“Movies don’t owe anybody a living”

I’ve been quite struck by people’s response to the question raised last week here about (A) how to determine if one has writing talent and (B) how to know if it’s time to move on from writing. Reading the responses, you can feel a palpable sense of passion for the craft — and some of the answers are deeply personal.

And that’s as it should be: Passion. Personal. If the act of writing doesn’t go there, then the end result is not likely worth reading.

I heard a quote years ago. Attributed to Levon Helm, formerly the drummer for The Band, one of my favorite musical groups. Levon reportedly said, “Music don’t owe anybody a living.”

You can say that about any of the so-called ‘arts.’ And it’s certainly true about making movies. So let’s change the phrasing of that a bit.

Movies don’t owe anybody a living.

It’s a hard business to break into. It’s a hard business to stay in.

That’s why I was so, I guess you could say, impressed by the responses to the thread last week, how so many of you have figured out what I think is one of the most fundamental truths about what we do:

You have to love writing for what it is.

You may never land a contract for a gig with Warner Bros. But if you gain some insight through your writing into what makes you who you are, that’s a gift writing gives you.

You may never live in a house in the Hollywood Hills. But if your story moves your harshest critic — you — that’s a gift writing gives you.

You may never attend the premiere of a movie you wrote. But if the process of writing a screenplay brings you joy, that’s a a gift writing gives you.

So there is that… But the unalterable fact is there is also this: I sold a spec script. Check that. I was a complete Hollywood outsider and sold a spec script. Wait. I’d only written three scripts, was a complete Hollywood outsider, and sold a spec script.

Therefore, if you’ve lost that sense of the creative winds at your back… If you feel hopeless… If sitting down to write today feels like the absolute last thing you want to do… Remember the gifts that writing gives you… And the fact that if some schmuck named Myers could sell a spec script…

So. Can. You.

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