Andrea Mann

Andrea Mann is a British screenwriter

The Myth Of The ‘Undeniable’ Spec Script

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My debut spec screenplay was optioned by a Golden Globe-winning producer, and later Oscar-nominated actors were attached. Was it ‘undeniable’? No.

No art is perfect (although Moonstruck comes pretty close)

Screenwriting bros (who are like screenwriting gurus, but spend more of their time on social media) are fond of saying, well, many things. Some of which I agree with (eg ‘link your story beats through cause and effect’), others (eg ‘never put songs in your scripts, are you CRAZY you total AMATEUR’) less so.

Into the latter category falls one piece of received wisdom about spec scripts which always has my eyes rolling so far back in my head that… well, according to Google’s AI answer, I’d have to seek help for nystagmus. (Google AI isn’t very good at expressions. Or much else, to be honest. But I digress.)

Spec scripts – ie a screenplay you’ve written speculatively, as opposed to having been hired to write it – are the scripts that often launch us writers into the film/TV world. They’re the ones we’ve crafted (usually) on our own, in our own time, for free – with a hope that they will then get attention/be produced/serve as a calling card script. Or hopefully all three.

And the piece of screenwriting/industry advice about spec scripts that really gets my goat (I’m not going near Google AI with that one) is this:

‘Your spec script has to be undeniable’.

Now, I’ve been lucky enough to have two spec screenplays taken on by producers – the first one did indeed launch my career (and has served as a calling card script); the second was a movie musical I wrote a few years later.

I can tell you right now that neither was ‘undeniable’. Indeed, both of them were very much denied by various producers.

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Those Three Little Words That Mean So Much

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Learning to ‘trust the process’ can change your life. Trust me. (And the process).

Trust the Post-it

I’m in the first draft of a feature script at the moment, with all the ups and downs that entails.

The ups include thoughts like: I’m writing a film script! I used to manage a cinema and now I’m writing a film script!! – inwardly screaming and running around the house like Olive when she’s told she’s through to the finals of the Little Miss Sunshine pageant.

The downs include rather different thoughts, like: What the f— am I doing? Should I really put that there? Is this rubbish? Oh god, it’s rubbish. Is this script going to be any good? At any point? I bet Mike White’s scripts are great off the bat! …and so on.

I often talk to other writers and creatives about how a) the voice of your Inner Critic never goes away but b) you can help it to become quieter, and less frequent, by doing such things as nurturing the voice of your Inner Best Friend instead.

When I’m in the thick of a first draft, my Inner Best Friend reminds me that they’re known as Shitty First Drafts for a reason. That nobody will see this draft but me. That it doesn’t need to be good, it just needs to be written. That it doesn’t matter if it’s rubbish for now, as long as I push on through. That I should just keep swimming. At which point I realise that my Inner Best Friend is, in fact, a fish. Called Dory.  

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Who The Hell Put This Glass Ceiling Here?

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Grandpa Joe: You mean we’re going…
Willy Wonka: Up and out!
Grandpa Joe: But this roof is made of glass! It’ll shatter into a thousand pieces. We’ll be cut to ribbons!
Willy Wonka: Probably.

I was invited to give my first guest lecture last week: to final year students at the University of Leeds, talking about skills to help them navigate a career in the creative industries. I absolutely loved it, and not just because the exterior of the School of Fine Arts had a New York High School of Performing Arts vibe. I loved talking to the students, I loved being in their orbit, I loved being on campus… in a ‘Wouldn’t it be lovely to spend more time here and do more lecturing!’ kind of way, not a Never Been Kissed/17 Again bodyswap/time travel kind of way, I hasten to add.

One of the ideas I spoke to the students about was that of moving through our comfort zones and smashing our personal glass ceilings. And although I didn’t go into the following with them, being back in a university environment reminded me once more of my own glass ceilings, my deep-rooted childhood (and who am I kidding, adulthood) dream of following in the tap-dancing footsteps of The Kids From Fame, and the two incidents which quashed that dream.

Or rather: the two incidents I would for a long time blame for quashing that dream. Because it wasn’t until many years later that I realised I had, in my response to these events, well and truly quashed them myself.

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