I HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM, & I NEED ADVICE BADLY!

I did and no... it's not what you may be visualizing. I am well aware of the odds and all of that and am NOT
writing a screenplay for financial success, fame, etc... although that would be friggen awesome! But
I'm just writing a horror movie, yep, there I said it A horror movie that I would pay my hard-earned money
to go to the movie theater and actually see&experience. The Avatar of Horror! lol.And there
is more to it/the script than just that and it's underlying story and that has to do with it's high-concept,
which I cannot discuss on here. but WHY.. I think the masses & other people will be just as interested in it as I am, the creator.
It's never been thought of before and I've never been more confident in anything in
my life...
now that could be a bad thing that may lead to a jinx, who knows but... one thing's for sure,
I better deliver with one irresistible screenplay right? Which is what I intend to do.

Anyway... now that that's off my chest, I' writing a high-concept horror script. It's ambitious, original, and scary <
with scary being most important to me as those are the 3 words I use and stick by.
But going back to my initial responseyou can't be writing something that you yourself wouldn't actually go and see,
which is just one of many mistakes a lot of amateur screenwriters make today. And second to that
would be entering the market prematurely which I do not intend on doing at all.

The plan is to go light on the marketing at first. My sister is very popular on social media. She was a college basketball
star at one point and has a following of a few thousand people across social media, which is much more than myself.
She is going to help me with the marketing of my script. My aunt may be another option. In terms of money, I don't
intend in the slightest to go and blow through my savings on marketing my material. I'm only talking for the time being
maybe at most a few hundred dollars. Mainly for computer software to edit some videos and things I have up my sleeve.
I also might just query or enter a contest. There are so many avenues.

I won't disclose how much money I have but let's just say I can live 5 years work-free since my mortgage is
paid off and just breeze through utility bills as I tend to conserve anyway.

Also... I didn't leave my job to write. I left my job after 19 years of being bullied, being abused verbally, and being harassed
by some of the staff, cooks, and 2 kitchen managers! It's a vicious cycle...

 

Lol, thanks.

My Dad left the house to me in his will so
when he passed there was still roughly 60k left on the house
but the interest rates were through the roof at the time of his passing.
In other words my mortgage payment was only like $870 a month but only 300 of
that went to the principal balance each month, the 60k, the rest, $570,
went to interest and escrow. That's why it took so long for me to pay off the house.
19 to 32. No refinancing.

 

Oh, wow. That's very well said. I think it's incredibly good advice. If you (the generic 'you') ever do hit the 'big time' and are able to write for a living, that's great. But it's not great till it actually happens. Meanwhile, if you hang onto another job that pays the bills, you'll have a roof over your head, food to eat, and someplace to go every day that CAN give you more material to write about, not to mention add grounded structure to your day.

Many successful writers do have a second job, by the way. By successful, I mean published writers who derive some kind of income from their writing.

 

No, he's 'knackered,' has a few quid and wants to play a while..

 

"Hitting it big" or "making it" doesn't always mean what we want it to. I have a friend who writes scripts and sells them regularly outright. She is not rich, and nothing of hers has ever been made into a movie. Another friend sold his movie rights for a flat free as well. It was stated in his contract that his name would not appear in the credits if the movie was ever made. I don't know how standard these practices are, but this is the experience of the two people I know who have been what you could call successful in the movie biz. It seems like you have big ideas, but maybe aren't aware of how the industry works or just how competitive every form of writing is.

 

Thanks for your input and as for your response,Yeah I'm very well versed in every aspect of how the industry works
and exactly how hard it is to get noticed, read, or responded to.

I've obviously studied screenwriting for many years. Reading books & reading other scripts (probably over 100 by now)
to familiarize myself with the format. Studying movies and thinking visually.
It's a craft, so I can never not learn enough.

One of my marketing methods is something I call: The 'Eight Dimensions' of my work.
It looks something like this:

(1)- Draft 1 spec script (2)- Draft 2 Side-Note script (same exact draft, just w/ added side-notes on various pages
from the creator/writer for a better understanding of the material through a second read through.
(3)- Demo Pitch (4)- Transcripted Interview (5)- Song(s) (6)- Synopsis (7) Outline (8)- Notes

So after I finish my script work has just begun really, right?

Richard Walter once said: "If you want to swap your daydreams for dollars, and if you literally want to traffic in your
own imagination which is what writers are really doing, than why would we think people are going to be so eager for that
and jump all over it?
The question is always
why?

 

...

 

Cos it's fun reading for 5 minutes?

One of my most terrible evenings was with a millionaire screenwriter. He was actually thick/and also dumb. He said things like 'and then the bad guys have a car chase, a big explosion, brilliant, eh? Whaddya think?'

We had an argument when I said some long word like 'posit' or 'conceit' - when I was trying to be impressive early on.

Just saying how unfair it all is. Plenty of charlie, tho - like the kitchens.

 

I'm starting to think this is a joke. No unknown and unsuccessful writer is this cocky. On top of caring deeply that his mother praise and proofread his efforts.

 

You

It's in no way a joke. What you have to understand is that you & others are missing is that I'm NOT 'this cocky' when
it comes to all my writing and all of my other writing efforts in general.
I'm not cocky about my working novel or other scripts, other ideas.

I'm only as cocky as I am (which I wouldn't even use that word,confident is more like it)
when it comes to my CURRENT screenplay that I'm working on and it's potential and that's it.
If you reread what I said then you will realize that.

Also, it's only been a day or two & I'm past Mommy now.
I've moved on.

 

Dunning-kruger.

 

As I read the comments, that is sort of what I was getting as well. I use this lightly but James may be trolling, I can respect that. . But I cannot respect arrogance if James is real. It's nice you have a script and are confident in it. But some of the words he uses concerns me.

This sounds about right, if James in genuine.

 

Nopethat sounds about wrong.

That would only apply to me if I was unskilled like to an amateurish degree
which I am definitely not, published or not published.

If I thought I was unskilled then I probably wouldn't even be attempting to write,
let alone a screenplay(s)
Come on now. I know I only have 105 messages on this forum but I am
not necessarily an amateur by any means. Don't go by numbers.

I'm at the point where you guys think it's wrong to have
confidence...at any level, in what you do.
I'd rather read more positivesplease.

 

Skilled people don't have to prove themselves nor brag about how skilled they are. They just do what they are skilled at, and do it with humility. We have authors here who are published, you don't see them going thread to thread boasting about how great they are.

If you are as skilled as you say you are, then just do it.... Action speaks louder than words. So far I have just seen boasting or buzz words from you. What is your idea, post a piece of it in the workshops to let us have a look at it. You talk about having these scripts, but haven't talked about them, about what they are about, plot, setting, MC... what is it about. Just about how so called great they are.

 

True but it's obvious that I've been getting a little carried away on her right?
and that just has to do with my overall excitement for what I'm currently writing,
I'm just getting carried away but I'm not trying my earnest here to boast.

Also there is no way I can share a premise to my script now but there is another cool thread
that I already did post in the workshops of 15 short stories that I wrote when I was 22.
Dedicated to my father. So there's more of MY story there.
But.... I'm still working on them. They're eventually going to go on my blog.

Those are just simple short stores. People can judge my writing there if they want to.
Funny this is why is this thread getting so much response yet my ACTUAL WRITING which I have
put uphas received zero recognition?

 

@John-Wayne - @james82 has some excerpts posted elsewhere (see his very first post for details).

But it's the basic spelling errors and strange formatting like the following that makes me wonder. Not to mention his SCARY use of CAPITALS :

 

lol.

 

Positive what? You want us to say, oh it's so great that you're awesome and know it? What you're showing here is not confidence. And I've known amateur (yes, you are still amateur at this point) writers who think they are really good, but even the ones who have talent and know it, are never quite as good as they think. If you are for real, take it down a few notches. Everyone else here is a writer, but you don't see all of us bragging about how good we are. If you want people to be more positive, stop acting like you're better than all of us. Because that is exactly what you are doing, acting like you're better than everyone and that's not cool.

Honestly, I have no interest at all in reading anything you've written because of your attitude. I have a feeling you posted work to show off, and that's not really what the workshop section is for. You're already complaining about not getting recognition. I guess we are all just like your mom. I could see this whole workshop thing backfiring on you or maybe others will feel like me and not bother with your work.

 

Holy Smokes. How in hell am I getting to you? Wow.

First of all I am not saying by any means that I am a better writer or whatever than others on here.
People will just think that automatically if a cockiness is on display.
Again, this only applies to a specific script that I've been working on and
that is it... man.

Okay.

 

Wow!

 

I'm with ya.

 

Sure it sucks when you when nobody says anything about a piece you have worked hard on.
But that just means you need to try again, and again, until you have something worthy of
getting even a :"Hey this is pretty good."

True story:
I wrote and pubbed a book. Since it has been out on the market it has 1 rev. Tells me that
what I was so proud to throw out there, might not be the greatest slice of apple pie out there.
Also have to work on reaching a broader audience, and work on building my writing technique.
I don't think I will ever be the best at it (nor hope I degrade to getting worse than where I
started).

Also I agree with @deadrats , having the right attitude towards others and their thoughts about
you and your work is kinda important. A humble person is much easier to deal with, than a
person who thinks too highly of themselves and their work.

 

Not necessarily it just could be illusive on there.

I don't though that's the thing. I think highly of my script.
I may come to a point where I begin to think highly of other projects
that I'm working on as they continue to evolve but how is that really a bad thing?

I will work on expressing myself & my work less arrogantly, I get it. But...
I sure don't want to come across like some dire soul in the room when I'm pitching
my script if it ever gets to that point. That confidence has to shine through 100%.
I'll leave it at that.
Thanks for responding.

 

I think that's a sensible approach to take.
One should write with great command of purpose and with such confidence that the reader is left spellbound. Nothing wrong in that. Welcome to the forum!