10 Things About The Life Of A Screenwriter

Well, my life anyway. I don't know about Charlie Kaufman. Although I'd like to. Anyone know him?

Question:

Should this Substack be more about screenwriting, specifically? Do people want to know what I think about that stuff and how I approach things as well as other screenwriters? Would you be interested in my thoughts on character development and world-building in a script and what I feel makes a great scene?

Or do you prefer the more broad approach to inspiration in general?

Something I’m pondering as I head into 2025 where I plan to announce some big things about online course offerings and more.

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10 Things About The Life Of A Screenwriter

1. I live in fear of AI. Which sucks, because in a lot of ways AI is really cool. It will hopefully cure diseases and pioneer discoveries that will benefit humankind. It will also most likely remove the need for people to pay for any artistic work made by a human. I fear losing the ability to support myself (which is questionable already) but I also fear what happens in a world where the majority of art is made by a computer.

2. I struggle with a lot of self-doubt. I write scripts on spec (meaning no one pays me until I’ve finished and someone wants to buy it). Working this way requires me to spend months and months on my own working on something that I have no way of knowing if anyone will be interested in. Every story idea is a gamble. What if I spend 10 months writing a story that no one likes?

3. Financial uncertainty is my normal. I’ve had to accept that no matter how successful a project may be, this career will never provide consistent, dependable income. TV writers might have a better shot at stability, but as a feature spec writer, I have high highs and low lows.

4. What if people forget about me? It can take a long time to get a new project ready to send out. What if by the time I finish, no one cares anymore? What if I lose whatever headway I had finally made in this industry?

5. I have to leave my house sometimes. I don’t want to. I used to like it, but these days, I’d prefer to just stay home. However, in a business that is all about relationships, never meeting or talking to people is not super helpful. Social anxiety is something I’ve always struggled with, as is my intense dislike for small talk. I’d rather clean my bathroom than force myself to go to a party where I won’t know anyone.

6. There is no ‘right’ way to write. I often want to come up with an approach, a method that I know works and then just repeat that forever. I hate uncertainty and I want to just solve the problem of how to write a great screenplay. It wasn’t until extremely recently I realized, that just like everything else in life, there are no absolutes here. Things change based on how I’ve changed, how the world’s changed. It’s a little of this, a little of that. And sometimes it’s something else entirely. Accept the unknown. Accept that this a ‘problem’ that I cannot ‘solve.’

7. I know when something works. I can struggle and debate over a path I’m taking in a story for months, not knowing if it’s working. Every time I forget that if there is no clarity, if there is no gut feeling that this is good, then it is probably not. Because when it is, I know. I always know. But it’s so hard to get something that feels right, so I think I prefer to have selective amnesia every time. Maybe this does work and I just can’t tell. Maybe, even though it’s been proven over and over again that when it’s right, I know, maybe somehow this is the one time where I really don’t know and I need to keep going down this road.

8. I worry a lot about the state of the business. If you are involved with the industry or live in Los Angeles, you know how bad things are right now. Production has slowed to a crawl and anything that is shooting has gone overseas. People are losing their houses. People are leaving film and TV for good. We’re all wondering if what was already an extremely difficult and competitive business is about to become even more cutthroat. It was hard enough to get people to read things before. With demand at the studios for new content at an all time low, what are the odds of breaking through now?

9. I love stories. I’m a storyteller at heart. It’s the one I thing I think I’ve truly known about myself since I was a kid. It’s how I’m wired. I will never run out of ideas. I may run out of ideas people actually care about, but I’ll always have stories to tell.

10. I chose/choose this life every time. If you can even say it’s a choice, really. I feel like this is just what I’m supposed to do, successful or not. Sometimes I dream about just opening a little bakery somewhere and selling vegan cookies. And that does sound nice, although I know that’s stressful in a whole different kind of way. And that’s really what it’s all about, isn’t it? Stress and uncertainty, it’s just… LIFE. All paths lead through it. No one escapes it. So, might as well embrace it and do what you love.