The Rough Draft

Something rarely touched upon is how you keep afloat in this industry as a writer when the development process can be so long and drawn out.

The answer is simple, you keep as many balls in the air at one time as is humanly possible.

Now this might not seem like a smart strategy but it’s essential. You can easily spend over a year on one project and some writers have even seen it take decades to get their stories to screen (Unforgiven). Do you think they sat back and waited for the project to get made before they moved on? Hell no! They had multiple projects on the go so that as some cooled, others heated up.

So much of your time as a writer is spent waiting. You wait for the producer to get back to you with those notes, you wait for your agent to let you know how the latest spec sale is coming or if he’s got any prospects for you, you wait for the greenlight to proceed with that rough draft. If you put all of your eggs in one basket, you’ll spend more time waiting than writing and that my friends is not a good place to be in. You need to be working on more than one script at all times because the second most question asked after, “What have you got?” is “what else have you got.”

So, you ask, how do you accomplish this herculean feat of many projects while not getting bleedover onto your current work?

Simple. Understand that at any given time your work is in various stages of completion. Some is in fourth draft or polish, another might be in second draft or rough, some are little more than pitches. The key here is spin. Your fourth draft project is probably almost ready to go so you push hardest with that one. It goes into the hands of your agent or if you don’t have an agent your closest producer friends (don’t tell them your selling it yet get their opinion on the piece first, if they like it they’ll ask). If you don’t have any producer friends, hit your director friends, none of them? Get on the equery trail and start hitting all of the prodcos (small hungry ones) looking for good material, somebody will bite. Now somewhere in here you let slip that you’ve got some interest in the script that’s only in second draft stage. They’ll all ask for a quick pitch, which you give. They might also ask for a synopsis at this stage if it’s a hot idea.

Play along, if they bite, call an agent and ask what do you do next. Agents like writers who show initiative and will slide into position if it looks like they can get some of the action. Some will even do the first deal for cheap to get you a bigger deal later. My only advice here is shop around first before you call. Good agents who are guild signatories will only take 10% but there are a couple here in Canada who take 15% and are still on the guild list. These guys are the thin edge of the wedge, 10% is fair 15% is grabbing no matter what they say. Also look for an agent who can do deals in LA.

By now a couple of things should be happening, your name is getting bandied about and if your script is any good, it’s getting read. You are creating buzz, buzz is very important. Now you start working on another rough draft of the next idea in the slot. Everytime you talk to people in the industry you tell them how busy you are and what you’re working on. This shows that you’re in demand, it also shows you’re multifaceted and can work to a deadline if needs be. You accomplish this by saying, “Producer A want’s this latest draft in by (insert date approximately 2 weeks ahead of current day).” Two weeks is the standard deadline for notes though sometimes you have less. By this time people will be coming to you with stuff they want to pursue story wise. Dig in, cause now you’ve got projects in development. Make sure you can name drop but be mysterious about the project as it garners more interest and loyalty. Now will all of these so called projects get made? Probably not but the trick here is to keep working and to get paid for it. Whether or not the work sees the light of day is beside the point. Working writers write and you need many things to fall into place to get a film made. All it takes is one success and they’ll dig up everything you’ve ever done hoping to strike gold again. Just remember to always have something else to pitch in your back pocket.

Good luck and good writing.

Steve Abbott

2003 has been a tough one for the Canadian Film industry, so I don’t think I’m going too much out on a limb here in wishing it a speedy farewell.

Still, it has not been without its merits.

Someone once said that getting there was half the fun. They obviously never had to fly coach. So if getting there isn’t all that much fun, at least it’s educational. When my wife and I came to Toronto from Vancouver two years ago we weren’t really all that sure what to expect. I’m happy to say it all worked out very well in the end.

Sabot is starting get itself established and my own personal writing projects are beginning to bear fruit. My wife has quickly moved to the top of her field (as I knew she would), she’s a Construction Auditor if you’re interested and can be contacted through the DGC.

Producing in the Music industry even if it is for a video not the recording side is vastly different than film. The artists maintain far more control of their product and image (if they we’re smart enough to get a good lawyer) than even in film. Though I’m sure some studio execs would argue differently. What has been nice about working with Leslie and her management is that we’ve been able to give her exactly what she wants as far as the image she wants to show the world is concerned. I believe we’re slated for two other projects after this first one and it will be interesting to see what they bring to forefront through our combined vision.

The interesting thing here is that all of the current projects save a couple have taken months to bring to fruition. The video has been ongoing for some fifteen months, my current spec script falls in at around thirteen months and the other project we are pursuing somewhere around eight months. Normally I’d have two or three scripts floating around by this point, it definately felt weird to really only have one project up for offer and if I’m being brutally honest, I wasn’t so sure about that one project. Happily it turns out that I was wrong and my agent is right (he’s always right when he says nice things and doubly right when he doesn’t).

So as the year draws to a close Sabot is poised to reap great things in the coming year. The beauty of which is that we’re doing it outside of the current Canadian system as we said we would. In fact if things go as planned, I’ll be able to open up our slate and produce a festival piece that’ll really show of what can be achieved outside the box.

So thanks for sticking with us and cheering us on from the sidelines. Double thanks to those of you who have shouldered some of our burden and pushed along with us, you know who you are.

I hope this next year brings us all what we hope, dream and work towards, whatever that may be.

All the best.

Steve Abbott

Last Monday, I was in a position where I was merely counting out the year waiting for our new projects to start and money to once again flow into the pretty much empty coffers. Sure I was working on some outlines and hoped to maybe even start on a new screenplay before the end of the year but for the most part, it was all about marking time and not making any mistakes.

November to February is a notoriously slow time in film. Nobody’s selling because nobody is really buying, they are usually however writing. So needless to say when I received an email from a writing acquaintance asking for a meeting to pitch me an idea that was, “Right up my alley.” I was intrigued to say the least.

So we met, he introduced me to his Producer friend and then they pitched me. They pitched me a story I’d have paid them to write. Up my alley? Not only was it up my alley, it was down my street knocking at my front door with both fists! But the really beautiful thing here is that I wasn’t looking for it. I think that we forget that sometimes because we’re so focused on other goals or projects that we’re surprised when cool ones come along unbidden. It just goes to show you’re never sure where that gig is going to come from. If I hadn’t been involved in an unrelated project with my writing acquaintance and if we hadn’t chatted about this and that, he never would have put my name out there. Once you’re in a project, everybody’s contacts become available to you too because you’re already vetted to be in the club and you’ve vetted them so they now have access to everybody you know too. It’s sort of a creative mafia. Are these guys stand up? They are? Great! Because if they’re not, word gets around fast and it’s a very small industry. So word to the wise, it doesn’t pay to be a bastard (that’s what your agent is for). The only down side was that I had to pass on some other projects I really wanted to do. I did however manage to hand them off to other writers who can do the work justice.

So here I am going into the New Year with a half full slate of lucrative commercial projects that will make my bank manager blush with joy and the tax collector rub his hands with glee. I also get to write a story I’m really enthused about and I’m even going to get paid for it. Now if Jennifer Connelly would open her hotel curtains…