Everything was in my favor. I had pages of solid notes on my script for Dig Down. I’d spent time preparing myself for my first ever script consultation. I’d been told to expect a positive call. Hell, even the start of it couldn’t have been better, as the judge of the competition I had entered had started off saying he hoped I enjoyed writing it as much as he enjoyed reading it.
And in the time it took me to respond, I felt I almost completely sabotaged the future prospects for my Dig Down script. What could I have said that could have such a devastating impact on my work?
I told him I must have enjoyed it, because this was the second time I had written it, as an adaptation to the first book I’d published.
Now, this appears very innocuous on the surface. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the response. Except it invited a follow-up question: “Do you have sales?”
I knew what the judge was getting at with this question, and the implications that went with it. In Hollywood, studios are taking fewer chances on unproven stories. Its why you see so many adaptations from other medias, sequels, reboots and remakes. They’re hoping to reduce the risks that come with making movies.
When the judge asked this question, I knew he was hoping to hear that I already had a large, loyal fanbase. In truth, so did I. If I had a following that was willing to buy tickets to see a story they loved on the big screen, or on a streaming service, combined with the quality of the story, this would have increased my chances of getting Dig Down into production.
But…I was adapting my books into screenplays as an approach to get my stories out to a wider audience. This is one of the challenges of writing, and something I might get into in more depth later. Essentially, the judge was asking if I already had the think that I was after, which was a wider audience.
I had inadvertently put myself into a jam. I couldn’t tell him I didn’t have sales, because I knew that would dampen the mood of the phone call. It might risk losing the enthusiasm that he had going into the meeting. Saying no would also mean one of my fears I mentioned in a previous post would be realized – that I wasn’t savvy enough for these meetings. I also couldn’t lie and say I did. It wouldn’t have taken too long searching the internet to find I wasn’t appearing on any of the top pages or sales figures. All I’d be doing there is proving I was a liar, and signaling I was someone you didn’t want to work with.
While this was a predicament, quick thinking saved me from the dilemma I’d put myself in. I didn’t have major sales, but I did have sales. So, instead of saying I had no sales, or lying, I decided to frame my response a certain way. After all, I’d had a lot of practice of this as a writer, guiding the reader to think and feel the way I wanted them to as they read my story.
I answered that I had some sales, but not as much as I liked. I also explained that this was a deliberate strategy, which was true. When I had been doing research for indie publishing leading up to the book launch of Dig Down, some advice I kept seeing was that indie writers should write series, as it was a way to hook a new audience, as it would give them multiple books to read, and thereby get multiple sales.
I do think this is a sound strategy, but felt it wasn’t for me. Dig Down is short enough, I couldn’t imagine splitting it into thirds. But I felt it was worthwhile to apply a part of the strategy that went with writing series. It was advised to wait until two installments of the series were ready to be published before actually doing so. This would generate some momentum as writers could control the release schedule, and have two books scheduled to their liking for new fans to find and enjoy, hooking them long enough for the next installment to be made available.
While I didn’t have a continuous story to keep readers engaged, I liked the idea of holding off on a marketing push until I had a couple of published books under my belt. If I marketed heavily going into the release of Dig Down, I felt that fans might have a hard time waiting for my next book. I always try to write something every year, but that’s not exactly the best pace for the internet. And not everything I write meets my expectations to go forward with publishing.
So, my thoughts were to wait to truly start marketing myself, until I had multiple books already out there. This would give writers new stories they craved right away, instead of waiting on my release schedule. This would also give them a better sense of what to expect from me, not only my writing style and what types of stories I liked to tell, but also that I’ll hop from genre to genre to tell the stories I want.
I gave this in-depth explanation to the competition judge, and while he replied that the better strategy is to build up that audience so that instead of entering screenplay competitions trying to get noticed, studios are coming to me looking to adapt my story, it was delivered not as a reprimand for a poor decision, but as advice to help me succeed.
It was a good thing this was a phone call instead of a WebEx or Zoom call. I didn’t have to risk him seeing me breathe a sigh of relief. In an instant, I’d given a near catastrophic response, but just as quickly, I’d averted disaster, and had done something I was seeking to do going into this meeting – that I could display some savviness that showed I understood the process and what professionals were looking for in this industry.
Luckily for me, this turned out to be the only real scare in the meeting. The rest of the consultation went very well from here.