So I recently published a post on how to sell your screenplay, which I felt would be a great read for budding writers that are looking to get into the industry professionally and make money out of their talents. However, it was an interesting twitter discussion initiated by leading director, Adze Ugah this past weekend about the writing skills (or rather lack of) of most film graduates in South Africa that had me thinking that I might have jumped the gun with my previous feature and prompted me to write up this post. He shared his recent experience about how he had read a few scripts from recent film graduates and was disappointed by how they were all poorly written. He then expressed his concern with the future of the South African film industry, pointing out that some kind of intervention is needed in order to address this matter. I completely agree with him. And while his main focus at the time was on the South African crowd, I thought that this is actually a problem that the whole of Africa is currently facing.
The continent has a lot of amazing talent and we do see a number of creative filmmakers that are rising to make their mark in the global sphere. However, I also feel that we are still lacking in various areas and the concept of “filmmaking business” is still quite foreign to most of us. One of the biggest mistake that is made by most people, especially training institutions, is concentration too much on the technical side of things and neglecting the non-technical areas such as writing, production design, etc. I am a recent film graduate myself and after interacting with a few other graduates, one of the things I have noticed is that most lecturers will focus so much time on getting their students to master the skills of camera work, lighting, sound, and editing than all the other aspects of filmmaking. It’s as though they still feel that is what defines a filmmaker and assume that writing should just come naturally (what could be so hard about telling a story, right?). Wrong! There is a certain technical and creative skill that goes into screenwriting. When I was in film school, we only had two semesters that had screenwriting modules in all our three years of study, which is not nearly enough if you want to graduate to become a professional writer. Bare in mind that in those two semesters, writing is not the only thing you are concentrating on as you have to juggle a number of production assignments, so you only write just to meet the bare minimum standard in order to get a decent mark. This is also what has lead me to believe that if you truly want to major in screenwriting, attending film school and taking up an entire film course might not be the best option. I would rather have you enroll for a screenwriting degree instead and focus on honing your skill right from the start. Even though there are some great writers internationally that have come out of film schools, it is not everyone that can cut through the clutter. You may also note though that there aren’t that many options for individuals that want to study towards screenwriting degrees in Africa, which is where our governments and training institutions make a mistake again. There needs to be more concentrated studies focusing on screenwriting and creative writing; or we can run the risk to continue having bad and poor writers getting filtered into the industry year after year.
I can already imagine you shaking in your boots and probably throwing in the towel; thinking to yourself, “that’s it! I don’t stand a chance”. Again, you’re wrong. You do stand a chance of becoming a great writer as long as you know what to do (which I’m about to share with you just now) and are willing to put in the time and effort.
First things first, you need to have passion; lots of it. Writers have various reasons why they write. Some may write because it is a way of expressing themselves or they have certain fantasies that they want to bring to life; any strong drive that will always lead them to put pen to paper (or fingers to keypad, whatever). Great writers would rather do nothing else but write. They will wake up in the middle of the nigh and write, hide away during the day so they write without any disturbances or even sleep for two weeks straight because they have been up for a whole 6 months doing nothing but writing. They absolutely love it and are driven each day to become better. It’s like an obsession. Many of the best writers we know today didn’t become great overnight. It probably took them years to get to where they are yet they never stopped because it was what they wanted with all that’s within them. If you do not have that much passion and ambition as a writer, then maybe writing is not exactly what you want to spend your entire life doing. You will certainly not survive once you start hating it (because believe me, at some point the line between love and hate becomes very solid in this kind of profession).
I always say that writing is a skill that you are born with, however, how successful you get to become through its use is highly determined by how well you hone it. I said it in how to sell your screenplay and I will say it again, write write write!!! The more you write, the better you become at it. If you want to become the best writer you can be, you have to be constantly writing (now you know why I discouraged you from attending film school and suggested that you take up a writing degree instead). Make writing a priority. Let it be the one thing you do the most in life. Go out and find inspiration; every writer finds it differently, figure out your way. You can never be too busy to write when you want to be a successful writer because you are too busy writing. Successful writers are very disciplined. Set goals for yourself; number of hours, number of pages, or number of scenes. Even when writers block hits, don’t give up, find your way of writing through it. The difference between great writers and average writers is that great writers never stop writing, and that is how their work keeps becoming greater.
Great writers also value excellence. I have noticed how most young African writers do not pay much attention to the quality of their work. They don’t care to make sure that the material they produce is up to international standards. I feel like while we have been too busy fighting to create the “authentic African” filmmaking legacy, we forgot about excellence. I can literally show you so many writers that don’t even follow the simple standard format of writing a screenplay and yet expect to compete in the global spectrum. If you are still typing your script on Microsoft Word then you are not serious. Successful writers pride themselves in being better than the rest and that is how they have come to the top. Their reputation means a lot to them and therefore they cannot allow even a simple thing as a typo let alone missing headings or scene numbers to ruin the quality of their work. It doesn’t matter how African your story may be, at first glance your work should at least look exactly like any script that would be produced by a Hollywood screenwriter. Read scripts from other established writers and compare them to yours. Read screenwriting books. Make sure that the quality of your work is nothing of sub-par standard.
One of the most irritating things about African writers is how they have all literally become like one person. They write about the same thing, in the same way and even at the same time. Like we can now predict without hesitation how a production will go within the first two minutes that it is on screen, most probably because we have seen something exactly like it too many times before. Let your work be unique. Come up with different ideas. If you feel that a subject that has been tackled before can still use your touch, make sure that it is from a different angle. Forget about trends. I know a lot of times writers are encouraged to follow trends and give audiences “what they want”. But audiences cannot want what they don’t know. Be the first to show them the unknown and make them want it. Evoke their feelings and connect with them emotionally. Make them laugh, cry, get angry, excited, think, etc. That is the trick of great screenwriting; when a viewer can resonate with your work in some way. This can be best achieved when you write about what excites you, not what the marketplace dictates for you to write.
Lastly, play by rules of the game. Yes, I know I just said you need to be unique and come up with different ideas, but you cannot be totally out of touch with what the rest of the world is up to. Nothing eeks me like a screenwriter or filmmaker that has absolutely no idea where anything currently stands in the industry, locally or internationally. Read other writers’ works, watch as much productions as you can and stay updated with the latest industry news. This will give you relevant inspiration to do your job better that anyone else while keeping up with the new age. You will also learn how the system works and therefore will be in a better position to know what your next best move should be, on both a local and international level.
Get in the right headspace, develop the right attitude and adapt the relevant behavior to be the great writer you want to be. I cannot emphasize it enough how it will NOT be easy, but with patience, persistence and passion you will get there. Screenwriting is not for the faint hearted and I hope you will be really sure that is what you want to do with your life before you embark on this journey. You will be rejected, discouraged or even used before you can make it. However, the trick is to never give up and keep writing!
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