Industry politics, blind spots, & unspoken directives

You're not trying to sell your script. You're using your script to gain access to a closed system.

I'm not going to tell you what I think your politics should be. And I'm not particularly curious what they are. If we ever have beers, that might be the only time I'd be down to discuss politics: face-to-face between two human beings with their own personal stories and their own conceptions about how power works and their own dreams about how the world could be a better place. But online? My next fruitful, mutual-rewarding online political exchange will probably be my first.

But in case it's important for you to know my politics, I'll get them out of the way here, with the caveat that I basically think political language as we know it is broken: I'm more or less a basic Bernie bro. My parents were the day and night janitors at my rural elementary school. They were also the president and secretary of their labor union when I was growing up. So for better or worse, I tend to see class before I see other issues, which is probably not surprising coming from the straight white son of strongly pro-labor parents. But as I'm not interested in your politics, I'll try to reciprocate by not going on and on about mine.

Besides, this is a substack about the practicalities of screenwriting. More specifically, about demystifying the screenwriting gig for those who want to pursue it. Especially for those who don’t have access to elite networking systems. That is, for outsiders.

So I'm trying to pass along some things I've learned in terms of writing scripts. But I'm also trying to pass along some of what I've learned about the systems in which scripts do or do not circulate.

Hollywood is a highly-political industry. But not just in the ways that it presents itself to be in press releases and at award shows. It's political in the way a high school is political.

Hollywood is a small insular community built on relationships and reputations. It’s also, it seems, a town made up primarily of white liberals who come from privileged backgrounds and elite networking systems (aka, private schools and expensive colleges).

Now it might be the case that my identity and my aesthetics are what have led to me primarily interacting with white liberals from privileged backgrounds in my career. But I haven't seen much data about the industry that suggest my experience is much of an outlier.

Of course, this is all changing. Or I think it is. At least the rhetoric is changing. But the actual systems and structures? It seems those change -- if at all -- slowly and by degrees. So, I'll say, I hope all this is changing.

What I'm dancing around is this: because of their relative privilege, Hollywood decision-makers have a ton of blind spots. That's not necessarily a judgment. I have my privileged blind spots, too. I assume everyone does.

The interesting thing is that in Hollywood, I think a lot of these blind spots get reinforced in insular feedback loops. Especially as everyone is worried about their other, previous blind spots. Stare at a former blind spot and your other ones get bigger, maybe.

I think a huge blind spot in Hollywood is class. In terms of how people in the industry think about who to hire, about whose stories to tell, and about who its audience is. And I think, by and large, this means modest working people kinda get the shaft.

By class, I don't just mean old grizzled white guys rhapsodizing about Trump in a diner in Nebraska. I mean people of modest means of whatever race, or orientation, or what have you.

Hollywood simply doesn't see working people. Even worse, it doesn't know it doesn't see them.

If Hollywood was casting everyday life, the speaking parts would all belong to rich people, to people with “important” jobs like doctor, lawyer, or politician, to criminals and cops and anyone else with a gun, and to walking miracles of some sort or another.

All of the regular working people — no matter their social identity or personal story — would be silent background players. Extras who walk in and out of scenes cleaning floors and delivering groceries and repairing the roads and so on without speaking a word while the well-dressed lead players all go through their dramatic little adventures.

I'm not writing to scold Hollywood for this blind spot (at least not this time). I'm writing to try and help outsider soon-to-be-working-screenwriter types see the industry they’re trying to break into a bit more clearly.

As far as I can tell, Hollywood is a system built on privilege, connection, and access that thinks it's a meritocracy. It's an industry that never seems to wonder why — a few outliers aside — only people from privileged backgrounds seem able to gain entry. The same reason why they don't wonder why the background extras don't suddenly start talking to Kevin Spacey or Armie Hammer during a big dramatic scene. They only see what they're looking for.

So if you're an outsider trying to write your way into a screenwriting career, that's part of what you're trying to navigate. It's an industry that has its share of monsters. But in my experience, it's mostly made up of genuinely decent people trying to keep their careers going and trying to be halfway decent as they do so. Mostly.

But it's also an industry where peer pressure has the sort of power that'd make a seventh grader blush. And where the day-by-day anxiety is unbelievable, especially for those who don't have the privilege of just locking themselves up in a room and writing their way to their next payday (hopefully) if their current project nosedives.

I have this suspicion that's largely unfair. I suspect that most producers and executives and agents and managers don’t make day-to-day decisions in order to garner a larger audience for projects. Or even to make more money.

I mean, they tell others they do that. And probably they tell themselves the same thing. But I suspect most producers and executives and agents and managers make decisions in order to impress other producers and executives and agents and managers.

(I also suspect most writers write to impress other writers, most actors act to impress other actors, etc.)

If an executive had to choose between greenlighting a project that would make a $10 million profit and a project that would get them invited to better dinner parties, my guess is that the executive will greenlight the dinner party project just about every time.

What does this have to do with you and me? It all depends on how we — or our scripts — land in or out of these blindspots.

And no, this isn't some kind of screed about how hard it suddenly is for white guys to find work. I'm a middle-aged white guy who listens to country music, wears pro wrestling shirts, and drives a pickup. And I've never been busier in my career.

All I'm saying is this: by and large, Hollywood as a system is a little insecure right now about how it has traditionally treated anyone who wasn't a straight white dude. Some people might think Hollywood is pushing some kind of hypocritical, judgey political agenda. Others might think that Hollywood is on a righteous path to improve the world through greater access and representation for the under-represented.

Either or both could be right. But I happen to think Hollywood is a little freaked out mostly because it thought of itself as a beacon of progress but it’s recently had to face a shit ton of its own blindspots and terrible behaviors. And it's not quite sure what to do about it. But it wants to do something. It desperately wants to feel like a beacon again. (Maybe because, aside from the money, feeling like a beacon of progress is what makes the pressures and anxieties of a Hollywood career bearable for many.)

If you're an outsider, this is the state of the industry — as I see it, from my own very limited perspective — that you're currently trying to break into. It's an industry that's trying to make up for some of its persistent blindspots and bad behaviors. While also trying to cultivate prestige and/or coolness. While also trying to make money.

I don't know how long this state of affairs will last. But it does lead to an actual piece of actionable, practical advice. If you're trying to break in right now, perhaps consider those three largely unspoken directives that I just suggested are driving the actions of Hollywood insiders these days:

1) making money
2) cultivating prestige or coolness
3) making up for Hollywood's previous blind spots & bad behaviors

I'll try to illustrate with an example.

Pretend you're a junior exec bringing a script to your boss, in a town that runs on reputations and relationships.  If the best you can say about a script is "I think it'll make money," in the present version of the industry, you're risking being seen as a little crass.

If the best thing you can say is "I think this is well-done and/or cool," then you're risking everything on your taste. (If your boss or peers think the script is pretentious or cheap, then your currency as a tastemaker plummets. And if your boss or peers think the script is problematic, then you're risking looking like you're on the wrong political team, or a leftover from the previous toxic era that Hollywood is anxiously trying to leave behind, and people won’t want to be associated with you.)

But if the best thing you can say is "I think this script addresses an important issue" — especially if it's one of the myriad social issues that Hollywood has recently been seen as having totally fucked up on — then you're presenting yourself as a conscientious good liberal. You're restoring the equilibrium and the proper social order. You’re a mini beacon of progress. Plus you're not risking your reputation as a tastemaker.

At worse, you're a well-intentioned junior exec whose heart is in the right place, but who is a touch impractical.

As an outsider screenwriter, you want to get your script passed around by actual breathing industry people so you can start having your own relationships. From the scenario I just laid out, fulfilling which unspoken directive do you think will give you the best shot at this right now in Hollywood’s current anxiety-ridden moment?

Just in terms of practicalities, if an outsider script is seen as addressing unspoken directive #3 in some way, it might have a great chance of getting passed around. Possibly because such a script flatters those who pass it around. “Here is a story that you and I, as beacons of progress, need to share with the unwashed masses.”

But here’s the thing: as an outsider screenwriter, I think you need to do more than addressing this third directive. Your script probably needs to be seen as accomplishing two of the three unspoken directives.

I think in previous eras, you could maybe break-in with a script that promised to accomplish either directive #1 (make money) or directive #2 (cultivate prestige or coolness). If your script was seen as doing both, then you really had something.

I think in previous eras, Hollywood decision-makers also wanted to address social issues, but with a difference: previous eras were more secure in their self-image as a beacon of progress. They didn't have Hollywood’s recent cascading scandals, so those eras didn't have decision-makers with the same overwhelming anxiety to prove to themselves and to others that they aren't one of the bad ones.

So if you can give your industry reader — an assistant, or junior agent, or junior executive — ammunition to go into their boss's office and say "hey, I've got a script that addresses last week's industry scandal, but it's also a killer horror story, so there's a built-in audience for it," then you're doing a much bigger service for your screenwriting career than if you just had a script that addressed last week's industry scandal (I don't know, pick one) OR just was a killer horror story.

Likewise, if you write a script where that junior exec can say "this script has fascinating characters and voice and a delicate tone, but it also features a great lead role for [pick any number of countless identities that Hollywood has systematically ignored and/or stereotyped for decades]," then once again you're giving that junior exec excellent ammo. You’re giving them cover: even if the boss doesn’t like the writing, the boss will probably like the junior exec’s thought process. So it’s less risky.

It's one thing to write a great script. It's another thing to write a great script that can actually circulate through the nervous system of Hollywood that right now presently exists.

If your script or story doesn't touch upon a hot button social topic at all, or you have no interest in doing that, that’s also fine of course. Obviously. It’s your script. But then I would suggest trying to write a script that could potentially make money AND that also delivers either prestige or coolness. Again, pick two of the three. Because unless your uncle or cousin already has power in the industry, just delivering one of these three unspoken directives probably won't get you traction these days.

If you're an outsider, Hollywood doesn't see you. Even worse, it doesn't know it doesn't see you. Part of your job, practically-speaking, is to become visible. I would argue, if you're an outsider trying to break in, that your script's number one job is to make you visible. To move you from being a background extra and closer to having a speaking part.

If you do choose to write a script that addresses some Hollywood blind spot — whether that has to do with underrepresented identities or social groups or toxic behaviors — don't do so cynically. It still needs to be a story you believe in, and that you sincerely believe you're uniquely positioned to tell. Because the script will have to be great. And if it's great enough to get meetings, you'll also need to credibly explain why you're the right person to be telling that story. Because you need to cultivate working relationships to have a career.

What I'm suggesting isn't a short cut. What I'm trying to offer is a snapshot of how actual scripts are gaining actual currency in the actual industry that exists right now, at least as I see it. Believe that insight or don't. Act upon it or don't. But now you know how at least one working screenwriter sees the industry's present political moment and the unique anxieties and maybe opportunities that are connected to it.