In my previous post, I mentioned that in addition to entering screenplay competitions, I was going to start attending film festivals, with the goal to start networking. I felt it was a sound plan. I was starting to get results, having both screenplays I had written and entered into contests having placed as a finalist. Now it was about getting the word out about this success.
Unfortunately, there was one problem. And it was kind of a big one.
For the first time in fifteen years, the Writer’s Guild of America had just gone on strike.
While this didn’t bar me from attending the film festivals, it would be career suicide to attempt to network at them. If I did, and it was discovered that I had been working behind the scenes, while writers were holding the line to negotiate better opportunities for everyone, I would be blacklisted by every studio who knew that a deal with me would mean that no other writer in the WGA would work with them.
And this happened right after I bought tickets to attend my first film festival. And with the second I had planned to attend, Tribeca, happening the following weekend.
My plans were coming off the rails before they even began.