Sometimes Less is Less

I couldn't wait another year to find out what happened in the third series of Game of Thrones. I went back to the original source and read the third book in the series, Storm of Swords. George R.R. Martin's book is over 1,000 pages long in paperback. I read it all as fast as I could to find out what happened. All of the books in the series have been long. They have to be to cover the sprawling story set mainly in the land of Westeros, covering many different stories and characters. I devoured every page, and when I got to the end I wanted more. That's the mark of a great story teller working with a great story. In general, publishers, producers, and even poetry editors prefer shorter pieces. They don't cost as much to publish or produce. They also believe that the audience's attention span shrinks every year, and in order to find an audience their content must be shorter. In some cases, telling more details can make your story better. The books in the Game of Thrones series proves that's not the case (I know the overall series is called, "A Song of Fire and Ice" I just call it "Game of Thrones" because I first came to it through the HBO series, not the novels). In the right hands a long story can be even more commercially successful than a short story. It's a truism that less is more. Even if that's generally true, it's not true all the time. Sometimes, less isn't more, less is less -- making a story shorter can sometimes lose its heart. How do you know? Trust your instinct. You've spent more time with the material than anyone else. What do you think? Ask the opinion of one or two trusted readers (or viewers if it's a video). Are there parts of the story they think you should cut? If you think your story works better at length, keep it. Don't cut just because someone said "less is more." Should you make cuts if your publisher or producer requests it? I'll address that in a future post.

Screenplays

Screenwriters make a lot of money. According to the current Writer's Guild agreement, the minimum for an original screenplay for a high end theatrical film is $122,000. Of course, that's the minimum. An established screenwriter, or a hot script from a newcomer, can net an author much, much more. $1 million for a screenplay used to be news; it's not any more. Screenplays are short -- one rule of thumb allows one minute of screen time for each page, so a two hour movie can be told in only 120 pages. And those pages aren't covered with dense prose. There's lots of white space for dialogue and shot descriptions such as "Int. Joe's shack on the St. John's River. Evening" that don't appear to take a great deal of creative brain space. So screenplays are short and pay a lot of money. Why aren't more people writing them? Actually, there are a lot of people writing screenplays -- but most of them aren't making money. I've read some estimates that only 5% of the Writer's Guild members can support themselves on screenplays. Most of them have to work other jobs to live. That's not unusal for performing unions. The vast majority of members of the Screen Actor's Guild, Actor's Equity, the Dramatist's Guild, etc,. don't make their living from their art. So if you want to make a living writing screenplays, what should you do? First -- move to Los Angeles. That's still the center of the film industry. Make connections with production executives, directors, agents, actors and other players in the film industry. I'm assuming you don't have other connections in the business. The most important thing is to make connections and find an agent, so that the screenplays you write will be read. You can't do that sitting at home. You might protest that William Goldman, who is one of my writing heroes, didn't move to LA. He got all his screenwriting jobs while living in New York. That is correct. But Goldman was already a successful novelist and Broadway script doctor before he sold his first screenplay. He had an agent. If you're a successful novelist, get your agent to sell your book to a studio with the stipulation that you write the screenplay. For the rest of us, making the right connections remain the key. If you can't move to Los Angeles, then at least get an agent who will represent your work in LA. How do you get an agent? See my previous posts. But essentially, it will help immensely to get a connection to an agent and not submit blindly. They receive a lot of material, and a recommendation from a connection will help get your script to the top of their pile. There's another option: Make the movie yourself. That approach worked wonderfully for "Paranormal Activity" and "The Blair Witch Project." It has never been cheaper or easier to make a quality film. If you don't know how, partner with someone from your local film school or production company. You can even distribute the movie on the internet. You may lose money on this first effort. However, you will show the worlde that you can write a screenplay and make a movie. Assuming the movie is good, you'll have an easier time making the next one.

Words from Michael Jordan

The Olympics are over. Most people in TV and film are taking vacation before the fall season starts. Fall films, full of adult situations and deep meanings will start airing in September, after studios clear out the last of their action films, like The Expendables 2. Now is a good time for you to assess your projects. Are they ready to pitch? What work remains to be done? Have you set aside time in your day devoted to creating content so you can continually improve your work? There are four and a half months left before the end of the year. Plan to finish a project a month until the end of the year, and you'll have four projects to pitch starting in January. You may not do everything perfectly the first time. No one does. Keep going. To encourage you I leave you with some words from Michael Jordan, two time Olympic gold medal winner and still considered by many to be the greatest basketball player in history: “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” - Michael Jordan, gold medalist in basketball in 1992 and 1984

Content worth $1 billion

As they say in the movie "The Social Network,"$1 million isn't cool. $1 billion is cool." NBC announced before the Olympics began that they sold $1 billion worth of advertising for their Olympic coverage but they expected to lose $150 million because of the cost of coverage. Today, they said higher than expected ratings (20% more than the Beijing Olympics)means they will probably break even. Would you like your content to be worth $1 billion? What if you had to spend $1 billion to get the value from it? So if you have to spend $1 billion and not make any money on the Olympics, why televise them? As a network programmer, I can tell you that if NBC breaks even on the Olympics they're getting a great deal. Olympic ratings for the NBC network are in the 20s -- far above NBC's regular prime time ratings. Ratings jumps on CNBC, MSNBC, and the NBC Sports network provide a promotional and advertising platform that will drive business to these networks for the rest of the year. The Olympics are an unparalled opportunity to promote network programs. How many times have you seen Mathew Perry's face during commercial breaks? How much money would it cost NBC to get that many eyeballs if they didn't have the Olympics on? NBC is a billion dollar media company, owned by a cable company worth multi-billions. It makes sense for them to spend $1 billion to own the airwaves for two weeks. But you don't have to be a big media company to create content worth $1 billion. When JK Rowling was on the dole in England, wheeling the pram with her baby to the coffee shop so she could write the first Harry Potter book, she probably didn't think it would be a $1 billion idea. Yet it was. The difference is that the Olympics are an established property -- the multiple story lines, the world class athletes, heir 100 year history, ratings success -- all make them worth the money. It makes sense for media companies to pay $1 billion for it in rights and production. But JK Rowling's story shows that you can create your own $1 billion content, if you have the right idea and execute it properly. So keep working. Even if your idea isn't worth $1 billion, you can make a good living on $1 million.