Learn to Love Your Rejection Letters

Hi,

Hope you're not taking as long as I am getting back in the "writing" saddle this year. I have one excuse, I'm in the middle of a moving and building a house, both of which have to be completed by the 29th. I keep telling myself, "Stephen King wouldn't let a little thing like this keep him from writing."

Loads of Rejection Letters

While packing last night, I came across my rejection letters. When I started writing scripts over 20 years ago, one of the ways I stay motivated was to reread my rejection letters — and I had a LOT! They filled a three-ring binder.

They ranged from the harsh rejection, "NOT FOR US!" to the less painful, "Contact us again after the next draft." My favorite is the tiny rejection letter (1" x 2") that read, "Not interested" on one side and had the agency's address printed on the other.

My Buddies

Since I write for a living now, I decided it was time to move on and recycle the letters. It's not like I could sell them on Ebay or anything. So, off they went. And I was actually sad (still am a little) to say goodbye to them.

Why? They were my buddies for years and kept me writing. I know it sounds strange, but I figured only writers get rejection letters. People who think about writing, plan on writing, consider writing, or talk about writing, do NOT have rejection letters. And probably every famous writer out there has had his share of rejections letters. It's part of the journey. And I wanted to get going on that journey.

In short, every letter confirmed I was a writer.

Granted, getting published and produced is more fun than receiving a rejection letter, but I will always have fond feelings toward those pieces of paper. I may have to dig out an especially nasty one from the recycle bin to keep me company on my next phase of the journey.

di

Advice from a Producer

Yesterday a producer called to give me feedback on my latest script. She started out with, "Your banter is great, but not your storytelling." After that, she went on to tell me everything that needed to be changed — from the major premise to the tone.

At the end of the conversation she ended with, "I'm looking forward to reading the rewrite."

Still Alive & Breathing

A few years ago, comments like this would have taken me out at the knees. Today, I'm happy to discover I wasn't devastated. In fact, I'm upbeat and ready to rewrite.

Maybe it's because I know a couple things I didn't know back then:

1. Producers don'ts see your script as a personal story with an important message needing to be communicated. They see it as source material that can be used to create something marketable.

2. They don't mean any of the comments as a personal attack. This is business. Your write the product, they sell it. And they would like direct you to create a product they can sell.

3. She doesn't believe my storytelling is bad. She wouldn't ask me to rewrite it if that were case. She just wants me to write the story she wants to sell, not necessarily the one I want to write.

A Revelation

I thought I might be disappointed today, considering what kind of rewrite this producer was proposing. But after all the rewriting I did with the last movie, I realize I kind of missed it.

There's a creative rush to have someone give you what seem like impossible comments and creatively find ways that not only solve the problems, but MAKE THE STORY BETTER in the process.

I'm surprised to find I'm aching to hit the keyboard running. Amazing what a few years and a little perspective will do.

Write Something REALLY Cool

"What should we be writing about?"

Writers inevitably asked this of agents, publishers, producers, managers, etc. We don't want to waste our time. We want to be writing stories that will sell and audiences will flock to.

What floors me is that most agents, publishers, producers, managers, etc. have an answer.

At a recent NWSG meeting, a producer said about scripts, "Just look at what's selling. That should give you an idea of what we're looking for." (And we were to gather, that was what we should be writing about.)

I disagree!

The producer's answer has been bugging me ever since I heard it. Those words are of no help — especially for a writer who is setting out to write a story.

Say it takes a year for you to write your story. If you're lucky and someone likes it, it could take another year to sell it. Then you've got to produce and/or publish the story.

More helpful, would have been the advice from an agent at this year Pacific NW Writer's Conference, "I'm looking for wonderful character-driven stories with a high concept plot." This may sound vague, but it's great, honest advice.

Taking a project from concept to product can take literally years, and there is NO way to know what is going to be in vogue then. The only thing you can probably bank on is that whatever is popular today will probably be old hat by then. People constantly want something different.

Keeping Tabs on the Market

You should definitely keep track of what's being purchased. It can save you some wasted time.

I was about three-quarters of the way through a spec script on a giant elf when I checked the trades and saw ELF with Will Ferrell had just gone into production. I moved on to another project, but gave myself points for at least coming up with a marketable idea.

You Decide

So what should writers write about? Whatever we decide to write about! We're the storytellers.

I truly believe that producers, agents, publishers, and mangers, just want to be blown out of the water.

You've heard agents say, "When I read it, I knew I had a winner." In other words, I never would have conceived of the story, but now that I've read it, I want to market it.

Blowing Them Away

What blows industry folks out of the water? Your imagination, creativity and talent!

Like us, and every other reader and movie goer, the industry wants to experience something original, fresh, compelling, moving . . . you fill in the adjective.

That doesn't mean recreating the wheel. Heck, I would have thought after Anne Rice, vampires had pretty much been done to to death . . . then comes Twilight and True Blood and we're off to the races again.

Choose Wisely

Pick the story that you are passionate about. One that keeps you up at night. Whose characters that speak to you and are more real than your Aunt Marie. If we tell the stories that resonate with us, they are likely to resonate with others.

It's hard enough to write a novel or script or nonfiction book. You don't want to get to the end of the project and if (god forbid) it didn't sell, say, "Man, I wasted a whole year on this!?"

We are the storytellers. We don't need to ask what to write, we need to write what needs to be told — and tell our stories like no one else has told them before.

Despite what they say, the industry will know a great story when it sees it.

Doing the Happy Dance!

I'm taking a break from doing the "happy dance". Just got an email from a producer to set up a time for me to come up and see them shoot Growing the Big One in Vancouver, B.C.

If everything goes well, next week at this time I'll be watching actors saying and doing things I dreamed up. (That's if it hasn't been rewritten completely.) It's a surreal thought.

Getting the story to the People

Writing a script is different from writing a book or an article for a number of reasons. The biggest difference for me is that once you've finished a short story, someone reads it and the communication is complete. It might have only been one person, but they enjoyed your story in the form it was intended.

Scripts, however, require producers, actors and a slew of other people to complete the process — communicate the story to the audience in it's correct form. It's frustrating because you may be a great storyteller, but so much of the process is out of your control.

Next week through my story will take on life. I'm actually going to see people walking and talking and doing things I've only imaged. Then, sometime in 2010, those actors will be walking and talking on screens in front of an audience.

I'm so excited. I will FINALLY have finished telling a story.

di

Check's in the Mail?

I got an email from my agent yesterday and it sounds like I may be getting a check soon for my script Growing the Big One (knock on wood). Money is always good, but more important, a check means the movie is getting ready to film.

First Deals

Little did I know when I was selling this script, producers don't give you the money until they start filming. Or at least that's how it works when it's your first deal — and you want to have this made in the WORST way and will a agree to all kinds of stuff.

In my case they've paid me some option money to hold the script until they're ready to shoot. But if it falls through, they won't pay me for the script. Sort of like leasing a house with an option to buy. Kind of makes sense, but it's kind of nerve wracking for the poor Shmoe who just wants to sell the house.

Seeing is Believing

On the bright side, it looks like the day is finally approaching (again I'm knocking on wood. I'm knocking on wood so much these days my husband must think I've developed some obsessive-compulsive disorder). I'd love to have a check in my hands and know the cameras are rolling, but I'll believe it when I see it.

di

What Stories are Hot?

My writing class starts soon, and the first night I'm always asked by students, "What kinds of stories sell?"

The answer . . . it depends on who you ask.

Books

Producers, agents and publishers will give you a list of what's hot and what's not. I just read a list today on an agent's blog. The following she said are "dead":

• chick lit

• literary fiction

• books over 100,000 words

Scripts

A producer told me recently she didn't want to see any fantasies, westerns, mysteries, or stories with female leads because they didn't do well.

What's Doing Well?

I just jumped on the web to see what in the heck is selling. I appears that if you're serious about selling, write cookbooks. They outsell all other books except religious works.

Since my idea of making a meal is popping open a can of Diet Coke and heating up a Lean Cuisine, I won't be cranking one of those out soon. So, what do you do?

A Little of Both

Do your marketing homework and write from the heart. Every editor and producer I've talked to has also said, "Cream rises," and "We'll know it when we see it".

I hope they didn't mean "cookbook".

When My Muse Gets Scared

My muse hates to be beat up — she has a self protection mechanism. (Yes, she's a Lemur.) When I get to a point in my writing that's difficult or takes real courage, she points me toward other projects, ones that are more fun and with have less emotion invested.

Rambling of a Muse

For example, I'm on the last pages of script I really like. This means soon I'll get to face producers, agents and studio folks who are going to trash my story as it's currently written and tell me to rewrite to fit their vision, and if they don't like what I write they'll give it to someone else to rewrite — and that's if I'm lucky and they like my script.

So about now I get scared and my muse coming up with other cool projects besides marketing my script (or evening finishing the script at all), like launching a new web-based magazine with my husband and friends.

Muse is painting some pretty sweet pictures to steer us away from being potentially beat up by Hollywood.

"What's the worst that can happen?" she asks. "We can fail and lose some money? That's better than having our story rewritten and our ego smashed in the process."

Pep Talk

It'll be an ongoing battle from here on out, but I make the good argument.

"All this writing was done for a reason. It would be easier to submit a script that we didn't care about. But who wants to see that movie? We gotta get in there and not crap out." I'm on a roll.

"They may like it. They may hate it. We have no control over their responses. We just have make sure we're proud of it. Gees . . Man up!"

I think my Muse is handing me a taser.