#8 - Let's Talk about Success
Episode
49 min
Read time
2 min
Topics
Career Growth, Productivity, Relationships
AI-Generated Summary
Key Takeaways
- ✓Success Ladders Framework: Benjamin Percy's concept shows each achieved goal reveals another ladder above it. Initial success of seeing your name on screen becomes just one milestone, requiring writers to continuously redefine what achievement means at each career stage.
- ✓Scene Quality Metrics: Mido Taha's framework requires scenes accomplish minimum three of five elements: advance plot, develop character, explore character relationships, speak to theme, and sound compelling. This provides concrete evaluation criteria for measuring whether individual scenes succeed in their purpose.
- ✓Script Versions Strategy: Writers should create two distinct versions of scripts—one dense directorial blueprint for personal use when directing, another visually accessible version optimized for reader enjoyment when submitting to competitions or gatekeepers who need easier consumption.
- ✓Process as Reward: Sustainable writing careers require making the daily writing process itself the primary success metric, not external validation like awards or sales. Showrunner Sarah Gamble exemplifies this by emphasizing love of writing over outcome-focused achievement measures.
What It Covers
Screenwriters Angel and Leah St. Marie examine how success definitions evolve throughout writing careers, from seeing your name on screen to building meaningful creative relationships and finding satisfaction in the writing process itself.
Key Questions Answered
- •Success Ladders Framework: Benjamin Percy's concept shows each achieved goal reveals another ladder above it. Initial success of seeing your name on screen becomes just one milestone, requiring writers to continuously redefine what achievement means at each career stage.
- •Scene Quality Metrics: Mido Taha's framework requires scenes accomplish minimum three of five elements: advance plot, develop character, explore character relationships, speak to theme, and sound compelling. This provides concrete evaluation criteria for measuring whether individual scenes succeed in their purpose.
- •Script Versions Strategy: Writers should create two distinct versions of scripts—one dense directorial blueprint for personal use when directing, another visually accessible version optimized for reader enjoyment when submitting to competitions or gatekeepers who need easier consumption.
- •Process as Reward: Sustainable writing careers require making the daily writing process itself the primary success metric, not external validation like awards or sales. Showrunner Sarah Gamble exemplifies this by emphasizing love of writing over outcome-focused achievement measures.
Notable Moment
A cold case detective texts his friend explaining how Indiana Jones fiction provides him five minutes of courage to save lives, illustrating how art creates genuine human connection that transcends entertainment to become personally transformative and operationally useful.
Episode Transcript
You can find and subscribe to the premium episodes of this podcast at pitch.supportingcast.fm. In this week's premium episode, you'll hear pitches from writing pair Jesse Felix and Stephan Perez. They have a pilot script entitled Diamond Hands. And from writer and artist Kosuke Sasaki, who has a graphic novel entitled Splinter World. Be sure to check that out. You're listening to the Pitch podcast. I'm Angel. I'm Leah St. Marie. And welcome. We like to think that we are bringing storytellers and their stories to the world. That's the goal, at least. Are we succeeding in it, though? And that is a that is a what is the what is the phrase I'm looking for? That's a Twitter conversation. It is also a Twitter conversation. I was thinking, is it a, that is a foreshadow of what we're talking about today? Yes. I think so. Today's topic is success, and we're going to ask each other what that means. So it's Oh, god. Kind of it's objective. So don't don't participate too emotionally in the conversation. Just listen to how weird No. We want them participating emotionally in the conversation. You to cry by the end of this podcast. I mean, if we were pulling the strings here. Angel says, it's like Mario Puzo, the godfather, the the marionette. The marionette? Yeah. There's a there's a there's a position in jiu jitsu Mhmm. Called spider guard where you kinda feel like you're a marionette. But from below, it's really weird. Anyway Scary. Yeah. So do you want me to ask you or do you wanna ask me? Well, let's let's let's talk about success in general real quick. Right? So success is a broad term. Mhmm. And I think you have a pretty good grasp on how success isn't just one thing necessarily, but it No. Is what then? I mean, it's a multitude of things. Yeah. Right? Highly individual. Highly individual. Yes. Yeah. There's what society would term successful. So I think sometimes success means money, but not always. Mhmm. Sometimes success can mean you move up the hierarchy of a system. Okay. Right? Keep going. Sure. Yeah. Why not? I'm listening. But I think for for screenwriting, it can mean many different things during different points of your career. So we're beginning to mid. Right? I had a movie. You're getting stuff made. You're doing the documentary. We've had funding for things. Producers are interested in our stuff. So when I started out being a screenwriter, my idea is success. Do you wanna know? Oh, I thought we were gonna get there. Yeah. What is what was your idea of success? My idea was sitting in a movie theater and seeing my name on screen. So you've done you've done that. Your initial idea of success has been achieved? Yeah. But Congratulations. Well done. Oh, thank you. Not many people succeed like that. No. But I took this summer Aspen words, with Benjamin Percy, which is this …
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by Mido Taha
“Mido Taha's framework requires scenes accomplish minimum three of five elements: advance plot, develop character, explore character relationships, speak to theme, and sound compelling.”
“Writers should create two distinct versions of scripts—one dense directorial blueprint for personal use when directing, another visually accessible version optimized for reader enjoyment when submitting to competitions or gatekeepers.”
by Benjamin Percy
“Benjamin Percy's concept shows each achieved goal reveals another ladder above it. Initial success of seeing your name on screen becomes just one milestone, requiring writers to continuously redefine what achievement means at each career stage.”
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