’ve found two strategies to get around this problem. 

The first strategy is to move beyond the script. Yes, your script needs to be great, but the star of the show is really the logline. The logline is your first impression. I want to read a logline that makes me sit up straighter in my chair, spit out my coffee, and exclaim “what an amazing concept. I wish I’d thought of that!” That’s how high the bar is. The logline is a powerful tool in the writer’s toolkit that you underestimate at your own peril. 

But the logline is just step one. Even better than a logline is a pitch deck, and even better than a pitch deck is a concept trailer. If you give me a choice of spending two hours reading a script or watching a two-minute trailer that captures the mood and tone of your story, I’ll pick the second option every time. In our attention economy, time is a precious resource. Any way that you can make it easier for someone to engage with your story is a win. You hook them with your logline and concept trailer, and you sell them with a script that’s flawlessly executed. The script is the medium-rare steak cooked to perfection. The logline is the description in the menu, and the concept trailer is the smell of spices wafting in from the kitchen and the sound of meat sizzling on a pan. 

The second strategy is simple, but powerful. All it requires is a subtle mindset shift.

From:

I’m an aspiring writer. Do you want to buy my script?

To:

I’m a writer. I’m making this movie. I’d love for you to be a part of it.

This is what I mean by “treat yourself like a studio.” Stop asking for permission and validation. Realize that selling your script or making your movie is an inevitability if you keep working at it. All that matters is that you believe in your story. If you do, others can. 

Cultivate confidence. Be business minded. Get organized. Develop your slate of projects, forecast a development schedule for quarter one, two, and so on. Come up with a production company name and create an email address for it that you can use with business contacts. If you don’t take yourself seriously, why would anybody else?

As writers, we’ve been conditioned that we need to “break in,” when what we really need to do is “break away” from outdated strategies that no longer work. It might feel like it’s never been harder to work professionally in this industry, but it’s also never been easier to make and distribute content ourselves. Personally, I’m about done wasting energy on getting past gatekeepers. I’m walking around the gate and taking my own path.

More on that soon :)