WHAT AMERICAN IDOL
CAN TEACH WRITERS
By Julie Gray

You can meet Julie (one of our favorite American Idol junkies!) at this year's Great American PitchFest. She'll be teaching a free class on the 'TOP 10 THINGS STUDIO READERS HATE' on Saturday, June 13th at 1pm at the Marriott Burbank Hotel and Convention Center (2500 N. Hollywood Way, Burbank, CA 91505). To RSVP for Julie's class (or any of the other 30+ classes being offered), please email info@pitchfest.com. You can also check out more on Julie by visiting her fantastic blog for screenwriters at www.rougewave.blogspot.com.

I'm really struck by the parallels between American Idol and the journey of writers. Everything from the early auditions of Idol, when people think they can sing because their friends and parents told them so, to the current episodes in which singers are adept but not 100% unique, to the vulnerability and scathing or complimentary feedback each contestant must receive.

In particular, there is one Idol contestant, Lil Rounds, who has a great voice. The girl can sing. But her choices so far have been homage to other artists but without her own touch - and that has held her back from greatness. She's imitating, not innovating. And that can be the death of many a talented screenwriter.

The same but different is something we've all heard before. It's what audiences want in a movie. Something that is a little familiar to them, and yet something that surprises and delights them too.

When Adam Lambert performed "Mad World," we had the perfect example of "the same but different." A familiar song, but he took it to another level of its potential. He put his own stamp on it.

There's no question that all of the finalists on American Idol can sing. They are all talented, no doubt about that. But, the question then becomes who can perform under pressure and pull it out time after time and who can stand out from the pack in terms of originality? Or, as we writers would say - who has a VOICE?

Every day, hundreds and hundreds of scripts arrive in Hollywood. The vast majority of them are not competitive. Think of this phase as those early American Idol auditions when you have thousands of screaming would-be competitors crowded into auditoriums, waiting for a chance to try out. Some are delusional, some are clowns - and some - a very few, can actually sing.

You should not be concerned about the delusional and the clowns because your competition is the writers who can actually write. Now we come down to meaningful competition. But of those who can actually write - how many are also good in a room, able to handle pressure and able to write not one good script - but another one and another after that? Now the competition dwindles to just a handful.

The sorting process goes something like this:

Writers who can actually write
Writers who can write more than one good script
Writers who write consistently, with discipline
Writers who can handle feedback and take notes
Writers who can handle rejection, disappointment and setbacks
Writers who can generate fresh ideas
Writers who are good in a room and can pitch well
Writers who are fearless and confident

...and even then, even when you reach the top tier of confidence, experience, professionalism and consistent writing, the odds are very much against you. But you have to go through the various auditions - the points along the way when other writers either drop out or get sorted out of the running.

There are troubling signs along the way that can sometimes indicate a writer doesn't have what it takes. New writers who get IRATE about notes or feedback - not a good sign. Writers who take rejection too much to heart. Writers who stay on the same level of doing great karaoke but who can't break through to find their own unique voice. But the good news is you can work to break through any of these levels. As they say, the difference between writers in this town who make it and those who don't is that those who made it never gave up trying.

In order to evolve, you have to recognize where you are on the scale. You have to listen to the feedback you are receiving - sometimes it's silent feedback in the form of not getting read requests off of queries. Maybe it's pass after pass. Maybe you go postal when you get notes you don't like or agree with. Maybe you FREEZE in a room. Maybe you write well but your scripts are soft and derivative. It's okay - just be honest about where you are. That's the only way to reach the next level.

I wonder, when a contestant on American Idol goes home - what do they do next? Do they bitterly curse Simon Cowell and rage to the skies that they were unfairly treated? Or do they take what they learned and use it to become a better singer/performer? Well, I suppose either choice is a legitimate one. What would you do? Are you going to use your experiences to build a case that the world is not fair to you and that nobody gets your brilliance? Or are you going to make an honest assessment and use the information you gather to recharge yourself and your writing to keep evolving and improving?

Continuing to evolve, being open to feedback and continuing to put that behind in a chair is what separates the men from the mice. Yes, sometimes it's exhausting. Some writers get worn down and think they don't have the passion, eight scripts in, to keep up with this. And that's okay, that's a legitimate life choice. But you out there, you writers who can see no other life for yourselves than to break into Hollywood and write a produced movie - you are on an Iron Man Triathlon. Others will fall away, the path may sometimes feel lonely and difficult, but nurture that core passion and get back up and keep writing. That's the only way through to the end game. And when you reach that end game, you'll find the most ironic thing of all - it's not the end, it's a new beginning. So you wrote a script that sold and was produced. Can you do it again? Can you stay relevant? Now that you made it onto Sold Writer Island, can you manage not to get voted off?

Don't be afraid to take stock of who you are and where you are. There's no shame in being like Lil Rounds - she's amazing - she's made it very far. She can sing better than 99% of the population. But in a competition, that's not good enough. If that thought makes you quail, you may not have what it takes. There's only one way to find out. Keep. Writing.

Julie Gray is the founder of The Script Department, the premiere script coverage service in Hollywood, Julie employs a number of script readers to give notes and feedback to a very large clientele, including agents, managers, production companies and aspiring writers. In her former life as a script reader Julie has evaluated scripts for: Walden Media (NARNIA) Seed Productions (THE TOURIST) Red Wagon Productions (JARHEAD) Bedford Falls (BLOOD DIAMOND) and Cinergi (SWIM FAN). A screenwriter, published essayist and short fiction writer, Julie was also the inaugural winner of the 2003 Creative Screenwriting Expo Writers Boot Camp Award. Julie graduated from the program in 2005, and is also an alumna of the UCLA Writers' Program Studio. A lifelong Californian, Julie resides in Hollywood. When not working on one of her psychological thriller scripts or spending time with her two children, or one of her two dogs (Ray the Chihuahua, or Maddie the ShiTzu), she is writing her Young Adult novel and sharing her knowledge about writing, entertainment, and life in her popular blog, The Rouge Wave. www.rougewave.blogspot.com & www.thescriptdepartment.com