This Mindset Shift Can Transform A Screenwriter's Career - Brooks Elms

Brooks Elms, Screenwriter/Writing Mentor: I  remember a few years ago he said he got this   job writing on the show and he was like Yeah  there was no effort. It was so easy I justI   didn't have to chase it down and my mind was  kind of hurting. So what do you mean? What… Film Courage: Brooks before you moved to Hollywood  what was the picture you had in your mind   of what it meant to be a working Hollywood  screenwriter that's a great question if   before I went to Hollywood my thought  of being a working screenwriter is   sort of non-stop five projects at a time this  one that one the other one andfinishing one and   and getting on to another one I think that's  pretty much what I would think back back then   so when you're at NYU or even before you had  this vision that it would be non-stop work   phone ringing people wanting to have meetings  maybe yeah yeah so yeah the idea made it   was what's so interesting is that a lot of people  talk about oh have you made it if you broke it   in or whatever and it's it's kind of amorphous  when you go what does that mean to you that you   made it and people usually go screensiders  I don't really know so that was certainly   the case for me I mean when I started I was  making movies with my friends in high school   and it was so much fun and I just was like look  nothing in my life is more fun than this how can I   do this as much as possible and then I was like  oh well I can go to study at NYU film school and   I went and stuff and then at that point I just  I would have probably if I was pushed to define   making it I would have thought yeah  making something that's widely released   and everybody knows you and your whatever and my  thought was yeah you're sort of working constantly   that's probably how I how I thought about it  back then in terms of the process of the work   did you think that it would just be as easy as  sitting down andhaving a glass of wine or whiskey   or whatever and just music in the background it's  all pours out or did you realize that it would be   more painstaking that's interesting well because  the way I started with my friends it was there was   a social aspect of it it was like I wanted to do  this with my friends I liked them and we had this   idea to do together and it was fun so there was  a very team oriented start to when I made movies   and then on my own I would do my own experiments  and then as I got to film school I learned   that expressing my own voice was really powerful  and satisfying in a way so I became pretty good at   working on other people's  projects and supporting them   co-writing and collaborating in groups andleading  following and everything in between so the   so the process was sort of intoxicating engaging  fascinating and like layered and levels and   so I so yeah so the the creativity the  creative part of it and the process   oh it always came pretty naturally  and was deeply engrossing to me so   there were things that back then I would consider  hard or difficult or whatever about the process   but the way I approach it now it's never hard it's  always easy and it's because I frame it in a way   that makes it easy whereas back then I didn't  know how to do that so I was generally having   fun but very often going wow this is so hard  this is difficult I was looking at the the what   was going on in certain ways without realizing  that was undermining the power of my process   and when did you realize that it was much  different than your first visions of what   a working successful Hollywood screenwriter  is yeah that's that's a good question so I   right out of NYU film school when I was 22  years old I made a rote directed and produced   feature and then we kind of ran out of  money and it took a couple years to kind   of get edited and put out there and I  ended up taking it on this really fun   college tour because it was a college it was a  movie about my friends on the NYU soccer team   and how we were pretty good at playing soccer  but really good at drinking after games   and that's probably a more interesting  encapsulation of what it actually was   but like there were some good aspects of it but it  was really kind of like a graduate level student   feature it was kind ofwe were 22. but I but I took  that film to all these different college campuses   on this college tour and I played it for for for a  month in New York City at this off-broadway space   called New York City's guerrilla cinema that we  created and it was a lot of fun so I was getting a   first-hand experience of how challenging it can be  to get people in the seatsI did this movie people   that saw it liked it for what it was and it was  like well geez how do I how does that work how do   you get people it's not just I made a movie and  everybody shows up and it's not exactly likeit   didn't get into Sundance so I didn't have theKevin  Smith experience or Richard Linklater those guys   so but it was the whole thing was fun the the  craziest promotion we did in at that time at   one point even me or my friend that was doing it  because actually in addition to screening my movie   we screened my friend's independent feature too  so like mine was odd nights his was even nights   we both did it together so we were both promoting  these two independent films together at one point   we even put like a gorilla suit on around the  street we're doing all sorts of things and so   how so I got a firsthand experience of what it's  like to be the business part of it how do you   get people how difficult is it to tell people  about your movie and get them to care about it   and who is going to care about this movie because  I wasn't thinking about that I was just thinking   about my own voice and something that felt true  to me at the timefor good and for bad how is that   picture of being a working Hollywood screenwriter  different now well I think the creative part of it   is the same I'm no more or less creative than  I ever was and my love of it is basically the   same but I'm able to look at the process in  a way that's deeper and more fun and easier   and so the quality of my choices that are going  to be more impactful they come more often and   they come at a greater flow and when I have the  ideas that are just a little bumpy or not quite   as strong I don't get hung up on them so it's  sort of the grace of my efficiency has increased   significantly and the way I think about it and  the way I allow myself to have more joy more often   so my creative process is profoundly different  although like if you ask me one single question I   had to have a creative answer to that now or when  I was 22 would be kind of the same but my craft is   profoundly different and how that relates to the  way I see working writers and myself it's it's   my creativity will be that i'll be hired by  producers to work on some sort of project   and and then I show up and we're we  see it through fruition and it just   and there's sometimes overlapping projects  and there's sometimes lulls in between and   then when there's a lull in between I'm writing  my own new spec material so I'm always writing and   there's joys of writing my own spec material  and there's joys of writing on assignmentI   mean the money part of the assignment guaranteed  is nice but it's really the deeper joy there for   me is I'm working with a team of people  and we have to find out a way where   I'm loving it and they're loving it I mean  ultimately they get the final say but they   hire me because they really want my my view right  because there's something I didn't either a sample   or the way I pitched an idea to them that they  felt like yeah thisguy can really contribute so   so it's that creative flow that I told you about  that's fully there when I'm doing spec work   and it's it's playing well with others in  a sandbox it's really kind of that simple   and there's a whole complication to it but  it really is that simple so and and I guess   the other thing is that there's a piece with  the sort of freelance nature of it the feast   and famine the busy and the flow and and the  the paradox is the more relaxed you are about   when projects come when doors close and how  you respond to them the easier things happen   and and the times in my career when I  was like hey zegs I got to make it happen   I was inadvertently pushing it away it's like the  the cool kid in high school this person is like   he all the guys liked him the girls liked him he  was he wasn't doing anything he was just kind of   cool and so we all have that cool person inside us  and maybe some of you were that cool and the funny   is if you talk to one of those people they might  not make they might not even have seen themselves   as the cool person but like but there absolutely  is that part of all of us that has that sort of   charisma our own authentic charisma and when we  show up with that part of ourselves in a meeting   in the the outreach part of the game where we're  there's no desperation we're not boring we're just   at ease we're ourselves what ends up happening  is we're it's about connecting dots so that we   make ourselves the exact dot that we want to be  and then the buyer of the script is the exact   they're looking for that dot and that's how  they connect so yeah I don't know if that   makes sense it does and I want to talk more  about law of attraction and things later yeah   and and you had some great videos on your  channel about that as it relates to story   what if things aren't so joyous and that in terms  of staying with a project and playing well in the   sandbox there are going to be times where you're  challenged and maybe you didn't think of that   before when you were at NYU because it was all  fun and everybody was sort of you were in this   together and you could have drinks afterwards or  whatever it was you knew each other well but now   the stakes are different how do you how do you  view it now because things don't always go well   in sandbox yeah so well my experience at NYU was  was awesome and very competitive at least because   I'm a couple of persons so maybe I was bringing  that to it so it was it was lots of fun and   it was a great experience but it was there  was actually about half the people there were   kind of still figuring stuff out and then the  other half were kind of killers and they were   they were getting after it so to me that  side of it those pressures were were similar   but to your point that's different like NYU is  like we paid the money we get the thing that's it   in the marketplace it's like we put up or we  don't get employedI mean so so there's those   pressures that are really different but ultimately  it's it's the same game it's like I either have   an idea that's going to contribute to this  producer's vision of what they want to do   with the project or don't and so when I show up  and have a meeting and share my take on something   or or they've already hired me and I do a  draft it's like I just I don't can do the   best that I can do and then they look at it and  and then we go from there I mean it's so it's   so yes the the doors close and oftentimes people  will frame that situation of a closed door as   a challenge or terrible or this or that or the  other and I understand that and I have empathy   for that and it's just it's paying attention to  the wrong thing and it's actually a self-imposed   limitation to kind of even think of it  that way you just say you just count the   wins this is a win this is a win this is a win  and then the winds stop at some point but like   and it sounds like pollyanna-ish because it is  and yet as I've tried that sort of mindset it's   just hey it feels better it's real fun and it  works better because again you're shifting to   that cool kid in high school everything's just it  says okay you work it out it's either this okay   yeah this door closed doesn't matter there's  one behind it and then okay that one goes fine   then there's one behind it and the more we focus  on that it really does the paradox is the more   we're not attached to when the door finally opens  the faster they open the watch pot never boils   kind of that's right it absolutely never boils  in Hollywood and you cannot be desperate and you   can't be boring and so the way to not be desperate  and the way to not be boring is the way to not be   boring is being authentic to yourself and the way  to not be desperate is realize that it's okay it's   gonna work out the universe is on the job you you  do your stuff I go up I make the best creative   choices I can I'm either I'm speccing material I'm  working with this partner or whatever and and it's   it's gonna work out did you always think like this  no not at all that was the thing so I was always I   always loved it right and I've loved it and I was  very productive there's some people that have like   a motor and they go and go and go and that's sort  of how my sort ofI made 50 short film experiments   before I even got to NYU and then at NYU a ton  more right so I was just I could just go and   I would what most people do see what's going  on out there and and if things were going well   I would feel good if things were not going  well the door closed I would feel bad right so   and that is a terrible way to live in general I  mean the way most people do it in a sense because   it hooks us into the roller coaster and  this business is very much that sort of   cyclical up down there's there's these things  happening beyond what we can completely control   so so what I would do is hustle and get excited  and kind of effort my way this that andI could   make things happen and things were good and I  would progress but the progression of my career   literally happened so much faster when I'm focused  and I have a goal and I know where I'm going   but I'm just not hooked into it it's going to  happen or it's not this is going to be I'm just   I'm i'm good with whatever happens and it's and  it's a practice you have to be able to practice   that in little ways and in big ways and as I in  my career was able to practice that more often   a my existential experience of life got better I  just felt better about me and and milestones got   crossed just much faster this milestone that  most it all it was easy no effort everything's   easy and it's a practice and so yeah so back in  the day I didn't know any different so I didn't   I didn't know to do it that way and  I have a an accountability partner   who's a professional tv writer and I remember a  few years ago he said he got this job writing on   the show and he was like yeah there was no effort  it was so easy I justI didn't have to chase it   down and my mind was kind of hurting so what do  you mean what what's wrong with this I spent my   whole life hustling and making things happen and  he just I realized that he was in this place where   he was a valuing not hustling not efforting  letting things be easy and I didn't realize   that was possible and if it was possible that  it could actually work and if it could work   it actually felt better and so in talking to him  and then reading a lot and this is sort of law of   attraction stuff and you know not getting caught  up in some of the woo-woo aspect of those things   but really looking at the tangible more grounded  aspects of them and then trying them and as I   tried them everything got better I it felt felt  better I enjoyed it more my creative process got   easier more powerful more consistent my job became  I get up and I'm happy and and then oh yeah what's   going on out there and is secondary what I mean  and it's again it's not 100 I'm not like all   rainbows and butterflies but if you talk to people  that I work with they'll pretty much say that most   of the time I'm feeling pretty happy and balanced  and and it's because I'm in the habit I'm in the   habit of whatever whatever whatever happens  to me out there I respond in a way that just   is aware of the of the sort of the abundance  and the bigness and the greatness that's there   around some of the the challenges and the  pieces of the challenges does that make sense   it does and balance is something that's very  important to you this is sort of the scales   it is it is Iyeah I would say yes certainly  certainly flow is the word that comes up for   me that when I'm in a state of flow that's  when it's easy it's effortless it's just fun   and it's like you get that time warp experience  work you played a lot of sports did you have to   retrain yourself because you said before  that you were competitive is that helpful   I love that you brought up sports because I've  been so I played soccer in college I was captain   of the NYU team and intensely competitive and NYU  is a division three school so division one schools   are like they're all about it and division three  schools are students that also play right so but   I wanted to study the film school so I was there  but I was really competitive too so this idea of   how much winning matters and how to sort of  make sense of winning in the scope of things   and and how to it it absolutely fascinates  me and it completely relates to this whole   idea of mindset because again the same paradox  that we talked about with Hollywood is like if   you're too desperate for something you're  actually pushing it away and in sports if   you're too desperate for hitting a free throw shot  or something happening in soccer or whatever it is   you can't you got to be loose and you got to have  that flow it's this it's exactly the same thing   and that's actually one of the ways I was able to  sort of find value in the law of attraction ideas   and sort of just not not pay too much attention to  the metaphysical parts of it because they might be   true but if it's metaphysical I can't really sort  of measure it or make sense of it but I knew damn   sure that when I played sports if my mindset  was confident and easy and active and flowing   that the numbers my stats were much better than  if I was freaked out or if I was worried about   outcome what if we lose what if I miss what if  Hollywood doesn't come walking right so it's all   the what ifs what ifs and so it absolutely  was a direct connection for me to sort of   take what I learned as an athlete and then what  I because I've also coached a lot of kids in in   sports as well my own kids and I even  coached a high school soccer team for   a season which was amazing and I love that mindset  stuff it just makes it makes a big difference   certainly in sports absolutely in entertainment  and really it crosses over pretty much anywhere. Question For The Viewers: How do   you feel about the pursuit of a  screenwriting career, does it come easy?

Channel: Film Courage

Views: 16,921

Keywords: How to start a screenplay, Screenwriting tips, screenwriting 101, screenwriting advice, screenwriting for beginners, screenwriting techniques, craft of screenwriting, selling a screenplay, how to write a script, how to write a story, writing a screenplay, Brooks Elms, writing coach, writing mentor, filmcourage, film courage, interview, how to make a better story, writing process, writing craft

Id: QU-6ELERLco

Length: 20min 1sec (1201 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 07 2021