The Hidden Struggle Behind Hollywood’s Screenwriting: Why Patience Could Make or Break Your Career
Ever worked on a script that feels like a runaway freight train hurtling at full speed — only to be told, “Hold up, now we wait…”? It’s the cruelest paradox in screenwriting: they want your script yesterday, then toss you into the abyss of anticipation. You pour months of sweat, coffee, and midnight oil into crafting the story, racing each tick of the clock, chopping dialogue lines like a surgeon, and finally hit – SEND. And then comes the silence. That deafening, nerve-wracking hush where you’re no longer behind the wheel but stuck in the passenger’s seat, watching your fate zip off without you. So, how do you survive the agonizing pause between creation and response? Buckle up – this ride’s just getting started. LEARN MORE
The bane of a screenwriter’s existence: They want the script NOW… then they make you WAIT… and wait… and wait…
We have worked on the script for months. It’s an assignment. The studio and the project’s producers have made it known emphatically since day one they want to see the draft ASAP. Our agents, well aware of this fact, check in routinely to see how things are going. Contributing to the pressure: a significant talent is circling the project, but their interest is almost entirely dependent upon the draft we deliver.
We have had a little more than two months to write the script. With the passing of each week, the writing process feels more and more like a race. There’s simply no way to avoid the ticking of our internal clock growing louder and more insistent as we knock out pages — first draft, revisions, more revisions, still more revisions.
Now it’s down to the last few days and we have been reminded that everyone is primed to get their hands on our script. One last read-through. Okay, make that another last read-through. Ready to print. Wait, a few more tiny edits. If we lose these two sides of dialogue, we can get the script down to 109 pages… okay, okay, I’ll stop!
Now prep email. Attach file. Cursor over Send button. Finger hovers over Enter button. Resist. Temptation. To. Do. One. More. Pass. On. Script. Then…
SEND!
It’s gone!
All that focus and energy. All those debates and decisions. All those pages written and rewritten. All that damn hurrying.
And now… we wait.
And wait.
And wait some more.
Anticipation. Every phone call. Every email. Could that be them?
It’s like you’re in a sports car zooming along at 100MPH… then you suddenly slam on the brakes and screech off onto the side of the road. Your body and mind still feel the propulsion forward from the writing. But you’re no longer the driver. They are. Your script’s fate is in their hands. You’re not even in the car. You’re a…
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