I want you to take a time machine back to 2015 and try to imagine a scenario where William Zabka, the famous bully from the original Karate Kid movie, would have bragging rights over George Clooney about something that involved entertainment. Had you floated such a theory at the time, you would’ve been locked up by the Hollywood police! And yet, that’s exactly what happened, with Zabka leading Cobra Kai to the top slot on Netflix while Clooney and his rudderless sci-fi adjacent flick, The Midnight Sky, lags a couple of spots behind.
And in a world of such division, can we all universally agree that Cobra Kai is the greatest show ever on television? So it’s settled, then? Good. The amount of glorious cheese on display in this show is enough to keep a small country fed for a decade. I love how the writers unapologetically inject a dozen villains into the mix. Not to mention, the budget is clearly bigger now that they’re at Netflix. We’ve got flashbacks to Vietnam. Twisted Sister concerts. Heck, they were even able to send Daniel LaRusso to Japan! Cobra Kai for life!
From brass knuckles to brass tacks, last year was supposed to be a big transition for me to producing but, like a lot of folks, I was blindsided by a little illness known as Covid. But like any great pandemic does, the time sidelined allowed me to reflect and plan and now I feel even more excited about producing than ever.
The first phase of my plan will be announcing the finalists for The Last Great Screenplay Contest. That is going to happen next Friday (Jan 15), although there’s an off-chance I’ll post the finalists on Monday. I have been VERY happy with the contest. As I’ve mentioned before, my hesitation to doing contests is always the fear of spending hundreds of hours reading scripts only to come up with an average winner. That’s happened to me before and it sucked.
That HAS NOT BEEN THE CASE this time. In fact, I already have two finalists picked, either one of which I’d be happy awarding the gold medal to and, more importantly, both are highly marketable and wouldn’t cost a ton of $$ to make. In fact, in one of them, I think I just found the next John McClane. I also have a third probable finalist that, while not as marketable as the other two, is extremely well-written and I love the writer. On top of THAT I’ve gotten lucky because, over the last two months, I’ve received several consultation scripts from REALLY STRONG WRITERS. One of those scripts is a sure-thing movie (that comes from an Amateur Showdown winner, no less!) and the other comes from an amazing writer I will, no doubt, be working with for the rest of my career. All in all, I’ll be moving into 2021 with up to 7 great scripts I’ll be pushing around town, and that is something I did not have in 2020. So you’re definitely going to want to stay tuned next week to see the finalists. Then, the following Monday, I’ll announce the winner.
What does this mean for Scriptshadow? Well, if there’s anything 2020 has taught us, it’s that nothing’s set in stone. You have to be flexible. So rest assured, Scriptshadow is going to keep running. In what capacity, I’m not sure. Many of my decisions will be dictated by how busy I get on the producing end. But concessions will have to be made. For example, there might be more Mish-Mash Mondays, since they take less time to put together. Instead of reading a script and reviewing it, I might review something I watched, only because it saves me the time of having to read a script.
There is a scenario whereby, at the end of 2021, I’m only posting once a week. But that doesn’t mean the fun is over by a long shot. I’m thinking of doing another screenplay writing challenge. Last year we did it in two weeks? Which freaked some people out. I want to do one where you write a script in a month. A month is only 3.5 pages a day. Which is totally manageable. So start thinking of concepts NOW. Share ideas with your friends and get a consensus on which concept is the best one. You can always purchase my logline evaluation consult which includes an analysis, logline rewrite, and 1-10 rating. I tell everyone that unless your idea gets, at least, a 7 out of 10, don’t write the script (e-mail “logline” to carsonreeves1@gmail.com to get a consult – they’re only $25).
Finally, some advice for 2021. I recently had some interesting insights into four screenwriters’ lives. Two of those were Mayhem and Angela, who both finished in the top 5 of the Black List, and the other two were talented screenwriters who have not yet made it into the industry. What struck me about the difference between these sets of writers was that the first two, Mayhem and Angela, aggressively put their material out on the internet. Whether it was here at Scriptshadow, on Reddit boards, or their own website, they were all about exposing their writing. What that did is it allowed them to get a ton of feedback, which they could use to get better. They went through that cycle over and over again until their material was up to professional standards. And they were both rewarded for it.
Meanwhile, these other two writers, who I would argue are more naturally gifted than Mayhem and Angela, don’t put their stuff out there at all. Which means a couple of things. One, they’re not getting that constant stream of feedback which helps them get better. But, more importantly, if you’re not exposing your work, people aren’t seeing how talented you are. And here’s where it gets interesting. Without positive reinforcement, these writers were clueless to how amazing they were. They’re a 9 out of 10. But the lack of feedback has made them believe they’re a 5 out of 10. And the problem with that is that you’re not as motivated to write when you lack confidence. I’ve watched a lot of screenwriting careers end for this very reason.
All of this is to say, I encourage you to be more courageous in 2021 and to get your work out onto the internet. It’s not 1998 anymore. Back then, there was a strategic advantage to not exposing your work. If your script got out there, it was harder for your agent to create a sense of mystery and excitement about the script. But today, that doesn’t matter anymore. As everyone here knows, Headhunter, which finished number 1 on the Black List, appeared on this site a year earlier. And it didn’t hurt the script at all.
I want all of you to be the best possible screenwriters you can be. To do that, you need as much feedback as possible. You can’t improve in a bubble. You just can’t. And even if you could, it’s still beneficial to get exposure and build fans of your writing. And that can only happen if you get your stuff out there. So GO DO IT!
Two more notes. I will announce the next Amateur Showdown genre on Monday, the 11th (haven’t picked one yet so I’m open to suggestions in the comments). So be ready for that. And this Thursday, I’m bringing back the 10 Screenwriting Lessons series as I give you 10 Screenwriting Tips From Cobra Kai!
HERE’S TO A GREAT SCREENWRITING 2021!
