Marathon

Don't believe the hype. You don't have to make a tremendous impact in your first year as a writer. Matt Damon's and Ben Affleck's Good Will Hunting was five years in the making. Tom Schulman's Dead Poet's Society was ten. Billy Bob Thornton spent nineteen years in the wilderness to get to Sling Blade. Notice a pattern? The Greeks wish they had a mythology as elaborate as our star-studded, gold-paved Hollywood myths of instant success. There is the fantasy of Hollywood and there is the reality of Hollywood. In other words, don't mistake Hollywood sizzle for steak. The reality of Hollywood requires patience and hard work. Lots of your favorite films were more than a decade in the making. On the real road to fame and riches, there are many, many potholes, and much rejection in them there Hollywood Hills, so much so, that I decided to include the section at the front of my book, just so you'll think about this reality as you read the rest of the tips I share. Literally hundreds of people will say no, in the form of nondecisions and passes, for every one that says yes on your project. But even one "yes" can make for a successful career. Often luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.

Some of the best advice I received came early in my career from Emmy Award-winning writer Cynthia Cidre (Mambo Kings) who has spent more than twenty years in this business. She recommended the following Hollywood timetable: "Five years for overnight success and ten years to have a career." - Michael Lent, Breakfast with Sharks