Biting the hand …
Years ago I wrote my first (and so far only complete) screenplay. It was a spec script for the TV show “Touched by an Angel.”
I spent a lot of spare time over the next year or so writing agents, doing whatever I knew how to do to get people to read it and hopefully sell it. But nothing serious came of it. I got a few letters and one phone call from a NY agent (which surprisingly enough came after I had long since given up).
Many, many years later I’m still working on screenplay #3. I’m smarter this time and working on an original idea and not trying to do something for a TV show. I should note within a year of giving up on peddling my TBA script, the show was cancelled. Next I started on spec script #2 for "Without a Trace". Guess what happened? Before I could finish, the show was cancelled. Got a TV show you want cancelled? Just ask me to write a spec script for it and poof! It’s gone!
This week I got a letter from a law firm inviting me to opt-in or opt-out of a class action suit against some major movie studios and numerous agents etc. for age discrimination. I’ve heard for years that it’s tough to make it in Hollywood unless you were young (and live there!).
I have no idea how they knew (or know) I was over 40 and also not sure how they got my name as a potential TV writer. Maybe from the WGA or query letters I sent to agents. But it seems odd that they included me since as far as I know, I was not discriminated against (I think my script just wasn’t very good) and I’ve never actually written for TV (and been paid for it).
For now I’ll keep plugging away on my current project. It doesn’t seem right to join in a lawsuit against people I hope someday will read my script. But they are also giving away money!
I spent a lot of spare time over the next year or so writing agents, doing whatever I knew how to do to get people to read it and hopefully sell it. But nothing serious came of it. I got a few letters and one phone call from a NY agent (which surprisingly enough came after I had long since given up).
Many, many years later I’m still working on screenplay #3. I’m smarter this time and working on an original idea and not trying to do something for a TV show. I should note within a year of giving up on peddling my TBA script, the show was cancelled. Next I started on spec script #2 for "Without a Trace". Guess what happened? Before I could finish, the show was cancelled. Got a TV show you want cancelled? Just ask me to write a spec script for it and poof! It’s gone!
This week I got a letter from a law firm inviting me to opt-in or opt-out of a class action suit against some major movie studios and numerous agents etc. for age discrimination. I’ve heard for years that it’s tough to make it in Hollywood unless you were young (and live there!).
I have no idea how they knew (or know) I was over 40 and also not sure how they got my name as a potential TV writer. Maybe from the WGA or query letters I sent to agents. But it seems odd that they included me since as far as I know, I was not discriminated against (I think my script just wasn’t very good) and I’ve never actually written for TV (and been paid for it).
For now I’ll keep plugging away on my current project. It doesn’t seem right to join in a lawsuit against people I hope someday will read my script. But they are also giving away money!
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