Senior Thesis- Part Six

Writers seem to be a lot more down to earth than other people in Hollywood. I think it’s because of the occupation itself, writers have to get used to a lot of rejection before the ever hear good news. I think that screenwriters nowadays epitomize the stereotype of a “starving artist”. One of writers I interviewed this week said that he had 88 of his stories rejected by various publishers and studios before he ever managed to write “the big one”. I don’t necessarily know if I have that kind of resilience, but I did learn something new about the field, which is what this project is all about. I always knew it was hard to be a writer. But I honestly had no idea it was that hard. Part of the reason for that is because I figured, If you have talent, than no matter what, someone will eventually realize it and start paying you.

Looking back on it, I guess I didn’t have to interview anyone to find that out. I could have simply gone to the box office and see how much crap is out there, in front of millions of moviegoers. For example, how come a movie like Made of Honor (2008) staring Patrick Dempsey gets to be produced, but other films like I-Robot (2004) spend ten years in a studio drawer collecting dust before they ever get produced and filmed. More than anything, I’ve learned that being a successful screenwriter is a borderline impossible task. I’m like Socrates in the way that I’m just realizing how little I know now.

Not to spoil my interviews, but I found that the successful writers out there struggle with the same type of issues that I do, and that I’m not alone. Even other aspiring writers who I’ve talked to on various forums and websites have said the same thing, sometimes it just isn’t there. Sometimes you do run out of ideas, you do run out of stuff to say. The thing is, the ability to push forward and continue writing despite that is what seems to separate the ‘aspiring’ writers from the plain old fashion writers.