Interview with
Robert J. Elisberg, continued
Of what piece of writing are you most proud and why?
I think any time you finish a piece of work and it's close to what you were hoping for, you're pleased and proud. Also, the last thing you finish is so fresh in your mind, that tends to leap up, as well. If you want me to be more specific, I suppose I can single out a couple.
One is a song I wrote the lyrics for, "The Best That We Could Do." I like it because it set out to be a sad yet very romantic, hopeful -- and realistic -- love song, and I think it succeeded pretty well. It's about the end of a relationship in which no one is really at fault, but that things end, and how such an end can still be filled with both hurt and good feelings. At the time, I'd had a bunch of friends who'd gone through divorces, after seemingly-wonderful marriages. But for whatever reason, they all fell apart. I wanted to write something that dealt with that. The chorus has a line, "Two different stories, and both of them were true. / We did the best that we could do." Overall, the entire song trod a fine line of conflicting emotions and I think it handled things close to the way I hoped.
I also am pleased with the screenplay I just finished a few weeks ago. Partly because it's most recent, but also because I wanted to try something a bit different from my other scripts. The others have been pretty straightforward comedies. This, though, was something that would cover a whole lot of divergent areas, including both comedy and serious drama. It's about family, religion, relationships, philosophy, and while it is at heart an outgoing comedy -- at one point it turns very serious...and stays serious the rest of the way, yet returns to comedy at the same time and balances the two. I knew that this had a chance of being either very interesting and good, or a huge, well-intentioned, horrific mess. I felt like I was on a tight-rope the whole way. After a few drafts and helpful comments from some folks who I gave the early drafts to, I not only think it came relatively close to what I was hoping, but the professional reaction thus far has been the strongest of anything I've written. As I write this, there is a producer team attached, and it's at a couple studios. There's a long road ahead, but at least there's a road.
Now, whether those are cases of actually being proud of the writing or just simply pleased, it's a bit hard to say. On the other hand, if you're not just talking about professional writing, there is some personal writing I am proud of: two speeches I wrote for my parents' 40th and 50th wedding anniversaries, and also sadly some condolence letters. I'm proud of those not because of any personal interests, but because of how they spoke (I think and hope) to others close to me at times of importance.
You've sold and optioned scripts that haven't yet been produced. Can you give us any insight as to why some scripts travel such a long road to a
greenlight, while others are fast-tracked?
First of all, very few scripts are "fast-tracked." In fact, very few scripts get made, period, whether fast or slow. In fact, few scripts get optioned. So you must recognize that the proper question is not "Why does it take so long?", but rather, "Why does anything get made in the first place?!!"
The easiest answer for an executive to give is "No." There's not all that much risk involved. More to the point of your question though is that things get passed on (a polite term for 'rejected') for many reasons, only one of which is quality. That's something that most beginning writers don't realize.
Certainly, if a script isn't any good, it'll get rejected. But a great script can get rejected, too -- even if the people rejected it know that it's great. People will only buy material that they're looking for. If you write a wonderful romantic comedy, but the company you've submitted it to is only looking for a science fiction thriller, it doesn't matter how good your romantic comedy is. (Think of it as if you made sweaters, and they're the greatest sweaters in the world. And you walk into a shoe store to sell them. It doesn't matter how great your sweaters are. You're not going to sell them to someone who's only looking to sell shoes.)
The thing is, it isn't enough for someone to like your script. They have to be looking for your kind of script, they have to think they can interest "bankable" actors into wanting to do it, they have to think they can raise (or justify spending) the many millions of dollars to make it, they have to think they can successfully market and sell it, and it has to fit into a release schedule. And they have to think it will make a significant profit to justify all their time and effort.
(When people say that show business is as much about business as it is about show, they really and truly mean it. Decisions made are business decisions.)
Scripts get bought and movies made, generally, because of enthusiasm. People can't just like your script. Even loving it isn't enough. They have to absolutely love it so much that they are willing to devote maybe two or three years of their life to making it. And they have to keep up that enthusiasm that entire time so that they can convince others to have the same enthusiasm -- all the while making sure that the enthusiasm doesn't ever wane. And as the enthusiasm builds and builds, it's like a train leaving the station where you hope people will jump on because they don't want the train to leave without them. And if you can get that to happen, and answer all the question marks I explained above in the positive and keep that enthusiasm going for years...and in the meantime, actors drop in and out, and studio executives leave, and the public interest in movies they want to see changes all the time, and all manner of other factors keep changing...and in the end, if you can keep everything together, then maybe you'll have an outside chance to get something optioned. And then bought. And made. Maybe.
As I said, the question is why anything gets made in the first place. It's a very hard profession.
Do you see any evidence that the Internet will help unknown screenwriters reach the "right" people in Hollywood?
No.
I was thinking of leaving my answer at that, because a simple "No" is the kind of blunt, cold-water-in-the-face answer that is needed. But since some people may read that simple answer and get all huffy and skip past it, perhaps an explanation is needed for these people.
The answer is "No" not because of what rare, bizarre exceptions "can" happen -- and it's not because 99.99% of the scripts won't be good enough and the remaining .01% have to find their way through the mass of sludge -- it's because that's not the way the film or television industry works.
There is only a finite number of TV hours that have to be filled, and only a relatively limited number of feature films that will get funded (because it costs many tens of millions of dollars to make and market). There are about 8,000 members of the Writers Guild of America. Probably only 1/3 of them are working regularly. That means, for starters, anyone hoping to break in is not only competing against those writers who already have ALL the jobs, but also competing against 2/3 of the members of the WGA who are already professional and already have agents and personal contacts with the studios and production companies and are trying to break through the doors themselves.
And this doesn't take into consideration the tens of thousands aspiring writers already living in Los Angeles trying to break in. And the thousands being added to that every year who keep barreling into Hollywood.
Piles and piles and piles of scripts are on executives' desks every single day -- the piles never getting smaller -- and these are generally scripts from already-professional writers whose works the executives know and trust. Combine that, now, with the answer I gave previously about how difficult it is just to get a script into those unmanageable piles for even the successful professional writers. Then, mix in the reality that intensely-pressured executives (if they're going to invest their own time, risk their name and careers, and get a company to invest so much money in a film or TV product ) are reasonably going to want to work with people they know, whose previous work they both know and like. It takes a long, slow process of building a work base and meeting with people face-to-face and following up relentlessly and writing and re-writing and then re-writing some more based on those meetings to even start to get to the point where your work will get considered.
This is how business decisions are made. Not just in Hollywood, but in any business anywhere in the world. And it's not necessarily wrong. People simply don't make huge, expensive, career-risking, high-pressure decisions because of unsolicited e-mail they received from someone they don't know who probably has never even worked in the profession.
(And it's probably worse in Hollywood because of the money involved and tenuous nature of the beast. A successful friend of mine has a story being developed at a studio right now. They keep asking for changes and more changes -- and haven't paid a dime for it -- and this has been going on for five months already, through meeting after meeting after meeting. This is for a successful writer who is just trying to get a studio to simply commit to going to the stage where they'll pay for the first draft of a script they already like. Another successful writer friend had a studio make him take two years rewriting his script to their repeated requested changes -- without pay; and then a new producer eventually came in and went back to his very first draft, which is the version that was shot!)
Will there be exceptions? Absolutely. There are exceptions in every phase of life. But we're not talking about whether something can happen, we're talking about someone risking all their money on the chance that they'll win the $20 million lottery.
There will always be people offering riches and shortcuts, and others who are willing to pay or use up their valuable time for being told where the mythical magic beans are buried. But for the most part in life the only people getting rich on the shortcuts are those who offer them. The thing is that there are few shortcuts in the real world. If one wants to be a professional writer, it can be done. But it must be pursued professionally. It takes a huge personal investment and that's how one stands an outside chance of succeeding.
P.S. Amazingly, as I finished writing this, I swear to the heavens that just received e-mail from the editor of the Writers Guild of America website, on which I serve as a contributing editor. His note mentioned that in the next March, 2000 issue of Premiere magazine there is an article about writing resources on the Internet. The story includes the following mention of the WGA site: "But before coughing up next month's rent to have their screenplays 'analyzed,' writers would do well to check such free resources as the Writers Guild of America's website
(www.wga.org)..." This doesn't precisely deal with your question, but it's a powerfully close cousin.
You write for several magazines and newspapers. How have you developed relationships with editors?
A few. Not many. They not only change periodically, but I don't write enough for such publications to keep in the close contact needed. And that's what is required to develop close relationships -- taking the time to stay in touch. It's not a difficult concept, it simply takes effort. The few that I do have relationships with are those that I wrote, queried, sent articles to, sold, and kept writing to, if only to say "hello."
Any tips for querying?
Spend almost as much time making your query letter as good as you spend on the article. You have to show your professionalism right away, as well as show the quality of your writing. Keep the letter as brief as possible, and get to the point right away. Also, importantly, try to figure out why the magazine should want to publish your article and explain the reasons. The fact that it might be a good article is not enough -- the publication probably gets lots of good articles. There has to be a reason why your good article is the one for them -- and they should be told why and not have to try to figure it out for themselves.
And check for typos. Someone once wrote me asking for advice on submitting a script to a TV show. They spelled the name of the TV show wrong! I explained to them that even if their script was brilliant, if it was submitted to the show with a cover letter that had the title of the series spelled wrong, the script would get returned un-read. The same is true for a query to a magazine or newspaper. In dealing with the big issues...don't forget the little ones.
How do you handle time management?
Um, hmmm. Well...I think the answer is, "it depends." If I'm not currently actively working on some material...how do I put this?...I appreciate my free time. Some of that is letting my subconscious work on ideas. Some of it is relaxation. And some is pure laziness. Even still, I always spend a lot of the day at the computer keyboard -- so even when I'm not working, there's still some writing process going on.
However, when I am working on a project, time management isn't even a concern. I really love writing, so I dive in. I don't love coming up with the idea of what I want to write next, but once I do I can lose all track of time. I can't wait to get back to the keyboard and bury myself in it. If it's a case of people giving me an assignment, they'll ask when I can get it to them -- my response is always the same: "When do you need it?" If they need it in three days, then that's when they'll get it. Usually, I can beat the deadlines, as well -- which thrills people to no end.
(Here's a tip: once in a while, agree to a deadline beyond when you know you'll easily be able to keep it. When you, then, do beat the deadline, you will be viewed as a hero and national treasure. Don't do this too often, though, because then people expect you always to beat deadlines and, even if you can do it and should try to do it, it's an unreasonable expectation for people to have for you.)
On the other hand, if what I'm working on is a personal piece of writing with no deadline, I tend to set an "emotional" deadline, when I'd love to have it finished by. However, sometimes my "emotional" deadline is even more ethereal than that -- as I write the piece, I simply can't wait to get to the end, so that pushes me on.
But make no mistake -- if there's no current project, I'm very good at enjoying my free time. But I guess the way I deal with it is keeping lists of work I both should get to and want to get to. I always know in the middle of my mind that it's all part of an ongoing process, even if I'm not actively working on something at that very moment. I'll keep my notes and projects close at hand, so that I never lose sight of their existence. Eventually, either I'll know that play time is over -- or one of the ideas will leap up and grab me by lapels, begging to get written.
By the way, for the finest and funniest (and probably truest) description I have ever read about time management, I strongly suggest people check out what Phil Alden Robinson ("Field of Dreams," "All of Me") wrote, which is posted on the Writers Guild of America website. It's at
www.wga.org/craft/writers.html. His piece is second from the top and begins, "How I Write." And what the heck, while you're there, check out the entire WGA website. There's a lot of great information and help about being a writer. We even have a "Mentor Program," where you can ask WGA member mentors questions about the craft. It's at
www.wga.org/mentors.
Anything further you'd like to add?
Yes. You ask a lot of questions. (But good ones.)
Oh, okay, one other thing. A lot of the events that I described earlier which have gotten me to a new areas of work sometimes seem like lucky breaks, but they're only "lucky" if they are taken advantage of. When I was basically a secretary at Universal Studios, my boss asked if I wanted to do some additional work, though without any extra pay. I did it and for free -- and when a staff publicist job came open, he recommended me for it. Because I had by then been doing much of the work on the side for free and therefore had the experience of a staff publicist, I got hired. It was very lucky that the job came open -- but if I hadn't agreed to do the side work, that job still would have been open but I wouldn't have been hired for it, and I wouldn't have had that "lucky break." So, yes, it was lucky. But a person can help make their luck.
That's the trick.
And also, I recommend letter writing.
To read Robert's E-mail Interviews at the WGA site, click here: Craft
of Writing.
