Quote from: SM on Oct 30, 2019, 11:35:41 PM
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But, despite my criticism, however people want to celebrate their fandom should be encouraged.
Absolutely.
But let's acknowledge the difficulties a fan often faces when trying to convert a fandom into a career. Suddenly you're going from content
consumer to content
creator. (Although there is now a kind of halfway house in the form of the YouTube "superfan", in which you create regular fanstuff and make a living from clicks.) As a creator, you can no longer insulate yourself in your own echo chamber of personal taste, you have an entire fandom to please, with all its diverse range of opinion.
I don't know much about comics or books, but usually when a fan decides that screenwriting for Hollywood is a good career move the biggest mistake often made is pinning their hopes on a single screenplay that's going to astound everyone with its genius. Maybe this actually happens once in a blue moon, but mostly screenwriting careers are made out of a stack of screenplays forged over a period of 4, 5, 6, maybe even 10 years or more.
When a manager or agent is considering whether or not they want to represent you and looks into your work, they want to see a track record of dedication to an entire career, not just a passion for one story.
And if you ever get that all-important meeting with an actual producer, chances are they're not going pick up an option on your one great script and you better be ready when they ask the next question, "what else ya got?"
And if you've got nothing...
TC