Mark Sanderson, screenwriter/author: There are times when you're staring into
that dark abyss and you go I'm going to
take the leap.
Sure out of film school I thought that
they were gonna hand us you know our
diploma and our three picture deal which
is the joke where you just be of course
I'll be working
when the writing gets difficult
which it does that's the easiest time to
run away from it and I found that even
when you sit with it
like I think Raymond Chandler said he
sat at his desk every day at the same
time if he if anything happened or it
didn't you know it's that constant
repetition which writing is it's not oh
I'm you know waiting for my muse
oh how amazing is to be a writer you're
like it is but as a writer take the
Hollywood element out it's it's you know
it's a grind you got to write you know
you got to come up with stuff all 35
scripts I think about I go how did I
channel that many stories through this
body into these things I mean then I go
there won't be any others in the well
how could there be well that's your job
as a writer right to come up with
another story to come up with another
you know I mean that's the beautiful
part about going back to the well and
having it be full of stuff and that's
where your living comes into play your
experiences and living in an authentic
life where you're always like observing
and doing things because it's your
homework as a screenwriter to do that
because you don't want to go back to
your well and have it be empty
a lot of people don't enjoy their day
job I mean it's it's okay but they're
working for the weekend or they're
working for something else and I always
saw my father not enjoy his job and I
said I want to I want to do something
that I want to get paid to do and it may
not make millions of dollars but to wake
up and and sit down and write and create
for a living I still kind of get a you
know kick out of him like oh my gosh I
get you know I'm living my childhood
dream
you know it's 11 year old kid making
films to be able to you know see them my
name on a larger small screen and be on
the set and see actors say the lines or
work you know do rewrites on the set and
you know interact with other creative
people then you're you know it's just it
was a dream
it has to start with you you have to
care about what you're writing you know
first and foremost and and that'll show
through if you're if you're inauthentic
where you're trying to just you know
cheat and write something for money or
write something that's you're trying to
follow a trend and copy something else
you know it'll show through and it won't
be like that's why I think my spec sold
because it was a heartfelt and you know
I think I poured it out on the page you
know because I I don't I don't say this
in the book but I during the time of
starting the spec I had lost a family
member and so I stopped writing the
script and I came back it took me like
six or eight months to finally feel you
know not guilty about working on that
and I think a lot of that loss went into
the the characters you know what I mean
it was like and so many times your own
life experiences which I think should
reflect in your work and make it that
authentic you know if you don't believe
in yourself why why do you expect other
people to believe in you and it's your
dream someone else will live their dream
and why shouldn't you live your dream
that was always my opinion and it's
scary because you don't know if you're
going to or they will allow you to do it
so you have to write something that you
care about but also that somebody else
sees you know that care in there and
when wants to make it then then the
business part becomes they want to
invest millions of dollars in your idea
as opposed to somebody else's idea faith
in yourself first and foremost don't
search out word for it you know like
looking looking for validation from
outside to get that you know like oh
I'll write something and if somebody an
agent likes it then that validates me
you know no no and have faith in your
abilities first and foremost and then go
out there and see what happens I say
there's no fame and fortune in the
screenwriting game
I mean you know it's it's when you have
most half of the writers in the writers
guild don't don't work every year and
those are professional WG writers I
think the odds last year like 5,200 or
something out of approximately 10,000 so
the other half are looking for jobs and
not working you know or the 50,000
scripts there apparently registered with
the guild every year those are just the
ones registered or the 70 to 100 specs a
year this cell you know I always tell
writers I don't bring up those odds to
scare you but for you to realize what
you're up against you know you wouldn't
go climb Mount Everest without the
training and the help and the tools you
just go okay I'm gonna go do it now
there's a certain courage in doing that
but there's also a certain stupidity at
some time you know and I always say to
aspiring screenwriters treat it like
your job because it will be you don't
have the luxury of when you write your
specs to go uh I'm gonna go off today
work on it for five minutes ten minutes
whatever it is but that constant is
what's gonna happen when you get the
assignment jobs and you know you don't
want to be shocked when suddenly you get
this opportunity you're hired to write a
movie and you can't physically sit there
for eight hours a day or you can't write
it in 30 days or you can't write it in
eight weeks or however much time you've
agreed to write the screenplay you will
be shocked because you're not training
as you know you know it's a step deal so
and have anything sells you know it's in
steps and you may not get the final
steps so when a screenplay sells you get
a little bit of money and then a little
bit of money for the next draft and next
and then has to be made for you to get
the bonus so everyone thinks that just
because a script sells suddenly you're
you know everybody's calling on the
phone and things like that so I would
say that was not difficult to revisit
but you know I think about the time I
put myself back into the time that's all
I was trying to do when I was writing
because I'm a very visual person and I
can really have this sense of memory and
it back in the time it wasn't funny
you know it was very it was like oh my
gosh so now I've done this and still I
have to do this and you're like yeah
many times you have to live in these two
these two parallel worlds and that can
mess with your head a lot so you have to
be really grounded and say this is the
reality of it and it doesn't it doesn't
it's not the image of Who I am I am a
writer if I'm catering or always doing
anything else at the time you know okay
say how is fired from my first
professional job at Christmas right at
Christmastime
you know but it happens and then you
you're not guaranteed anything you know
the hardest thing that I had to learn
when I first started getting paid to
write was that I thought everything I
wrote would get made of course it would
be well I have probably five projects
sitting on a shelf there
production-ready I was paid for all the
drafts and nothing myriad of reasons
because the marketplace changes
economics their buyers decided to go
with a different genre the actor bowed
out and they want you know financing
felt through all things that were not my
problem you know I'm just the writer
right but that was the hardest thing but
I mean it's not hard anymore I realized
the realities of the business did not
you know and but that was the hardest
thing I thought everything I wrote would
be made I thought that when I wrote my
specs of course obviously to every spec
your rights gonna sell right it's hard
rejection criticism if you put yourself
out there you're gonna be criticized and
many people don't finish things I find
because if they never finish it they'll
never know that it sucks and they'll
never be criticized because they're
still working on it you know it's a work
in progress for a number of years or
like didn't you finish that I'm still
working on it that's a safe place to be
then putting it out there
and getting smacked around and that's
only that's that's how you learn and
that's the only way you're gonna learn
one time is in a meeting with the
producer and I had never worked with him
before and I was working on assignment
and he said something off the cuff which
is kind of insulting like could you
explain it to him it's like
screenwriting 101 and I looked I was
like and almost I it went over my head
and they thought oh my gosh
he just insulted me and I let it go but
I was like who are you talking I you
know I get it but you don't get I don't
know how you work
y'all over the place I'm trying to grasp
a thing which changes to another thing
and I'm like ah but you can't be right
you can't say that you know you can it's
a fine line you got to know how to how
to you know apply yourself when you need
to and and not just like like with
fighting your battles with notes you
know I had a friend in film school he
would he would self-sabotage because he
never wanted to he was a real rule
breaker I'm gonna break all the rules so
he write these scripts that were like
double the size of a script and the
wrong cover you know all these things
right up front and they would just put
him in the trash and he is extremely
knowledgeable about film I mean like
crazy but it didn't translate into the
realities of the business and so he's
like oh I said well you can break the
rules once you know them and you're in
but you're trying to be this maverick
and nobody cares you know
and he really hard head you know just
wouldn't listen and that I think was
self sabotaging you know it you know I
mean it still I don't know to this day
if he listened to the place I'm not sure
it was the time when I sold my spec and
I was in the trade papers in variety and
every writer wants to be in variety
right then you see how it made it right
well the day that I was a variety the
headline was this new company had formed
and they they option my script and they
were going to buy it and make it into
their first movie and that day and
variety I had to do a catering job at
one of the biggest producers in
Hollywood's house and so it was his
catering company and my friend and I
drove up to Beverly Hills and here we're
at this giant mansion of this producer
and it was a big breakfast meeting with
big pot you know power players former
prime minister of a Middle Eastern
country you know security everywhere and
I was thinking wow you know I'm in
variety today why should I be catering
you know
and also I was thinking in a way which
is in the book what if this producer had
had you know rejected my screenplay Here
I am in his house serving him coffee you
know so just be careful about who you
you know disrespect you know on the way
up or down because you know you just
might end up in your in their house
pouring coffee for them you know the
important thing to is to have people
around you that support your endeavor
because I've lost friendships and I've
lost relationships with people who said
well and they drew a line in the sand
and they said and I was like it's not a
good thing to do and what about the last
X number of years I've been doing this
you're just gonna throw help me throw
that away you know the the lack of
understanding about how much filmmaking
and writing was such a part of my being
almost that other creative endeavors
like drawing and things like that but
but this is like Who I am and to have
someone with you not understand that
it's really you know and that's the
hardest part that so many elements just
like in making a film so many elements
have to go together and all click the
same way with forging a career when I
was working at the law firm for two
years at lunch I would write I would
write by hand but I wanted to like not
just sit there and be like uh you know I
was so every day at lunch that was an
hour that's five hours a week including
the time at night then at six o'clock
make dinner and then write until
midnight and then go to bed 7 a.m. go to
that job there was having two jobs at
once and then on the weekends people
would say oh come on do this and that I
said well I have to write write what are
you talking to my said well and it was
it was terribly exhausting and I can see
how it can chip away you know and at at
you especially if you have a family and
a lot of different concerns pulling at
you that's why you have to really close
the door and say this is my time and it
cannot be interrupted and that it is
hard to do but you really have to stay
discipline and also I think you have to
have the fire and burning passion to
really want it more than anything else
day one of pages is like starting a new
job except it's at my office you know
it's the same familiar surroundings but
it's starting a new job
and luckily there wasn't a great amount
of time between me finishing the
treatment and and the company saying go
because I like it when it's fresh still
that I can jump right on rather than
this you know there's a momentum that's
really important about things like that
for me I have to see the film in my head
before I can write it and I know that I
have a lot of problems ahead of me if I
can't see it I mean I don't I don't lock
in like I've almost seen the movie like
you like when you watch a movie you
remember it I have to see it that way
and I know things are working when I
start to live and you know the outlines
good for living with your characters you
know you get to live with them you get
to you get to see how the movie is
working or it doesn't work before you
sit down and write that screenplay which
is building the house you know that's
almost at the pre blueprint and in my
opinion that's been my experience but I
know a lot of writers just want to write
down a couple of lines and wing it and
there's so many so many things that can
go wrong and why why not turn in your
the most amazing first draft you can I
don't see the problem with that you have
to have ideas that you have to have long
lines that you're working on then you
also have to have some treatments or
one-sheets which are a lot easier to do
than write a complete screenplay
and then you also have to have your
screenplay that you're working on but
constantly when you go into a meeting
with your spec that gets you the meeting
they're not buying that spec they just
want to meet you say oh I can see your
ability and then they say what else you
have and you don't want that to be well
I'm working on something and it's gonna
take me six months I'm not gonna see you
for six months or you're not gonna be on
my radar for six months you want to say
I have this other thing you don't want
to bring you know a suitcase full of
scripts but you want to say I have this
other thing oh well after the meeting
send it over BAM you know I mean you you
have to have multiple projects in the
marketplace I think at all times because
not all of them and maybe not one of
them but the that's what you're up
against that's why I say when writers
are doing their spec set your own
self-imposed deadline don't let it be
open-ended where you know oh yeah I was
working on this
last year and Christmas came but you
know because you're gonna need that
training you know and even while you're
working in it with experience it's still
difficult you got to stand because
you're your own boss no one's no one's
calling me saying are you working today
and the day goes on and then you know
you mean you got to really stay on it
and realize there's a lot of self work I
mean it's like you're your own boss and
it's good in one way people say oh I
would love to do that but with that
comes a lot of responsibility I didn't
sat down to write a book initially I was
blogging and I wanted to get my past 20
years of professional experience amount
out of my you know mind and heart and
try to be able to share it with people
and so after five or six years of
blogging I realized that I had enough
information to you know create something
and so I started the process of
stripping down the articles and reef
fabricating them into you know into
chapters and and that I thought well I'm
gonna chart my journey from how I
started in the business as a filmmaker
at 11 years old you know what what was
that spark that creative spark and
charted all the way until today and not
so much as a memoir but also using
examples and funny anecdote old stories
but you know disciplines that I've used
that have helped me you know stay in the
game that hopefully other other writers
will be able to see and go oh yeah I'm
not doing that or I need to do that as I
say it's hard I'm living proof that it
does happen and there's no guarantees
but I always say the only guarantee in
screenwriting is that you should stop
writing
you're definitely guaranteed never to
have any chance at success so as long as
you're in the game you have a shot
you
and then you realize the days go on
you're like I
page 15 and I'm on three