JOIN THE CHORUS

I had a Twitter exchange recently with aspiring screenwriter Lauren Jefferson (@laurjeff). I don’t know her, sans what seems like an affiliation with a rather notorious Carson Reeves (ScriptShadow). Our exchange centered on the role social media plays in the success and failure of amateur screenwriters.

First, writers are introverts. We have to be completely comfortable -- nay, enthralled by -- sitting alone for hours at a time preoccupied with only our racing minds and the (hopefully) flowing words on a page. We turn off the world around us to allow the characters of our stories to steer our conscience. I, as I’m sure many others, have often wrestled with taking my conscience back at the end of the day while trying to have a meaningful pre-bedtime conversation with the wife. Not easy to do.

Second, writers are psychologists. We have to understand why people make decisions. In both our own lives and in the lives of our characters, we’re faced with the selfish needs of humanity. Our characters’ wants become their fatal flaws, the basic building blocks of conflict. We literally create their failure, often gifting them with a lack of humility so by page seventy-five they can finally see the error of their ways and climax in glorious catharsis.

Writers = Introverted Psychologists who question their every word.

We’re the antithesis of social media. We hide from it. Cower behind our computer screens knowing we’re not yet good enough, not ready to show the world our work, not up-to par with the know-it-alls blasting their praise across the interwebs.

Well, as I discussed with Lauren, I think that needs to change.

I’m the first to encourage discretion.  However, there’s a difference between discretion and silence. The world is changing. Conversations that once took place in a bar on Cahuenga are now rampant over the internet. Just see how many people in a crowded public location are typing into their phones versus communicating with living beings mere steps away. Agree with this change or not, it’s happening and anybody looking to find success anywhere needs to embrace, accept, and assimilate.

Sounds rather dictatorial, yes, but so is every other instructional toolset for success. The key here is to be open and vulnerable to the online you. Just like freshman year’s spring production of Anything Goes, you have to start in the chorus where only your parents and friends pay any attention to you. But just like you did in the back of the fifth row on the left, you give it everything you’ve got as if the world is watching. The hope is that someday, somebody notices and they cast you as Curly McClain in Oklahoma the following year.

No?

Just me?

…

So, what’s the formula?

Nobody knows.  Believe it or not, social media is still within its infancy and open for screenwriters to explore at the ground floor.  But perhaps there is a simple model worth following, likened to the flashy world of posting a photo to Instagram:

TAKE POST/UPDATE/BLOG ENTRY – write it.

FOCUS – support it with a goal and/or target audience.

APPLY HUMILITY FILTER – does it sound like you’re bragging? If so, edit it.

APPLY CONFIDENCE BOOSTER – does it sound like you’re desperate? If so, edit it.

ADD SATURATION – brag a little bit.

PASS SPOUSE/ROOMATE TEST (OPTIONAL) – “Do I look fat in this picture?”

POST

REPEAT – not too often, and weekly (at most) about what you cooked for breakfast.

How do you use social media professionally vs. personally?

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Also see: 25 Twitter Accounts All Screenwriters Should Follow on Twitter