These Are the Mistakes New Writers Tend to Make

Screenwriter Corey Mandell recently sat down for a conversation at Film Courage, where he talked about the mistakes that he most consistently sees new writers make. It’s a fascinating conversation with a lot of great points.

Let’s talk about a few of them, and also one or two of my own points that I’ll try to articulate as well as him.

Writing Without Individuality
This is a great one, but it’s also a tough pill for writers to swallow depending on when in their journey they first hear it. You can be the most talented writer in the world. A master of structure, character growth, naturalistic dialogue, building of suspense, the whole nine yards. However, what separates the good scripts like these from the great ones is the sense that the writer is writing a story in a way that only they could do. We’ve always heard that writing needs to feel personal to you. That’s absolutely true, and you’d be surprised how much heavy lifting this does when it comes to someone wanting to get to know you and to get familiar with your work.

Writing Only With the Intent to Sell
This one kind of goes hand in hand with writing with individuality. A lot of really great writers will start to seek out what’s trending, or what’s selling like hot cakes right now as a way to get their foot in the door. It may seem like a smart advance on the “one for them, one for me” sort of mentality that many artists have adopted over their career.

The secret trap that this creates is sometimes the loss of that individuality we already talked about. The relationship that a writer has with reps, or producers, or anyone that can make their career happen in the industry depends so heavily on timing. You could have the most sellable script in the world, but if the timing isn’t right, you’re still going to get passed on. This is why it’s still important to remain true to your own interests while working. Even if it’s the most unsellable script known to man, if it’s something truly substantive that the right people read, the more interested they will be in your future career, and being proactive about following up with you if the time is right for something else.

To read the full article on nofilmschool.com, click here