How important do you feel gaining feedback on you work is, and has it lead to improvement in your own work?
Is there any advice or recommendations you'd give to younger screenwriters that you yourself received early on, or wish you had received that would've improved your skills as a screenwriter or filmmaker?
I wish I had found a true champion or yoda...but i didn;t although i found some great advisors...best advice as a writer isto do two things....READ and WRITE..okay that sounds shit but here i mean voraciously consume books and articles and videos or any source about writing and see what works for you and your own voice...finding your voice as a writer sounds the usual bullshit answer you get from writers but in essence it is know thyself...and you NECER STOP LEARNING NOR ADAPTING YOUR SKILLS AS A wWRITER...ie you have to never be an anachronism and know trends and the market you are selling to as in essence as a writer you are actually a small business, a brand almost, so you need to understand how the market works...how the publishing industry works or film and thus not waste you time and effort on pursuing cul de sacs creatively or commercially...best advice received ever was from my old dad who simply said make sure you get an education as that can never be taken away from you regardless of what you choose your path to be...that and don't stick ya dick in the hoover until you are at least 18...basically simple advice is to keep learning what is a craft...learn enough and that craft can then become an art form...anyone who says it is only art and not about craft is a deluded narcissistic talentless creep as writing and certainly film making is a collaborative craft where there are no such thing as auteurs or genius directors...a genius director knows he works with a crew who can do their jobs better than he or she could but the directors job is to communicate their vision to the crew and the cast in order to attempt to create the film that exists in their head....
Do you feel screenwriting is something that can be 100% learned, or does it require say creativity, personality and passion from the writer?
It can be and should be 100% learned BUT NOT TAUGHT!! ie it takes the individual to learn how to write and how to best convey their own stories and voice...but this cannot be 100% taught as it needs the total involvement and desire of the individual to learn....i know people who are not natural writers at all but have learned to write and are very successful indeed...it is the same with music...you always need the technical basis to be correct and once you have mastered that it means you do not need to consciously think about that and thus are free to then be creative..ie only once you know the rules can you break them with abandon....BUT for any writer who feels it is their calling it is all these things that I would simply call 'soul'...same with music...there's some thrash death metal that i don;t like but i appreciate the skills involved in production but also the soul of the musicians playing ti and that can be appreciated and admired...passion and personality and creativity do shine through but ONLY if it is allowed to in that it is not hidden by not being professional or the hubris that is all too often accompanied nby those who call themselves auteurs..hubris in relying on others to actually create the film for them then they get the glory not deserved...and let's not forget that writing and film making has very low entry level requirements ie you say you';re a writer and suddenly you are...but it's like if you call yourself an artist it does not mean that you are..get a job first is better advice for some who simply do not have even a spark of course...
Do you think they key to be recognised as a screenwriter is more down to talent and the quality of your work, or more to do with connections and they people you know?
I'd love to answer positively...but i know too many utterly brilliant but unknown writers than i do well known and well paid ones!! It comes down to this one phrase that applies to writers and actors and any creatives...talent is NOT enough but it is the talent for having talent for the most part ie treating yourself respectfully as a professional so that others do too....personally i think you have to have at least some inert talent and everyone does really and it is all about communicating...but in the industry where you are a professional you do also have to know the right people...eventually...eventually as it takes perseverance too, look at JK Rowling who was rejected by so many of the publishers and how many billion is she worth (regardless of the PR spin shite that is her life story single mother etc...she was never really in any poverty ever but that doesn't give good copy or fodder for the life story and let's face it the victors write the history...)...so you have to be ready for greatness, chance favours the ready man as the saying goes but if you don't recognise these patterns and connections then more fool you, amazingly opportunistic things happen as long as you recognise them.....in a children's story about a girl called Milly Molly Mandy that i read to my four year old daughter her mother said that "good things are happening all the time as long as you keep your eyes open for them" and the sam eis true of any career in the creative industries including writer...but who you know obviously helps and the genetic lottery still exists in any creative industry...daddy say I'm a director and with my trust fund i can call myself one too etc...and as a writer it is often no good hanging out at hairdressing conventions when you shoudl be hanging out at film festivals to writing festivals if you want to meet like minded people or possible connections...BUT HERE IS THE MAIN THING...it is you who should look to help others, about connecting someone else with a useful connection...why...well it may be karmic credit but it is also the fact that give something to someone means they are way more likely to give something back to you and help you and it is far better to be nice and not a dickhead only out for themselves, looking over the shoulder of the person who is talking with you in case you see someone else more important to your own desires or career...okay, that's my personal viewpoint that hasn't got me global stardom or riches but at least I'm relatively happy about my chosen career(s)!!!
Is there any advice you'd give to screenwriters on how to gain more recognition, and the importance of networking within the industry?
Networking remarked upon above is important...it is no good writing for a dreamt audience who will never read your work...but networking as long as it is done as a transaction ie it is not just take but give and take then it can work well if you are able to leverage some of these connections but if you're too desperate it is like a date and you'll put people off...go slowly and wear protection!!
How to gain more recognition...difficult as some writers should be actively discouraged as they are ignoring advice and relying solely on their talent (I've nurtured many younger or less experienced writers who simply ignore advice on learning and developing their craft and end up in either quitting or in jobs they hate but deservedly so!! Though a few have ignored that advice and make good money but are still crap writers but like the emperors new clothes the established decision makers keep boosting their self fulfilling prophecy until they sometimes get found out..and sometimes they don;t but i won;t name names!!)...I think the bets way for early writers and established ones is to enter competitions as these are a great way of getting you r work out there to recognised readers and producers and publishers etc...i still enter competitions and having won a few now have gained actual options and commissions so these work initially...gaining an agent can be a great way to gain recognition as they do a lot of the lewg work for you BUT at 10-20% so they should and that relationship is often skewed weirdly towards the agent but writers should remember that hey employ their agents and not the other way around...i;ve left three agents in my time as in essence they are there to tie the shoelaces for contractual negotiations but as a producer i do all that anyway so why pay someone to do that...when i;ve got lawyers who i use (always good to have that buffer in negotiations of course as many british writers are the worst promoters of their own work, the worst presenters of their own work when pitching and embarrassed talking money and what they are worth etc...)...in essence again it is about doing the research in to the market and what competitions may be useful and even looking at which companies are producing the types of movies you write or which directors would like what you write etc etc...being focussed rather than throwing the pages out to the wind in the ridiculous hope that someone will find one of these pages and love it, so respect what you do and apply accordingly....BUT THIS IS ALL POINTLESS IF YOU ARE A WANNABE WRITER AND DON;T EVEN WRITE...WRITERS WRITE, PERIOD. So you need a body of work as you do all this too of course and you need to be open to developing your craft and finding your voice and always be learning...failing that, go get a job slicing bread in Greggs and be happy..;-)
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