Hello from Hollyweird!

A newsletter about surviving in Hollywood, a totally normal place to live and work.

As social media becomes a barely functioning hellscape, I’ve been thinking a lot about what (if anything) I’ve gotten out of it. The memes, yes, but also the tiniest feeling of a community. And as I’ve wondered what I could do to help foster that feeling as it all collapses under our collective feet, I was reminded that I already accidentally found a decent way that seemed to be of interest at least to some people out there!

Any time I’ve shared a peek into my process as a writer (whether it’s How I Got My Manager / Agent or my extremely detailed year-end reviews in which I share everything I worked on (and failed to work on) over the course of the calendar year, I’ve heard from tons of other writers and directors I admire telling me “I had the same issues this year,” or “Yeah, it really does suck that much for all of us.” The best thing to come out of the 2023 Writer’s Strike for me personally was the sense of solidarity that came from hearing the unvarnished truth about how people are surviving (or more often not quite surviving) this business. But over the last year, I’ve noticed more and more that any time I try to write anything for any general audience it’s buried by an algorithm under A.I. abominations and ads from Cheech & Chong for edibles. So I thought I should find a way to write directly to you, dear reader. All of which means… you’ve probably guessed it if you’re here…

And so here it is. A substack that I’m hoping will be a place to talk specifically about trying to survive as a working writer in Hollywood. I don’t pretend to know it all, or even to be an expert, but I do know something about being a professional screenwriter, and it’s a strange, strange business to navigate solo.

So, what’s the plan here?

Well… if you’ve read those yearly posts, this will be like that, but on an even more granular level. Hollyweird will be where I write transparently about what’s working, what’s not working, and share a peek behind the curtain of a business that’s traditionally very secretive. I’ll write about what I’ve been up to, what I’ve been watching, and also about process things like “How do you write a pitch?” and “What even goes into a lookbook?” and “How many times do you have to meet someone to talk about an OWA before they tell you you did/didn’t get the job?” Heck I may even share my drafts of those things because… why not?

I’ll also share longer-term tracking of what I’m actually up to day to day, including (and this is the thing I’d be most interested in as a reader) a front-row seat as I try to package and put together my Directorial Debut (more on that in subsequent posts, so subscribe now).

These are all things I really really wish I’d known or gotten to learn more about when I first moved to LA, and I’m planning to spill it all here.

If we get enough of a Hollyweirdo community going here, I’d also love to expand the offerings. I have lots of plans in store, from Q&A’s to community threads, and special guest columns from my friends & foes in the biz.

I dunno! Hollywood is really weird and I thought it might be nice to hear about it from someone living through it every day, whether you’re also here in the trenches or still hoping to break in. There’s no business like it, so buckle in and let’s see where the next year takes us.

Posts will be every Friday. See you soon!

Colby