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As a follow-up to last week's column, I want to address that other invevitable moment every screenwriter must face. Should you throw in the towel?
Not at writing, but at screenwriting. Are you looking at the movies studios are releasing and realizing that the kind of stuff you write isn't anywhere in the mix? Are you checking the loglines of the screenplays that studios are buying and concluding that the kind of stuff you write isn't anywhere to be found? Does the stuff that's getting bought and made make you feel out of touch? Are the ideas you have and the scripts you're writing old fashioned?
What do I mean by old fashioned? OK. Is it set in 2005 but do your characters talk like it's the 80s? Or 60s? Or, if you're writing something that's set in the 80s or 60s, do your characters talk like it's 2005? You'd be surprised how many screenplays I read where the characters are anachronistically inaccurate.
Granted, younger people are the primary filmgoing audience, be they teenagers, Twentysomethings or even Thirtysomethings. Comedies, romantic comedies, thrillers (especially supernatural) and action flicks tend to dominate what's getting bought and made.
Do you keep finding yourself coming up with ideas or completing screenplays that agents and managers pass on, producers can't relate to and maybe even your friends aren't crazy about?
And is all this rejection bumming you out? Then maybe you should consider writing something else. Plays. Novels. Television. Non-fiction.
If you've given screenwriting a fair shot--say 10 years--and it hasn't happened, there's no disgrace in quitting.
And if you can't bring yourself to quit, try taking some time off from screenwriting and try another genre. It might be just what you need to get the juices flowing again.
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