Twitter Rant: @ORachaelO on Movies as a Business

A few days ago, Rachael Prior, head of development at Big Talk Productions, went on a Twitter rant — and it truly was a rant — about the relationship of writers to the movie industry. Challenging truths for some writer types to hear, but truths nonetheless. Reprinted in its entirety by permission.

https://twitter.com/ORachaelO/status/640618897079705602

https://twitter.com/ORachaelO/status/640619146863054848

This industry is changing more rapidly than people can keep up. Making a living in any facet of the industry is HARD AS FUCK.

So if an exec doesn’t take a risk on your boundary pushing, drama, maybe it’s not because they have zero balls or oves…

Maybe it’s because they can make x movies per year & this year they need to do the ones that will ensure THEIR mortgages get paid…

So that, you know, prod co’s still exist to facilitate the making of those scripts you keep writing.

Literally 500 times for each decade we’ve worked in the industry.

Allow me to echo Rachael’s sentiments: Movies don’t owe anybody a living.

The struggle to succeed, whether writer or producer, is a significant and ongoing reality. Sometimes we get frustrated. On the whole, from time to time, it’s a good thing to acknowledge that fact.

Look at these comments in the context of Rachael’s other ‘rants’. She is deeply passionate about movies, writers, and storytelling, as all are of the other writers who work in the business who have shared their thoughts on Twitter as archived here.

If you are on Twitter, follow @ORachaelO.

For dozens of other screenwriting Twitter rants, go here.

UPDATE: I have edited this post to provide a broader context for the message.

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