tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450259.post114080262099187731..comments2023-11-02T05:00:59.872-07:00Comments on GreggHurwitzWeblog: Zach HelmGreggHurwitz.nethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10822809663321755281noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450259.post-73950673242868235222011-05-03T00:14:40.429-07:002011-05-03T00:14:40.429-07:00This advice is interesting. Being a young writer ...This advice is interesting. Being a young writer can be very discouraging. When I was a child, I had several poems and short stories published or awarded first place in contests. I had my first play produced when I was only 13. Highly imaginative since early childhood, I seemed to have a very promising future as a creative writer. I wrote my third play when I was 15, in 2003. It was produced in early 2004 as a staged reading by Live Girls Theater in Seattle. It was one of my favorite plays, and if there was any chance I could ever get it produced again, I would now edit/re-write it and do so; however, this play was called "Stranger Than Fiction." It was about a writer who is having difficulty finishing his book. The main character enters his life to try to get him to finish the ending so she won't die. My play was written and produced before the movie, but because I was just a penniless, unknown teenager and it was a small production, nobody cared. "Stranger Than Fiction" was my favorite of my original plays. When the movie came out, I was at in college working on an expansion of my second produced play, and planning to do the same with "Stranger Than Fiction," but the movie made that impossible. This is more crushing than rejection. I can never use my own idea; a story I loved and once which I would have liked to develop as an adult, because although my version came out first, a man with money and connections produced the story. How does a young writer move forward from that? It is heartbreaking, depressing, and more discouraging than anything else I have ever experienced as a writer. Not to mention the extreme paranoia it has instilled. Even if this is just a HUGE coincidence (another freaky coincidence: the screen play shown in the special features is dated on my birthday), it's still ultimately discouraging. Zach Helm was lauded for originality for writing a story I came up with when I was a kid. Maybe he doesn't go for the "big money," in Hollywood terms at least, but I am extremely impoverished; I have an autistic son who I can't even take care of right now because my finances are so low I don't even know if I will have a roof over my head next month. I had an idea that another guy used to become rich and famous, and I am nowhere. How does this "Manifesto" address my situation? As a young writer who has faced the ultimate discouragement, how do I move forward?Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10251565302414649154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450259.post-58052186608020618472007-09-22T13:58:00.000-07:002007-09-22T13:58:00.000-07:00Read the screenplay for Stranger Than Fiction. It'...Read the screenplay for Stranger Than Fiction. It's even better.Joe Shapirohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07308586117133040657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450259.post-24810839351421975372007-09-22T13:56:00.000-07:002007-09-22T13:56:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Joe Shapirohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07308586117133040657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450259.post-19806143429593112162006-12-29T14:51:00.000-08:002006-12-29T14:51:00.000-08:00I have just seen 'Stranger than fiction'. Feeling ...I have just seen 'Stranger than fiction'. Feeling a little overwhelmed by the talent of Zach Helm. However the quote from his manifesto"Respect your talent or it will tire of you and move on" has kicked my butt sufficiently to finish that draft.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06443938395887635727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450259.post-1141914626179037712006-03-09T06:30:00.000-08:002006-03-09T06:30:00.000-08:00I too have been unable to locate a complete Manife...I too have been unable to locate a complete Manifesto - only those points touched upon in the article. If you find it, please let me know.GreggHurwitz.nethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10822809663321755281noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8450259.post-1141520378403618122006-03-04T16:59:00.000-08:002006-03-04T16:59:00.000-08:00Hi, I just finished reading the Vanity Fair articl...Hi, I just finished reading the Vanity Fair article on Zach and people kept telling me about his 'Manifesto' but they only touched on it briefly. I was sort of hoping to read his whole list, but I guess he wants to keep those cards close to his chest? If you know more of them or if Zach has a blog anywhere could you shoot them to me? You can get me at my Blog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com