Over the weekend, I printed out copies of The Script and got them into the mail to my Trusted Friends. While I was going through the process of punching, fastening, and packaging said copies for shipping, I had a pleasant sensation wash over me.
Pride.
Not in the Seven Deadly Sins context, but the pride of accomplishment, of having created Something. There before me was 115 pages of typed manuscript relating a story that I felt worth telling, and hopefully told well. Even if it did turn out to be utter crap, it was something. If someone asks what I did (outside of work), I can now say ‘I’ve written a screenplay’ rather than ‘I’m writing a screenplay.’
The difference is enormous, at least to me. Here in Southern California you can’t throw a stick into a restaurant without hitting a waiter or waitress that is ‘writing a screenplay.’ Everyone seems to be writing something, or at least talking about writing something. It’s hard to tell who has actually put pen to paper and started on the next ‘Citizen Kane,’ much less finished it.
Assuming for a moment that The Script isn’t complete garbage, and I can salvage something out of it from the ravaging I’m expecting from my Trusted Friends (hope for the best, plan for the worst), there is still a long road ahead of me before I can start flogging it for sale, which must be done at some point if one actually wants to make a living as a writer.
As I travel that road, I’m sure there will be several more posts about Fear and being Terrified and the like, but surely more posts about success and good vibes and things going well in general along the way, like today’s.
We’ll see.
~James
PS – if anyone has anything in particular they’d like to know or have a question they think I might have some insight on, please ask in the comments. Even if you have an observation you’d like to make, I’d love to hear it.
James G. Glass 
First, congratulations. I know the feeling of accomplishment. It’s a great feeling. Maybe it’ll even turn out to be great, but many first screenplays are not. I’m only saying this because of your line:
“there is still a long road ahead of me before I can start flogging it for sale, which must be done at some point if one actually wants to make a living as a writer. ”
The assumption that one’s first screenplay must be flogged for sale, at some point, might be a little unrealistic. My first screenplay was crap; ever imagining attempting to sell the thing seems ludicrous to me. Granted, it happens. Some people write a great first screenplay, but it’s the rare exception. Most first screenplays are relegated to being learning experiences. I’m just saying, the first one doesn’t have to sell, in order to make a living as a writer. Whatever happens with it, it’s a step in the right direction, though. So, congratulations.
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Thank you very much for the reply. I agree the first doesn’t need to be sold, but I do think it needs to go out on the market at some point like any of our work if our goal is to sell, unless it is totally irredeemable. I do hold that out as an option, which is why I have Trusted Friends giving it the once over.
An early draft (too early of a draft, in hindsight) had been sent out to a contact I had made in the industry, and that didn’t go well at all, other than getting some valuable feedback on what needed to be changed. That experience might be the single biggest reason why I waited so long to dig The Script out and start working on it again.
Again, I thank you for taking the time to comment and your congratulations.
~James
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