Moving Your Mindset From Aspiring To Professional Screenwriter

And so it goes… What you think, you become. Dream and become it. These might seem like an endless stream of feel good memes on your social media feed, but they do serve a useful purpose, especially if you seek a career in a business as fickle, unpredictable, and unstable as screenwriting.

The first thing aspiring screenwriters must do, is stop using the term “aspiring.” The distinction between an amateur and a professional isn’t the same or as easily discernible as being an athlete. In the latter, you’re either playing in a pro league or you’re not. Is a professional screenwriter one who only writes studio movies or their films are financed? Not quite.

Many screenwriters use the arbitrary definition of professional based on whether they’ve been paid or produced. Almost every screenwriter with prestigious credits doesn’t always get paid for every polish or draft they write. Projects frequently get optioned or sold, but never made. Projects are set up at various companies that never move forward. Accept the turbulence as a part of life because you can’t control or influence these decisions.

Is a pro writer one who is a member of the WGA? Becoming a member of the WGA simply means you fill their entry criteria. But they are no more professional than #PreWGA writers. Granted, they have reached a level of expertise in their craft that they are produced and paid. Joining the guild is desirable, but some writers forge successful careers in the independent space without ever joining. And that’s fine. They love the freedom.

These arbitrary definitions of professionalism are ultimately all semantics.

 - Always think of yourself as a professional screenwriter regardless of career stage

What Is Your Mindset?

Mindset refers to a cognitive pattern that directly affects the way we writers view ourselves and our screenwriting careers. These patterns are affected by both reality and perceived reality. Broadly speaking, your mindset can be viewed as positive or negative, which, in turn, drives your subconscious thoughts that define career success. (Writing success means different things to different people, but that’s another article).

Do you self-sabotage your writing by only focusing on how good or bad your screenplay is, or do you see potential areas of improvement and room for professional growth? Very few screenplays that are circulated are perfect, and those that are close have been through numerous drafts.

Having an open mindset with the attitude of possibilities, curiosity, and a lack of assumptions will better serve your screenwriting career than a mindset of being constantly interrupted by the shackles of self-doubt and destructive thinking.

A negative mindset may distort, generalize, or blow a situation out of proportion to the point of anxiety, creative blockage, or even abandoning your script for fear of it never being able to be any good. A positive mindset will create an awareness of these thought patterns so you can act on them. Since screenwriting can be largely subjective, challenge your self-limiting beliefs. Rather than thinking if your dialogue is good or bad, consider how it might be expressed differently. It may even improve it.

The difference between mindset and awareness is significant but nuanced. Mindset is simply a way of thinking that can be altered through habit, attitude, and actions. Awareness is more tangible and requires more analytical thought based on data. A writer can write their best few pages each day (mindset) to complete a screenplay. They can always rewrite them. A writer who constantly despises those pages and turns off their laptop in frustration (awareness) will unlikely succeed.

Mindset should also be realistic. If you don’t write, you shouldn’t have an expectation of being anything other than an aspiring writer. Only a fraction of scripts written are ever considered by producers, and an even smaller proportion are produced. Claiming your screenplay is “destined to be a hit” is just as harmful as claiming it’s “the worst screenplay ever” because both will lead to disappointment.

 - Adjust your mindset to be positive, constructive, and realistic
 
Mind Your Mindset

Meme or no meme, your thoughts help shape your career. Your self-beliefs, habits, strategies, routines, actions, and patterns make you a professional, working screenwriter. How you handle successes and failures and measuring growth and satisfaction make you a pro. Habitually sitting at your keyboard every day and doing the work makes you a pro.

 - Seeing yourself as a pro comes down to one decision – declaring yourself to be a pro

Building a sustainable and fruitful career as a screenwriter is mighty hard – even for writers you consider to be A-list. They take everything in their stride. Success or failure doesn’t go to their heads. It’s all part of the process.

Writers shouldn’t overanalyze their process either. Don’t waste your energy questioning why you didn’t place in a contest or why your TV show was abruptly cancelled. These decisions are almost always out of your control and shouldn’t affect your writing process. More often than not, a pitch is rejected because the timing and the market conditions are misaligned.

Learn to make decisions quickly. Today (not some day) take action whether it be to outline for an hour, polish a draft, or read a screenplay in the genre that you love.

A common conundrum among screenwriters is having a dozen ideas across a range of genres and formats and deciding which one to pursue. Pick the one that’s closest your heart and speaks the loudest to you. If they all speak in the same volume, randomly pick one and write a draft.

Don’t overthink the state of the industry. The film and TV industry itself barely knows where it’s at. It’s a speculative industry seeking proven formulas to build and sustain profitability.

It uses terms like “evolving” and “uncertain” in its reporting. It’s always in a state of uncertain times and in stiff competition from other entertainment options. Too much overthinking and second-guessing a highly-speculative business will only stifle your creativity. Use that energy to fuel your sense of wonder.

 - Write more from the heart than from your brain

Do The Work – Consistently
 
Writers write. Determine your commitment to your craft and your career. If you can only spare a few hours writing during the weekend, so be it. Plan to write at least two or three new scripts each year to replenish your inventory and work your writing muscle. You can’t master your craft if you don’t practise to fine-tune your skills.

Know when to put a project aside. That single screenplay you’ve been working on for the past five years isn’t going to lead to a career. If it ain’t working… it ain’t working. Perhaps the situation might change in the future.

A writing career also includes training. Take a class, watch a video from a writer you admire, read scripts, watch movies and TV shows, join a writers’ group. The formation of solid activity patterns is the same for athletes as it is for screenwriters. Train your brain to perform some tasks in auto pilot mode.

Enough with the impostor syndrome. Most A-list screenwriters never thought they’d be making acceptance speeches or receiving big checks until they did. They earned and deserve it. You must believe that you have a special story to tell the world.

Write with purpose and intention. Are you writing for your own personal pleasure or for a broad audience? How might your story fit into the current screen landscape?

Know the difference between exploratory freeform writing and intense “don’t stop until ten pages are written” writing.

Having the right mindset is a powerful step to success. If you believe that you can, then you can. A healthy mindset can put you in a better mood, make you more confident, and allow you to take tangible steps towards your screenwriting career goals rather than simply complaining about the industry.