This isn't easy
in fact, it's hard
As writers we are making something from nothing. (Usually. Every once in a while we’re adapting the rights to Microsoft Office’s character Clippy.)
It’s not easy.
People forget that. Tell someone you’re a writer and, assuming they aren’t a writer, they will usually tell you that they have a great idea for something. Maybe you want it? Or maybe they’ll write it. “How hard could it be?”
It's hard.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how hard everything is lately because I am currently working on projects at every scale — a first time feature for me to direct, a feature I’m writing for hire for someone else more important to direct, and an established television series. I’m also approaching (come 2026) a decade of being a paid, professional screenwriter. You would think that over time, some of this would get easier. But every time I sit down to write something new, every time I have to convince someone to take a chance, every time I have to sit down and read a first draft that isn’t quite there and figure out how in the world I am going to take that and turn it into something coherent and dare we hope for good? — it’s still hard.
None of this is easy.
There must be a name for this psychological phenomenon where we assume that whatever someone else is doing must be easy, and whatever we are doing is hard, and if only we could have it easy like that other guy. A kind of “grass is always greener, and also easier to plant and water and mow and maintain.” [Psych majors please weigh in] This allows us to hold on to the fantasy that someday, we too will have it easy. That we will push through the hard stuff and somehow reach “The Good Life.”
Well… I don’t think that really exists! Sorry! Talk with any veteran writer and they will also lament just how hard this career is. Both the art, and the business are tough. They just are!
Even if you become an insanely in-demand writer / filmmaker / actor, the business side of things can become a bit smoother, sure, but the actual making part? That’s not getting any easier.
What changes, more than anything, is your ability to tolerate the discomfort required every step of the way.
About once a year I trick myself into thinking that a job will be “an easy one…”
And let me tell you… there is no such thing as making an easy movie. It simply does not exist! It is too big an endeavor, it is too arduous a path.
And it shouldn’t be easy! It’s our most expensive and complex art form — requiring an enormous outlay of capital, resources, and people. No other medium has formed around raising millions of dollars in capital and collaborating with hundreds (sometimes thousands) of people to make the work of art. If it were easy you’d be doing something wrong.
And this applies not just to the making — but every step of the process.
So what can we do to deal with the challenge?
Well, as usual with challenging information, knowledge is half the battle.
We can re-calibrate our grass is greener mindset, to be a little more cognizant of the fact that just as much time and sweat and energy must have gone into our neighbors’ yards as our own. Yes, it’s always hard.
We can anticipate that it will be emotionally challenging to create something from nothing. We can expect the ups and downs, the emotional roller coaster of it all.
We can embrace the fact that we need to write 16+ drafts of something before it really starts to sing.
We can diversify our output so that all our eggs aren’t in one basket.
We can do our best to not go crazy.
We can go back and read our old work to remind ourselves that we did in fact get it done once before, and we probably will this time too.
And if we’re really struggling, we can write an email to our friends saying “man what a hard career we’ve chosen for ourselves, huh?” And they will respond…
But, it’s not supposed to be easy! If it was, everyone would be doing it.
Good luck! Stay sane! Thanks for reading! Keep up the good work! Talk soon!
And as always, feel free to drop me a line — what’s keeping you sane right now? What’s helping you handle how challenging this life can be?
Previously on Hollyweird…
Maybe it’s not a psychological diagnosis that’s needed. But, rather, a metaphysical understanding of your personal process. We are all on our own journey. Accepting the path of the journey releases the resistance to the process.
Writing wouldn’t be fun if it was easy!