How should I put myself out there as a screenwriter in 2022? If you follow me on social media, you know I constantly give people that advice, "just put yourself out there." Well, this week on Screenwriter's Need To Hear This, we discuss where "there" is and how to put yourself out "there."

Show Notes

Michael's Online Screenwriting Course - https://michaeljamin.com/course

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Transcriptions are Auto-Generated

Michael's Online Screenwriting Course - https://michaeljamin.com/course

Free Screenwriting Lesson - https://michaeljamin.com/free

Join My Watchlist - https://michaeljamin.com/watchlist

Transcripts are auto-generated

Michael:

You know, there's not a lot of demand. There's not a strong demand for, for poor to mediocre scripts. And I think some people think well, but that show on TV that show's terrible. Can I do that? Mine is just as bad. It's like, well, we, we can talk about why that's bad or you know how it's unfair that their bad show is on the air, but, and your a bad show, your equally bad show is not. We could talk about that, but I think your odds, it go up exponentially by doing something great. You're listening to screenwriters. Need to hear this with Michael jam.

Michael:

Hey everybody. This is Michael Jamin. And welcome back to screenwriters. Need to hear this, the podcast for screenwriters who need to hear this. And today we are talking about the title's episode is when put, when putting your work out there, where is there? Because I, I say that a lot. I say, Hey, just put your work out there. And people, one guy was like, Hey, well, we have a where's there. Where is there? Which is a fair thing to ask. And so my answer to that, Phil is anywhere, put your work out anywhere. So whatever you got going on, if you've got nothing going on, which is fine, then putting out your work out there means giving it to somebody else. You know, if you're only, if you only read person, who's read your script or you seen your project is your mom. Show it to one other person.

Michael:

Now you've doubled the number of people. And now you may think that, okay, but that's not enough. Okay. There are other things you can do. But so many people think like, you know, when you're putting your work out there, is there a website? Is there a contest? Is there someone's door stop? Is it me? I'm not the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper is not what you think it is. You know, when I first started in the business, I was just a dude who wanted to be a writer. And I teamed up with another dude who wanted to be a writer. There was nothing special about us. We didn't have connections. We were just two dudes and we were, we became friends. Right? And that's how a lot of partnerships or, you know, that's just a lot about how opportunities, not even just partnerships, it's people who are friends, just doing things together because they both have a similar goal.

Michael:

And so putting your work out there means finding people like you, because making it in Hollywood is climbing a mountain. And when you climb a mountain, you don't start at the top. You don't, you know, you don't show up to Netflix with your script. Hey, get, you know, it doesn't work that way. I mean, maybe it has for one person and, but don't kid yourself for everyone else. You have to climb your way up the mountain. That means starting at the bottom, not starting at the top. And so where do you start at the bottom? The bottom is anything more. But if you've got this going on in your life, which is nothing, then do something, which is a little more than what you have. If your neighbor's shooting something and their backyard, that's more than what you got going on. It just because they don't have the universal studios backing them doesn't mean it's not worthy of getting involved in them, you know, and whatever they're doing, because those people, people with similar interests tend to do things and they rise up and you wanna be part of that.

Michael:

A simple thing to do, a very simple thing to do is if you live in a city, go to your local film school, like how, you know, a lot of cities have, or towns have film schools. And every semester they have they usually have like film festivals, like to, to air the kids' work, their projects. And no one's going to those things be, who's gonna go to that. Like just their mom and their dad, and maybe the roommate go buy a ticket. It'll be $5. It's not gonna be much. If anything, maybe he's free. Go sit through these movies and go watch them. And at the end, mingle with the, these kids and find something nice to say, even if they're terrible, there's, I'm sure you can find something nice to say about something. Go up to the director. I love the way you lit that scene in the alley.

Michael:

Go up to the writer. I love the way you wrote that, that wonderful, the triplet, you know, in the bedroom scene. I love that. I love that. Go up to the actor. You play that so wonderful. Even if it's terrible, even if like the whole thing as a whole, isn't great. I know you can find things to like about it. And just go up to those people and say, Hey, I love what you just did. Consider myself a fan. I'm a fan of your work. Now, a young kid who hears that is gonna freak out because imagine a stranger saying that and that kid, maybe they can't collaborate with some on something now, cuz they're in film school, but they'll be at a film school in a year or two or whatever. And now you are part, you know, now you're hanging out with people who want the same thing and, and maybe you collaborate.

Michael:

Maybe you'll work together on something. Maybe you won't, maybe they'll have an opportunity to, you know, to hire you on something. But those people are gonna go up and you wanna build that base. You wanna build that circle. And that's honestly, you know, that's one of the advantages. So we have this, this, you know, screenwriting course. And one of the advantages is that we have a private Facebook group and I see the people in this FA the private Facebook group, they've gone to my course, they've learned all the lessons and now they start, they're ha they're collaborating. Some people are teamed up. Some people are they're doing table reads together. You know, they're socializing in the, and I think that's fantastic. I'm not doing, I'm not organizing any of that. They're organizing it on their own. They're having table reads. They're helping each other out, which is so smart because that tide rises, man. You, you know, they help each other out. People are already doing great things in that, in that group. Good for them. And they don't need me. I, I don't need to, you know, prod them. They're doing it on their own. These are the fact that they're doing it on their own. These are people who are, who want it, who want, who will make something happen, cuz they want it. You know? Yeah. I've always hanging out with those people.

Phil:

I've always described that group as a, as kind of, there's a barrier to entry there. And I think that, you know, you and I have talked about this too. There's a price on your course and there are a lot of people like, well, why are you charging for a course, if you, why are you giving this away? And I'm the one who pushed for the price on the course because I have experienced enough. And I've invested enough in myself in many ways in the business world and the marketing world. I continue to do this. I've paid for most screenwriting courses online because the people who will appreciate it the most are the ones who will pay for it and you're giving away important information. Yeah, but that also is important to those of us who are in that private Facebook group because all of us are showing we are committed to making this work. And that means when people are asking for notes, they're asking for help. They're asking for feedback. The value that is being shared in that group is, is extremely high. And I've been in a lot of free screenwriting groups. It's people who understand, they think about it the same way. And they're just as committed to the, to making this work and making crew out of this as I am. And as the Dave Crossman's are and the mic, everyone, everyone is,

Michael:

They got skin in the game. You gotta put skin in the game free. If it's Free's worthless and it's not worthless. So put skin in the game and that'll keep and, and, and that'll keep your, you know, motivated. , you're investing in yourself. You're gonna be motivated to make something happen. And, and yeah, so anyway, I would, that's one thing I would do. I'd go up to those film schools and start socializing with those kids. I would, if you're in a town in the middle of nowhere, I would go to your community theater, local theater, and you'll find people, actors, writers, directors, who wanna be involved, who want maybe they want to be involved in your next project that you write. They just wanna act in it. And so that's your little circle. I mean, and there's amazing things that can be done.

Michael:

Remember everyone who got like, who breaks into the business? We we're, no one's beforehand. There's nothing. It's not like we had signs over, had future success. It's, you know, we're just people. And so that's what I would do. And, and a couple of a couple weeks ago, maybe it was months ago, I don't remember, but some, some kid reached out to me from film school. He wa he was looking for an actor in his fifties to, to be in his, you know, student production. Now wasn't really interested in that. But if I were an aspiring actor, you better believe I would've said yes to that. I would've you know, yeah. I'll, I'll do that because those kids are going places and now you're building out your network. And so there's just no, like where is here? Here is anywhere. Just put it out anywhere, do whatever, you know, that that's, I mean, that's what opportunity looks like opportunity. Doesn't look like someone handing you a check opportunity, looks like you making things and doing things, you know? And, and they always, one thing leads to another. It just does, you know?

Phil:

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you've put yourself out there over the last year on social media and you. Yeah. Right. And that platform, you know, we had a podcast recently talking about, like, if you were trying to break in, what would you do? And you would do this. You would be putting yourself out on social media. Mm-Hmm podcast. I think I look at that and I think, okay, I am not a produce screenwriter. Why would I write a podcast? Why would I have a podcast about screenwriting? I don't know that I would, if I weren't here with you, because I'm very aware that there are a lot of Charlas and snakes oil salesmen, trying to get ahold of people and make them think they're an expert. And they're pretending to be something right. If you're interviewing experts, that's a different story. If you're providing value in getting access for a different way, that's a different story. But that doesn't mean you need to be putting yourself on social media as a screenwriting expert, if you are not. I think what you're saying is you should be showing everyone what you have. You should be giving it away for free. You should be putting it out there so that people can easily get access to the special thing that makes you a talented person who can write act direct, produce, whatever it is you're doing.

Michael:

And you've had some opportunities just because of your you're doing this, or people know you and people, you know, come up to you just because of this, because you're putting yourself out there. You know? So, and you know, we talked about some things off all on the side. Things, opportunities have kind of come your way as a, just because of what, just because you're here now, you know, mm-hmm, and you're showing up, you know, even on the, even on the job you were currently working in, you're showing up. Yeah. So yeah, don't I guess don't be so literal in terms of like, people say, well, you know, how do I get my show on HBO? Well, you start at the bottom. That's how, yeah. You know it, you know, I don't, I, I, I certainly did. I certainly it's so odd that people, I don't know, I guess they getting its information on the internet, but like, like they're like, how do I sell a show on HBO or, or any network really?

Michael:

Right. And well, I'll tell you how I did it. I started at the bottom so I can go in and I can pitch them and it's not easy. And I certainly, it's not a guarantee I'll sell anything, but I can, I can get the session. I can, I can get the pitch, but it's because I've earned it. And they've, they trust me now with that I'll do a good job if they want it. And that, you know, I know how to make it, but so a stranger, they don't just come off the street. They're not, what do they, they're not gonna just trust someone who hasn't done anything before. Why would they, would you, I mean, would anybody, you know, you're not gonna hand over a check for a couple hundred thousand dollars to someone who hasn't done anything before, that would be nuts.

Phil:

That message is something that separates you from every other guru in the, in the world. Not that you call yourself a guru, but there are a lot of people who claim to claim to be, and there's selling the dream. And when we started putting the course together and we started putting this stuff out there, that was one thing you were adamant about. I cannot sell the dream. I can't be the guy who goes out and tells them you're gonna make it buy my course, rah, rah, you're gonna make it. And there was a lot of pushback on putting a price tag on the course. And I said, you need to, because they're gonna need to value it. And we have to figure out a way to not to not sell the dream and your way of doing that is being so real with people.

Phil:

That, that seems to be the thing that stands out for you. That's the thing, time and time again, people say ouch needed to hear this. Thank you so much for being real about this because you're taking people down from cloud nine, have done real expectations that I might have had of being an nickels fellowship winner. On my first script I put in, or an Oscar winner on the first thing that gets produced, whatever it is, whatever delusions of grand or that I had to have to give me to where I am today, that dose of reality is very important because it does two things. One, go ahead.

Michael:

Well, no, please go, please finish.

Phil:

Let's say it does two things. One, it makes you take a dose of reality to take a step back and say, Hey, how committed do I need to be to this? And do I have what it takes to actually commit to doing this with the belief that I will get better at the more at bats that I have, or right. The other option is, man, this is not for me. I think I'm gonna go back and I'm gonna be in tech sales. I'm gonna make a pretty good living there, enjoy my life and just enjoy film and television,

Michael:

Right? That

Phil:

Possible. It's a valuable

Michael:

When we talk about, you know, living the dream, we're selling the dream, like to me, the dream is, and this, but I made clear about the course is the dream is I will help you become a better writer. I will help you express yourself. And hopefully right at the level, that was, that is required for you to get work. But you know, that's, that's what I can do for you. I can help you cuz you know, there's not a lot of demand. There's not a strong demand for, for poor to mediocre scripts. And I think some people think well, but that show on TV that show's terrible. Can I do that? Mine is just as bad. It's like, well, we, we can talk about why that's bad or you know how it's unfair that their bad show is on the air, but in your a bad show, your equally bad show is not. We could talk about that, but I think your odds go up exponentially by doing something great. You know? And that's, you know, that's all I can help you with. You know, I can't promise you anything other than that. So,

Phil:

But, but what else do we want? Like what, what more could we ask of you, right? That no one's gonna make it in this world until they happen. Like, and unless you make it happen for yourself, you cannot rely on other people to give you anything. Self reliance is the term. We call that in any other aspect. And I think there's a level of self reliance we need to have. And what you're telling people is you need to do the work. You need to sit down, you need to write mm-hmm , you need to understand the craft. You need to have those practice at bats. You don't have to go out in front of a major league ballpark and try to hit a home run. You can put in the daily singles that we've talked about early on this podcast. What can I do today to get ahead? And that's it, that's all is required as daily singles.

Michael:

And I'd like to also add, you know, the, the barrier entries is actually quite different than it was when I broke in many years ago. I, I, I would describe myself and this is a weird thing to say, but I, I, at this point I'm calling, I'm kind of a Hollywood insider. I've been doing it for 26 years. So when I pitch a show, you know, I'm, the guy you'd think that would they, they would buy a show from, I have 26 years of experience. Who else do you think they're gonna buy a show from? If not someone like me, right? So I guess I'm kind of an insider, but the last three shows that I've worked on were from, that were created by Hollywood outsiders, Hollywood outsiders. And so that would be Maron, re link and Tacoma FD. These are people who didn't come in through the Hollywood system and they just created something special on their own and became success, made it so big and built up a big following and, and a fan base because they just did it themselves because they didn't ask permission. And then because of that, they got so big that they needed to hire people like me to help, to help them with their TV shows.

Michael:

Hey, it's Michael Jamin. If you like my videos and you want me to email them to for free join my watch list. Every Friday I send out my top three videos. These are for writers, actors, creative types. You can unsubscribe whenever you want. I'm not gonna spam you. And it's absolutely free. Just go to Michael jamin.com/watchlist

Michael:

There's room out there for people like there is create your stuff and make it great. I mean, you still have to be great that there's there's that little matter you have to get over, but but isn't that isn't not the way it should be. I mean, should shouldn't it have to be great. I mean, yeah, that seems reasonable.

Phil:

I think so tying this back to what we've been talking about across the board, you practice practice, like yeah, you don't go out and become an NFL player. And again, we've, we've talked about the statistic about slightly more NFL players than there are slightly more working writers than in the NFL. Is that right? Yeah. Right. So we've talked about that quite a bit. So the odds are not great for most of us to be professional writers, but I can tell you what improves your odds. Yeah. Working out every day, getting faster, getting stronger practice, throwing the ball, practicing and, and drilling tackles and, and learning the playbook. All of those things that you would do to be a professional athlete. You gotta do 'em as a writer too, you need to come, right? If you show up every day, you need to practice coming up with ideas.

Phil:

You need to sort through the wheat and the Shaf to find the good stuff you gotta, right? You gotta break stories. You need to figure out when you break a story, why it doesn't work, you need to do your outlines. You need to figure out why it doesn't work in the outline, but it did. It felt like it worked in the other one. You need to write the first draft. You need to finish the first draft, which is hard for most people to do. Then you gotta do the hard part, which is share that really bad draft and know that it's bad with people who are gonna give you good feedback on it. Then you have to take those notes and you have to dust off what works, figure out how to make it better, send it out. Then you gotta do it again and again and again and again and again.

Phil:

And then you, when you finally have something that's good enough, you gotta put it away or send it out. And then you gotta do that again. And you gotta show it again, this whole process over and over again. And most people do not have the fortitude to do that because it's hard work, but no one's gonna do it for you. No, one's gonna get up at an hour earlier to help you sit down and write for an hour every day. No one's gonna have no, one's gonna send that email to your friend. Who's a writer and say, Hey, can you read this and give me notes? No, one's gonna sit down and get the notes and then apply the notes. No one's gonna do it. You have to do that.

Michael:

So my partner and I, we have a, we have a project set up an animated project set up at, at peacock now, but we also just pitched a project that didn't sell a, it was a live action project. Didn't sell. We were willing, took out into a few networks and whatever they weren't interested, which is par for the course. So my partner texts me today goes, well, when do you wanna start on the new idea? So, alright, Tuesday. So on Tuesday we start this project, this process, again, of coming up with an idea and then going out and pitching it, knowing full well that the last time I did this, I didn't sell it. And this is par for the course. So I don't just stop. I don't just think, well, I don't just have this one idea and I don't beat it down every door and, and beg people, whoa, whoa. You know, when it didn't sell, I'm like, it's done. It's done well, can find somebody. No, it's done time. Something else come up with something else.

Phil:

So, so major league baseball, right? We talk about at bats and swinging, you can go to bating practice. You can take swings, you can practice, practice, practice, but look at the best batting average. And in, in, yeah, the major leagues. And I'm not, I'm not a, a huge baseball fan by any stretch. I love sports and I love watching a good game and I'll sit down and I'll go to a Dodgers game or wherever I am to enjoy a game. But it's like 303. Hundred's amazing. Yeah. That

Michael:

Means, yeah. If you get on, if you get a hit, once every three times you are and I go into the hall of fame, basically.

Phil:

Yeah. You literally imagine. Imagine if, imagine if babe Ruth or Mickey mantle or whoever went up, struck out and said, that's it guess this isn't for me. I better walk away, better hang up the, the cleats and hand the glove off to that kid. Cuz I am not gonna make it. No, it is striking out and striking out, striking out until you finally hit one. And that makes you amazing. So yeah, none of us are gonna be perfect the first time how we talked about like the fact that if you were to start over and try to break in, you would be digital. Like you would go digital and try to put this out there. I received an email from someone in the course. I received an email from someone who was like, I don't think they're in the course. They emailed the support email.

Phil:

And I said, Hey. And there was to me. So they obviously listen to the podcast. So if you're listening to this, hopefully my advice was helpful. But they said, I am looking to get a short film produced. And I was just wondering like, what are the distribution? How do I get that out there? What, what should I do to make this the best possible? And my advice to them was before you put a dime into producing a project, you need to make sure you have a good script because yeah. A mediocre script shot very well, does nothing. So I would help absolutely take the time to make sure that what you have is worth shooting before. You're gonna go through the time and expense of making that thing happen. Right? Because although it's good experience for everyone involved to get out and short sort through the sound issues that inevitably come up and check, test your lenses and realize that you didn't have the audio on in the cameras. You can't sync your audio, et cetera. All those things are valuable lessons. It's much cheaper to make that mistake on paper and in your final draft or whatever you're writing with before you get on the camera before you have the record for the red. Yeah.

Michael:

Because what if you, yeah. What if you shoot it? And it's just media. If like the script is no good. So who cares? How well lit it is and how, how it looks like a movie and look who cares about the special, if it, if the story's boring, who cares? No, one's gonna be impressed about you, the, how you framed his scene or how the camera flew in or you know the who no, no, they're just gonna be bored. No, one's gonna say, wow, look at that sweeping camera shot. No one's gonna be impressed by the drone footage you put up there. Everyone has drone footage who cares is the story good? You know, that's all the people wanna care

Phil:

About. So what I said was I would, I mean, first recommendation was to invest in the course because you're gonna learn how to tell a good story once you're done with that. Yeah. You have a group of people who you send it to get notes, give feedback. And they're gonna tell you from the lens of proper story structure, what's wrong with this. And then you can hone that in. I even offered to read the script. I said, send it to me. I'll read it. I'll tell you if it's good or bad from my limited perspective. But I can say that now with a little bit of pride and say I'm at a higher level than I was a year ago. I'm at a higher level than I was six years ago when I graduated film school. Yeah. So at least what I'm gonna give you is closer to what a Michael Jamin note was gonna be on this project.

Phil:

Yeah. But that's the, that's the value you get when you're interacting and you have this group of people who are putting in the work and the time and the effort and they're doing it. Yeah. This, this is like, to me, this is like golf, right. We recently just did the Tacoma cup. We all went out and golfed. And I Mike rep, who was one of the writers on the show and I placed dead last. We were the worst on the team, right? He had to play in 15 years. I hadn't played in five years, but we were out there in a foursome, all teeing off, all hitting, all, supporting each other. But it's an individual game. I can't blame Mike rep for his bad shot. I have to take accountability for knocking a tree limb down on a tree, which actually happened. I don't know if I told you that, right. That's funny. But, but that's an individual sport supported by the people in my, for. And we had a great time. They coached me when I made mistakes. This is the same thing. So a lot of sports references today, but ultimately you have to get out, you have to take that bats. You have to strike out and you have to do that over and over and over again until you get incrementally better every single day,

Michael:

Look at the people, how they broke in and how they started. And you know, I certainly was humble. I did a post and I talked about something and and someone said like, well, Quentin Tarantino doesn't have to. And I'm like, are you Quentin Tarantino? Do, when you show up to the, the Ivy in your Maserati, do they mistake you for Quentin Tarantino? You know? No. So the rules, even though he does it one way, you're you haven't earned that right. Yet may, maybe you will. But right now you're not. And so start a little lower, start a little lower, you know?

Phil:

Yeah. I think being very aware self-awareness goes right along with self-reliance. I need to understand the facts of my situation. And that's that takes some time alone to journal and ask the questions. Where am I? Mm-Hmm what are my skillsets? If qu Quent Tarantino is a 10 and I want to be Quent Tarantino, realistically on a spectrum, where am I like?

Michael:

Yeah.

Phil:

Take account accounting of where you're at with the skill sets you need recognize where you need to shore up and where you need to focus and improve. Because if you're a 10 in coming up with the idea and you're a one on the execution, your average here is still pretty bad, right? Yeah.

Michael:

And it's a long road. So if one step at a time know that it's going to take years. That's okay. Is you're getting closer and closer with every step you take. So yeah.

Phil:

When you, you pointed, when you said it's like climbing a mountain is step by step. It was like, Everest has base camp. You have to there's

Michael:

Yeah. They start, they start. Yeah.

Phil:

You have to get, you gotta camp, you got rack

Michael:

For your start.

Phil:

Then you start,

Michael:

Then you start,

Phil:

Right. Where are you on the journey? Where do you need to improve? Put in the time, energy and effort. And either way you'll, as you always say, you get to be creative, you get to be yeah. Centered and focused. And that alone is worth the effort and energy you're gonna put out.

Michael:

Yeah. Yeah. Because right. You're spending your time doing something you love. And if you don't love it, then don't do it. And if you're only doing it for the money, there are other ways to make money,

Phil:

You know, go sell or easier ways to make it you'll make. Yeah. You'll make a lot more money selling stuff.

Michael:

Yeah.

Phil:

So, so

Michael:

Michael, you wanna be a creative, this is how to do it. Yeah.

Phil:

My, I think, I think a very powerful episode today. I know it's a pretty short episode.

Michael:

I, yeah. Do the work. Yeah. Don't get ahead of yourself. Just, just start doing the work. Yeah. Yeah. But you don't have to write your Oscar speech yet that time.

Phil:

Yeah. Hey, you guys all want my social medias at Phil Hudson hit me up. I run a digital marketing agency on the side. I help some pretty influential people. Get their message out there. Yeah. Happy to answer questions. Just message me. Yeah. We'll talk about it. Okay.

Michael:

Yep. Yep. And that's it. All right. Everyone. Couple announcements. So I'll be touring with my show, paper orchestra. If you wanna come see me to your city and you wanna know where I'm gonna be go to Michael jamin.com/live, and I'll let you know where, where I'm coming to next. We're going to Boston next is my next city. And then back in LA for two shows in December. But we'll be, we'll be going other places as well. All right, everyone. Thank you so much. And until the next time.

Phil:

Bye

Michael:

Bye.

Phil:

This has been an episode of screenwriters. Need to hear this with Michael Jamin and Phil Hudson. If you'd like to support this podcast, please consider subscribing leaving a review and sharing this podcast with someone who needs to hear today's subject for free daily screenwriting tips, follow Michael on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at Michael Jamin writer. You can follow me on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at Phil Hudson. This episode was produced by Phil Hudson and edited by Dallas crane until next time, keep riding.

 

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