Screenwriting Update: Pushing Forward During the Industry Contraction

If  you read last week’s blogpost, Industry Update: Screenwriting in the Time of Contraction, consider this a Part 2 of sorts, building on your understanding of what’s currently happening in the business, getting past any concern that, understandably, may be coming up, and zeroing in on your best path forward in the face of these industry challenges. 

And… just to be very, VERY clear: There is absolutely a path forward for every screenwriter out there, be they working or emerging. I know that industry updates, especially those written in the time of industry contraction, can feel both daunting and overwhelming, but for any writers reading this and aiming to identify the smartest way to move their screenwriting career forward, that path forward exists even in such times. It’s all about taking in the information available, and cultivating a smart plan accordingly. What I hope for anyone reading this blogpost is that you will find within it how to not only survive the contraction, but build a thriving screenwriting career in the face of it. And in order to be able to do that, we need to fully acknowledge where we currently are industry-wise in order to devise our plan for moving forward.

Speaking of surviving… Survive to ’25 is one phrase we started hearing more often than we wanted to this past year. The phrase is both infuriating and encouraging: Infuriating in that… didn’t we already survive the 2023 strike, both ints run-up and the fallout? Is “surviving” the best we can momentarily hope for? But I digress. More importantly, there is something encouraging not to lose sight of here because 2024 is months away from being over. In fact, every year the industry begins its seasonal industry slow-down around mid-November so we only have 2-3 active industry months left to go in the year. And while we don’t have any guarantees of what January or February or March of 2025 will look like, we are definitely hearing that things are beginning to get better, that the dust of it all is beginning to settle. So if you’re reaction is: Seriously? After all that we’ve been to, you want me to survive? I completely hear you, and promise you that when I first heard this uttered by a manager friend in January of 2024 over a very casual lunch, I felt exactly the same as you do right now. But we have all now survived the majority of 2024, and things are starting to get markedly better so… yay us! Let’s keep going, and figure out how to best move your screenwriting career forward from where we are. 

For the record “surviving” is never the thing that I want the writers that I work with to pursue. The bar that we set through ongoing career coaching is always decidedly and ambitiously higher.  Instead, I want my writers to thrive. With that in mind, keep reading for your best next steps when it comes to writing in the feature and TV space, as well as seeking representation or making changes to your team during the current industry contraction. 

A few things I want you to remember in light of it all: 

First, and perhaps most importantly, if you take one thing away from this blogpost, I hope it is this:  Don’t chase the market. Chasing the market, and consequently market trends, is never a good idea. Trends change, and more often then not they do so long before you can catch up with them, making the effort a losing battle right out of the gate.

At the start of the year we saw short stories suddenly trending and becoming a thing. In fact, my friend Colin Bannon sold a short story to Amblin & Steven Spielberg in a 7-figure deal to set the best such example. Additional short stories were finding homes as well. But the one thing that seemed lost on many was the fact that those short stories were coming from writers previously established in the space, who were having no difficulties getting their short stories read when sent out by their agents and managers. However, this trend too seems to be fading. 

While broad comedies, romantic comedies, horror scripts and erotic thrillers are currently widely of interest, I would not encourage anyone who doesn’t already write in those arenas to shift towards these genres just because they are currently en vogue. Instead, I encourage my writers to seek the most market-forward version of whatever it is that they are writing and developing, rather than pivoting to write exclusively to accomodate the industry’s changing tastes. 

With that in mind, it’s important to remember that Hollywood is cyclical. It is always in flux, always in an evolving state, because of which any adjustment to trends quickly becomes a losing battle as previously mentioned. What is of interest today becomes stale tomorrow. And, accordingly, this contraction is not going to last forever. We are already seeing the dust settling. More opportunities start to present themselves, the frantic nature of it all becoming less frantic, which, everyone hopes, will become progressively better. 

Considering the above, how should you proceed on the representation, TV writing and feature writing fronts? 

Seeking representation for your screenplay or pilot:
While, as before, we are not finding that literary agents are joining writer’s teams for early-career-stage writers (for more on this check out my blog post Just Starting Out? Stop Looking for a Screenwriting Agent), managers remain more open to considering new clients. However, we do know that literary managers are currently seeking more actionable screenplays, ones they can introduce to the industry without too many notes, significant development or rewrites. So if you have a stand-out, highly-commercial or exciting left-off-center screenplay that checks some of the genre boxes of what the industry is currently prioritizing, by all means, consider mounting that representation push, with or without the sort of pedigree that would help attract a rep’s attention. 

And if you have a ready, vetted script that you are excited to get out there but that doesn’t fall under the industry’s current desirable genres? Instead, consider turning your attention to producers working in the same general genre space as your screenplay. 

Are you represented but not sure your representation is currently delivering for you? While having no rep is decidedly better than having a bad or ineffective rep, I do caution any writer considering making a change right now to examine whether their current rep is categorically ineffective, or whether the writer’s expectations need to be adjusted during for current industry challenges. That said, if you are with a rep that remains ineffective and doesn’t help you devise a plan forward, sooner or later you will have to consider making some difficult decisions. 

Your Feature Project:
As mentioned above, this is a great time for unique, fresh takes in the feature space. As you develop your next feature project, ask yourself the following questions and utilize the answers you come up with as a guiding light in development: 

• What is the general genre space within which this project would live? 
• What are other comparable, current titles in the genre space? 
• What is different, unique and exciting for this particular project that can help it stand out and draw interest from a prospective literary manager or producer? 

Your TV Pilot:
As we are hearing that TV might not be as open right now to original pilot scripts from writers not yet established in the TV sector, this might be a wise time to submit said TV pilot to competitions, labs and fellowships prior to getting it out to the professional space, in order to build its reputation prior to seeking and devising for its industry exposure. Additionally, consider enhancing your body of work by developing a feature sample that lives in your inherent genre space as, contraction or not, in today’s industry many reps do expect their writers to develop content in both the feature and TV space in order to maximize on any and all opportunities. 

If all of this sounds good but you’re not quite sure on the exact next steps to move your screenwriting career forward, consider checking out my one-on-one Career Coaching. And if you’re reading this in August 2024, don’t miss my annual end-of-summer sale that expires at the end of this month!