Screenwriting : How much "talking" do you have to do as a screenwriter? by Victor Titimas

Victor Titimas Victor, there are coaches who offer "media training" and there's also Toastmasters. These are skills that will help you. Give yourself a gift . . . get coaching.

Tell a [clean] joke in the grocery checkout line. Open a conversation with a person at a bus stop. Call a friend from 10 years ago. Ask a neighbor questions about themselves and talk for 15 minutes. Reach out and open a conversation with at least two new people a day. Train yourself to be friendly, outgoing, and interesting. Everyone has some type of interesting things about them - find yours. Even better, find out what's interesting about other people. Use it, leverage it to open up your shyness.

Write books.

As a producer/director and a writer, I've been on both sides. Wes Craven once said that you're always your own best agent. You absolutely have to be able to pitch in person. And, please know that wherever you are - at a diner. a restaurant, a movie theater, a film festival, other networking events - you are always in essence, pitching. Anytime you talk about your project you must be passionate and on point. You never know who's listening. If you are socially inept at this (and I am speaking in the abstract) you have to get better at it. Even on the Indie level, if someone is willing to pay you to write a script there will be script meetings and other events you will need to be vocal at. Also, I always encourage writers to learn the craft of producing, so they can get in the conversation.

On the other side (not pitching), once you've gotten some interest, the next thing the producer will want to determine is: can they work with you? Do they want to? This assumes that you haven't sold the script as a one-off, and they've told you to walk away (more or less in those words). Very rarely does this (outright sale) happen - most of the time you'll have an ongoing relationship with the producer. Getting back to the question (working with you): yes, this involves talking, sometimes a lot of it, always the getting-to-know-you type of conversations. That's the reality, so it's going to be needful to be somewhat of a chatty cathy. Too, 90% of real, effective networking is done verbally, so conversational skills are a must if you intend to have a career (outside of producing all of your stuff by yourself).

Me too! My concern is that sometimes people perceive shyness as snobbish ... exactly opposite.

Take an acting class. You'll not only get the actor's side of what you write, you'll get a little more comfortable talking to strangers. I'm also shy by nature, and the first few times I talk to people I don't know I'm nervous. After a while I get to know them, and it's just talking with a friend. So I "act" when I talk with strangers - I kind of play the character of Bill (so I try to be entertaining - I have some fake pitches that work as ice breakers, etc). Once I get over that hump and I know them enough that I'm not Albert Brooks in BROADCAST NEWS anymore, I'm okay.

Weird things in this business - at some point that movie star you loved when you were first getting really into movies? You'll have meetings with them. And you'll be a spaz. And that's okay, because you won't be the first person they have met who did that. One of those movie stars became a friend of mine (he called me a couple of months ago out of the blue - weird if you think about it) and we've gone to some basketball games and hung out. Everyone is just a person.

The thing about being a shy writer is that you aren't the only one... and people in the business kind of expect you to be a little socially awkward at first. What you don't want to be is an ahole - people will be working with you over a period of time doing rewrites (etc) and you want to be the person they won't mind hanging out with. You'll be coworkers, just like at your job now.

@Dan Guardino - Not so sure I agree with that. I do know what you are getting at it, though this is a generalization. If you can't engage producers as a writer, I wouldn't work with that person. I also think quiet writers can absolutely be perceived as passive-aggressive. For me, as a writer-producer-director, I always think COMMUNICATION is key in every aspect of the business. When communication breaks down, it's not a good thing. Also, there was a writer on the third Project Greenlight - Marcus Dunstan. I know the winner of the directing competition - John Gulager. And, my friend Duane Whitaker was in the movie - "Feast" - playing the Boss Man. Lionsgate LOVED that Marcus knew how to talk the language and was a "Chatty Cathy" - he was even referred to as that on the show's finale. Check out his IMDb page, as he's had a lucrative career. Also, you can watch that season's shows on YouTube. I believe they are still there. My point, though, is that Marcus gaged the system and was quite engaging and has gone on to a wonderful career. Again, I think communication is always key.

We're all shy to some degree or another. William's acting class idea is worth looking into or maybe a course in public speaking...whatever. Think of the characters you create when writing. You give them a problem, a desire and a need. Okay, you're a screenwriter, you desire to sell your script. You need the money to feed/house your family. You see the character arc you must follow?

The commercial filmmaking world is founded on personal interactions, not on emails, letters or resumes - that's just the reality. It is vital that you come out of your shell and interact with the players. Don't, and you won't be around very long - that's just the hard core truth with no chaser. Best wishes for a successful quest.

Because the pitch is what gets them to read the script in the first place, and even if they read it and love it - it's not over. You will be doing endless rewrites with the producer and the development folks and eventually the director and the star and the director's boyfriend and maybe the director's dog walker. And you have to be pleasant to work with and work well with all of those other people. So it's good to ease yourself into being able to talk to people - acting class or public speaking class or toastmasters or just figuring out some "canned small talk" to get you over that first hump. Screenwriting isn't working alone, you are part of a big team that is making a movie.

Also - most of a screenwriter's work is assignments... adapting a novel or board game or magazine article or whatever. To get that job you read the material and then pitch your take. Which is talking to people. Performance isn't critical but being able to explain how you would adapt the material is.

Also, there's the possibility that you will be the "pitching prop" when the producer goes to studios or funding sources. On the remake of the hit 80s flick I wrote a few years back, the producer took me all over town to pitch the script and then he'd follow up pitching the film side (including Paul Rudd who was attached at one point). Like I said earlier, I'm Albert Brooks from BROADCAST NEWS in a room... so I had to figure out how to get through these things without puking on an executive. I ended up using some Hot Wheels cars (cars were part of the story) and zoomed them across the table to the exec. If he or she caught them and zoomed them back, we were just playing and I relaxed. If it went zooming off the desk, I figured nothing I could say would make them care. The place it landed (before being shelved) was Lionsgate, where the exec got into it, was friendly and fun, and put me at ease. That's usually the case - execs are "writer friendly" because they are on the other side of those endless rewrite meetings. They want you to want to work with them.

So there is talking involved, but you get used to it. I did. I hardly ever vomit on executives.

You gotta talk and sell your story, face to face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdA1VjunWww

Like many writers I'm sure, I am very shy and introverted. I mean dry mouth locked up mind shy. So when I started pitching projects, I always opted for the written pitch. But I found some of the issues the person had, were things I could have explained if given the chance for questions. So I forced myself to sign up for a video pitch. I'll say the first few were very tough and I had a hard time getting my story out. One thing I will say is all (but one) of the executives I pitched to set a very relaxed tone and made it easier. After a few stumbling pitches, I found myself finally able to just relax and tell my story. So what I want to let you know is if you keep working at it and don't give up, you can find the ability to relax and enjoy it. But don't let the first few throw you off your game. They may not go well. Just keep pushing forward! Good luck.