Sometimes I think there's this narrative out there in screenwriting guru land that if you just craft this perfectly structured screenplay, you'll sell that script and then, presto change-o, you're a screenwriter. Just from my experience, I don't really think it works like that.

First of all, there just isn't that big of a market for original material. It's incredibly hard to sell an original spec script these days. It seems everyone wants a pre-existing intellectual property to control, even if it's just an obscure news article or out of print book.

Last year, according to Go Into the Story, Hollywood studios bought just 25 spec scripts. All year long, including streaming studios. That's probably lower than the actual number, but it's still far from inspiring. https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/2020-spec-script-market-analysis-85756f147761

I glanced at the list, and I didn't see many first timers on there. Mostly, these 25 spec scripts look like they were written by writers who've written Fast & the Furious movies, Disney movies, Marvel superhero movies, etc.

So not only is the spec market incredibly small, but it's also dominated by established writers with pre-existing industry relationships, usually also w/ a recognizable voice.

That's why I think an outsider screenwriter's goal isn't to sell a script: that's nearly impossible. I think an outsider's goal is to gradually become one of these writers who has industry relationships and a recognizable voice.

Because I think doing that'll get you on peoples' radar to either 1) adapt an intellectual property or 2) staff on someone's TV show, which I think are the much more likely doors into the industry for an outsider than a big splashy sale.

As an outsider, the #1 goal is to just get read. And I think a script gets passed around & read in Hollywood not when it's good, or even when it's pretty great, but when people in the industry think that script will advance their own careers. When it comes to be seen as currency.

I think maybe the best way for a non-established, non-connected outsider to have a script that becomes currency is this: to write a script that has a possibly career-changing lead role for an actor or actress.

I think too many people go into writing their breaking-in script w/ this idea of: I'm going to write a great movie or TV show. Or, a great plot. Or, I'm going to write a script where at the end, after the last page, the person reading it will say 'that was a great story.'

Those are all noble goals. But as an outsider without any credits or connections, it has you pretending to be playing a different game than the one you're actually playing at this point of your career. Right now, you're just trying to get read.

Because here's the sad truth: as an outsider, no one in Hollywood has to read your script. They just don't. If you're not someone's nephew or niece or pal, no one owes you a read. You can have a great plot or story, but if no one reads it, what good is that?

So part of your job is to make your script into one actual industry people might actually want to read. But industry people won't want to read it because you're nice, or because you want it really bad.

They won't even want to read your script if you nailed an act break at the right page number, or because all of your slug lines are correctly formatted.

But people *might* want to read your script if they think it *might* help their career. And as an outsider, you need to signal this possibility in the opening 5-10 pages. Because that might be all of their attention you’re gonna get.

Why? There are already too many writers in Hollywood who are struggling to get their next gig. And there are hundreds of thousands trying to break in at any given time. That means, there's already too many scripts out there.

That’s what you’re facing. That's what I'm facing, too. But even tho I'm no one's idea of famous, I do have ten years of credits. More importantly, I've got ten years of relationships in the industry. So you've got to find a way to get your script above mine in peoples' stacks.

So, here's my small bit of practical advice: in your breaking-in script, try to make your lead character into a career-changing role. And make that clear in the opening pages.

I think the two big movers in this industry are intellectual properties and valuable talent. As an outsider, you can't really harness valuable intellectual properties. Not unless you're rich or have connections (but then you're not really an outsider).

But, if your script strikes industry people as something that can attract talent, you can potentially get a lot of reads. And in my experience, acting talent isn't attracted to great plots. They're attracted to great roles.

If you're an outsider, by definition no one in the industry owes it to you to read your script. But if you build a script around a career-changing role, then you can make people want to read the script in order to advance their own careers.

And as these industry people selfishly read your script for their own benefit, then you might be able to also dazzle them with your voice, your scenes, your sense of story, your twists and turns, your weird humor, and so on.

But first, you have to give them an actual reason to read your script. Easier said than done, obviously, but I think a potentially career changing role can be that rarest of things: an actual reason for a Hollywood insider to want to read an outsider's script.

Anyway, I go on in more detail about this in a 15 minute little video chit-chat I just posted. Take it or leave it, obviously. But the deck is crazy stacked against outsiders w/o money or connections. I'm trying to pass along little insights from my path: