Let me just get right to the meat and potatoes of this topic.\u00a0 The shift to subscription and cable services has drastically changed the business dynamic of film and TV.\u00a0 The old rules no longer apply. Seasoned and professional writers with impressive resum\u00e9s are being cut loose.\u00a0 Producers and executives are being fired.\u00a0 Entire departments are being slashed to lower corporate costs.<\/p>\n
All true.<\/p>\n
Not scary.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s my first message to my dear writers.\u00a0 This is a cycle the industry has seen before.\u00a0 We tend to think of entertainment as a business that isn\u2019t privy to the whims of outside forces.\u00a0 We treat Hollywood like it has magic and won\u2019t fall or wobble or collapse. But it does.\u00a0 It\u2019s a cyclical occurrence that happens less frequently because of international markets, digital forecasting, and knowledgeable execs who know how to adjust business plans as they read the statistical horizon.\u00a0 In other words, for the most part everyone does a pretty good job of doing their job.<\/p>\n
But there are always X-factors.<\/p>\n
The X-factors can create a confluence of crazy that hits our industry hard.\u00a0 Like it or not, we\u2019re still in the aftermath of COVID.\u00a0 We haven\u2019t fully recovered financially from a very deep hit that happened at an international level.\u00a0 Along with a national grief that we\u2019re still recovering from, we\u2019re dealing with an international financial marketplace that\u2019s trying to reestablish itself.\u00a0 Unfortunately that is going to take time, because like the stock market, the entertainment market can have an emotional component.\u00a0 Even if the facts are positive, and they are, the population doesn\u2019t \u201cfeel\u201d the improvement of their circumstances.\u00a0 Even if there is more money in their bank account, or if they have a better job because employment is very strong, people still \u201cfeel\u201d an uncertainty.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to speak facts to that deep fear.<\/p>\n
So what do we do?<\/p>\n
Be smart.<\/p>\n
When the industry is uncertain, it\u2019s always to the advantage of new people, new writers, new ideas.\u00a0 Hone your scripts.\u00a0 Create a TV series.\u00a0 Push a new idea that five years ago everyone would\u2019ve said no to.<\/p>\n
Write.<\/p>\n
When the industry turns upward again, and it will, be ready to go.\u00a0 Have your scripts crafted, finalized, and ready to launch.\u00a0 The turnaround happens fast.\u00a0 Suddenly everyone is selling product and nobody remembers the recent bottom that seemed like a black hole sucking us into oblivion.<\/p>\n
Stop wringing your hands and start typing.<\/p>\n
When the green light flashes, be ready to step on the gas.<\/p>\n
Write on.<\/p>\n
L. VOORHEES<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the simplest terms, the transformational arc is your protagonist\u2019s journey to becoming a true hero. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240082,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73,58],"tags":[20,21,15,59],"class_list":["post-240081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-screenwriting","category-tv-pilots","tag-screenplay","tag-screenwriter","tag-screenwriting","tag-tv-pilot"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240081"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":240088,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240081\/revisions\/240088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/propathscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}