Marc Scott Zicree, Screenwriter/Author: A lot of people think that “Well they read
the script they really liked it,” that's meaningless it's like “Did they buy it?”
“No.”
Film Courage: What do you say to screenwriters who say it's not their job to get the movie
made it's simply their job to write the script have an idea and get that out there?
Marc: Well when people tell me they want to write a script I say to them do you want to
write a script or do you want to make a movie because they're two very different things
and early in my career I was friends with Charles Joffe who was Woody Allen's agent
and then his producer and I said Charlie and film and tv where's the power he said in television
it's the writer producer hyphenate ideally the writer executive producer hyphen at the
showrunner in films it's generally the writer director hyphenate sometimes a producer but
often the writer director and and that told me where to go in my career I went into television
because writers run television and so that meant that what I wrote would get made what
I wrote would get on the screen I’d say 90-95 of what I've written has been shot and
my friends who are screenwriters have lives of endlessly writing scripts for these other
people who may or may not be unstable but most of their work doesn't get made and that
I know screenwriters have worked for decades and none of them they've earned a good living
and none of their work has gotten shot for me that would be a useless life because my
goal is to create a body of work that moves an audience that entertains an audience that
is meaningful to them and so you have to know what what you're trying to accomplish so if
a screenwriter wants to be a screenwriter doesn't want to be a director doesn't want
to be a producer then yes they can write scripts but those scripts may not sell or if they
sell they may not get made the way you wanted them to get made or you may get fired or they
may be they may sell and be and never get made so if your goal is to make a living as
a writer there are a lot of different ways to do that or as an actor or as a director
as a producer but the more you say let's chart a path that gets my work made and gets me
an income then that's a strategy that allows you to be much more effective and and I'm
not saying not to have a career as a screenwriter I have friends who've made millions and millions
of dollars as screenwriters and they've had some great films made but you're a little
more thrown to the the wins of fate in that direction so so one thing I would say to anybody
who wants to be a screenwriter is get get mentors who are successful screenwriters because
you must know what the rules are because they don't tell you what the rules are generally
and unless you know what the rules are unless you know the secret language you will endlessly
be frustrated and the secret language we all learn it because in order to be successful
you have to know what like when you're in a room pitching you have to be able to read
the room and it's very funny because I once Elaine [Zicree] and I once went in and pitched
something with someone who wasn't fair fairly new to the business and at the end of the
meeting he came out saying well why didn't you say this and this and this and I said
because we were saying it but just not in words we knew you know the person I was pitching
to knew that that was under everything we were saying and you know and and you also
know what's a yes what to know you know where you have enthusiasm where you don't there's
there's a lot of ways to read that stuff and and many of the lessons many people are very
frustrated because they think they're succeeding when they're not because people in Hollywood
will act like they're enthusiastic they'll love your script they'll love your idea and
then suddenly they seem to blow a hot and cold you know and it's because a lot of people
want to be liked but the moment you're out of their sight they forget about you and it's
on to the next thing and so you can never trust their word and so again that's why you
don't want to a lot of people think that well they read the script and they really liked
it that's meaningless it's like did they buy it no but they want me to come in again and
pitch again okay well that's not bad but again it's sort of like they really liked it but
they didn't buy it or they you know they when you go on an audition and they say well that
was great but you know thanks but if they bring you back yes then you are making an
impact we have to really look at what a cause and effect because there are a lot of things
that people feel are symbolic victories that are actually not moving them forward and a
real victory is when something gets sold when something gets made once you know and when
they hire you to do the next one you know it's you can build upon success if you're
consistently not succeeding then you really have to look at what's not working and find
out why it's not working but again you need to have people who will tell you the truth
but be supportive no one has a right to say to anybody you'll never make it no one has
the right to say to anybody you don't have ability you're not you're not good enough
these are irrelevancies the people who succeed in this business are the ones who are incredibly
persistent my friend Nicholas Meyer who directed wrath of khan he said the key to success in
Hollywood is persistence with charm because you need the persistence to get where you're
going and the charm means that they won't get pissed off at you but but again I know
so many people who think it's like well I've written 10 scripts and none of them have sold
well you might try something that you know I mean again if like often people come to
my round table and they've made like 10 shorts or 15 shorts I say to them stop making shorts
make a feature because you can't you can't really make a living doing shorts as far as
I know but if you take several shorts and link them thematically that can be put together
into a feature so you can do an ensemble film made up of shorts if they're linked by a character
or a theme or or any number of things or a location and so start thinking that way because
if a feature is too big to do in one gulp you might over a course of your be able to
make three or four shorts put them together as a feature and bang you're good to go and
so I i think one really has to look at where one's headed and I think the keys to succeeding
are you have to write from the heart learn your craft so that means either that doesn't
mean go to go to college necessarily in screenwriting but it does mean read scripts see why they
work see what works and what doesn't be in writer's groups where you get feedback but
it has to be supportive that doesn't mean it's not critical but there's a lot of toxicity
you don't want toxic notes because they don't help you they just put scars on your heart
you know and find mentors who do who who whose work you love who have and who are authentic
because again as I've said before there are two hollywoods there's a Hollywood of creepy
horrible people and then there's a Hollywood of people who are doing the work they love
they stand by their word they're good family people and and they're good friends to and
they're authentic and that's the Hollywood you want to be part of that's the Hollywood
you yourself want to represent you do not have to become a slime ball to make it in
Hollywood that is there are many many bad habits that people have you do not have to
a become something you loathe and b I strongly urge people to avoid working with people they
loathe you will not just have one chance I mean if you're if you really put your heart
and soul and a work ethic into the into pursuing this you'll find opportunities you'll make
opportunities you don't have to be the at the whim of someone crazy and nor should you
be and but you also have to decide from the beginning if you need to be rich because if
you need to be a millionaire then yes the studios and the networks are are the the road
to take if you can if you don't need to be rich well then there's a million ways to earn
money writing books writing scripts you can make films that that earn some money earn
some money back you can have your own youtube channel that brings in money from ad revenue
you there's a lot of ways to the Patreon accounts I mean I know people who are their art is
being supported by their Patreon accounts and you know it's just you you need to talk
to people who are succeeding in the way you want to succeed and say you don't ask them
for help you don't say get me an agent or or or open this door for me or or introduce
me to your friends no you ask advice and and you say how did you do this or what what when
you when this happened what did what what did you do and and sometimes they'll give
you answers that you can apply and sometimes they'll give you answers that you can't apply
if you can't apply it then keep asking the question of different successful people until
you find the answer that you can apply and and you know but there's there are many different
paths to success and and it's just man you know Rod Serling used to say I when he when
he would write scripts he would say is this the truth as I know it or better yet the truth
is I feel it and that's words of wisdom let's take another scenario and that is someone's
written what they think is an amazing script it's been purchased and too many hands got
involved and quote messed it up yes and that happens often in fact I know some writing
team where they wrote a horror script that they were very proud of and it got went through
all these different writers and they were very worried about that and finally the writers
guild decided they would have solo writing credit but then when movie came out it was
really terrible because of all the rewrites and they were blamed because theirs was the
only name on it and so you know that's where I say if you're willing to take power if you're
willing to take responsibility if you say I'm going to write and produce and direct
that doesn't mean you do it alone you're not a one-man band but it means that you make
sure that what you intended it to be is what it is you know because the moment you sell
a script then
the moment you sell a script you're at you're no longer the boss the moment you sell the
script you're no longer you no longer have power whoever bought it has power and so it
can be any number of things anything can happen to it it's like putting Moses in the little
reed basket and floating him down the nile you know it's like bye kid I mean will you
become you know Moses or will you become pharaoh or will you become like you know joe who shines
the statues you know there's you have no power over that anymore because you floated him
away that's like what people do with scripts and so you know when I was a writer on staff
a writer producer story editor one of the things I would say at the beginning of my
job is I would say my preference is that I not be rewritten by others I will do as many
drafts as it takes but I prefer that my work is what gets to the audience and because I
was a hard worker and a good writer my bosses honored that it was very rare that I would
get rewritten and so you know it's you know you you work harder but you have less sleepless
nights you know so but again it's it's so easy to shoot stuff now it's so you know I
mean everywhere I turn you know I see people shooting short films or what or features or
whatever t web series tv shows you know it's science fiction never predicted that we would
all have video cameras in our pockets and there's so many benefits of that and you know
fear can stop you laziness can stop you you really have to say to yourself if I have to
work hard it's worth it because I want I want people to know what I'm doing I want to share
this with the world it has to be that because otherwise if you're going to be half-hearted
about something then go work at McDoogle’s you know because if the fries are not the
best fries ever made then it's okay but if you're going to make movies or tv shows then
then step up there's only when you when you encounter resistance or adversity you can
either step back or you can step up that's it those are the only two choices and if you
step back you'll never know what would have happened if you would just really put your
shoulder to the wheel so you know I my career has been made by hand and I'm very proud of
that.
Questions For The Viewers:
Do you want to write a script or do you want to make a movie?