Reality Bites: Life of a Screenwriter In Hollywood
by Jaden
Today, browsing my rank on Google for the keywords “Hollywood” and “Screenwriting,” I popped up number 1 at the top of page 1 with my Popular Posts.
Thank you all very much for contributing to this honor by reading my articles and engaging in conversation with me about writing.
Continuing to browse in my topic area, on Google page 6, I found the most accurate and insightful article about the inglorious life of a screenwriter in Hollywood.
It is published on Variety, one of the two main Hollywood industry insider magazines (the other being The Hollywood Reporter). Everyone who lives and works in Hollywood generally reads, or at least skims, these magazines everyday. They are like the adult versions of US Weekly, you know, giving you statistics, numbers, longer articles, what movies and TV shows are being bought, who is getting a promotion, and some good photos too.
The title of the article I suggest you aspiring screenwriters read is, “Screenwriting in Hollywood: A Modest Proposal,” and subtitled “The Lone Screenwriter” by one of my Hollywood heros Nancy Nigrosh who was a superb talent agent for 25 years working with top celebrities.
Ms. Nigrosh wrote this amazing piece about the life of screenwriters in Hollywood. If screenwriting is something in which you are seriously interested, you must read this article because she really hits the nail on the head for what life is really like for the majority of screenwriters in the dark recesses of Hollywood.
She talks about credit, residuals, premieres, and all the things that screenwriters expect to get, but don’t.
Here is an excerpt from Ms. Nigrosh’s article:
“Novelists, playwrights and poets are not rewritten by other writers. Even journalists do the deed pretty much alone. But screenwriters not only routinely and eagerly replace each other, they are tactical in their competitive quest for credit, credit that is not only emotionally gratifying but financially existent. Without credit, future opportunity, immediate and contingent compensation, dissolve. All that hard work to get beyond base camp, undone. Back to square none. Meaning – what do you tell your family, friends, former classmates, neighbors, and people you’ve yet to meet – that you did work on something glamorous for possibly years even, but in the end, your name didn’t scroll by?”
After you read this article, you will see why I say: MAKE YOUR OWN MOVIES! Be your own director if you want any glory and money.
Update 2012: Sadly, the original article is no longer at its original url link at Variety. Here are a few more dream-job-stopper excerpts from that article.
Why do screenwriters routinely experience this extreme emotional low when every book store in America has shelves galore devoted to the craft of screenwriting as though it were solely a swashbuckling high? Being a screenwriter is believed to be akin to the fighter pilot in his cockpit, a cold war hero saving the free world. Nothing less than orgasmic….right? Like a rock guitar god, right?
The real facts of screenwriting life are hidden from its adoring public. Everybody wants the job even though those in the know know it’s going to hurt and routinely end with the writer’s purse getting snatched and / or in snatching a brother or sister writer’s purse.
Once that form has been filled out and mailed to all the writers who “participated” in the project, then the WGA arbitration committee, served by the guild’s membership on a rotating jury duty basis, plays God. Rarely does the writer, with no monogrammed set chair when the music stops, agree that it was fair to be left out of the bounty. Here is where the disenfranchisement is really born, the disenfranchisement that the Guild so fervently believes is created solely by the producers. The Guild believes the only remedy is for those bad boy and girl producers to shave some gravy into the union’s pot. That will make it alright, right?
The screenwriters who do not receive credit lose their sense of professional self worth. They lose credibility and they lose money. They are not invited to the screening or any other film festivity. It is as though they never existed. Their contribution is expunged.
The credited writers – and it typically is more than one writer who is awarded credit by the Guild – do not share the credit with grace. It is not like sharing a Nobel prize, a ride or a campfire. Unless you hire your own hardworking publicist you’ll be sitting at the kiddie table and arguing politely with security at the star’s tent at the premier because here’s the other thing: nobody cares. Even the spotlight and the red carpet show the credited writer(s) no love. Even if the credit is stand-alone, there are unexpressed whispers in the air. The writer is a slight embarrassment because how do you congratulate someone whose contribution is diluted and unclear? Who really wrote it? Aren’t they just someone who survived the process of elimination? What about the forgotten writer whom the Guild excluded whose scenes and character work possibly still persists? The most successful writers, the ones with the most credit, the ones who work the most, know this plight from every emotional angle, including the rarest terrain that is the most frozen of all Siberian tundra: award season. Another uncomfortable fact of life being there is no financial bounce for financier X for a screenwriting award anyway.
The director, on the other hand, gets a check that is a 100% payment while WGA members share in mere fractions of the same type of royalty.
So WGA- heal thyself…
SfH encourages you to write and direct your own movies!
Comments
9 Responses to “Reality Bites: Life of a Screenwriter In Hollywood”
Got something to say?
Jaden, one of my favorite pasttimes used to be scanning the trades everyday. One more thing I miss about living in L.A. I don’t want to be a screenwriter but am so fascinated by the entire process and have a great respect for the skill and fortitude it takes. Can’t wait to read this article, thanks for the recommendation!
Is that our homework? To make our own movie?
If so, will you post it? I’ll give you lots of kiss.
I’ve always wanted to read Variety regularly (forgetting it’s now viewable online) ever since I heard the Animaniacs sing about it years ago. I don’t know if you’ve ever heard it (or watched the cartoon for that matter) but Yakko and Dot explain (thru song) what the paper is all about to Wakko. It’s one of my favorite songs from the show.
Hopefully I’ll get to read the article some time today. Most movie info I get from Entertainment Weekly, imdb.com and I used to get Premiere magazine. For some reason they stopped my subscriptions (I had a free trial, but I only got about 6 out of 12 or whatever the deal was… I was sad… still am).
As for making my own movies, I have lots of ideas I’m keeping pretty close to my heart because I want as much control as possible. However I want to write some things just to make a little money to get started. I never imagined I’d get millions or anything, I just want enough to pay off a loan and/or buy a new computer, eventually using it to finance my own projects. But for now, college loans and car payments are killing me :o(
Shane — The homework was to read the article. But if you want to make a movie, I will happily link to a YouTube video or whatever you want.
t.sterling — That is funny they did a song about Variety. How strange. I would love to hear it. I would guess that the Variety magazine has far more information than the online version because they want people to buy it. You should follow up on your subscriptions, they would surely honor them, it is no hair off their back. Variety has much more detailed and insider information than the other magazines you list. Variety and Reporter or for serious people in the business, it’s totally different from all the rest.
Karen Swim — Oh, I am so glad you are interested. Yeah, I agree, the trades are fascinating to see what is going on… I particularly marvel at the nice sums for popular book rights purchases! That’s for what I am mostly shooting. Removed from all the drama and hassles (as mentioned in the article I recommend), but get paid fairly and still get to see your story on screen — and invited to the premiere.
Damn. Screenwriters have it even worse than novelists, and I didn’t think that was possible.
Thanks for the link, Jaden. You rock wicked hard.
Wow… It’s weird how I knew about screenwriters in Hollywood, but I didn’t *really* know… if that makes any sense. In other words, I definately don’t read or hear a lot about the screenwriters at all. It’s usually just actors, directors and producers that people generally know about. It sort’ve reminds me of how my cousin felt about bass players in 4-5 piece bands. She plays bass and thinks they get the least recognition and barely stand out unless they are a back-up singer or have a crazy name or something. Okay, it’s a stretch, it sounded better in my head.
Anyway, it was always my personal goal to be the writer/director role like many of my favorite writer/directors that are out today. Or perhaps, to team up with a director, and work that way for a couple movies. That director will probably still get the majority of the credit, but perhaps people would take notice. I notice how some directors like to use the same team in their work (unless producers are the ones that make the team), I’m thinking of composers at the minute like John Williams and Spielberg… But how about Spielberg and David Koepp (had to research to check)? Michael Gondry and Charlie Kaufman? They only did two movies together, but Kaufman is directing now… But I first started getting familiar with him around Adaptation. Weird movie. Weird guy. I like him though.
I digress. Great article and I thank you for posting it. It’s a terribly bitter taste of the real world. I kinda wanted to cry a little bit just imaging being passed over and pretty much forgotten and uninvited. But I am confused, in your opinion, should one join the Guild if they are not yet in it? I admit, I got lost a couple times in her beautiful writing and sort’ve missed a few points she might’ve been making and to me it sounded like she said the Guild was a bad thing. My teacher did stress that those who are serious should join. So could you clear that up for me please?
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t.sterling — You have some great and heavy charged questions. My response to joining the WGA is so long that I will also make this a post so it can help other people seeking information on it.
RJ Keller — Screenwriters and authors both have their challenges and everyone will have unique journeys, but ultimately, I think screenwriting is a greater challenge overall and receives far less respect. It depends where a person’s writing talents lie — the writing styles are so different, as are the lifestyles.
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