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Moving on with The Ten Mistakes New Writers Always Make (even though they think they know better): Mistake #1 was Going Out with your Script Before It's Ready; #2 was Going Out with your Script Before YOU'RE Ready; #3 was Going Out with your Scripts Before The Industry is Ready.
So...you manage to dodge the three aforementioned boo-boos. You write a bunch-o'-scipts, you polish them to a high-diamond luster, and even when you hit those long, arid dry patches in your career, you've developed the capacity to ride them out and keep on cranking until you do hit some success. But are you sure that success is in your future? Are your scripts turning out to be the kind that readers bless with the sacred "consider" rating? Are they the kind that knock the socks off studio execs (and you'd better hope they are if you want to get anywhere.) In short, is the work you do of high enough quality so that you can build your career on it? If not, you could be staring down the barrel at...
Mistake #4: Taking the Easy Road.
What is the road of which I speak? It's not specifically about the "type" of script you write, e.g. commercial vs. artistic (though this will be the subject of a couple of upcoming mistakes.) No, Taking the Easy Road is about the approach you, as a writer, take toward your work. In essence, taking the Easy Road is writing with anything other than your total heart and soul.
Why would anybody write with anything less? There are numerous reasons. Among them, there's the mind-set that stems from a lack of confidence in one's work. You don't think you can pull off a good script, so you categorize it in your mind (and not always consciously) as an "experiment," an "attempt" or even "a goof." All well and good, but if this is the way you think of your writing, you can't expect people in power to get all excited and pour millions into it. And if you think this attitude doesn't permeate every page of your script, well, you're wrong.
Another way that people take the Easy Road is by not giving their work the full, often gruelling effort it requires to make their script great. Now I've talked about this before (see Mistake #1, April 3,) but then I was really just talking about laziness. Sometimes, though, we take the Easy Road in this respect without even knowing it; somehow, we unconsciously leave that little bit (or lotta bit) of extra work undone because we know that once it IS done, then there are no more excuses: your creative butt is on the line, and if you fail, you've got no one to blame but yourself.
And then there are those who approach the game without knowing WHAT they're doing. They launch into writing a script witout knowing the first thing about format, subject matter, or even what makes a good screenplay. These people just go from a vague notion of wanting to write a movie to typing and hoping that, lottery-like, their 110-page trail mix of words will net them Big Hollywood Cash. Guess what -- it doesn't.
There are numerous reasons people take the Easy Road, but it all boils down to the same thing: They are unwilling or unready to approach the enterprise of screenwriting the way you would any other supremely diffilcult endeavor, with drive, focus, knowledge, passion, and a laser-like clarity about what you want to do and how you want to get it done. And without these items in your utility belt, your writing will only serve to diminish the world's tree population.
Okay, fine, so you decide not to take the Easy Road. You instead make a determined step away from it, and start on another path altogether. But is it the right one? Is there more than one other route to the Promised Land? I'll tell you next week.
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