Screenwriting's Mentor Problem

How successful do you have to be before someone will help you out?

First of all, you’ve probably noticed the name change. I announced it over the weekend in this post, but from here on out, the newsletter will be known as Residuals.

Also - if you’re not a paid member you probably missed last week’s post on the difference between writing animation and writing live action. I’ll also be announcing a new series for paid members next week, so if you’ve been on the fence, now’s a great time to upgrade.

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Look, I’m a big personal development guy. I know it’s not cool, especially in the creative “my mind just works this way” screenwriting community, but seeking inspiration and insight from others has always been the way my mind works. I’m constantly reading books on directing and writing and producing, but I also devour books on business management, entrepreneurship, marketing, and seek out exercises like morning pages, to-do lists, Eisenhower Matrices and pretty much anything I can find to organize my thoughts to break through problems. 

It’s honestly kinda sweaty and try-hardy at times, but it’s who I am and I’ve come to accept that. I try hard because this business is hard, and anyone who says otherwise is lying. Deal with it.

In my constant search for new lessons and experiences to learn from, I’ve run into the same wall that almost every screenwriter I know hits – the mentor problem. 

How the hell do you find a mentor?

There’s this grand idea of mentorship as the key to breaking in or moving up, especially in Hollywood, which we all know is a relationship-based town and industry. And for good reason. It takes a lot of time, money, and person-power to make tv and movies, and you need to surround yourself with people you trust. But is it possible to find true, capital M “Mentors” as a newbie in this town?