The recession’s been tough on many of us, and along with everything else, print has been in a bad way.
Things were getting bad for magazines before the recession hit, and now that the economy collapsed, we’ve been losing publications by the score, and writers far bigger than me have been forced to rethink their careers and lives.
It wasn’t that long ago that I penned a story about how some publications that were too bit or two small have been able to survive, but unfortunately one of them just went down, one of my old alma maters: Creative Screenwriting.
I contributed for to the magazine for about six years or so, and it was one of the first relatively bigger titles I first started writing for, along with Guitar World.
I’ve always admired the craft of screenwriting, and working for Creative Screenwriting, I was able speak to and learn from many of my favorite screenwriters including Nicholas Pileggi (GoodFellas), Robert Towne (Chinatown), Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood), Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects), Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander (Ed Wood, 1408), and many more.
I not only learned a lot of how many of my favorite movies were created, but I also learned about the craft of writing from people who were successful at it, unlike people who teach screenwriting who’ve never sold a damn thing.
Creative Screenwriting did their own conventions as well, the CS Expo, where top screenwriters came to do Q&As – William Goldman (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) came every year to speak – and there were tons of workshops, classes, and networking opportunities.
Writers are often an insecure, neurotic bunch, and Creative Screenwriting and the CS Expo gave a lot of us encouragement, especially considering we usually have to get the sh*t beaten out of us by the Hollywood system a number of times before we realize how impossible the odds are against us.
Creative Screenwriting was one of my first breaks into anything when a lot of other places wouldn’t give me the time of day, and I’ll always be grateful for all the experiences and interviews that came with the gig.
Again, writers need encouragement, and Creative Screenwriting gave it to me and many others. With the system being colder and meaner than ever, and the magazine now going out of business, I sadly have no idea where a lot of us are going to get that help and support from here on out.
