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Do you ever get so disgusted and frustated pursuing a screenwriting career that you just want to quit?
If so, you're not alone. As a teacher, story analyist and script consultant I've come to know lots of screenwriters. I mean lots!
All ages. All types.
Some throw in the towel after writing their first script if nothing happens. Others, after years of struggle with no tangible results, keep plodding onward.
I never judge the ones who quit early. If they aren't happy they should quit. They don't have the patience or the resolve to keep at it. Case closed. They don't want to waste their time.
I believe that people who keep on keepin' on (to quote Satchel Paige) write screenplays because they like writing screenplays. Obviously they want a deal and a sale and a movie that actually gets made, but a major factor in the equation is that they like the creative process. The people I've known who've given up stopped writing entirely. That told me that they didn't enjoy writing and that they weren't really writers. Writers write because they want to and maybe have to. If they get a deal, great. If they don't, they write another script.
Sometimes it's important to know when to fold. And sometimes it's important to know when not to.
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