Headcase Wins at the Los Angeles Film Awards
While Headcase wins in LA, a Beverly Hills writer's conference reveals "there is no tougher time to be a screenwriter." But when everyone else sees dark clouds, I see the rain that will help me grow!
Hello Friends,
I'm pleased to announce that Headcase took another prize in the Los Angeles Film Award for TV Pilot Scripts. Headcase was also a finalist or semi-finalist in 7 other contests, making the Spring season the most successful season for me as a writer.
Also in June, I attended "State of Story," hosted by Writers Guild of America - West (WGA - West) in the WGA Theater in Beverly Hills, where a fantastic and diverse panel of speakers graced the stage, including writers, showrunners, agents, managers, and producers. The keynote was headed by Eric Roth, the screenwriter of "Forrest Gump," who had lots of industry and craft wisdom to share with a room full of writers. One of the big takeaways from Mr. Roth for me was:
Question: As you've trimmed [your screenplays] down over the years, what are the important bare essentials that you think about that deserve to be in your prose? Is it visuals or is it what a character's thinking?
Roth: You know what? I've always written the same way. I think that I may be not so voluminous with some of my descriptions, but I have, I think, pretty fortunately, a lot of the directors don't mind that. In my descriptions, I give, what's the tone? Certainly what it looks like, God being in the details.
What this direction means for me is to be more economical with my words, as I learned in getting my TV Pilot from 63 pages to 60 pages, it's finding the balance between using my narrative skills to tell a story, and not over-explaining for the actors and directors when they just need the feel for the scene.
The event had a repetitive theme from all the guests:
There is no tougher time to be a writer in Hollywood.
As the day went on, each speaker described how small the writers' rooms are and how shows are not being renewed or new shows are not being made, I could feel the other writers' stomachs tighten with grief and worry.
My reconnaissance mission revealed that Hollywood is currently experiencing what the banking and financial sectors experienced in 2007 and 2008. The streamers and streamer/studio hybrids (Apple, Netflix, Paramount) days of “Must See TV” and the spending to build their subscriber base are over. Profitability is the magic word in Hollywood these days, and writers are the first place they cut. Writers' rooms are shrinking from 8-10 writers to 3-4 writers. The WGA reported that writer employment is down 40%. And with so many experienced writers looking for work, no one is looking for a new idea from a new writer.
As the other writers in the room tried not to wretch, this was not the first time I've faced a downturn in my career. I've always been able to look at gray clouds and find the silver lining. Multiple times during my 30 years of entrepreneurship, I walked the "path less traveled." Most of the time, it’s worked in my favor.
Whenever there is a downturn, whenever people are operating under fear and apprehension, there is always the opportunity for growth and expansion by bravely, boldly, and unabashedly trying something new or taking a different approach to the marketplace.
So, what's my approach? The answer is creating.
On the flight out to LA, I reviewed all my notes, outlines, and finished and unfinished stories. When my spreadsheet was complete (of course, I used a spreadsheet, I’m still a CFO by nature!), I had 45 stories! Now, that's a career's worth of work.
I just had my 58th birthday (click the pic below for the story on why my birthday cake is blue), and I know I'm on the "back nine holes" of my life. So, what greater motivator to create art than my impending passing?
The shame of it all would not be if Headcase does not get made into a TV Series, but if I let all these wonderful stories stay in my head and not get out onto the page. What I do with them is another question, but first things first, writing!
That urgency is driving me to Write Fiction from the Beach! I’ll be at my place of creative inspiration this summer—my adopted home of Barbados 🇧🇧—to create yet another form of Headcase. This time it is Headcase: The Movie 🎥!!
My goal with the movie version is to serve as the introduction to the TV series, much like Friday Night Lights, Fargo, and The Lincoln Lawyer were movies that became serialized shows. Headcase will fit right in if I can get it made as a film.
Film offers the one avenue in Hollywood where they'll consider new writers, because directors—not writers—are king. In television, the showrunner controls everything, hiring multiple writers and directors. But in film, the director is the CEO, and the writers are hired hands. Studios will buy a film script from an unknown writer if it serves the director's vision.
Headcase has been a scripted audio play, TV pilot, 483-page novel, and serialized Substack story, and now a film screenplay!
My next update will be on the progress I've made with my screenplay. I've started it, and I have my outline. In the next newsletter, I'll discuss my progress and share my struggles.
If people are interested, I can also post some information about how to read a screenplay. It's not all that different from reading a stage play, but very different from a novel. If you read a novel like you're seeing a movie in your head, you will like reading screenplays.
Thank you for all your support and supportive comments on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Substack.
Chris K. Jones