I stole this...and I don't care. It's so true it made me laugh and almost cry at the same time. To read the whole thing, go here:
http://rougewave.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-its-worth.html
But to read the heart of it...read on--and it's my belated Xmas gift and New Year's wish for all of us:
This is what usually happens for screenwriters*Write semi-autobiographical, dramatic, fairly dull script with your very low, newbie skill set.
Write a derivative riff on some movie (or movies) you really personally liked - but fall short.
Write about three more of those.
Have some kind of existential crisis and write a slasher when you hate slashers.
Write a script that you like and that others like too but that is not commercial enough.
Write about three more of those.
*I say generally because by and large this is the pattern. But there are always exceptions, so stuff it, Anonymous. Then, one day, after having written about 10 scripts that went nowhere, you have a flash of insight. It's almost a religious experience, this insight. You get an idea to write something you really love and you have a very rebellious "screw it" attitude. But you smile to yourself while writing it because you have a weird feeling deep in your gut that you have in some way arrived at the creative crossroads of writing what YOU love but with an understanding of what audiences love too. And it is usually THIS script that finally gets you repped, optioned or sold. Because you simultaneously don't give a good god damn what anybody else thinks and know that this is exactly the attitude that's going to show on the pages and make them sing. You've stopped being so careful about your writing. You've stopped second-guessing every idea, every page, every character. You're finally in the zone. You feel confident. You've found your voice.
Now, there are no guarantees that that script really will sell or be produced. But now you are a real contender because you can replicate this experience into your next script and your next.
You can't go around it, you can't go over it, you have to go through it. Which is why screenwriters don't generally skip crappy scripts one through ten and just write a great one. Because there is a learning curve. It's repetition and frustration and learning. It's wax on, wax off. One day, everything just clicks. But scripts one through ten were important too. They were part of the learning curve.
We'd all like to hit the fast forward button and just arrive at total balance, abundance, wisdom and maturity. We'd all rather have skipped the painful, acne prone high school years or the bad marriage entered into too young or the unfortunate incident at the margarita mixer party. But we become the sum of our experiences and if we hadn't had them - the good and the bad - we wouldn't be who we are today. It's the same with writing. How could it not be?
Well then, how does one start off screenwriting with the knowledge that your first few scripts are going to be terrible? You can't. You have to believe each one will be great - just like you really believed that electric blue suit you wore to the prom was really great. But when the script falls short because you get no read requests, or you get a set of notes with global notes advocating a total page one rewrite, you simply have to shrug your shoulders and go for it. Again. Writing is not a destination, it's a journey. A pretty long one. Know that now and embrace it. Nothing worth having comes easy. But tell you one thing, when you slid into that electric blue suit for prom, you looked in the mirror and you thought -
damn. Right? Am I right? You had to. Else you never would have gotten out the door.
Now here's a truth difficult to hear: Only a few writers will write 10 scripts and then experience success by way of a sale. A tiny fraction of all aspiring writers, in fact. I know. It's depressing. But it's the case. Because we have an unknowable, unquantifable quality at play here - talent. Do you have it? If you could know that now, with certainty, the game wouldn't be very fun to play, would it? You knew before you started writing scripts that there is absolutely no guarantee of anything, right?
And yet - there's pleasure to be had in the undertaking. Because like all those dancers, musicians, sculptors, poets and writers that came before you - the unsung and the successful - you are driven to create. So that's what you should be doing. Regardless of the outcome.
That's my wish for you in 2009: Enjoy this journey of creation. Keep it real, keep your eyes wide open, but when you open up your computer to write, do it with all your heart. No matter what the outcome of your writing is, you're doing something that is in my view pretty mystical - you are creating something from nothing. And there's nothing more meaningful and worthwhile than that.