[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: What was it like to get people to read your screenplay in those early days?
Bill Mikita, Screenwriter: It was great. The fact that someone would take time to read my screenplay, because many times you couldn’t get anyone to read it, to get someone and to get feedback, that was very important to me.
Donie Nelson, who I mentioned, was my writing consultant. She would say:
Bill, as a writer and in this town, you want to fail upward.
Every screenplay that wasn’t sold by me still helped me in the next screenplay.
I think all writers have to know that’s why you keep writing because even your failed attempts are going to make you a better writer. That stairstep approach that you’re learning something every time you write.
For me, it was really important for someone, a Hollywood producer, to read my screenplay.
Film Courage: As someone who wasn’t in Los Angeles living here and you were just flying in, how did you get someone to read your screenplays?
Bill: That’s a good question. I’ve got a couple answers to that.
One was at the time you could buy a book with every producer in Hollywood and their phone numbers. I learned how to write a pretty good letter pitching my story.
What I learned in Hollywood is that producers and people in Hollywood work pretty hard and they work late. I would call the producer office very late in the day and guess what? Sometimes the producer would pick up when no one else was there or very early in the morning. I found out that they would be the first in and the last out. I would call…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
WATCH ‘CHASING 3000’
CONNECT WITH BILL MIKITA
About:
Bill Mikita was born in Steubenville, Ohio, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for Brewer’s Boys, Chasing 3000 (2010) and Medal of Honor: American Heroes. He has been married to Pattie White Mikita since February 25, 1978. They have four children.
Advertisement – contains affiliate links:
More affiliates:
Camera we use for interviews – https://buff.ly/3rWqrra
Sound we use for interviews – https://amzn.to/2tbFlM9
Other books on Amazon that Film Courage recommends – https://buff.ly/3o0oE5o
