Good enough isn’t good enough

There was quite a lot of tweeting about this topic and the session today (which I missed). Writers often ask what the market is looking for, which immediately indicates that they don’t know.

It also indicates that there is an assumption that other people will or might know, as if this nugget of knowledge will give writers an advantage if only they knew what it was.

You can check TwelvePoint’s Buzz, you can check the Commissioning Index on Broadcast’s website, you can read Screen International, surf the web for articles and chat. You can check the box office and the ratings and the best seller lists.

You will learn what was chosen 1, 2 or even 4 or 5 years ago. You won’t know what the market wants now or in the near future.

I think that grasping at straws like this is completely understandable. It is obvious. But the bandwagon that went by is too late for you.

On the other hand there are the perennials: certain genres and formats that are always in demand only if the script and story is good enough. Which reminds me of an article Tom Williams did in TwelvePoint some time ago, when he went over to LA to work in development in Hollywood, to see how different it was from the UK (check out his articles: put his name into the search box in TwelvePoint): one conclusion was that in LA ‘good enough wasn’t good enough’.

What is far more valuable for writers is to know what they are good at. Interrogate your strengths and weaknesses. Work on the weaknesses; build up your strengths. And write what you are best at because all genres are viable, even apparently unpopular ones. As soon as someone with talent gets a hit in a genre no-one seems to be looking for it becomes hot again, and by then it is too late to chase the bandwagon.

Worry about your own writing, not what others are doing. That does not mean you must only write the kind of movies you like watching, though it does help to enjoy what you like writing. What you enjoy as a punter is not necessarily the same as what you may be good at.

If you do choose to cross genres, then beware: you have half the time to develop the storyline of each genre and expect the script to be on the long side and to take longer to write. Putting Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone into the same picture is like crossing genres: it doesn’t always work if her fans don’t like his movies, and vice versa.

Since most spec scripts do not sell, but the good specs get their authors work, focus on whatever it is you do best.

Festival-ed out?

It is now 48 hours since I returned from the Screenwriters’ Festival (and just over two weeks since the Frankfurt Bookfair, and less than a week before the World Conference of Screenwriters. I have not blogged recently because I have been overdoing the networking. With literally hundreds of meetings (true some are in the queue for Chai Latte or Honey Fluffies (yes that is what I wrote), the meetings still count.

James Schamus of Focus addressing the Screenwriters' Festival

I am trying to make sense of the patterns, of the state of the industry, of the temperature of optimism. Do we wind each other up at these gatherings just by being there, so we feel better about the industry? Many of the speakers are upbeat from the podium, a bit more realistic face to face.

The mood in Cheltenham was definitely positive. Even when an agent (often me) said that they were not actively looking for new writers, there were always a couple who sounded so interesting that the script or book mountain suddenly didn’t seem enormous.

The Film and Television Forum at Frankfurt was more meeting producers than writers; Cheltenham was both and I suspect that the Athens’ World Conference will be more about the politics and rights of writers than about business, though I see there are some producers there so I guess I will look for opportunities. We met with the London Bookfair and Frankfurt Film & TV organisers in Cheltenham to discuss events for the April 2010 London Bookfair.

Film and TV rights selling at the Frankfurt Bookfair

What was so great about Cheltenham was putting carefully prepared information before hundreds of people who seemed to appreciate it. I must check out the audience response sheets as it is so difficult to know what a cross-section of the audience felt. Those that come up to you almost always say nice things. But – as when you get a compliment about a script – you should immediately ask ‘What was wrong with it and what can I do to improve it.’

David Pearson and Kenny MacDonald did an astonishingly wonderful job of organising the Festival. The range and quantity of events and speakers was mind-blowing. They deserve medals and our eternal gratitude. The only shame is that the event is once a year. There is talk about regional one-day events organised as part of the Festival, all over the country.

If they can keep up the quality these, too, are not to be missed. I for one will be back next year (as many of the TwelvePointers posting in the TwelvePoint Forum have confirmed). I may feel daunted at the thought of another journey and so many new people passionate about scriptwriting in a few day’s time; but the adrenaline will kick in and already I am feeling less daunted and not a little bit excited. Bring it on.

If you don’t want them to beat you join them

Networking is a bit of a black art and one that many writers shy away from. But, for a writer, developing and maintaining the right contacts can mean the difference between a hobby and a career. I asked scriptwriter and marketing consultant Caroline Ferguson what she thought her session with Scriptwriter and networking ace Janice Day would be offering: she replied:

“Many writers would rather rip out their own teeth than introduce themselves to complete strangers. Self promotion simply isn't part of the character set of the typical writer. Janice and I will be giving plenty of tips and practical tools for how people can overcome their own reticence.”

Check out Caroline’s great article on networking at Cheltenham in TwelvePoint, which is the best primer on how to prepare for an event like this. It is so crisp that even social misfits and marketing-phobes should find it of value.

In the next week or so Caroline will be summarising and updating that advice for those attending the International Screenwriters' Festival in Cheltenham (26 - 29 October). Even better, on Day 1 of the Festival she and Janice Day will run a session on networking. Janice will guide delegates through working a room, while Caroline will offer practical tools to help even the shyest attic-dweller overcome their aversion to building a useful network.

Once upon a time it was enough to be a good writer, hiding away and turning out five pages a day. But the world has changed and where once there was a relatively level playing-field – you either had an agent or you didn’t – now with websites and social networking sites and a recession sorting the wheat from the chaff, being able to get that little bit extra out of a gathering, being able to draw attention to your work by whatever means that are legal and unaggressive, needs to be considered.

The old saying “it is not what you know but whom you know” has greater currency now than it did in the past. It is not enough to write well; you need to get out there and meet people. That is where commissions increasingly come from and why I encourage my clients to attend as many events as they can.

This is a disadvantage if you live miles from anywhere in rural bliss and have lots of young kids who should come first I really do believe that). But there are ways. Cheltenham is only four days and I believe that there are families coming with the non-writing parent utilizing the local council’s facilities for kiddies. Some people come for only two days - you can notch up at least 20 meetings a day. Where else could you meet 40 people intwo days, including leading producers, directors, writers and agents?

To make sure you do actually hit the marks each day (that sounds ambiguously bad; isn’t ‘mark’ a disparaging idiom?) Janice and Caroline make it simple and sensible. Being good at networking is very much part of being a writer in the 21st Century. It is actually easier than writing well.

Spin, doctor, spin: why we all need PR

‘Starving in a garret may be traditional for writers but these days it’s no good unless you’re broadcasting it on the web’ according to PR and Marketing guru K D Adamson. We have managed to get her to come to the Screenwriters’ Festival in Cheltenham at the end of the month to explain why any ambitious writer needs to establish three key things: their positioning, motivation and objective.

Sounds miles from anything in Sid Field or McKee et al. But when she grilled me on my lack of profile-raising sense, I realized there was another game out there being played by some writers (and possibly agents) which the rest of us were simply not aware of.

What does it mean to ‘create your brand as authentically as you would a character and learn how to leverage that across the most cost‐effective medium ever invented: the world wide web’?

Is it not enough to struggle to write better, find an agent (or find out how to operate well without one)? Isn’t it mainly – as Gene Fowler is supposed to have said: ‘Writing is easy: all you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.’

Many writers write because they don’t like the social networking aspect of showbiz (as opposed to those who write only in order to legitimize their access to showbiz, which usually means that they are not really good writers).

This is why we have scheduled several networking, negotiating skills, PR and marketing sessions at Cheltenham. I need to know this stuff for the benefit of my clients. Do you know about ‘Expert Sources’? I didn’t but I wish I had learned about it much earlier. It is a website journalists use to find experts on any subject that they want to write about. Many of you will be expert in something, whether it is Romantic Comedy (because you have studied it and written several and can talk about it endlessly, or whatever).

Being a successful writer means embracing the business of being a writer, that is the professionalizing of your chosen career, which is where TwelvePoint and Cheltenham come in. Many quite successful writers still behave like amateurs and could make lots more money if they were more businesslike about the career.

If I need to learn how top marketers approach the creation of brands, why the phrase ‘summers in Rangoon, luge lessons’ is a shortcut to PR gold and how you can use that to make your approaches to production companies, broadcasters and (if you are a writer) to agents far more effective, then I suspect that we all do.

I also suspect that this session alone could be worth the full delegate fee to the Screenwriters’ Festival.

The event of the year is a couple of weeks away

The season of party conferences is over for the public but for screenwriters and those who work with them it is about to start. For months there has been unprecedented bad news from broadcasters and from the traditional sources of finance for film. The recession in housing may be beginning to lift slightly, but in the film and television industry it will take time to trickle down to the creatives, who do their work at least two years before it hits the screens.

MIPCOM – the autumn television market in Cannes – reported this week a sense of optimism that, like the housing market, must be taken with a pinch of salt.

The answer lies in gaining a better understanding of the current problems of the industry: where are there gaps, what do the movers and shakers in the industry believe they need from writers in order to be able to get new shows on air and new feature films funded.

Where can writers hear it from the people who matter? In the UK the answer could be at the Edinburgh film Festival or Television Festival (both passed) or at the Cheltenham Screenwriters’ Festival. The first two events are excellent but not specifically for writers.

They wrote Toy Story 2, Goodnight Sweetheart and Wallace & Grommit, and they will all be at the Festival

Cheltenham is not only totally focused on writing, it brings together producers, directors, script executives, commissioning editors who are directly concerned with working with writers.

These are the people who need writers to help advance their careers. And there really are more of them than we have ever brought together before. The move of venue to The Cheltenham Ladies College has been to facilitate a far bigger crown of both industry people and writers.

So who will be there? Click on this link to see some of the guest speakers’ biogs: http://www.screenwritersfestival.com/guest-speakers.php

There will be 80 events in 4 days: more than you could possibly attend so you can be sure of finding a great deal that is relevant to you. For the programme click here: http://www.screenwritersfestival.com/programme-2009.php

The gorgeous location for the 2009 Festival

You will find new writer friends, bond further with old mates, swap up to 100 business cards (that is only 25 a day) and some of us gain an extra evening by starting on Sunday with two drinks gatherings: a TwelvePoint one and then later the Festival one.

There is no doubt in my mind that these four days could have a greater impact on a writer’s career than the previous 352 days of the year.

It is not cheap: getting all these speakers and all the facilities for a huge scriptwriting event is not cheap. But it is incredible value. Even if you only manage 10 meetings/business card swaps a day it comes out at about £10 a meeting. Many writers do not make 40 contacts in an entire year – here you can do it in four days. What’s not to love. Be there or be left behind.