Why I'm a Better Screenwriter Than You; 10 Reasons

It’s time to sit down and ask yourself an important question, why am I better than you at this screenwriting game? Seriously, what’s up with that?

Let’s go over a few reasons which are probably going through your tiny mind right now;

I Work Harder at This

You don’t write every day. You try to write when you have some free time but it’s never enough. You’re mind is clogged with ideas and, when you finally sit down to face the blank page, you lock up with writer’s block. Compared to me, you are a lazy bum with a poor work ethic.

I’m Simply More Talented

You were behind me from day one. You just don’t have the kind of mind that dreams up worthwhile material. While you sit struggling for days coming up with bad ideas, they flow from me on demand. You need to redraft a story ten times while I write crackling dialogue on the first take.

I’m Better Educated

You most likely never got the quality education I did, and if you were fortunate enough to, you wasted it. You never knew you wanted to be a writer. When you were daydreaming in class, I was focusing on my English literature by day and running home to hone my skills at night.

I'm on the Pulse of Trends

Do you even dank meme, bro? You’re painfully out of touch and addressing an audience who have long passed on from visiting the movie theatre. You’re a dying breed of writer who simply isn’t seen with the same highly valuable commercial appeal someone like myself is.

I Have Access You Don’t

Everywhere there’s networking to be done, I’m there. I’m online where I need to be. I’m offline where it matters. I’m always in the room. You can’t get a word in edgeways with industry members because I’m the kind of person they wait to chat to at parties. I talk and people listen.

I Have a Track Record

You’re not on IMDB, and if you are, your credits are doing you more harm than good. You’re only as good as your last option or sale and you’ve got next to nothing behind you. You’re a bumbling unknown while I’m an exciting sure thing. Yeah, it’s a catch-22. Guess it sucks to be you.

My Prose Is More Poetic

My voice flows from the page so freely, veracious readers can’t wait to turn to the next. While you hack out clumsy blueprints, I conceive pieces of literature. My words flow with the smooth cadence of a Swiss watch, and when I want impact, they hit like a barrage of ballistics.

I Use a Better Story Formula

It was hard enough for you to get your head around three acts. I’m juggling five. You’re saving the cat yet barely able to keep your crayons within the lines. If you're not stuck up a tree you’re stuck in the dark night of the soul every day both figuratively and literally. 

I’m Just Technically Better

I barely ever make typos. I know the rules of grammar and know when to break them. For every adverb you fart out your fingers I have another word in my vocabulary. You fail the formatting test on page one whereas I’m light on the eyes and deep in the detail through to the end. Where are your awards? Where's your validation?

Does that sound about right to you?

That reality is, none of these reasons are true. 

There is only one reason; it’s because you allow yourself to think I am better than you. And you shouldn’t. Never demean yourself. Never let others demean you.

You have an imagination. You’re half way there. The self confidence is free if you’re willing to take it.

Don’t let yourself become your own worst enemy. It’s far too easy to do and there’s no benefit to it. No, it won’t make you push harder. No, it won’t give you the tough love you need. It will demotivate you and send you on a spiral of self destruction - been there, done that.

Keep in mind that the screenwriting world is littered with writers who want to make sure everyone else is ranked neatly below them. They are weak and they are scared. They know that the gem of an idea and the energy to do it justice exists within all of us. They know that self belief makes people powerful, so they try to strip it from those they see as competition.

While it’s possible to cut people like that out of your life, it’s far harder, and far more important to cut that toxicity from you mind.

If that sounds impossible then I ask you this, what do you stand to lose by believing you can do this? Now what do you stand to lose by believing others are more deserving?

Writing allows you to put your mind on the page. Your mind is just as beautiful and creative as the next person’s. Sure, our goals, our tastes, our passions may differ, but that doesn’t make one person right and another wrong.

Write like you’re the greatest writer in the world, because within your world, that’s exactly what you are. 

Please yourself first because because it’s your authentic self that will please your audience in time.

Stop caring about being better and start caring about being an artist.