Writer/Instructor and Script Consultant Shannan E. Johnson (The Professional Pen): And if you want
to be a professional writer then I think it's a great balance to look
at anything you write as a possible sample versus I have to sell it.
Film Courage: Are there any other best practices that'll help someone get their start?
Shannan: I think those first few of knowing who you are as a writer, what you like to write,
what your end goal is and then honing in on that. Then obviously figuring out the business. Figuring
out the business is the hardest part because just like there's no formal education on screenwriting,
unless you're in film school, there's no formal education on the business. You can even go to
film school and not learn the business. That part is going to be more trial and error but as far as
those other things, those are kind of the best practices. Get out there, try and try again. In
the beginning stages write all kinds of stuff and see what you enjoy something that I ask my
students is what do you like to watch what do you like to write because a lot of the times those two
things don't add up and so if you know that going forward I mean from from the beginning then now
you can make sure that you're your samples your materials actually add up to what you want to do
because if you're out in the world saying oh yeah I love watching one-hour dramas but you're writing
half-hour comedies right then are you saying that you want to work in dramas but for whatever reason
you've been writing comedies or do you actually want to write in comedies and so now you know I
should be reading those comedy scripts instead of those one-hour drama scripts even though I like
watching those one-hour drama scripts so really just trying to figure out who you are as a writer
what your end goal is so that you can start working your way there and then once you're in a
little more you can start concerning yourself with getting representatives and getting all that other
kind of stuff but it really just starts with the craft and also understanding that everybody out
there is just trying no one has the answer right everybody's journey into this Hollywood machine
is different if you decide to go independent it's going to be different because you're doing it on
your own so just having the confidence to say if i've decided that I'm going to sign up for
this then I'm just going to do it and I'm just going to roll with the punches how they come
are there any false beliefs that new writers have that sometimes just drive you crazy
hmm false beliefs I think one of the biggest ones is that they think it'll happen overnight you know
they think well I have this idea and it really has to be on tv by next year because what's happening
right now you know is is is so important that this story has to be told and I can tell them I agree
with you the industry just doesn't work that way all right it just takes time so I think that's one
of the biggest ones is just not realizing how much time it takes to do things I'm trying to
think are there any other false beliefs that people have I think that's the biggest one
yeah okay so I mean let's suppose let's say I watched startup or Queen's Gambit or one of these
excellent series and I want to do I have this great idea that it's going to be very similar
is that its own mistake because it's already been done and it's already been done so well why try
to not necessarily not necessarily in my opinion there are no new ideas especially now Hollywood
is big on reboots and remakes right so they're big on established IP period so if it's already been
done the question is what are you going to do that makes it unique what's going to make it different
you make it different first of all because your experience in this world is different so if you
decide to tell a story about a kid who doesn't know who his parents are and lives with his uncle
who are emotionally abusive it doesn't mean that it turns into harry potter right but it's still
got the same premise that this child is looking for identity right so it's okay if you've seen it
you just have to figure out what unique thing you're bringing to the table
the other thing is trying to follow the trends of Hollywood some people are into trends
some people want to write what they are already seeing on television because they think that's
what's being purchased I'm here to tell you if you're watching it the trend has passed
right in Hollywood the trends passed every few months right so whatever that production
company studio network or streamer was looking for in January they're not looking for that
same thing by June so if right now you're seeing vampires on every network and you're working on a
vampire pilot right now in your house doesn't mean don't write it but it does mean that by the time
you're able to pitch it to someone we're not into vampires anymore we've moved on so I tell people
you know you have to decide if you're going to follow the trends or not that can be a good
thing for you if you're already a professional writer and you're already in the game therefore
you hear about the trend before the trend starts so that yes you want to be writing the thing that
you know that they're looking for because all of those studios et cetera have mandates and so they
can say at whatever part of the year we're looking for vampire stories where you're ahead of the game
go write a vampire story but if you are just starting out and you're seeing all the vampire
stories on tv or on the big screen then that trend has already passed so then now it comes to maybe
I should just write what I'm interested in period and when it becomes something people want to read
great or like i've said before sometimes it's not about selling something and it's about having it
as a sample to show how great of a writer you are because if you can write vampires I'm going
to assume you can write ghost I'm going to assume you can write werewolves I'm going to assume that
you can write in this science fiction fantasy you know world or maybe horror whatever it is
whatever kind of story it was so you can still use that as a sample to get you into the next thing
it may not get purchased and if you want to be a professional writer then I think it's
a great balance to look at anything you write as a possible sample versus I have to sell it
because you don't have control over what happens on the other side unless you're doing it
independently so if you write some things I have to sell this then now you're setting yourself up
for disappointment if you don't versus saying I'm writing a fantastic sample and I'm going to
show this to someone and those people might like it and they might decide they want to buy it now
when right now you have a win but yeah I would say just focus on writing what you like to write
that's what makes it fun if it's not gonna be fun we could all be doing something else right we can
all be we're we took on this creative job because it's supposed to be fun if it's not going to be
fun then we could be doing whatever job someone else tried to push us into what if I say well I'm
going to resurrect an old show like the office but we're going to all be on Zoom or or Facebook live
or Google chat and we're gonna just it's gonna be so cool and it'll be the same office politics but
now we're all virtual and our bosses are spying on us at home yeah so it'll be really cool and
it's been a few years since the show was on so I can resurrect it right maybe right if someone out
there is interested in it if someone out there is looking for something like it like I said before
Hollywood is kind of interested in established IP at this point and not to say that you would then
have to get in touch with the people who made the office and blah blah blah have to be different
enough because if it's the same thing then now you're infringing on their copyright
right so you're not necessarily making the office unless you are right there are a lot of reboots
that are being made right now and they're making bel air which is a reboot of the Fresh Prince of
Bel Air right with an entirely different group of people but that means that they went through
the proper channels to make sure that there's no infringement etc etc so they can do that
so instead of saying you're making the office make something that is new and original and say
that it's like the office right unless of course you have the permission to be making the office
and doing it you know doing something different with it but you know again like I said there in my
opinion there aren't any new ideas i've had people pitch me the same idea in three different states
from three different people and one of those first people wasn't even a writer and I was just like
wow this is crazy how we're all living in the same world right now so we're all getting the
same information and that's making a lot of us create the same ideas if that makes sense
so if there was something about the office that you enjoyed ask yourself what was it about the
office that I enjoyed maybe that's the thing that you take and turn into your own thing because the
office doesn't own office politics right if any of us have ever worked in a corporate space then we
know office politics right so the people who made the office don't own that space what they did to
make it different was the way they filmed it the mockumentary style etc etc but other than that
it's all the same stuff that we'd see in any other kind of office right so asking yourself what is it
that I liked from that and then how can I put that into this idea that I have that's about zoom or
about whatever it is so that it I'm turning it on its head so that there's something unique about it
and now I can utilize the office as proof that this may work but I'm not necessarily selling you
the office so maybe like Pam she was yeah okay so let's say Pam's character type
let's say she was the go-to gal and she knew where all the staples were and everybody kind of needed
her all at once so I'm going to make a series sort of like based on her life but it's she's
going to be at home but it's not really taking the office's IP it's just a kind of a caricature of
mm-hmm exactly someone like Pam if you decide to make it Pam then now you're infringing right but
if you do something like Pam because again Pam exists because that person exists in all offices
there's always somebody who knows where everything is you know that maybe that's the coordinator
maybe it's the Admin, the Ceo's a Administrative Assistant or whoever it is but somebody in that
office everybody knows I'm gonna go ask her she's gonna be able to get it to me and ask him he's
gonna be able to get it so that's not a new idea right so being able to say well that's what I
thought was interesting this particular character knowing everything about the office right so then
you have to then of course build your story from there because that's a character that's not enough
to get you a story or a pilot or a series but understanding that that's the thing that you're
pulling from then that can work for you so Pam's a remote worker but she has another job on the side
that her boss doesn't know about and she's doing it on company time and it's a little bit
more nefarious and so she's gotta make sure that she's on point for the office but then she's doing
I don't know she's taking adult surveys or she's doing something that's like it's not
horrible but it's like whoa you know Pam what are you doing right right right so the balance
of that will then be what the series is about and then figuring out what the stakes are that she is
doing that like does she has she signed some kind of clause in her everyday job that says that she
shouldn't be or can't be doing this thing so that if they find out that she's doing this thing then
this thing is in jeopardy right so you have to ask yourself you know what is the story
right someone doing those two things okay cool but what do they have to do with each other how
do they you know crash into each other to cause a problem like does she have a problem trying to
balance the two you know or what does it become so you still have to then build out the entire story
around Pam or you know the Pam-like character to see what it's gonna become
Questions For The Viewers: What best practices help new screenwriters starting out?