Screenwriting Isn’t Hard by Markus Redmond
[Watch the video interview on Youtube here]
Markus Redmond, Actor/Writer/Director/Producer: It’s not.
Film Courage: Should we ask Siri? [We previously asked Siri a question off-camera]
Markus: It’s not. Anything is hard that you are forcing. If you’re forcing it, it’s hard.
Film Courage: Then maybe it’s the career aspect that’s hard? So the screenwriting process is easy?
Markus: Oh yeah. The navigating of a career is always most challenging then doing the actual thing. Like there are tons of incredibly talented actors that are not stars for one reason or another that has nothing to do with how talented they are as actors. It’s the same thing with writers, directors, musicians, songwriters.
A career trajectory is a completely different skillset. That’s why it’s important to either have someone who can guide you through it or figure out how to market stuff so that it appeals to the people you are trying to get it to.
But yes, I said earlier, it’s way easy to write the script than pitch it. They will ask you for a logline. That’s a few words. It takes me forever to figure it out. But you want a 100 pages of a script? Done! Easy! Gotcha!
Now you want me to take those 100 pages and put them in a sentence? Why? I’ve got a 100 pages? They are just different skillsets but I don’t necessarily think it’s hard. It can be challenging, it can be difficult. There could be research involved. It’s not necessarily easy but I wouldn’t categorize it as hard unless you are forcing it or there are forces impeding on the creative flow necessary.
Film Courage: Were there times where you had some who wanted to “guide your career” and sometimes it’s better to go it alone?
Markus: Yes.
Film Courage: Someone that saw things in you and thought “This will be great. Let’s work together on the trajectory of your career.” And you could see early on that it would be better to be on your own?
Markus: Yes…it’s like the manager who told me I should change the script and make it a dude (it was written about a woman). It’s like he’s not wrong. He’s not right. It’s just a difference…(Watch the video interview on Youtube here).