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Westside I like living in the South. I really like to make films. But I'd really, really like to get paid for it.
It's a tough question, one I've wanted to tackle myself for quite some time. So with that question in my frontal lobes, I cashed in some frequent-flier points and headed out West. Why? Screenwriter's Expo, an annual conference for screenwriters looking to make it big and wondering how to do it. SE is three days of non-stop seminars, pitches and parties with thousands of other "emerging" (the term they used to put a positive spin on my plight) screenwriters. So. What did I learn? At the seminars, the presenters offered up nuggets of wisdom, everything from how to scrape out a living as a screenwriter to how to write that next great screenplay. Now I'll be the first to say these guys knew their stuff, but I couldn't help but think many of them were themselves struggling/ex-screenwriters hawking their new book/DVD in order that they might scrape enough money together to allow them time off to write. I learned that the more successful the person, the more likely their view of life in LA was through rose-colored glasses; that, plus the fact that they no longer lived there. LA's a tough town and you better get used to it if you want to make it. The pitches had something to teach, too. Picture thirty-plus production companies all in one room. Now picture yourself with twenty-nine-plus other emerging (cough) screenwriters behind a gate, waiting for the bell to ring. The bell rings. Set free like frenzied Wal-Mart shoppers at the opening of the Day-After-Thanksgiving Sale, you scurry to the table of the production company you signed up—and paid—to pitch to. Now you have five minutes to rush through your story to a first-rung company rookie, praying they'll find something redeeming and give you their card for a follow-up email before the bell rings and the next shopper in line gets their chance. I learned you'd better bring something new to the table, because they've heard it all a million times. Like I said, LA's a tough town and you better get used to it.
Overall, making it in LA is no different than making it in Atlanta—or anywhere else for that matter—no matter what the job is, since people are the same all over. If you're good enough, people will find you, because everyone wants to be a part of something great. And if you're not good enough yet, it helps to know people. Because everyone likes to play with their friends. The difference with LA is, there's a lot more people to play with. So? What now? I'm on the plane back and the guy next to me is holding a new David Mamet script (if you don't know who he is, don't pack your bags for LA just yet). We strike up a conversation; he's a producer who used to live in LA but decided to move to Atlanta and commutes back and forth now for projects. He's currently finishing one up and is contemplating his next. After a while, he gives me his card and says let's talk more when we get home. My best LA connection, and he happens to live here in the South. Eastside. Nathan Flood is an editor for CinemATL and a local screenwriter currently working on his second feature length script, "Science Fair Project." |
Screenwriter's Expo 4:
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