Frame Academy - Tuesday, April 28, 2009 6:03

The Top 10 reasons writers tell themselves “no”

TOY STORY 2 scribe and Mastering Hollywood supremo Doug Chamberlin has penned another article for movieScope, this time focusing on the reasons excuses writers reckon they’ll never make it in Hollywood. Between this one and his article on the real statistics on cracking Hollywood, we reckon that you’ll have no choice but to give it a shot before too long! All the more reason to try this.

REASONS WHY PEOPLE TELL THEMSELVES “NO”

By Doug Chamberlin

Sometimes during breaks at the Mastering Hollywood seminars, I’ll get into a chat with aspiring writers who tell me why they haven’t challenged themselves to break into the business. And yet, here they are at a seminar called “Mastering Hollywood.” Interesting…

They usually have some reason why it can’t be done or shouldn’t be bothered with. But here they are worrying out loud to me about it anyway, so it’s clear that they are troubled by it. It’s been bothering them and hasn’t gone away. What’s really going on here?

This incongruous situation arises because most people make decisions based firstly upon emotions, and then attempt to justify those decisions with logic—not the other way around. If you don’t believe me, check yourself some time and see if you really are deciding something based on what is simply practical, or based on what you want emotionally.

Even people who claim to be very logical types (myself included), usually make a decision based on emotion first. Advertising agencies figured this out long ago, which is why car commercials often sell you the sexy fantasy of zooming freely along some winding picturesque highway, and then follow up with “reasons” to buy their car such as low fuel consumption or quality workmanship. You decide based on the emotion, and then justify the decision to yourself based on facts, not the other way around.

The same is true of people’s aspirations. Approaching Hollywood can be scary, and many people tell themselves “no” because they are afraid of failure. This doesn’t sit well with them however, so they then find a logical-sounding reason to assure themselves of why they should say “no.”

If you’re honestly not interested or have higher priorities, then so be it. But if you are simply afraid, it’s best to tell yourself, “Okay, it’s scary, but I’m not going to let fear stop me.”

Here are some of the more common reasons why writers tell themselves “no:”

1. “I don’t know how.” Fair enough, you don’t know how to break into Hollywood. But come now, this is a pretty poor reason to give up. If you really want something, you can learn how to do it. If you start off by making some mistakes, so what? (Incidentally, the Mastering Hollywood seminar can be quite helpful with this issue).

2. “People in Hollywood are nasty.” And how do you know this? Because you watched THE PLAYER or SWIMMING WITH SHARKS? My experience has been that most people working in Hollywood are really not nasty at all. You will run into a few big-business types, but most people in the industry don’t like hurting people’s feelings.

3. “There’s too much rejection.” It’s true that because of the skewed law of supply and demand, execs and producers do need to say “no” more frequently than they can say “yes.” You will be told “no” sometimes in Hollywood. Maybe the issue here is in how you look at rejection. It’s important to delineate between a “no” to your work and a rejection of you personally. You and your work are not the same thing, and it’s a self-defeating mistake to confuse the two. To gain perspective, put yourself in the other person’s shoes. If you were a producer looking for a romantic comedy, and someone sent you a thriller, you’d say “no” to the thriller—not the person who wrote it.

Another way to handle rejection is to keep a big-picture attitude about your career. If you view every “no” as a step towards a “yes,” and stay focused on your ultimate goal, then garnering a series of “no’s” isn’t nearly so hard.

4. “There’s too much competition.” Yes, there is competition, but not as much serious competition as you think. I covered this topic in my last article, available here.

5. “LA freaks me out.  How will I survive there?” Not everyone moves to LA, but many writers do, especially early in their careers. People can learn to make it in LA as well as any other city. In the Mastering Hollywood seminar we spend some time informing people on where to live in LA, how to meet people there, and how to handle the LA culture.

LA is just as exciting as it is intimidating. It’s the only city I know of where you can go to get a haircut and bump into Arnold Schwarzenegger, or get Chinese take-away and wait in line next to Jamie Lee Curtis. (Both incidents happened to me).

6. “You have to know somebody.” You’re probably expecting me to say, “Not true, not true!” Nope, it’s true. You do need contacts to break into Hollywood. But nobody said you have to already know somebody. Most people who are successful in Hollywood started out without any relative or friend in the business. They made contacts in the business. You can too.

7. “But I’m English / Welsh / Scottish / Irish.” This excuse is my favorite! People will say this like it’s a bad thing. Hollywood loves interesting people. You may have a slight handicap in that you’ll occasionally throw off people with words like “brilliant” or “mate” but at the same time most Hollywood people think this is kind of cool. Hanging out with UK folks makes them feel exotic and hip. Plus with your accent they will immediately assume you are witty, smart, eccentric and classy. There are many good British writers and actors working in Hollywood.

8. “It won’t be easy.” Okay… if you’re only making decisions in life based on what’s going to be easy, then you should probably not be a writer at all. Perhaps a career asking people if they want brown sauce with their bangers is best for you.

Getting what you want in life always involves some determination. And actually, I think complaining that “it won’t be easy” is really just another way of saying, “I’m afraid.” Handling fear is like handling a big wave at the beach. Best to turn towards it and dive straight into it, rather than running away. If you run, it often swamps you anyway, and it just takes up time and energy to flee. Those who dive into the wave usually fare better.

Good. Now that you’ve gotten those out of your system, you can spend your energy looking for reasons to say “yes” to yourself, rather than “no.” That simple decision can be more helpful than any amount of good luck.

But good luck to you nonetheless.

Doug Chamberlin is the author of Toy Story 2 as well as several other films and television programmes. His course, Mastering Hollywood, teaches writers how to break into the entertainment industry and what to do after they’ve written a great script. Click here for more info.