Review: The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters: Insider’s Secrets from Hollywood’s Top Writers
October 24, 2004 by J.C. Hewitt
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: Adams Media Corporation; ISBN: 1580625509
“You have no idea what happens next, you’re continually surprised, you’re satisfied by the surprises, and ultimately, the pleasures of the narrative resonate with deeper themes.”
Nicholas Kazan on Knowing What Makes a Great Story
Does everybody want to be a screenwriter? That depends on how you define everybody. If you look at the entire population of the planet, then very few have a half-written screenplay hidden under their bed. If you’re standing in line for groceries in Los Angeles, however, chances are that half the people in front of you have at least thought about writing a script. Thinking about it, however, is as far as most people get. Quite a few less have actually written something. Even less completed a script, and half of those never sent it out. Most of the remaining people had their script immediately rejected due to poor writing. The remaining few are somewhere in the mix, just about ready to give up if they haven’t already.
So, the bad news is that you have a lot of competition if you want to be a screenwriter, but the good news is that most of your competition isn’t worth worrying about. They are either unable to put the time and effort in, or they give up because they don’t understand the process or they are unable to handle the initial obstacles. If you are willing to put in the work, not just on your first script but your first dozen scripts, and you are intelligent about how to write and market a screenplay; your chances of being a successful screenwriter are quite reasonable. Before you vow to put in that time and effort, however, you should do your homework and figure out if this a career you can and want to work toward. If you are considering a screenwriting career, then The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters is a book you should invest in immediately. It will tell you the good and bad of being a screenwriter with honesty and in great detail.
There are many books to choose from if you wish to learn the mechanics of screenwriting. Syd Field’s Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting, is probably the most successful, and for good reason. It is an excellent technical guide to writing movies. Interestingly though, it is not written from a screenwriter’s point of view. Syd Field is not a screenwriter, but rather a Hollywood executive. His viewpoint is about what sells. His methods are probably the most risk free way to create and sell a screenplay, but Screenplay is not really about the creative process so much as the end product.
101 Habits takes a dramatically different approach. Karl Iglesias conducted in-depth interviews with 14 Hollywood screenwriters who have each written several screenplays that have been turned into high-profile films. These are not what I would call film snobs either, these people write Hollywood movies ranging from Rainman to Operation Dumbo Drop, from Forest Gump to Die Hard.
101 Habits is a comprehensive look at the entire screenwriting process: the qualities successful writers have, creative development, discipline, story craft and marketing. More importantly, Iglesias stays out of the way. Each piece of advice comes with multiple writers giving their views in their words. In some cases, writers disagree wildly on how important one part of the process is or how to best approach another. Usually though, there seems to be a consensus of what it takes. From the 101 Habits come four genuine principals: patience, perseverance, passion, and practice.
On the way to these principals, however, you get an honest, intelligent description of the frustrations and pleasures that come from being a screenwriter. These veterans have seen script after script get rejected, rewritten, misinterpreted and outright attacked. The screenwriter is not exactly at the top of the Hollywood hill. Still, the persistent ones, like those interviewed here, eventually get see something they’ve helped create become a feature length movie. The successful ones also make quite a good living, so there is hope.
Much of the advice in 101 Habits goes beyond screenwriting to the writing process in general. There is important advice about setting deadlines, time management, dealing with criticism, facing the blank page, editing and rewriting, creating a writing environment, understanding what makes a story great and understanding what makes a script saleable.
101 Habits is a storehouse of important technical information, but it is not a technical book. It is a realistic look at the entire screenwriting profession. It is the sort of book that you open up when you run out of ideas, just to get inspired again. These people have built themselves screenwriting careers. Reading this book will either inspire you to attempt the same, or let you know that the career isn’t for you. Either way, it is an important book to read if you are looking at screenwriting as a career.
well i think this is very heart warming keep up the great work.
i enjoyed reading this. i am a screenplay writer. i’ve been doing this for 9 to 10 years at the most.