Eddie and Aaron

Easily the most common question I am asked is, “How do I get an agent?” The reality is agents are looking for things they can sell now. So, simply, the best way of getting an agent (and a good one) is by writing an exceptional script. There are tons of writers out there, many with good connections, trying to get people to read their screenplays. Most of these screenplays, quite frankly, are poor. Some are mediocre. Few are actually professional and well-written. Very, very few are exceptional. The harsh reality is it is hard to get attention from agents, producers and executives unless you have an exceptionally good screenplay. So, then, the question becomes, “how do I write an exceptional screenplay?”

Here are three approaches to writing that I think can help enhance your chances.

1. Study great movies and screenplays. This does not mean watching a movie with the lights out and a bowl of popcorn. Bring out a note pad and pen, and outline the movie as you watch it, especially if you are planning on writing a script in the same genre.

• List the scenes, examine how the story was constructed.
• Ask yourself how the screenwriter built tension and suspense.
• What’s the inciting incident?
• What is the purpose of each and every scene?
• What are the obstacles?
• What big decisions did the hero make?
• Listen to the director’s commentary.
• Take notes. Read multiple reviews (and essays if they exist) about the film.

When Ed Burns is writing a new script, this is what he practices. If he is working on a Western, he literally will watch 15-20 of the best Westerns ever made, studying every detail until he is a master of the genre.

Of course, I also recommend reading some of the most popular books on screenwriting and writing in general. STORY by Robert McKee, THE SCREENWRITER’S WORKBOOK by Syd Field, and SAVE THE CAT by Blake Snyder (which I am reading now, and is very good in advising how to write material that sells), are just a few that come to mind. But they all provide the vocabulary you need to understand the basic rules of screenplay writing.

2. Schedule Time to Write. A problem I often hear from aspiring writers is, “I simply don’t have time to write.” You need to make time. How? Consider the following three people, each of whom wants to lose 15 pounds in the next 6 months.

• The first person says he is going to lose the weight by “exercising more.”
• The second person says he will shed the 15 by “working out 4 times a week, for an hour each time.”
• The third person schedules his workouts Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 8am to 9am and Saturday from 3-4 pm.

Who is most likely to lose the 15 pounds? My money of course is on the third guy. You need to schedule things. Virtually all writers I speak with don’t wait for divine inspiration to push them off the couch and plop them behind their lap top, now eager to type. They treat writing like a job, shut off the inner critic and get words on paper. So, my recommendation is every Sunday (or whenever you look through your calendar), you write into your schedule specific blocks of time that you are writing. Treat it like a meeting or an appointment (by the way, this could also help you lose that 15 if you are so inclined). Good books on the process of writing are BIRD BY BIRD by Anne Lamott and A WRITER’S TIME by Kenneth Atchity.

3. The 15th draft. I attended the Savannah Film Festival recently and David Benioff, who wrote TROY, THE 25TH HOUR (novel and screenplay), and THE KITE RUNNER among many others, was being honored and he spoke about the challenges adapting the book THE KITE RUNNER. He mentioned that he wrote “14 drafts” of it. Keep that in mind. I also was watching a terrific retrospective on the late Sydney Pollack, and they had an excerpt from his former producing partner, the late Anthony Minghella (THE ENGLISH PATIENT, COLD MOUNTAIN), who spoke about writing 20 drafts of THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. These are two top writers, both experienced and talented, who adapted wonderful literature where characters and plot have in some respects been worked out, and wrote 14 and 20 drafts respectively. What about M. Night Shyamalan, who wrote 15 drafts of THE SIXTH SENSE? On the 6th draft he figured out that Bruce Willis’ character was actually dead…..

How many drafts are you writing on your script? The trite but true adage “there is no such thing as writing, just rewriting,” applies more than ever to screenwriting. You need to be incredibly disciplined about perfecting and improving your work. Especially, especially before showing it to anyone in the industry. Believe me, people hate reading. And you only get one shot with them. This applies to professional screenwriters as well. Ed and I are extremely hard on our screenplays. We like to loosely quote those Paul Masson wine ads with Orson Welles, that we, “sell no script before it’s time.” If you don’t believe your script is there, don’t use your limited capital to test the waters with professionals. Give them the script when you truly believe it is excellent. Use your writing group and trusted friends as critics when you are honing the script.

So, when approaching your next screenplay, you should study films and good screenplay writing, schedule time to write every week, and push yourself to rewrite and hone and improve your script. It will get better. You should also know what I’ll call….

4. The bad news. In a job interview I had many years ago, the interviewer said to me, “Dude, you don’t want this job.” I realized later on in life, that’s a common refrain. Employers only want people who are hungry, who are not scared away by daunting odds and an enormous workload. Anyone who is discouraged by the phrase, “Dude you don’t want this job” simply is not cut out for the job. The same goes for screenwriting. Even successful screenwriters with screen credits, sometimes go years without making a sale. Literally. No money. I have seen it, and I caution you that this is the reality of the business. So, a question to ask yourself is “do I love writing or do I want to have written?” People who actually love writing (present tense) have an incredible advantage over those who simply like the idea of being a writer, of having written something. You know why? Because those who love writing…. write, and write and write. They may get discouraged when something doesn’t sell, or even fail to resonate with their friends, but they fall in love with their next script. If they have a job, they write on weekends and in the mornings and at night. So, consider which person you are. If you truly love writing (and this doesn’t mean that writing is not hard), you will figure out how to make it work for you. If not….there’s always producing.

-Eddie Burns & Aaron Lubin

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