Yesterday Scott Myers over at Go Into The Story had some great advice for aspiring writers about how to work at breaking in after writing their first spec script:
My suggestion to you is this: Focus on the writing. There are various theories - to which I generally subscribe - that a writer has to write x amount of scripts / x amount of words or spend x amount of hours writing in order to really learn the craft. The time you spend worrying about how to get your script to Hollywood is time you could be writing.
So three things: Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. That should be your focus for the next several years. Because if you're not ready to work in Hollywood as a screenwriter, then it doesn't matter who you get to read your script: You won't sell it.
Check out the rest here.
While over there, I ran across another article he posted about this year's box office, quoting the LA Times:
Despite a recession that has led to drops in nearly every category of consumer spending, box-office revenue is up 8.6% so far this year in the U.S. and Canada and is certain to ultimately top $10 billion, an all-time record. Unlike in many previous years, the increase isn't being driven by rising ticket prices alone. Attendance is up 4.5% over 2008, according to Hollywood.com Box Office.
[...]
But the big story at the box office is that audiences aren't only rediscovering movies, they're seeing a broader group of them. This year's haul is not being driven by a handful of mega-hits. 2008's No. 1 movie, "The Dark Knight," grossed $533.3 million domestically, compared with $402.1 million for this year's top performer, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." 2009 has seen an unusually high number of big but not blockbuster hits that grossed between $150 million and $300 million, such as "Star Trek," "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" and "Fast and Furious."
Afterwards, Scott offers his thoughts:
Let's review those numbers: Number of movies released down 14%. Box office revenues up 8.6%. Attendance up 4.5%. So wait a minute. This is literally a case of less being more.
Interesting stuff to ponder. You can find the LA Times article here and Scott's analysis here.
