The best way to lose a job --

 ... is to tell you some people are talking with me.

So I won't tell you. 

I'm too burned out and jaded and don't care. But maybe I can give you a tip.

But I am talking to "people." Real people, too, and they are "looking at my script." They already saw a little bit of my sense of humor and liked it.  Here's what I did.

As you all probably know, agents are hard to get. I have a manager, sort of, who always says "they're not looking for that."

My answer always is "Nobody knows anything." I'm sure most of you have heard that expression and wonder if you know who said it.

Well, it was William Goldman, who wrote Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, All The President's Men, Misery and The Princess Bride (Princess who?). And more.

 He said it in his first book, Adventures in the Screen Trade. And if you don't have it, buy it. It's even in softcover and even though it was written in 1969, which for most of you is ancient history, you should buy it. 


So here we are again, my sort of manager and moi, and stopped at "Nobody Knows Anything."

I really believe in that expression as much as "Nobody's buying" or  "This is the worst year ever, they're not looking for Christmas movies, they're not looking for a dog movie, or the best -- "It's been done."



 I'm always trying to get attention for my scripts, 38 at last count, and I'm making up my mind for a new one. But not sure what.

Meanwhile these "people" are very nice and friendly and reply too, that's not always the case. 

One of the problems is that there just are too many screenwriters, there's an old joke that says that. An old joke. Not a new one. 

When I taught screenwriting at UCLA extension, over a period of almost three years, I had around 350 students and of them, I thought that maybe ten might make it. Might.

Why?

Because you can be the smartest writer ever, but you will still need luck. Good old accidental luck. I met a guy at a film school and we opened a little office and with that, we made a short film that ended up as a finalist in the 1976 Academy Awards.

Where was the luck? 

We both got along and we both had different qualities. He was the talented one, I was the one who was stubborn enough to learn the hard way. And still do. And still won't say I have talent. Because I don't but I can fake it.

But back to the "people."

Maybe you can use this as a way to sneak a script in. I came up with what you see below. Mine has reviews which always helps. But maybe you'll come up with your own idea. It did get 4 answers and one reading a script of mine, hopefully over the week-end. Even though I know it's not exactly what "they" want.

And of course, some of you won't have studio credits. Here's the answer --

-- a director friend of mine was talking to new filmmakers and a young aspiring director asked him how he could be the same. Friend said "It's easy, just get a camera and work for 35 years."

But don't let that stop you. You really need something different in looking for a job and I always say that it's best if you find a partner who has skills you don't.

Just remember, Nobody knows anything.  Use it.

More on the  "people", who probably will have heard that I might get a job on Monday.