Rookie Mistakes

Getting out of college, I truly wish there had been a wise guru available to tell me what not to do as I tried to get my writing career started. If I could be that wise guru to future creatives (in this case, writers specifically), I would give them this urgent warning:

Don't blow your load on a first date.

When presented with the opportunity to meet with someone way above your station, sending them your material should not be the first thing on your mind. Ask them questions, learn what they are looking for, what the current trends are, how they identify talent, and if you want to ask one favor before leaving, see if it's okay if you stay in touch once in a while to ask questions and seek advice. Show you're thoughtful and looking to learn, and not just an excited kid desperate to get someone to tell them how great your work is.

Example 1: Shortly after I graduated, I was given the opportunity to meet with a high-level agent at Paradigm (I honestly don't remember how this came about, but I think it was a friend or acquaintance of my mom who knew him and set-up the meeting). At this point, I had 1-2 features and a few short screenplays written. Being the naive little creative that I was, I felt my scripts were good (or good enough) that they would show off my talents as a writer and my breadth of creative genius welling up in my noggin. I was eager to talk about my scripts, get the agent interested in reading them, and then of course have him instantly want to sign me.

Foolishness. Absolute foolishness. Yes, the meeting went okay - I was of course nervous and the agent could tell I was (he had to tell me to relax and get comfortable). I didn't prepare at all (rookie mistake #1), so I didn't know who is clients were, or anything about him aside from that he was an agent. Without any solid preparation, I didn't have any intelligent questions to ask. It's hard to engage with people and make them care about you if you don't show any interest in them.

At the end of the meeting, the agent offered to have me send him my scripts to read. What I should have said, "Thank you so much for that offer, and I would definitely like to take you up on that further down the line. Right now, I would love to just be able to reach out once in a while to get your thoughts and advice, until I have a screenplay I think is truly worth sending to you."

What I said (I'm guessing, as this was a decade+ ago) "Yes, that would be great! How many should I send?" I think I ended up sending the two feature to his assistant (Rookie mistake #2 - you're lucky if a person will read one of your scripts). I followed up a few times. And after a few placating responses, I never heard back from them. A silent pass. A wasted opportunity to have a great contact.

Example 2: I had spent two summers interning at the newly formed production company Strike Entertainment during college, getting my first introduction to script reading/coverage, and handling the basic duties needed by assistants. It was a great introductory experience, and I'm still in touch with their former creative executive, who now runs his own company at Sony. On occasion I was able to say hello to the head of Strike, but didn't get much 1:1 time with him.

Once again after college, in my haste to get my written work out to as many people as I could, I had my connection to Strike (a family friend at Universal who knew the company head), arrange for me to submit some of my writing to the company's head. This time I went all out: two features, my award-winning short (Rookie mistake #3 - don't waste executives' time with short scripts, unless they are the greatest things ever written), and a couple bottles of wine to sweeten the deal (cause maybe he'd like the scripts more if he were drunk while reading them).

Once again, my response on the script was silence.

Rookie Mistake #4 - do not send scripts that are not ready to be read. If you're just out of college and you think your scripts are awesome and you have had a friend or two read them and agree, guess what? The scripts aren't awesome. They are likely not even good. You'll likely need to cut them down by 15 pages, improve all your characters, make the emotional arcs stronger, and overall spend the next year revising them. Until you've done this, do not send the scripts to anyone who isn't a close friend. 99% of the time, you will get one shot at getting someone big to read your screenplay, and if they don't like it, they won't read another one.

Don't blow your load on a first date. Establish a relationship. Get to know the person. Get them to see you as more than just another wanna-be writer trying for the big score. Develop your craft, gain some loyalty, and when the time is right, and you're confident you've put the work in, then submit away.