Dear Screenwriter - It Helps to Remember These Things

Dear Screenwriter, REMEMBER:

A script is not who you are.

Whether it ends up produced or not, it is not a reflection of your worth as a human being.

Repeat after me -- even if OTHERS judge it as such, a script is not who you are. Period.

At most, it is just an inkling of the wonders that lurk within the folds of your infinite mind. It is a single drop from the mysterious endless ocean that is churning in you since the day you were born."

(2)

"Dear Screenwriter, REMEMBER:

A script is a blueprint to construct a movie with. Don't forget that.

Its ultimate purpose is to help an audience spend 90 to 120 minutes away from the daily grind, and hopefully feel elevated as well.

Hopefully they'll feel better about themselves and life in general, even if they've just watched a horror flick. It's therapy through pictures in motion.

A script is an invitation to entertainment and enchantment; not a do-or-die proposition. It is a wonderful thing to envision, write and enjoy but it is not the end of the world.

You should be ready and happy to BURN all your scripts and never touch your pen and keyboard again if, for example, it would help find cure for cancer."

(3)

"Dear Screenwriter, REMEMBER:

1) The worst has already happened.

2) Even if you don't write a single word -- as Woody Allen put it so well -- you're not gonna get out of this alive.

3) So glue your bottom to that chair and finish that @#$*% script!"

(4)

"Dear Screenwriter, REMEMBER:

Being rejected is a future worry. It is not right here now, this very minute. It is not the past either.

Do not be afraid of being rejected by Hollywood because you are either in it, or you aren't.

If you are in it, you've taken your licks and you're still ticking. It means they could not reject you enough :-)

If you're not in it, then how can anyone push you out of something that you're not a part of?

Rejection is a feeling that only you can attach to yourself like a scar. Nobody else can do it for you.

If you don't do it to yourself, it'll never get done.

Adopt the anti-NIKE motto -- Just Don't Do It!"

(5)