Being a screenwriter takes tenacity. It takes a certain amount of technique, dedication, and imagination as well. But one of the most important skills you can tuck away inside your writer’s toolbox is the ability to be an agile screenwriter.
Sure, this sounds key to being a good athlete or, say, a first responder, in which mobility and strength are required. But what does this mean in screenwriting?
Being an agile screenwriter means having the ability to adapt to our ever-changing world. Key to being a successful screenwriter is being able to evolve, pivot, and anticipate in an industry that is known for its curve balls.
So in the spirit of becoming an agile screenwriter to not only survive, but flourish by maintaining a writing practice for the long haul (this career is a marathon, not a sprint, after all), here are your 5 tips to being an agile screenwriter.
5 Tips to Becoming an Agile Screenwriter
Scenario #1: The Trades announce a project similar to yours, and now you have to pivot to something else.
Ugh, this one hurts. Either you read the announcement on Variety or see something similar to your current work-in-progress while scrolling through Netflix, and there it is: The Gut Punch. Someone else has beaten you to it. Not only that, they clearly did it better, because not only did they write it already, it got made.
Allow yourself a few moments for that inner tornado of frustration, anger, sadness, and inevitable feeling of hopelessness that you’ll “never make it”. Then crack open your laptop and list out all the ways your screenplay is different.
You might start to see how they’re similar but not the same (see: Armageddon vs Deep Impact, Mission: Impossible vs James Bond, shall I go on?). These differences are the blocks upon which you can continue to build something that is uniquely your own. It’s also important to note that if something similar to yours sold, that’s actually good news, because it means that there’s a built-in audience for what you’re writing. As we all know, Hollywood is always looking for the same… but different.
After this exercise, you might continue on with your script. It’s also perfectly acceptable to table it, consider it well-done practice, and crack open one of your other ten ideas that are waiting in the wings. It’s important to note that story popularity comes in waves, and most stories are versions of what we’ve seen before. Vampires, superheroes, horror, westerns, the rom-com; they’ve all had their day. Multiple times. And they will again. Just ask the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.
Scenario #2: Great news: You just got a bunch of good, usable notes on your script. Bad news: They require a lot of changes.
First, the good news. You’re not actually starting from a blank page here. Often, the blank page can be the biggest hurdle for a screenwriter. Consider everything you’ve written as all the puzzle pieces, now you just have to play with re-arranging them until the picture is clearer than your initial draft.
Part of being an agile screenwriter is learning how to take and implement notes. If you’re in disagreement with the note, examine why it is that you’re feeling this way. Is it ego? Is it that the note feels too general? Or is the note a perspective you don’t agree with? Taking into account questions like these will help you to understand the note behind the note, and figure out from there how to incorporate it in the best interests of your script.
Read more: Notes Are Feelings, Not Facts: 4 Tips to Giving Good Script Feedback
Scenario #3: “They say” to stay in your lane and build a portfolio in one genre. But what if your genre isn’t currently selling?
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write it. Let’s be clear about that. Now is the time, before you have agents and assignments, to write the stories you are passionate about. The more you write, the more you will hone your process, voice, and build that portfolio. Which might mean writing across genres.
And that’s okay.
Learning to move seamlessly from genre to genre can help you solidify your specialty, practice different tones, investigate character motivations, and broaden your perspective. You might even find you like a particular genre better than you thought you would! Having solid scripts in multiple genres, even several in each category you land on, can be helpful in the “preparedness” part of when “being prepared meets opportunity” and the industry is suddenly calling for a certain kind of story.
And guess what? You have just what they’re looking for.
Scenario #4: You’re tired of waiting for someone to tell you your stories are good enough, so you make it yourself.
There’s something to be said for having agency over your own story, but sometimes it’s easier said than done as that inner voice whispers: When do I have the time? I’m a writer not a filmmaker? HOW?!
Polishing up your screenplay for submission is one thing, but once it’s done, the even harder and more tedious task of waiting begins. Waiting to hear back from agents, contests, producers; it’s exhausting. But what about while you’re waiting, you do something about it? Not only will it “pass the time”, you’ll have something exceptional to show as part of your portfolio.
So, in the words of Captain Picard, “Make it so!” Grab your friends, call in some favors if you have any connections to people who have skills and equipment (remember to always compensate people for their time, be it monetary, swapped skill sets, or bankable time in the future), use your smartphone if you must, and shoot something!
From teasers to sizzle reels of your longer screenplays, a contained short film, or something entirely new, this is an exceptional way to get some hands-on set experience that not only opens your writing perspective to how screenplays translate to shooting, but also gives you a tangible product in the end of which you can say, “I made this thing, here’s where you can watch it.” It might be just the thing to inspire you to write more, write differently, or even catch the eye of one of those ‘Yes People’ you submitted to.
Read more: Former Big Break Top 3 Finalist Pivots From Screenplay to Graphic Novel to Share Powerful Story
Scenario #5: The screenplay you wrote isn’t getting any traction, but you know, and maybe even others have told you, the story is there. So what’s a screenwriter to do?
Create the IP. Along with shooting something, creating a wider IP base can help you solidify your roots in the story you’ve written. Adapt the screenplay into a piece of fiction, YouTube series, or graphic novel: any other medium that establishes your story and a bigger world for your screenplay. It gives you something else in a different business to market and pitch (be it the publishing world or online platforms) and is a great way to start building an audience for your original story and screenplay you’re trying to sell. The more interest you have, the more likely that agent or producer or actor you’re trying to attach will take notice.
It’s also a great way to examine all facets of the story world and the characters in it that you’ve created, which may even unlock further potential to polish up your script or come at it from an angle you hadn’t previously thought of.
Agility makes you a stronger writer, period.
No matter how you choose to adapt to the constantly evolving nature of filmmaking, being able to adapt to what’s selling, entertaining, but also, to what makes you happy to write as a screenwriter, is valuable time spent. Your audience will recognize when you find joy in what you write: it shines through your voice on the page.
And voice sells.
It’s a win-win.
So go forth and be agile. Aside from Final Draft, it’s one of your best tools in the screenwriter’s toolbox.