How to Focus and Knock on the Right Door

by Lucy Luna - updated on January 15, 2021

As part of our ongoing Letters from Past ScreenCraft Winners series, our 2019 winner Lucy Luna shares some thoughts on her experience. For additional letters, click HERE.

Dear Writer,

I’ve been there. Staring at the screen, at the blank page, or at a finished script. The pages where I’ve put all my love and all my hopes left me wondering what else do I have to do, wondering when will it be my time?

The answer I kept getting from friends and mentors was to keep writing.

The advice I wish I got is, “Lucy, focus.”

The truth is, I wasn't focused. I was trying it all: entering all the competitions because I didn’t know which one would be 'The One’, accepting unpaid or low-paying assignments, and saying yes to the first manager who showed interest. When all our hopes and dreams rely on someone opening a door for us, well… we tend to bang loudly on all the doors looking for that someone. This takes a lot of time and energy, much more than I realized at the time.

What I know now is this; a gentle knock on the right door is louder.

I was giving up but decided to submit one last round, this time submitting only to the top 5 fellowships and contests. If the big ones didn’t want to take me, then maybe I could move on and focus on a different door.

Today, I am a 2019 ScreenCraft Fellowship recipient, and I can say that it changed my life and jump-started my career.

Get help knocking on the right door with the ScreenCraft Fellowship!

Tom, John, and Emily didn’t just take us to industry meetings but also curated a plan for each of the fellows. They worked with us in prioritizing our personal and career goals. ScreenCraft listened carefully to my aspirations. And that’s when it hit me, sometimes we are so hungry that we grab whatever comes our way without taking a second to think if that’s what our career needs.

Tom specifically worked with me on career goals and introduced me to my now-manager, Kailey Marsh. Within three months I not only had a clear career path but also landed TV and Film agents at APA, and I got staffed on my first TV Show. I’ve been meeting with production companies all over Hollywood and pitching projects to producers where a few months back it was nothing more than a dream.

I never thought that me, a Mexican writer whose English is her second language, would be a working writer in Hollywood anytime soon. So, dear writer, if you’re reading this, there are only three things I’d like to say to you: focus; be patient, and submit your work to the ScreenCraft Fellowship.

I would love to read your letter here one day.

Born in Mexico, Lucy Luna relocated to Los Angeles for film school. After winning the ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship, she signed with Kailey Marsh of Brillstein Entertainment Partners. She has also been named an HBO Fellow and has since been staffed on a network television series.