The romantic image of a writer pounding out a script in cheap hotels while hoping to land his first big break in Hollywood is familair to most people, but that’s not usually how it’s done.
Typically, Hollywood producers meet with proven writers and want to hear thumbnail sketches of several “high concept” ideas, rejecting most of them out-of-hand before a word has even been typed. The real writing work comes after a studio’s at least offered concept approval.
It may tarnish a favorite Hollywood legend; heck, the mythical image of the struggling writer sweating and pounding away at a typewriter has been a popular one; it was even the core setting for “Barton Fink,” by Joel and Ethan Coen.
Unfortunately, it’s a false image.
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