So This is What "Pro" Feels Like
Saturday, February 2, 2008 at 09:45 I can tell my screenwriting career has reached a new level. In the span of a single week, I was rejected by an agent; received a fund-raising strategy from a producer I'm working with; read through a pile of submissions for DreamAgo's Plume & Pellicule; was told by a French screenwriter that a translation I did for her landed her a spot in a London workshop; and have started writing a minimum of a page of new materials a day.
The agent was part of my strategy to reach out to London. Unfortunately, she suggested I look for an agent in the US. I will keep looking--in both places.
The producer is someone I've teamed up with to create an original TV or possibly Internet series. I can't talk much about this project, other than to say it's very exciting.
The submissions are part of my duties as a team member at DreamAgo's screenwriting workshop in Switzerland. We receive submissions in English, French, and Spanish. As a native English speaker, it has fallen to me to compile the judges' notes into cohesive feedback for the screenwriters. Results should be announced around March 1st. I think I'm as nervous as the writers!
The translation was more than a matter of language. I helped my client transform her French CV and synopsis into an Anglo-Saxon sales document (in France, tooting your own horn--and sometimes a simple show of confidence--is seen as crass). She was unaware of these differences and believes that my translation gave her the edge she needed.
The page-a-day is a way to keep myself writing even while taking care of all the other business of making a living and being a screenwriter. I don't care if my page is prose or a screenplay scene. I don't care if it's good, bad, or downright awful. I care that I do it. I'd had a long day yesterday and craved nothing more than a relaxing bath and sleep. I couldn't bear the thought of passing up on the bath to write my page, and I didn't think I could stay awake long enough to do both. The solution? I sharpened a pencil and wrote my page in the tub. Huzzah!
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Reader Comments (1)
You're a wonderful multitasker, congratulations on everything (except the rejection, that's their loss;)