Keep Writing!

 You don't have to be here in Hollywood anymore.

I can't repeat this enough, because (God help them) they STILL want to come here.

What is the fascination? Better creative minds? Bette weather?

I can tell you weather is funny because better weather means most people spend it hanging out and not in some dark dank room writing. You should write to get anywhere in this town.

To those actors who write parts for themselves....KUDOS!! You are doing it right. For one thing, you understand story structure. For another you have sympathy for writers in general.

The physical act of writing is not difficult at all. The actual execution to page and to show people what your intentions are is the difficult part. After a while you wonder if your point is coming across.

To that, you gather a TON of sympathies for the person who builds the blueprint.

Me? I write a little. I did go to film school and learn it. Though, to be honest, I learned it poorly. I didn't truly study the way professional screenwriters wrote. Screenwriting, a LOT of the times, is style over substance. Just get the vision from page to a mental image. People get bored easily. You've probably not even read this far. Everyone is Hollywood hates reading. They also hate their work. I mean, the truly legendary ones don't watch themselves. It's too tragic. I've definitely learned to love the projects I've made because they are stuck in a time. To me, films I make now are about the experience. Sometimes, people REALLY respond to it. A lot of times, I'm sure they want to do their own thing.

Telling visual stories is actually really a skill. Some people it does come natural. But also, people rely on gimmicks now to keep you engaged. I think the most interesting ones are about character and life and...normalcy. Writer/Director Robert Benton knew this. A lot of his work was about just a slice of life. You watch Martin Ritt's "On Golden Pond" you realize it's just relationships. To me, this is infinitely more engaging. The ones I absolute hate are the ones where you pound a message. Mostly because the message is tricky. Why not just make an interesting story of human dynamics? I guess because we aren't that patient about it anymore.

Anyway, keep writing. Or reading. Or reading about writing.