Reader Question: Did you ever keep going on a spec script even when you felt like the project would not sell?

I got an email from Lee Mathias about this post on his writing blog “The Last Reveal,” suggesting it might make a good reader question:

So, anybody out there ever write a script, and then, after seeing the latest blockbuster, conclude that the script you wrote is so far off the mark, so unimpressive by comparison, that it can’t possibly interest anyone? I’m not talking about seeing your idea done better elsewhere. I’m talking about your idea never ever being done, anywhere! And if you did, and saw it coming, why’d you keep going?

In my recollection, I believe I’ve only quit writing 2 spec scripts without them actually going to market. In both cases, I took a good honest look at what I’d written, got some feedback from my writer friends, determined pretty much what I would have to do to make the story work better, then decided given the concept and where I was with other responsibilities, it just wasn’t worth it. If pressed, I’d say that the primary reason for stopping was I didn’t have enough faith in the story concept.

On the other hand, there are two specs — one Siegel & Myers, one Burg & Myers — that were bears to write, but we got them done, and in hindsight we should not have finished them, and certainly not brought them to market because neither helped our cause, and one was actually so mediocre (we thought it was good), it hurt our reputation, at least until we landed our next gig.

I think part of the issue is that you just never know. I remember a friend was up for a gig as a development exec with a writer-producer and he asked me to read a script the producer gave him to cover. My friend thought the script sucked, but couldn’t bring himself to write negative coverage because the writer-producer had written the script. I read it. Thought it was awful. I told my friend, “Look, you can phone in the coverage and give it a respectable ‘Consider.’ Or the dude may be testing you, he knows the script stinks, and wants to see if you’ve got the spine to call a spade a spade.” My friend wrote up the coverage as honestly as he could — and, of course, didn’t end up getting the job. That script got produced. And it bombed. Good enough to get two major stars attached, but would have been better in the recycle bin.

Consider Inception. You may love it, you may hate it. But the fact is it’s a huge movie with big ideas and lots of stuff going on in it. I’m sure there are writers — in fact I recall some comments on Twitter the first few days the movie was out — who will compare what they write to Inception and be inclined never to try to pen anything ever again. I will never write anything as original and creative as that. But here’s the thing: Christopher Nolan has his stories to tell. You have your stories.

So certainly aspire to greatness. Watch the latest blockbuster or buzzworthy film knowing that you may be inspired by it — or humbled. But the only thing you can control is what you write. That’s it. Everything else is up for grabs.

Circling back to Lee’s OQ, I’m not sure anyone of us can ever know if what we write is great or not. Hopefully we’ll be lucky enough to do that and absolutely nail a story at least a few times in our lives. But I do know this: We have to give ourselves room to fail. Better to try writing a story and fail, than not trying in the first place.

GITS readers, what say ye?

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