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After film school I ran out of options and money. I wrote and wrote and wrote, and placed in semifinals of @TheAcademy Nicholl Fellowship. A friend who was an assistant at the time and much more connected than I then used that Nicholl stat to intro me to managers. https://twitter.com/MuttsPresents/status/1285337116520730625">https://twitter.com/MuttsPres...
I had a few scripts written, none particularly good, but my voice was clear and one manager in particular saw potential. He signed me, and I continued to write. And write. And write.
I was not making any money, and this manager could& #39;ve shrugged me off at any point in time, but he was young and starting his career as well, so I was an easy investment.
Over 18 months of working with him and not selling anything but going from "writer with potential" to "maybe actually a good writer" I wrote a script called BOY. It placed on the 2015 (I believe?) Annual Black List. Producers became involved. Noomi Rapace attached.
I figured I had made it! This was it! My big moment! Right?? Nope! Despite everyones considerable efforts, the movie ended up not getting off the ground. Happens. All the while, I continued to write. At this point, I had a little street cred. My name in the press once or twice.
Went on probably close to 100 general meetings. No work immediately came from them, but they created half a dozen strong relationships with producers/executives that are still among my strongest. At this point I& #39;m optioning some stuff, selling some pitches.
I could go on and on here, but eventually my first really big, legitimate out of this world sale was Project Power. That& #39;s when the game started to change in a more tangible way for me.
Ultimately specifics are sort of useless because it& #39;s not something that can be easily replicated. My path is my path, and it& #39;s not matter of this contest/festival/script/director/whatever.
A lot of it was right place/right time/right people saw me when. A whole lot of it was hard work. But a lot of it is the fact that system is designed to benefit straight white guys. You& #39;re a sucker if you can& #39;t acknowledge that.
At the end of the day, there are tactics that I think are useful and ARE something a person can replicate. Chief among them is not putting all of your eggs in one basket. I look at Hollywood like betting. You don& #39;t go to Vegas and make one bet expecting to get rich.
Every project is an incredible investment of time. An incredible investment of energy. And, if you& #39;re doing it right, an investment of soul. For me, a huge component was doing the best work I can as frequently as possible. LOTS of material, but it had to be STRONG.
