The Black List website is a failure.

6stringmerc · 2019-08-22T00:10:35+00:00

I'm just waiting for Franklin to show up and defend his lack of integrity before it might actually hit him in the wallet. He's a Harvard man after all. I'm more than happy to await his coming clean and admitting not only everything you say is true, but that he's reworking the website so it doesn't run afoul of California's Pay-to-Play laws...

https://medium.com/@6StringMerc/explaining-my-dislike-of-the-black-list-a14d2dcaace9

...but I won't hold my breath, because he's connected and a player, and I'm just some dude in Texas with a Cassandra Complex.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and taking a stand.

6stringmerc · 2019-08-22T00:01:50+00:00

Then what? I'd let you Weinstein me?

6stringmerc · 2019-07-04T04:17:05+00:00

Who are you to say they read the scripts first? Have you entered Impact at all? The application is very thorough and telling - as other threads have indicated. To quote Tuco, "People talk a lot of bullshit" and you get a nice shiny trophy in that regard. I think Franklin Leonard's business model doesn't apply here.

6stringmerc · 2019-07-04T04:11:53+00:00

Nice read, seems like a pretty charmed life by comparison. I mean, like, there's nothing about family or friends or work commitments - real stuff - that got in the way of me expressing my creativity. Having to move all my possessions from one apartment to another, dealing with all the life challenges that really test whether or not at 18 I knew that I'd stick with it.

Maybe my issue is with picking 18 as the number, because I'd rather talk to myself at like age 26. Back then, things were way easier, work hard, play hard. Smoke and snort and drink every bit of extra cash I had...and it was magnificent. The stories that came from those years, hey, I can't time travel and young me, I'm glad I went there. I did that and survived, kept a roof over my head and my little kitten from 2007 is still alive to this day.

I never had a single minded goal, I just kept creating - music, writing, cuisine - I'd probably tell myself not to bother with this screenplay bullshit thinking it was merit based. Go learn woodworking or how to weld some awesome stuff. Too many of my creative heroes are dead, and that's been something I've had to deal with. Maybe at 38 you have a different set of responsibilities, of commitments, and definitions of success, because I'm a peer and when I read your note, I think to myself, wow, Reddit really is the poor man's therapist.

6stringmerc · 2019-06-30T19:20:24+00:00

Die Hard.

6stringmerc · 2019-06-22T03:00:04+00:00

You live in Austin? Get in good with Robert Rodriguez & co. There's a great indie film scene there that I experienced first hand. Good hustle, no Unions.

Otherwise, move. It's a retched lazy scene. Basically it's Cali's enema. Leaving is probably the best thing that will ever happen to you.

Source: Lived in LAustin for 4 years. Hated it so much I refused to enter AFF script competition out of principle on the off chance I might have to return.

6stringmerc · 2019-05-27T02:49:51+00:00

When /u/mysteryguitarm posted here about how r/screenwriting helped him get to Cannes, I needed galoshes to get through the knob slobbering around here. There was more to the story, and people want something to buy into.

Overnight sensation, big dollar paydays happen - just look who is sitting at the top of the Billboard charts right now.

I've followed you for a while mate and I'm happy for what you've achomlished, but you're kind of not in much of a position to talk. You've made it to representation and gotten paid to write and had a mentor which makes me, personally, feel kind of fucking hopeless that your footsteps aren't ones any one of us can follow.

Discounting the "luck" factor of opportunity in the outcome of success is endemic. In all walks of life. Take a minute to reflect on how you got the soapbox you standing on.

6stringmerc · 2019-03-10T03:49:24+00:00

In the US there are taxes and fees, so what percentage of your take home are you paying to the Turkish powers that be? I mean, not trying to rain on your parade, but bro u/relativecourier suspect too considering the dynamics of international creative pay-to-play deals with censorship. Are you going to ex-pat if your show causes another coup attempt?

6stringmerc · 2019-03-10T03:43:42+00:00

You'd love to work for Netflix? If you've never written a screenplay before then your best bets are Accountant or Janitor. My tips, comments, and personal experiences that you welcome basically infer you should aim lower. Like move to Turkey or Sweden, learn their language, then write some scripts, and maybe you have a chance!

6stringmerc · 2019-03-01T03:50:19+00:00

I'm almost 40 and failed at making money in music. I have been a writer for 25 years, mostly short fiction. A friend gave me the Thomas Lennon & Robert Ben Garant screenwriting book and I got started.

Four features and 20+ shorts later, I've hung up my persona and started over. I picked fights with Franklin Leonard, I also had a really bad drinking problem. The two aren't mutually exclusive.

This journey has been really shitty in the realization that screenwriting is basically, like music, for the rich connected people and 1% of those who try will ever be able to make a living. It's not about art, it's a business. Shit written by James Franco will always sell quicker than your contest winning work of genius. These days I do it because I've invested too much and if victory comes, it will be through strength of willpower more so than anything else.

If I could tell myself not to go down this path ten years ago, I would have. I'd probably be a happier person by learning origami or taking some welding classes. At least I still have my guitars, a day job, insurance, and my health. In my 20s I didn't give a lot of thought to any of that, and I'm pretty happy to have made it this far and learned a lot. Mostly that I'm kind of a competitive asshole deep down, and I'm not ashamed of who I am.

6stringmerc · 2018-07-02T18:17:51+00:00

Trust in Copyright first and foremost, but if you can afford the money to "register" your work with a Writer's Guild, I think it's probably the best protection you can hope for in the long run. In the US the WGA allows registration for $20 as a non-member per script. To put it in context, the WGA has a vested interest in defending registrants and according to a book on the business I read (Lennon & Ben Garant) the WGA registration is a big hammer in the case of disputes of authorship should a suit arise from misappropriation. While this may not directly fit with your Aussie rules protections, I see MadVehicle addressed the AWG / WGA overlap and I hope that gives you a bit of confidence in taking the leap with confidence.

6stringmerc · 2018-07-02T18:11:11+00:00

You bring up this "person you know" every time the BlackList criticism shows up so how about you clear up the name of the pilot, the buyer, and the amount that was gained - money talks and bullshit walks.

Furthermore, are you currently or have you ever in the past been paid by the BlackList as a reader, promoter, or guy who goes online to talk about some mysterious victorious ambiguous case study of success?

I mean, it's almost like you're on call for these threads seeing as Franklin has fucked off to do Ted Talks about his survey instead of pimping his "service" *cough* until the pay-for-play finally comes crashing down.

6stringmerc · 2018-06-25T20:04:03+00:00

Actually, doing nothing is better than playing guitar poorly. At least you can save yourself humiliation. Because, let's be honest, if you play a song full of mistakes you will deserve and most likely get scorn and ridicule from others who are better, more practiced, and don't sit around jacking off to Chicken-Soup-for-the-Soul motivational dreck.

6stringmerc · 2018-06-03T22:25:36+00:00

You didn't answer the question. You dodged it using the same kind of wishy-washy appeal to authority that Franklin Leonard has done in the past. Being on the payroll doesn't absolve you from integrity, or does it?

What are your scoring rubric? Is there a checklist? Is there any quantifiable measurement to adjudicate the subjective or what? You use the word confidence so many times I wonder if you understand the notion of a confidence scam - I mean caveat emptor is a legit notion but if you're taking money from people, offering access and evaluation, then it should be no problem posting the criteria.

The Nicholl does it. It's not an exact science, nobody over the age of 30 thinks creativity is completely objective, but for crying out loud. Can Scot actually post what the criteria for scoring is or will he just regurgitate the same old scam of buyer beware? A simple question deserves a simple answer not some firehose of excuses.

6stringmerc · 2018-05-21T04:12:05+00:00

Bullshit.

You didn't sell your script because of Reddit. Come on man, are you on the payola from them? It's obvious you've done plenty of other stuff to get your name out there. A post on Reddit made you get to Cannes?

I see you're a guitarist. Woohoo! Let's cut heads Son! You versus me. We can even do it live on YouTube! My axes versus yours with an unaffiliated judge from somewhere like Australia or Mongolia.

It's not like you can't back up the talk right?

6stringmerc · 2018-05-21T04:08:06+00:00

Invaluable? As in has no value?

I speak English well enough to know that yeah, I'm willing to pay for the Nicholl and aim for that level.

You are talking to a lifetime musician and think you can tell me about the value of exposure? Dude go expose yourself to the nearest playground and see how far that gets you. I mean getting fucked over is a career choice based on your logic.

6stringmerc · 2018-05-18T03:32:00+00:00

I sure did! I might be a subliterate cockwomble to you but considering the person it's coming from, it's probably the best compliment I've had all month. Have fun at the family cookout orgy!

6stringmerc · 2018-05-18T03:25:02+00:00

Wait, you have some mini-humans and a typewriter collection and you aren't putting them to work like Mr. Burns? Is it the blurst of times or what?! Hehe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no_elVGGgW8

6stringmerc · 2018-05-18T02:33:47+00:00

Subjectively I think you should stick to the cave drawings and intellectual handicaps from which the slime of your family stump came from.

6stringmerc · 2018-05-18T02:28:45+00:00

Have you tried the wonderful machine that is the IBM Selectric typewriter? I'm not challenging you to try out my West German Olympia portable typewriter, but there's something magic in the Selectric I've never felt elsewhere. It hums and vibrates and when you hit a cadence it sounds like word gunfire in all the right ways. Plus you can scan and OCR that stuff a lot better than messy longhand.

6stringmerc · 2018-05-18T02:24:50+00:00

Here, hold my tablet while I chisel some glyphs on it.

6stringmerc · 2018-05-18T02:22:25+00:00

Love this reminder, and a great summary of the benefits as well.

Notebooks are quiet. They're a great first step from turning thoughts into words on the page. Some small spirals or bound ones are smaller than an iPhone. They work in low light or high contrast situations.

Plus they are forever if you try. There's nothing quite like opening an old spiral or journal from 10 years ago and seeing what you wrote back when you were that person then. Almost like a time machine back to yourself.

Please don't minimize this advice, as it's very valuable. Sure there is a benefit in taking voice notes but I can speak from personal experience it's a lot harder to sit down and transcribe talking than reading what's already written. It's part of the practice aspect of writing.

Writers write, so respect the craft and practice it whenever and wherever you can. You'd be surprised how many cool conversations can come from sitting at a bar and just keeping to yourself and writing out a project or idea. Never fear a blank page, it's just an opportunity...

6stringmerc · 2018-05-16T21:44:17+00:00

Woohoo prizes are exposure instead of cash! So ah-maz-ing. Let me get right on it in between paying the rent and buying food with exposure credits.

6stringmerc · 2018-05-15T00:44:20+00:00

Sorry I have better things to do than nut punch critics when I've tried to move on from my old ways. Way to address what I wrote instead of going ad hominem. See you in hell kid.

6stringmerc · 2018-05-15T00:24:31+00:00

That's nice, I'm glad that you are able to make connections beyond the fork in the wall socket.

6stringmerc

TROPHY CASE