There are three groups of people in Hollywood:
Group 1: People who know nothing or next to nothing about story.
Group 2: People who can tell you what's wrong with a story, but don't know how to solve its problems.
Group 3: People who not only can determine what's wrong with a story, they can fix it.
Guess which group a writer wants to be in.
A few caveats:
* Virtually no one in the acquisition, development, production or marketing side of the movie business would ever admit to being a member of Group 1. But they're there. A tip to figure their identity: If you ask someone, "What's the story about," and they respond by actually telling you the story beat for beat, there's an awfully good chance they don't have a very good grasp of the concept of story.
* Most people in Hollywood fall into Group 2. They know enough about story to be dangerous. That is they can tell you at least some of the things that are wrong with a script, but often their solutions are way wide of the mark. The worst is when they suggest something that would force you to radically reinvent the story, but they can't see how or why that doesn't make the problems worse. "I know it's called 'Nuns With Guns,' but why does it have to be nuns?"
* If you're a writer, you hope you qualify for Group 3. A studio exec may be involved in shepherding a dozen projects or more through the development process, so they are looking at writers to be problem-solvers. Your ability to identify a story's underlying issues and suggest solid, tangible ways to resolve those concerns will serve you in good stead in Hollywood.
However if you are a member of Group 3, you can not speak to people who are in Group 2 and certainly not Group 1 as if they understand story the way you do. You have to be able to break down your analysis and ideas into a series of graspable talking points. If you try to impress them with your deep understanding of the nuances of story theory, you will not only likely lose them, they will probably feel a great deal of discomfort sitting in a room with you.
Instead you must try to meet them on their level and shape your suggestions into digestible, bite-sized talking points. This is not to demean them in any way. You may know story, but you probably don't know squat about business or the subtleties of networking. You have your talent. They have theirs.
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