The Sky is Falling. Again.

Lately, I have grown more and more suspicious of this whole, "the sky is falling" economic branding on everything in our industry. But this LA Times piece really takes the cake for me personally.

Seems like every publication, blog, or interview feels the need to include such mandatory catch phrases as "there is less work these days," or "its a tough time right now" in its agenda, and now its gotten down to just plain, boring, formulaic reporting/writing. I'm reminded of the time when in 2005 or 2006 I was included in a major newspaper as part of a new indie film, DIY surge in local filmmaking. The executive producer and I had just transitioned a short film we did into partially funding a future feature I was doing. He pitched to the writer that our story was more of a "hard times leads to finding traditional financing" spin, as opposed to your typical, "there is no money but what these indie filmmakers can beg their grandparents for" spin. The writer, lazy as all hell, chose to do a typical piece on "the struggling filmmaker," and ignored ours and others' story of making something from nothing but transitioning it to more traditional funding approaches, and business models. His piece, which ended up appearing in his business section, would have been a hit, because we had all heard the other spin on this subject time and time again.

Its funny that I read this piece today, when only last week I heard from not one, but TWO of my screenwriter friends, both living in LA, who have done well with their scripts. One just sold hers, the other, who successfully sold his a while ago, went into production towards the end of last month. Furthermore, they both are already locks for re-write gigs, and one may be directing another script he wrote soon as a first feature (with a 7 figure budget I might add). I'm of course not saying this is the norm, in fact its a rarity - we all understand this. However, the rarity is what makes it a good story. Right? Maybe I should stop complaining and write their story myself. But thats not the point.

Its like the brilliant line in the Seinfeld episode where Whatley converts to Judiasm just for the jokes. The practice of cut and paste writing about the current state of film doesn't offend me as a filmmaker, it offends me as a reader who enjoys fresh, interesting, good writing.

But here is the LA Times with another true, yet boring, run of the mill, "the sky is falling" piece. Enjoy as much as you can, after the jump:



Screenwriter David Steinberg was invited last fall by a producer to pitch his idea for a rewrite of a "high-concept comedy" about an adult slacker for a major studio.

Steinberg figured he had a good shot at the assignment with credits like "American Pie 2" under his belt, even though he heard there were many other writers competing for the opening.

After an initial meeting, the producer asked him to prepare a more detailed proposal, known as a "beat sheet," outlining each scene and character. Steinberg reworked four drafts of his pitch and met with other producers, each one offering a different take while praising him for a "great job."

Normally, jumping through all those hoops signaled he had the job in the bag. Not this time. Steinberg was vacationing with his family in Aruba over the winter holiday when his agent e-mailed him that the studio picked another writer.

"I was devastated," said Steinberg, a lawyer before turning to screenwriting. "If I was going to break into the business now, I don't know if I could do it because there are so few opportunities to sell a script or get an assignment."

Such is the dreary lot now facing many of Hollywood's screenwriters, who emerged from a bruising strike two years ago only to be hit by the recession that forced a sharp retrenchment in filmmaking at the studios.

This week the Writers Guild of America, West reported that while earnings for screenwriters have bounced back to pre-strike levels, there is a lot less work going around: employment has fallen 11% in the last three years, with 226 fewer screenwriters working in 2009 than 2006, the year before the 100-day walkout and the lowest level in at least six years.

Full article HERE.