I love how she said that connecting is better than networking. It makes me think about when I reconnected with a high school classmate who I hadn't really hung out with much during the school years, but we reunited at an open mic over a decade later. A year into our new friendship, we both learned we were into music and songwriting and then we started writing together.
They can always sense desperation or if you're coming at them with an agenda. Especially if you're looking at them like they're nothing more than a means to an end for you and it's all about you and your career and what you want rather than what you have to give. Pitching a story for a screenwriter is really no different than going on an audition for an actor and I've done both. What you're really selling (at first anyway) is yourself. Doesn't matter if your story is great if they realize within five minutes that they can't stand being around you because they might end up *being* around you for twelve hours straight. If you're easy to be around it makes it a lot easier for them to actually *hear* your story. If all that you do is talk and talk and talk (mostly about yourself), they're probably not going to be rude - they're going to say "thank you, it's a great story but it's just not really what we're looking for at this time". If they have to get past your personality before they can even get to the story or you're not being "coachable" and "teachable" then their guard is up and those types of meetings usually start with the guard up to begin with. The first minute or two of any pitch or audition is critical, that's the rapport building stage and the best way to build rapport is to be a great listener. In fact in any Meisner based acting class the first thing you're learning to develop IS your listening skills which is why it's a great idea for writers to take a Meisner based acting class. It's also a good idea for actors to learn as much as they can about screenwriting because the screenplay is what the actor works from. Either way, whether you want to be an actor or a writer you should be reading LOTS of screenplays.
I’ve never heard the interviewer of this channel push back so much, I feel the two had fundamental differences in approach. Both made very good points. I swear there’s never any use of believing one thing or another, it’s literally about pulling truth from both extremes
Yeah and they're "well networked" because they've done great work in the past and have a strong work ethic plus a positive attitude - not constant excuses and criticism of what they don't even understand. Criticizing what you don't understand is not only the definition of ignorance it is the cause. Wisdom doesn't mean knowing everything and showing off, it means shutting your mouth to observe and asking questions in order to gain knowledge.
The only time persona is not the most important attribute to succeed in any profession, is when the person is the only person who knows the information. Meaning if anyone else can do what you do, your worth falls on you, not your work.
My daughter randomly auditioned for a feature film and was cast. She's incredibly friendly/professional/easy to get along with, which is coupled with her talent and work ethic. Her career LAUNCHED!
Liar. Nobody "randomly" auditions for a feature film. That's not how it works. They don't just grab random people off the streets that have no track record and put them in movies, they hold auditions where you compete with thousands of other actors and you don't just randomly walk into an audition on *accident* you have to be registered on casting sites, taking acting classes, have headshots; reel; resume and SUBMITTING for hundreds of parts because you'll go on five auditions before you even get cast in one part.
As she is making all of these good points, consider her personality. She has a quiet, positive, and engaging, personality. That can take you a long way……
I honestly think that's a mature thing. Far too many don't give credit to what age brings, especially Hollywood, so this makes me really happy to see her being appreciated.
One big reason why I'm hesitant on getting projects going, even just street level indies, is the type of people I'll be working with. They can carry a lot of baggage that disrupts everything being built. Questionable behavior on set is a major red flag to me. But I wouldn't have control over that because I wouldn't be the director. I don't want to come off as a dictator, but Hollywood has a lot of instigators, antagonizers running off the mouth at fans and people they work with. I can't imagine being paid to work with the snobbiest actor or actress. No matter how "critically acclaimed" their stats is. It's a big turn off.
The real reason is that you don't have a real story to tell. If your story isn't even important to you then why should anybody else care about your story? If something is important you make a strong commitment, if it isn't important you'll make excuses. The reason you're not a real writer isn't because of other people - it's because of YOU. If you're really committed to an idea you don't make excuses. That's the difference between winners and losers. The winner has a solution for every problem and the losers have a problem with every solution.
@@mr_red13 My philosophy is if you want to do it then do it - if you don't really want it then quit talking about it. I hate when people list all of the reasons why they "can't" - your focus determines your destiny and if a person is only focused on the negative then that's what they're going to get out of life for the rest of their life. If you spend your whole life preparing to fail then failure is the only thing you'll ever be ready for.
So much of her advice works for all fields of endeavor. But bc of the desire for fortune and fame and Hollywoodism, they sound like a fresh perspective.
Wow, I ain't a writer, but this applies to all entertainment fields because you have to deal with people. I knew someone who said she was a writer, they had zero chance in getting into the entertainment business. She would talk so much garbage behind others backs when they got on her bad side, and treat them with the cold shoulder and passive agressive rudenesss. It would happen because she was more reactive, immature and way too sensitive with such a prideful ego of always being right, and the victim who had a hard life while others were privilage. Everything and everyone would become a problem. I witnessed how over the phone she gave her own mother a tongue lashing for a comment she did not agree on, over the movie, "Gone with the wind". 3 times she said to her mom, "WE ARE STILL HAVING THIS CONVERSATION!" And in such a harsh tone, all with not letting her mom put the phone down. A friend in college told me to be kind to everyone because you would not know if they would be your boss later on. Same wisdom in this video. Be kind, don't be a doormat, ask with giving them an exit.
I am sure many sell their souls to get ahead in Hollyweird. I believe there are talented people who work hard but they must work harder than those who sign the 'contract'.
The few who make it every day, have thousands and thousands who don't make it every day. She is very nice, but if you don't have the right connections, you go nowhere, because there are a million of people just like you.
She did say it's important to put yourself out there, to be kind and generous but not a doormat, and to keep meeting people. Those don't guarantee you'll make it, but if you don't do those, you most probably won't, and you'd be surprised at how many don't.
There is no guarantee for success in show business but there IS one thing which will guarantee that you'll never succeed and it's called "not trying". It's like playing a lottery except in this lottery you have to have skill & talent to even buy the lottery ticket. Buying a lottery ticket doesn't guarantee that you'll ever win but you can win if you don't play and if you're not passionate enough about your story that it DRIVES you then why should anyone else care? When you're really committed to an idea - people aren't *allowed* to say "no" to you. There isn't any one thing you can do which will guarantee success as a writer but there is one thing which if you *don't* do it, will guarantee that you'll never be successful and that one thing can be summed up in three words: Ass In Chair If you don't have the work ethic to do it, it's Ok... because there's millions of others who DO have a work ethic. Either do it or don't do it. If you're not going to do it then quit talking about stuff you're never going to do. Also, you establish connections by getting up off the couch and TRYING instead of making excuses. Winners are the ones who have a work ethic; losers are the ones who have nothing but excuses. I didn't land a literary manager by sitting on the couch complaining and without ever making an effort - I landed a literary manager by TRYING; by completing my screenplays instead of just talking; by getting them registered with the WGA; by taking classes; doing practice pitches and eventually pitching to real studio executives and literary managers.
Well, definitely not with that attitude. Your attitude reflects your destiny. And your body believes every word you say. What you genuinely believe about yourself becomes a self fulfilling prophecy but the great thing about BELIEFS is that you can Veto any one of them; rethink your life; reframe who you THINK you are based on who you want to be. I highly recommend the book "You Are Not Your Brain" by Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz and I hope you overcome your self imposed obstacles.
The honesty. She's saying things that a lot of people don't want to hear. Even things that a lot of people refuse to accept and those are the people who will never be successful. It doesn't matter what you *want* to hear. Want in one hand; sh*t in the other.
She's correct, but it's a meritless game now. Many of the past greats broke these rules to break through because they had no connections. It's a fundamentally socio-political game which is why it's been completely subsumed by social politics. And the abysmal box office mirrors this huge mistake.
*Socio-political-economic What you're saying is true but it's a lot more complex than that. The studios are going under, they're losing money ever since the switch to digital filmmaking because more movies are being pirated plus now they have to compete with SAG New Media and all of the digital distributors like Netflix, HBO, Amazon, Redbox, RU-vid Red etc Today anyone who has a great idea can be a filmmaker because they can raise money via crowd funding and hire a film crew. The only way the major studios can compete is by making HUGE budget movies which would be impossible to do with crowd funding and because of those huge budgets they can no longer afford to take risks on an unknown; unproven commodity. That's exactly why they're retelling the same old stories all over again and using formulas that worked in the past. It's also the reason bigger studios like Universal are branching out - Universal now makes more money from theme parks than they do from movies and Universal is a huge corporation, it's not just a movie studio, it's literally an entire unincorporated city within the country of Los Angeles (called Universal City). If you want to make a full length feature film that's going to end up in theaters the best bet is to write a novel and publish it because if your novel hits the New York Times best seller list (like the Da Vinci Code or Jaws) the studio executives will be paying attention - that exactly how the movie Jaws got made, it was a best selling book FIRST. And if your novel isn't selling out at book stores - why would any studio (already losing money) want to risk investing $100,000,000 on something that they already know isn't going to put asses in seats? If you can get a major star to sign on, agreeing to do your movie IF it gets funded then it's more likely to get funded and if someone like Tom Cruise reads it and loves it he can literally snap his fingers and make it happen because he has his own production company and more than enough money. They KEY is the story though. If your story sucks nobody is going to buy it. It's not enough to just have a "good story" any more, it better be a great story and it doesn't matter if you got great "feedback" on your story either, if they didn't purchase it, option it or fund it... it sucks. BTW. Steven Spielberg predicted all of this over twenty years ago. He said it would happen and it's happening; he was right.
I'm becoming disappointed with David Mamet's latest "memoir" or screed on his experience in the business. If he's so critical about pervasive "crap", why didn't he try to write a better book? This talk is a great corrective to his attitude.
"A vetted writer is going to succeed, an extremely talented writer, no.". That's a really dangerous statement. It devalues, in the mind of the viewers, the ability of an extremely talented writer, to become vetted, successful, famous, rich, whatever they want. I think she is confusing the extremely talented writers to just talented writers. An extremely talented person, to any art, is 101% going to succeed. The vetted writer will succeed too, of course, but the extremely talented one, will succeed as well.
Well if "the jerk" is capable of at least writing a complete sentence then they're going to have better luck than a "nice guy" who can't even write a complete sentence.
You mean you'll remain "Not a filmmaker at all" because if you're a jerk nobody is going to work with you and nobody is 100% independent. Independent filmmaking only means that it's independent from the major studios - you still have to be able to work with other people.
It's all about convincing people to buy your product. Your product can be garbage but if it sells then you get a lot of attention and money from others. Thankfully, there are enough people out there with discerning tastes and who will strive for producing original and exciting work.
The most brilliant writer may not get any traction from his or her non-targeted audience (which may be the majority or the most ignorant), but the most brilliant writer WILL get traction from his or her targeted audience (which may be the minority or highly intelligent). 👀
@@liquidbraino Hey, "liquidbraino". Regarding your comment "Writing for a specific audience is career suicide", not if the writer (in question) has enough notoriety, popularity, money, and resources to make his own career without needing to "pitch" scripts, "pitch" ideas, and "pitch" writings to paying companies -- to have a chance at a writing-career! What do you think about that?
