Film Courage: We touched on some excellent points on the right way to start screenwriting.
Let's talk about the wrong way to start.
Writer/Instructor and Script Consultant Shannan E. Johnson (The Professional Pen):
Oh that's the question?
Film Courage: Yeah that's a question sorry…
Shannan: No it's okay, it's okay. I think the wrong way to start is just assuming you know how
this thing works right? Assuming that you know what screenwriting is and so you don't have to
do any research, that you don't have to try to hone your craft in any way, that you don't have
to read any screenplays, that you can just wake up and write. Even though I said earlier writing
is a part of it, that's the first thing you want to do, you want to start getting your ideas out to
see what they are right but then to assume that that's all it takes is the wrong place to start
it's also the wrong place to start to assume that you don't have to know anything about the business
right as writers you're your own advocate you are your business and you're walking into a business
so as much as it's creative there's also the business part of it and so you can have the best
screenplays out there but if you don't know how to play this game of getting into the business then
you're not going to be in the right mindset of it um and also assuming that you're just going to
be able to jump right in right like there is like there's no uh putting in the midnight oil you know
what I mean of realizing that this is long game this Hollywood thing is long game so going back
to that networking across thing right five years from now 10 years from now all of those people are
going to be in different places not two days from now so the same thing is true with your writing
it's a process so going back to knowing the business realizing that I can write a screenplay
today and it might not get made until seven years from now right so realizing that it's not a quick
thing it's not an in and out you know kind of machine which is why you have to ask yourself
what is it that I want from this what is my end goal am I trying to be a professional writer
am I just trying to get this one thing done and if that if it's only that one thing do I really
want to put the time and energy into doing it another place uh that you shouldn't start from
is thinking that the writer has total creative control right this is a collaborative effort
filmmaking is so realizing that there will always be someone critiquing your work always always
always always and then learning how to separate yourself from that so you aren't taking taking
it personally a no to your work is not a no to you as a person like take that in you know breathe it
understand it that no to your work may mean this is not the right work for our company it may mean
this is not what we're looking for right now it may mean there's growth necessary on your part
that's good information to hear you want to hear great I need to grow because now you know what to
you know what to work towards versus not hearing anything at all because that happens in Hollywood
too where people just don't respond to you at all you don't get anything right but getting that no
tells you I now am open to try to sell this somewhere else this wasn't the right fit for
it and getting that information so I know a lot of people uh say you need tough skin when you
come into this um this industry and yes that may be true but if you can learn how to disconnect
from your work equaling your worth right then the tough scan is not necessary as much because you
know that they're not critiquing you right they're talking about what's on the page and when someone
else develops it or someone else purchases it they're now trying to get it to fit the
mold of their brand which is why you have to do your research at the first place to ask yourself
is this the best place for my baby is this the best place for my story right if you decide to
pitch something to nbc it's got to feel like nbc so that means the executives are going to mold it
into nbc that means they might lose trim some of the stuff that you think is very important it may
mean that they're going to add some stuff that you never thought about that's going to make this the
best show to ever hit television so you have to be open to that collaborative process so I think
those three or four things are really important that if you're not understanding that you're
starting off in the wrong place can you have thick skin tough skin and not be callous yes I think so
i think that thick skin that people are talking about is being able to receive feedback not take
it personally and then therefore not react from an emotional place and start to burn bridges
with that being said there are plenty of callous people in the industry
a lot of the people who tell people they need to have tough skin don't have tough skin themselves
right everyone is sensitive you know and in the world that we live in right now
everyone is sensitive and then you come into an industry where um we are creating things and like
Erykah Badu said people are sensitive about their stuff right so I think that thick skin just really
comes from a place of understanding that this is not about you and it's about the work and the
stuff but you are going to deal with all kinds of different personalities just like you would in any
kind of industry there are people who are not so nice here right there are people who are rude here
and then there are people who aren't and there are people who want to help you and they're
people who want you to grow but at the end of the day you're still going to hear no more than
more than you hear yes right someone does have to approve and accept and affirm the thing that
you're giving to them and oftentimes you're not going to hear the thing you wanted to hear and
if you don't know how to disconnect if you don't know how to grow that tough skin that they say
then it can start to chip away at who you are right um and that should not be um the
end goal so yeah I think you can definitely have tough skin and not end up being a callous person
but it takes work you know it takes work and then you also said not knowing the industry so if I
want to jump in one of the wrong ways is to not do research on the industry and who i'm pitching
and different things like that what if I say you know what i'm just really good at winging it i've
always been good at sports I can fit into any room i'm a chameleon in some ways I don't really need I
can just just get me there and and i'll i'll know who's in charge yeah I have a radar for that do it
try it out because at the end of the day no one has the same true Hollywood story right everyone
gets into this industry in a different way so if that's your strong suit getting into the room and
selling yourself the hard part is getting into the room right when you get in there let your
personality shine you know do the thing that works for you because nine times out of ten if
that works for you in other places it'll work for you here as long as whatever it is you're
saying can actually be backed up by what's on the page a lot of people think what's on the page is
fantastic and wonderful and it just isn't right so now you went into the room and you oversold right
you went into the room and you said I have this thing and then we read this thing and it's like
no you don't right so making sure that you're not going to oversell because now people are going to
remember that you may not be able to get into the room the next time but other than that if you're
a winged kind of person wing it the question is how do you get in the room in the first place in
order to wing it that's why you have to know about the industry do you ever see that where someone
who's kind of underconfident they actually have really excellent work yeah and it's the ones that
are like beating the the chest and wait you just gotta see and it's like might not be there yet
almost always it's almost always that and I say almost because there are outliers but it's almost
always that usually the people you know the more introverted more i'm not really sure you
know what's happening here you read their stuff and it's like you got something here you can be
confident about that and then it's the people who say I know I have this thing you read it and it's
like you don't know how to format a scene heading so no you don't have this thing you know quite
yet so yes it happens all the time and this is not necessarily an industry that expects people to be
humble you know what I mean so I don't I don't my I don't mock them for being overconfident
however that thing on the page is what represents you period it doesn't matter what's coming out
of your mouth you know what I mean so you have to be able to back it up which is why I said earlier
you need that other set of eyes you need someone you can trust on your team as a script consultant
that's what I become I become a part of your team everybody needs a script consultant even if they
don't know that we exist right but once you find someone you need someone who can objectively look
at your stuff and let you know if you're doing the thing you intend to do good or bad right and
if we don't have those checks and balances then all we have is our own confidence all we have is
our own ego and you can sometimes oversell um what you have going on but I don't think your
overconfidence is bad you know what I mean you know I would rather that than you falling apart
because you get a no you know what I mean but really trying to make sure that whatever it is
you're selling can be seen on the page is the most important thing there are plenty of people walking
around Hollywood with egos we have a lot of those so i'm not going to say you can't have an ego sure
you can you know what I mean but you got to be able to back it up well what if I say though you
know I ran this by my brother-in-law and he owns his own company and this guy he knows his stuff
so it's already good I already know that yeah does he know screenwriting no but he's built a
business and he's very successful look at the end of the day i'm always going to say try it try it
go with it send your screenplay to one of these script coverage companies send your screenplay to
me send it to a competition send it to a film festival and see what happens right because
maybe you're right i'm not going to say that you don't have natural talent I have natural talent
right i've sent screenplays out that haven't been looked at you know by other people and they've
done decently well so I can't say that that won't happen for another person but at the end of the
day you want someone who understands not only the industry but also understands uh writing
you know understands the medium of screenplays so that they can give you actual criticism and
critique if not then it's just opinion right like you can have your mom or your dad or your
brother read as much as you want they'll like it or don't won't like it but can they tell you why
can they tell you how to fix things or are they just giving more opinion and everybody out there
has got an opinion it doesn't mean that it's going to make your story better so if you feel
that you don't need another set of eyes totally fine put it out in the into the universe and
see if you get what you need in return and if you don't then you'll have to change your tactic just
like your characters have to do you know when they aren't getting the things that they need.
Questions For The Viewers: What were the big mistakes you made when you started screenwriting?