On Becoming More of a Prick
When Gates of Fire was first optioned by Universal Studios in 1998, the director Michael Mann was attached. I sent him hand-written congratulations and a signed first edition. I never heard a peep. I thought, “What a prick!”
The same thing happened with Robert Redford on The Legend of Bagger Vance. Again I thought, “What a prick!”
But I gotta tell you, the more I’ve thought about it over the years, the more I see both Mann and Redford’s point of view.
They have to protect their time. Their assistants have to keep “asks” and potential “asks” at bay. Surely both directors thought, if in fact they ever got my packages, “Uh-oh, this writer’s going to be a major pain in the ass; the last thing I need on the set is some hyper-possessive literary type peering over my shoulder saying, ‘I would’ve shot that scene differently.’”
(Whether a movie director should meet with the writer of a book he’s adapting is a whole other question. Don’t get me started on that one.)
The bottom line on saying no to “asks” is this: if it’s okay to ask (and it is), then it’s okay to blow off an ask.
We’re not being pricks; we’re protecting our time.
DO THE WORK
Steve shows you the predictable Resistance points that every writer hits in a work-in-progress and then shows you how to deal with each one of these sticking points. This book shows you how to keep going with your work.
THE AUTHENTIC SWING
A short book about the writing of a first novel: for Steve, The Legend of Bagger Vance. Having failed with three earlier attempts at novels, here's how Steve finally succeeded.
NOBODY WANTS TO READ YOUR SH*T
Steve shares his "lessons learned" from the trenches of the five different writing careers—advertising, screenwriting, fiction, nonfiction, and self-help. This is tradecraft. An MFA in Writing in 197 pages.
TURNING PRO
Amateurs have amateur habits. Pros have pro habits. When we turn pro, we give up the comfortable life but we find our power. Steve answers the question, "How do we overcome Resistance?"
Fighting the war against Resistance leaves little time or chance for frivolous compassion and customary niceties. The battle for victory over Resistance is far more important than emotional attachments!
It’s remarkable how such events might influence our impressions of people. I understand how easy it is to ignore little gestures while I’m engaged in study or attempting to do my dissertation. Perhaps Michael Mann was simply caught up in his own creative whirlwind.
Such a tiny word, NO. So hard to utter when it’s your loved ones who ask. So hard when you are a people pleaser. But a skill to be learned with balance to write the end to a story or lay in a final brush stroke on a painting. Some days you fail. Some days are a success. Keep trying. Keep doing. Wish all a week of productivity.
IMHO, fighting against Resistance doesn’t mean being rude!
Those people were not wasting time answering generic requests! They received a signed copy from the author of the book thery were trying to make a film of! A couple lines, or just a written “thank you” wouldn’t have been “wasted time”.
Benito Mussolini ordered everyone to run to and from his desk in Palazzo Venezia, to save him ten seconds of his precious time.
Saving ten seconds (even at the cost of being rude) doesn’t imply that those seconds will be productive-
I raise my coffee mug—cheers to protecting my time! That precious creative time in my music room.