On Writing Partnerships: There's Strength in Numbers

When Randy and I graduated from the Boston University Film School a decade ago ('98), we did not receive much advice to take out into the wide world, "Go get a job as a barista and write, write, write!" we were told.

The first two or three years out of graduate school, I believe it was easy to kind of keep a head of steam going based on having had our heads crammed with inspired notions about writing and what it meant to be an 'auteur' in the film industry. We were set to make our mark...

In time, however, we were brought harshly to reality when we realized neither one of us was destined to be a "flash in the pan"; so we had to regroup - both individually and collectively. Part of this regrouping was the decision to form a writing partnership. Rather than take the world by storm individually, as a team, we could not only improve our writing, but we could also build a more sensible approach to the business side of things.

The ability to 'one, 'two' an agent or a producer is key. If a producer is not responding to one of us, the other can give him or her a try. Or if one of us is tired of making queries, the other can pick up the slack and give it a go.

Ours was an evolution (as many perhaps undergo) from wide-eyed students who thought success in screenwriting might be meteroic and sudden to a more sober-minded and steady approach. Between 1998-2001, as individuals, we flailed about. But after forming the partnership in 2001, we helped to steady one another and see progress in screenwriting as a long, slow climb.

Sure, there's the random rags to riches screenwriting story, but most people who have success in the screen trade get there after many painstaking and dues-paying years. Randy and I once had coffee with a highly successful writer/producer who told us he was able to score a big screenwriting assignment after a meeting because he had taken 1,000 meetings to get to that point.

This does not mean, one must form a writing partnership to climb the ladder, but in our case it helped considerably and it's something for folks starting out -or perhaps flailing themselves- to consider.

-Joe