I spent the first weekend in April of 2013 at the Screenwriters World Conference East with 150 aspiring screenwriters trying to figure out if making it in Hollywood is possible from the East Coast. The answer: it depends. We all want to believe that if you’re truly talented, you’ll make it anywhere. In reality, talent is matched with timing and of course the right tools. And everyone I spoke to at the conference agreed that the essentials in your toolbox should be several strong writing samples and a great pitch.
The conference was all abuzz about TV, where creative writing is exploding. If you want in, start by writing a great spec script. In TV, writing a spec script means writing an episode for an existing TV show. Learning a show is a good excuse for watching lots of TV. But equally important is reading tons of scripts. A great website for TV scripts is https://sites.google.com/site/tvwriting/home This site breaks down pilots from subsequent episodes. Read an episode. Watch it. Read it again. Watch more episodes. Then create an outline and write your own episode. Make sure to write a spec script for a show that’s currently on the air. This will increase the shelf life of your spec. Looking for an insightful book on sit-com writing, try Writing Television Sitcoms, by Evan Smith. For TV drama check out Writing the TV Drama Series by Pamela Douglas.
The conference also offered a Pitch Fest. That’s an entire day of speed dating for scripts. You get 2 minutes to pitch and 3 minutes for Q&A with the agent, producer, executive or random stranger listening as you practice your pitch while waiting in line. Two minutes! That means you’ve got to introduce yourself, the script you’ve spent months or years honing, your characters and their conflict in the same time the ADA recommends you brush your teeth. A nearly impossible task. And despite only having two minutes, an astute listener will quickly zero in on the holes in your story.
As part of the weekend I also participated in a Pitch Bootcamp, which was a crash course on the do’s and don’ts of pitching. The takeaway is no matter where you are in the writing process you have to be able to succinctly sell your idea. Anyone listening to your pitch doesn’t want to hear your story; they want the essence of the story. They don’t want to know your characters; they want to know their conflicts. Read Michael Hauge’s Selling Your Story in 60 Seconds. It’s as useful for pitching as it is for story development.
What I heard most from speakers at the conference was to use any creative means you can. Put up a webisode. Write a book. Create a short. Produce a play. This will grab attention and open doors. Then hit them with your awesome writing samples.
Photograph courtesy of Charlie Lyons.