When I was a frustrated, struggling writer, I used to believe there was something wrong with the system. How was anyone with talent supposed to break in, if the people within the system made it virtually impossible to get noticed?

Take this ridiculous idea of LOGLINES.

Am I really supposed to be able to encapsulate my entire kick-ass, finely-detailed, one-hundred-page screenplay in TWO SENTENCES?! That’s got to be the most ridiculous thing I’d ever heard. Impossible. Stupid. Narrow-minded. No matter WHAT I came up with, it could never truly reflect the richness of my words. Those producers are closing their minds to the more complex and valuable material, I assumed.

And then I started looking for screenplays to produce.

Being the enlightened one, I accepted any and all unsolicited screenplays through the Embryo films website. But a funny thing happened.

We got inundated.

And when I say inundated, I don’t mean we were swamped with hundreds of thousands of screenplays. No. There just aren’t that many people in Australia writing screenplays. We were inundated with about a hundred and fifty.

But, being a writer myself (and knowing how much effort you put into it), I didn’t want to just reject screenplays out of hand. So I made a policy of reading everything that came in — or at least of giving it a genuinely “fair go”.

After about a month, I was so hopelessly behind, that I would never catch up. They were coming in faster than I could keep up. Within six months, I was sure I was being voodoo cursed by a couple hundred writers out there.

See, it takes about an hour and a half to properly read a correctly-formatted screenplay. And even if you’ve got a lot of time on your hands (which I didn’t), you still can’t read more than, say, 10 or 20 scripts in a week. Not if you’re trying to seriously consider them for production. And as soon as you have ANYTHING going on in your life, you’re lucky to get through 5 or 6 of them.

Eventually, I was consumed with guilt. Not getting back to writers who had submitted their screenplays made me just as wicked and evil as every other producer that had never gotten back to me. Skimming scripts to “get a feel for it” was going against what I claimed made me different. The mountain of scripts (okay, call it a “stack”, but emotionally, it was a mountain) became overwhelming.

There had to be a better way.

Ironically, I found it. It’s called a LOGLINE.

Turns out, there’s a reason things are done the way they’ve been done for decades. (Funny that.)

A compelling logline does several things at the same time, and as a writer, you need to understand these points:

1) IT SAVES THE PRODUCER’S TIME.

And let’s face it, if I spend all my time reading screenplays, I don’t spend much time producing. If I make the decision about what to READ merely by looking at the logline, I can spend the time reading only those projects that fit the parameters of what I’m looking for. If you’ve written an amazing fantasy drama, and I’m really looking for a comedy, I helps us quickly determine we’re not a match on this particular project. (It’s a time-management thing, not a judgment on your writing.)

2) IT DEMONSTRATES THE MARKETING ANGLE.

A perpetual problem producers face is that they need to find money in order to make their films. If I can’t imagine how I would sell the film, I’m not going to be very confident when approaching investors or distributors. By sending me a compelling logline, you’re helping make my life easier, which in turns makes me want to work with you.

3) IT PULLS THEM IN.

Let’s face it, which script would YOU rather read — one whose concept is vague, generic, and run-of-the-mill (something you’ve seen a thousand times)? Or one that, upon reading it for the very first time, gets your mind racing, imagining possibilities, and excited about what that film could become? Well, I’m no different. I want life to be as exciting as possible, too.

4) IT LETS THEM KNOW YOU’RE A PROFESSIONAL.

Now this one I didn’t realize until I’d seen enough proof of it. But I discovered something a few years ago — that a professional screenwriter (or at least someone capable of writing professional caliber material) is GOOD WITH WORDS. Seems obvious, doesn’t it? Well, it’s not. As anyone who’s read more than 30 or 40 unproduced screenplays can tell you, you pretty much know by the end of page 5 whether or not the writer knows what they’re doing. What I’ve discovered is that you REALLY know after just the logline. If you can’t grab me in two sentences, why should I believe you’ll grab me in a few thousand?

So, in short, loglines are NOT the enemy.

In fact, crafting a powerful logline will help you exercise the very same skills that will help you craft a powerful screenplay.

And when you send off that logline, you should KNOW what reaction I’m going to have when I read it. When you can do that, you won’t find every producer requesting your screenplay. But you WILL find the right ones.

Keep on writing!

There are numerous ways on how to make money from writing. I’m not talking about publishing a novel or writing a screenplay! There are easier ways to make money from writing than these. Today’s fast-paced industry requires people to churn out more articles and columns; hence, it poses a need for competent writers. A great need for people like you! So if you’re interested to learn how to make money from writing, read on! 1) Be a technical writer.Are you familiar with computers, hardware, software, chemicals, electronics, etc.? If you’re interested in such topics, you can easily write about them. Not a lot of people like technical writing. If you possess a talent for it, I strongly suggest you pursue that career. It’s not something everybody is good at, so you have a better chance of being accepted because the competition isn’t as tough. Check out special interest magazines and online blogs for your opportunities. 2) Be a blogger.Another way on how to make money from writing is by being a blogger. Bloggers are steadily growing in number and with good reason! There’s money to be earned simply by writing about the stuff you’re interested in! You can start your own blog, write articles about a specific subject and attract advertisers to invest in it. 3) Be an academic writer.Are you the type who gets high grades in your term papers? If you are, then there is an opportunity for you to make money from writing. These days, a lot of people need help writing essays, research papers and even book reports. Likewise, there are now Web sites that cater to these needs specifically. Web sites like writers.ph operate in such a way that you get to choose the “assignment” you want to do. Think of it as another school assignment! Even if you’re not a gifted writer, you can still learn how to make money from writing. You can even manage a team of writers and get a cut of the earnings. Look around the Internet. You’ll find that the world is in dire need of your services!

Australia is not Hollywood. Australia is not Hollywood. Australia is not Hollywood.

Sometimes, I have to remind myself. It’s the only way to preserve my sanity.

See, I’m an independent film producer who’s been involved in the film industry since before I was a teenager (over 20 years now, eeesh!). And because I grew up in Los Angeles, the film industry was all around me.

It never even occurred to me that people might consider a career in film “impossible”.

So when I got to Australia and started looking for screenplays, I was genuinely surprised by how few people were doing it. At first, I saw it as a tremendous opportunity. Over time, I began to realize it was a tremendous obstacle.

Without many screenwriters in Australia, the screenwriting community remains small, which makes it a very lonely profession. (Writing’s always a lonely profession, but when no one around you even understands what you do, it gets downright desolate.)

As it turns out, many Australians who WOULD turn their ideas into screenplays DON’T… simply because they don’t think it’s feasible.

Well, I disagree.

If you can excel at screenwriting in Australia, you can get noticed. The local industry is continually crying out for quality material. Why shouldn’t it be you that writes it?

But Australia is not Hollywood. So the career path of a screenwriter here is not quite so obvious.

That’s why I’ve identified five different and clearly-marked paths that would-be Australian screenwriters can take. I don’t know if these are the ONLY paths, but they’re the five that I could identify without much thought.

If you’re looking to write a screenplay, pick a path and write FOR it, and your chances of seeing something in return for your efforts will multiply exponentially.

1) Write for the Government

It’s no secret that government funding dominates the Australian film industry. And many would-be screenwriters see government money as the only source of income. It’s not, but it’s the most obvious. To attract government funding, you’ll need to understand what those funding sources need to see in a screenplay (specifically, cultural relevance). In Australia, most of the competition is writing for this market, but it remains alive and well).

2) Write for local producers

Australian producers exist in a difficult environment. They typically have very little script development money, and can’t claim development expenses against their taxes unless the project goes into production. The result? Films get pushed into production prematurely. Australian producers aspire to make brilliant films just like everyone else does. To write for this market, research who’s who, who does what, and what they’re looking for. Craft something powerful that’s specifically designed for them, and you’ll get noticed very quickly.

3) Write to self-produce

Partly from a do-it-yourself attitude, and partly from the necessity of surviving in a small market, many writers aim to self-produce their work. If this includes you, you’ll need to learn the myriad other skills involved, which will necessarily limit the time and energy you can put into perfecting the screenwriting craft. Be sure to get objective feedback on your project before racing into production. Most writers misunderstand self-producing, assuming it’s the easiest (or at least most direct) route to a completed film. In fact, it’s about twenty times the work for half the reward. But it’s a viable avenue that can be legitimately considered.

4) Write for me (or someone like me)

Although I’m technically just one of the many producers who fall under category 2, I’m a little unique down here, in that I believe in applying “Hollywood” techniques to local stories. My philosophy is simple: If you make movies that make money, you get to make more movies — so let’s start making mainstream entertainment that can keep the quality industry alive. Many in the local industry reject that kind of American influence, arguing that Australian film should be pure and free of commercial considerations. It’s a valid point of view, and I absolutely respect it. But I want to reach out to the cineplexes, so I seek “High Concept” stories that can be easily marketed to a wide audience. There are several Australian producers with this philosophy, and we all fit into this category.

5) Write for Hollywood

Yes, believe it or not Aussie screenwriters, despite being this far away, writing for the Hollywood market is a legitimate and viable path. Ironically, many Australian writers have found it easier to “break in” to the Hollywood market than Americans. Largely the result of very few Australian films getting released in the US (and then, it’s only the good ones), Hollywood has a distorted perception of Australia, and makes assumptions in your favour. The challenge to this path is that, in the end, you’re competing with about 100 times as many writers, including the best in the world. Your skills had better be world-class, if you hope to compete.

So. Which path is best?

The simple answer is that there’s no answer to that question. It’s whichever is right for you, your project, your personality, and your goals. Don’t rule out — and don’t settle for — ANY of these, simply because they look easier or harder than the others.

The point is not which path to take.

The point is that there are at least five real, potential, viable career paths for Australian screenwriters.

So if you’ve got an idea for a screenplay, or you have any inkling that screenwriting might be something you’d like to do, I strongly encourage you to consider it seriously.

Australia needs quality screenwriters. We make 30-odd films per year, on average. If every one of them was amazing and powerful, or far-reaching and entertaining, the local culture would flourish.

Keep on writing!