| [BACK]
You spent nearly two years perfecting your new screenplay only to find that on the day you were gonna take it to the photocopy shop to make copies to send out, Variety announces the sale or greenlighting of a project just like yours.
Your screwed. Well, your script is. At least for a while. Maybe a few years. Maybe forever. You have to hope that there will come a time when "they're" looking for what you wrote. At which time you'll pull it out and send it out all over again.
I know lots of writers, including myself, who were either almost done with a script or had just finished it or was just getting it out there or was getting good vibes from an agent or producer only to be blown out of the water by the news that a similar screenplay was on it's way to the screen.
Your first reaction is rage coupled with the concern that somebody stole your idea. Then you might get down on yourself for not finishing the thing sooner or being more aggressive in getting it out there.
But at the end of the day, once you've calmed down and realized there's nothing you can do, you can try to utilize that anger to fuel your next project.
Professionals keep going. Whiners, complainers and babies feed on their misery and end up defeating themselves by not going back to the computer and starting again.
I know that some people, maybe the majority of people, aren't resilient enough to dust themselves off and get back on the horse that threw them. But it's the screenwriter who "keeps on keepin' on" as Satchel Paige once said, that will reap the reward. |
