If you’re anything like me, you’ve wondered if there’s a secret equation to breaking into Hollywood as a screenwriter. The feeling by most is that there isn’t. In fact, many people think Hollywood is a lottery. That it’s 5% work and 95% luck. There’s nothing that infuriates me more than this take. Sure, there are some people who get lucky. And yes, luck plays a small part in any endeavor. But, by and large, most writers who break into Hollywood earn their spot.
But how did they do it? Well, today I’m going to introduce an equation that, if you follow it, you too, will find yourself writing six-figure assignments. It isn’t easy. I would go so far as to say it’s quite difficult. But at least you’ve got a blueprint you can follow as opposed to all this directionless ‘blowing in the wind’ you’re doing right now. Without further ado, let’s get to the equation! It is…
Time Writing + Learning IQ + Talent + Hustle + Persistence = Success
For each of these variables, you will assign a number from 1-10. 1 being you’re not good at it at all. 10 being you’re great at it. The best possible score would be 50. The good news is, I’ve found that most writers only need to score in the top 20% (between 40-50) to make it. And that some writers, believe it or not, can become professionals scoring as low as 35. Still, I would aim for that 40 number. If you can get above that, you’ll become a professional screenwriter.
Now, let’s go over what each of these variables mean…
Time Writing – The fastest way to get better at screenwriting is to do a lot of screenwriting. But what’s a lot of screenwriting? If you’re serious about being a professional screenwriter, you should write at least two hours a day. If you’re writing two hours a day, I’d give you a 6 out of 10 on the “Time Writing” scale. Every extra hour per day adds 1 additional point to your score. Three hours a day equals 7 out of 10. Four hours a day equals 8 out of 10. Also, every screenwriter should aim to write 2 scripts a year. If you can carve out more time, go for three. If you have endless amounts of time, shoot for four. The more you write, the more mistakes you make and learn from, the more feedback you get – all of these things are going to accelerate your learning curve.
Learning IQ – This isn’t one that’s talked about enough but it’s a big one because if there’s one thing I see a lot of with screenwriters it’s a lack of improvement. They tend to make the same script mistakes over and over again. Their concepts don’t improve. Their plotting, dialogue, and characters don’t improve. This tends to happen due to one of three things. One, the writer is too lazy to learn from their mistakes. They write aimlessly and never dissect their screenplays to see where they can get better. Two, they’re stubborn. They’re the kind of writer who assumes their way is right and they’re never open to new ideas or the possibility that what they’re doing is wrong. Or three, they’re convinced that they know better than the professionals. The Hollywood system churns out a bunch of terrible films so obviously it needs to be changed and they’re the ones who know how to change it. These writers write weird genre-bending material that is so set on disrupting the system, they forget to write clear entertaining stories. The good news is, if you come to this site and you’re taking all of my analysis to heart – even the stuff you don’t agree with – you’re learning a lot. This should be the easiest variable to score a 9 or a 10 in. Treat this craft as a school and you’re the student. There’s always something new to learn, always ways to get better. You should always be trying new things in your scripts.
Talent – Ahh, the most hotly debated of the variables. A lot of people believe that if you have talent, you’ll make it. And if you don’t, you won’t. Nothing could be further from the truth. Talent helps. But it’s just one variable amongst five. It is, however, the variable you have the least control over. You can’t “learn” talent. Talent tends to go to the writers who have the most unique voice. It goes to the writers who are the best at dialogue (since dialogue is so talent-dependent). When it comes to rating yourself in this category, understand that, due to human psychology, your assessment of your talent is probably higher than the reality of it. In fact, I would say that whatever you think your talent level is, deduct two points from it to get the real score. The only people who shouldn’t deduct points are those who have been told, constantly, throughout their lives, by people who aren’t their family, that they are talented writers. If that’s something you’ve heard from a dozen different people in your life, you’re probably near a 9 or a 10 in the talent category.
Hustle – If you scored low in the talent category, you have to score high in the hustle category. You can’t be bad at both. Hustlers are those people who enter all the contests, who cold query all the managers and producers and agents, who join writing groups, who are masters at keeping up their writing network. They’re people who, when they finish a script, they put together an entire plan of who they’re going to target and make an aggressive effort to execute that plan. Hustlers are salesman. They understand that the social aspect of this business is a necessary component to achieving success.
Persistence – Persistence is the art of never giving up. You probably need this variable more than any of the other ones. Cause you can spend a lot of time writing, you can be a fast learner, you can be talented, and you can hustle. But if you quit before all of those variables have time to blossom, it doesn’t matter. The unofficial timeline for becoming a professional writer is five years. But, the reality for most of us is it’s closer to ten. So if you’re not going to persist in this endeavor, there’s no point in trying it. Most writers don’t even start understand storytelling until their fifth script. Figuring out this number is easy. You get a point for every year you’re willing to put in to make it. Therefore, if you’re willing to give it five years, you get a 5 out of 10. Seven years, 7 out of 10.
Once you have all your numbers, add’em up. Hopefully, you’re somewhere near 40. If you’re not, look for places where you can improve. For example, if you don’t have time to write three hours a day during the week, maybe you can add some hours on the weekend. If you suck at hustling, block out a month a year where that’s all you focus on, is querying and expanding your network. Every person you send your script to, regardless of whether they’re in the industry or not, is one more person who could potentially help you. There are even ways to improve your talent level. For example, if you have a weak writing voice, write a practice script where you abandon all technical pretense and only follow that wild untethered voice in your head. You’ll likely have something messy and unusable at the end, but you’ll have improved your ability to tap into your subconscious, which should make your writing livelier.
I’m going to leave you with one final piece of advice. You will never rise above your opinion of yourself. There’s no guarantee that you’ll make it even if you believe you will. You might or you might not. But I can guarantee this. You will never make it if you don’t believe you will. So of those two options, it’s imperative that you believe. And if you don’t, figure out what’s going on internally so that you can change that negative belief into a positive one. Because you will only keep after it if you believe that doing so will result in achieving your objective.
Have a happy weekend everybody!
