Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Dreams on Spec

A documentary following three aspiring screenwriters through their painful journey of trying to get their shit bought, made, noticed…anything.

All three subjects had industry contacts of some sort. I would have liked to have seen at least one of the subjects living in a dumpster and knocking on doors of agents trying to get noticed, on the outside looking in so to speak.

It seemed like the subjects were concentrating on their one great script that would ascend them to their WGA cards. One of the first things I learned when I began researching screenwriting was always be working on your next script, always be writing. The two subjects that really put all their energies in their current scripts for months, even years were unsuccessful. We entered the story of the third subject at the point where he already had a director interested.

I liked the show. It was funny and sad. It didn’t pull any punches on how tough the industry can be. The interviews with successful screenwriters throughout the movie were great. The DVD has an extended interview extra that’s worth the price in and of itself.

While the realities of becoming a screenwriter are far out there it doesn’t stop me from visualizing what I want and working towards those goals. I want to tell stories for a living.

-Jim

6 comments:

ASA said...

Welcome to the club, Jim. Screenwriting isn't easy - at all. Just make sure to celebrate every victory you have along your screenwriting way...And keep after it.

Jim Endecott said...

Thanks Matt!

Nowhere to go but up.

-jim

Unknown said...

Great link, Jim. I'm gonna have a gander at that vid. The interview sounds just the thing.

Keep writing!

Unknown said...

Augh! It doesn't show up in Netflix... the almost perfect business model!

Where did you see it?

Jim Endecott said...

Steve,

I bought it from Amazon. Figured I would watch the interviews when I needed some inspiration.

-Jim

Unknown said...

Thanks for the tip.

In other news, how are you getting that cool progress bar for your script?