There is a level of frustration with writers who haven’t yet “made it”.
They want to be able to write the stories that they want to write the way they want to write them. They don’t want to conform to the three act structure and they mock and rage against the powers that be and the gatekeepers that are preventing them from joining the party. I recently saw a frustrated writer post on a message board that he had written a script that was written similarly to one of the great horror films of all time, and he theorized that the script from that film probably would have been passed on by a studio reader.
There are a couple of problems with that line of thinking.
First off, the film he was referencing was a film by one of the great filmmakers of all time who, by that time, had been making movies for 25 years. He had a track record, and if he had a script that was a little off structure-wise, the studio was going to give him leeway because he had that track record. He had shown several times that he knew how to make a good movie, so that when he was breaking the conventional rules of storytelling, it was considered to be for artistic reasons.
Perhaps you’re an aspiring screenwriter who has written several scripts, and you’re experimenting with structure. You’re an artist, so perhaps you have a rebellious side to your personality, and you feel like telling a story that doesn’t have to conform to conventional structural guidelines and restrictions. And perhaps you can. But here’s the problem. No one knows you. If your spec script lacks structure a studio reader or executive is more likely to consider you a bad writer more than a free spirit.
Is it frustrating? Yes, it is.
But if you want to make it as a writer, if you want writing to be your career, if you want to be taken seriously, you have to show that you can follow the rules before you can break them. I know that is cliché, but it’s true. You have to prove yourself before people will trust you, and the way to do that is to submit a screenplay that is structured well. The beats need to happen at the right time, and you need to demonstrate that you know what you’re doing when you’re just starting out. You want people to be comfortable in thinking that hiring you or buying your script will ultimately make them money. That is really what it comes down to. The people that can help you are only interested in helping you if they think that helping you will ultimately get them paid. If it looks like you don’t know what you’re doing, then yes, they’ll pass every time.
My reading service can help identify problems with you story structure and can offer solutions to solving them. I’ve read for studios and I know the things that readers in studios are looking for, and I can help you create a script that has a better chance of getting a “consider” or a “recommend”.
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