CAREER STRATEGIES FOR SCREENWRITERS
An Interview with Marc Zicree
By Hal Croasmun

I recently conducted an astounding interview with Marc Zicree, who is a master at creating career strategy to navigate your way through the entertainment business. If you ever wondered how to get into the door of a studio or get an A-list actor to take you seriously, Marc has some intriguing strategies.

Marc and Elaine Zicree have written scripts for STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION, DEEP SPACE, BABYLON 5, FOREVER KNIGHT, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, TWILIGHT ZONE and SLIDERS. Marc has served as a producer on SLIDERS; as Co-Producer on LAZARUS MAN, Executive Story Editor on BEYOND REALITY; and Story Editor on FRIDAY THE 13th - THE SERIES.

He spoke with me about the strategies he used to sell three novels before writing even one of them, to sell over 100 scripts, and to assist other writers to get writing jobs no matter what their previous experience.

1.What’s the difference between someone who uses strategy in this business and someone who doesn’t?

MARC: Some people say that life is a river and it will take you where you’re supposed to go. But in reality, if you fell into a real river, would you assume that? No. You would try to swim to the shore. You wouldn’t assume that the river would take you where you were supposed to go. There are certain variables in life. You want to be open to luck and chance and good fortune. You also want to have a sense of where you want to get to.

What I like to do is get very clear and methodical. I like to start at the end result and work backwards. Most people think about where they are and have a vague sense of where they want to get to. But when they get one or two steps from where they are now, it gets foggy. I build a flow chart from the end result all the way back to where I am now. I get very specific. Whatever I’m unclear on, I start asking questions of people who are doing what I want to do and it soon becomes clear.

Strategy and planning are very important.

2.Give us an example of your flow chart from a specific time.

I came up with a story a few years ago called “MAGIC TIME.” The plot is simple. All the machines stop running and magic comes back. My wife and I wrote the two hour pilot on spec. We created a chart that started with “I get my own TV series.” Then I worked backward to the point I then was in my career, sketching in all the details and twists and turns.

As I got specific, I saw areas where I needed to grow and learn. At that time, I was a story editor and I saw very clearly that I needed to learn to become a producer. I needed to learn budget and the specifics of working with directors, editors, actors, casting directors, post production people – all the various aspects of the producer job. So on my next staff job, I insisted on getting a producer credit and started working with those folks. That way, I became conversant with budget and the things I would need to do to be a showrunner. I also sat down and talked with 20 different showrunners, such as David Milch, Beth Sullivan, Chris Carter, J. Michael Straczynski, Michael Piller, Tom Fontana, etc. to really find out how they created their shows and how they run them. I was looking for what I could emulate. That way, I could speed up my learning process.

I literally did a flow chart that was two-feet long that started with being a showrunner with my series on the air. Then, what’s the thing that is immediately before that? The pilot gets greenlighted. What’s before that? Someone buys the script. What’s before that? I affiliate with a powerful showrunner or people with money. And I continued asking that question until the chart was complete.

Essentially, I was learning different models for doing this business and trying them on to see which worked. Right now, I’m about ¾ the way down that flow chart. I have $30 million committed by a production company to make the Magic Time series.

3.Sounds like you’re close to getting your show on the air. What’s your advice to people who are trying to do the same thing?

What you want to do is cut yourself away from the herd. There are a million people who want to do their own TV show, but who has the goods to deliver on that? You need to have a track record. You also need credibility in terms of the people you are affiliated with and the material, of course. Even with the script, before I took it out, I took a UCLA Extension screenwriting course in order to write it. That gave me deadlines and an audience to test it out on. That helped enormously. I did a full budget on it. I first affiliated with very successful people who do budgets. So I have a Canadian budget and an American budget done. Through friends, I got a copy of a current TV budget and that really helped.

4.You assist people as a “supermentor.” Give me an example of where you helped someone become successful in this business?

I have many examples, but a few years ago, I met a young fella who was trying to get into features. I told him he should be in TV. He wrote a spec script and I gave him notes. We went through three drafts until it was good enough. So many people get stopped by trying to write a brilliant script. I always ask them “out of all the movies and TV you see, how much of it is brilliant?” Not very much. What you really need is something that is good enough to get the job.

Once his script was good enough, we got serious. I had him go through his phone book and list everyone he knew in the industry. He came back with this pitiful little list. I encouraged him to think broader. Who do you know who might know someone in the industry? What organizations do you belong to? What speakers have you heard? It was basically looking for anyone he could get into a conversation with who might assist him. Then we made a list of whom he should call, who he could meet for lunch or coffee. It was just prior to staffing season, so our goal was to get him an agent. The common wisdom is that no agent will read you if you have no credits. Especially prior to staffing season.

I had him write a biography, then asked him a bunch of questions about his background. I gleaned from his life the things that were applicable to being a successful writer in an hour drama. Turns out, he’d been a prosecuting attorney, he’d worked on a help line, he had a lot of life experience. Basically, I taught him how to speak himself powerfully so that in a sentence or two, he could be impressive. Because when you call anyone, you only have about 10 seconds to convince them that it would be worth looking at your script. So I coached him on how to do that.

Ultimately, via his contacts and ours, he got read by nine agencies. Two agents wanted him and he got submitted by both agents to the same show. One sent it out before he had signed with the other. The executive producer for that show took home 50 scripts to read that weekend and only liked two. One was a play and the other was a spec of THE PRACTICE. Then she saw that they were both by the same writer. Of course, she hired him.

In a very short time, his career was launched, and this was someone who had never sold or really done anything in this town at all. We were just being very specific as to what would get a producer to sit up and notice him.

5.That’s great. It’s clear that you’re someone who is experienced and who can analyze where a person is at and where they need to go. How did you get started doing this?

There have been so many times in my own career where I’ve done things that others considered impossible. When I got out of college as an art major, I discovered writing. And the three shows that made me want to work in TV were the original TWILIGHT ZONE, the original STAR TREK, and the original OUTTER LIMITS. I wanted to read about how a good TV show was made so I could make one. But there was nothing out there on the subject. So I decided that I would have to write the book that I wanted to read. Two years after Rod Serling’s death, I wanted to write a book about the TWILIGHT ZONE, but I’d heard that his widow, Carol, had already turned down a very successful journalist. So the challenge before me was how to convince Carol Serling to let me, a 22-year-old art major who had never published an article, do a book about her husband’s master work.

Most people would say that’s impossible! But I took on that challenge just like I would take on the challenge with anyone that I was mentoring. So I started by interviewing one person I knew who had written for the show. Then I asked him who else he knew who had worked on the show. Then I interviewed them, and so on. Over a three month period, I interviewed 30 people from the show. Then I went to Carol Sterling.

I was willing to get the job by showing that I could do the job. I showed Carol my work and she then called the people I’d interviewed and they said they think this kid has something on the ball. She then gave me full access to Rod’s files, scripts, scrapbooks, everything. Then the TWILIGHT ZONE COMPANION came out and has since sold nearly a half million copies.

6.Tell me the story on how you got your MAGIC TIME novel published.

Elaine and I wrote it as a two hour pilot. Brian Henson optioned it. We took it around to the network. It was before Henson had done Farscape, so they didn’t have credibility in hour long TV. So all the networks passed.

This is the thing I’ve been learning. You try things and if something doesn’t work, you try something else. You just keep trying things until you click. I knew that the idea was sound and the writing was strong. Because there is such a turnover of executives in this town, you can just keep pushing a property until it sells. That’s what we did.

When we didn’t sell it to the networks, I tried to sell it to syndication. I strongly believe in going to the business side of the Industry -- where business is actually done. That’s really what runs this town. When I’m writing, I put on my artist hat, but when I’m trying to sell stuff, I put on my business hat. So I went to NATPE, which is the trade show for the TV syndication industry. There, I saw that all the hour dramas, at that point, were based on pre-existing properties, which means something that was successful as a movie or a book. Basically, something that has been successful in some other arena.

I concluded that selling MAGIC TIME as a TV series would be much easier if it was a pre-existing property. I decided to sell it as a series of books.

There was a book editor from Del Rey there. I said to him, “I want to sell this two hour TV script as a series of novels. Has to be a minimum of three novels. I’ll write the first one, and I’ll hire writers to write the second and third, and I’ll run it like I would run a writing staff on a TV show. But the publisher would have to buy all three before he knows who the other writers will be.”

I gave him the two hour script to read. He read it and loved it. Then he gave it to his boss and she loved it. They flew out here and met with me and really liked it a lot. They had one concern. “How do we know you can write a novel?”

My friend, Barbara Hambly, was a very successful fantasy novelist. I called her and suggested that we co-write the book. Basically working up two parallel plot lines. She’d write one, I’d write the other. Then we’d rewrite each other and polish it until it all had the same tone. It would be a full collaboration that would knit well.

All three books were written simultaneously. The other writers I hired, we were sending each other chapters and rewriting each other. I was basically doing exactly what I’d do with a writing staff if I were on Sliders or any other TV show I’d been on.

Once Barbara was aboard, we got three publishers who were interested and we went with HarperCollins. It came out as their sole hardcover in science fiction and fantasy this past Christmas, and was named one of the best books of the year by Barnes and Noble. The next one comes out next Christmas and the third, the Christmas after that.

7.Part of what you’re talking about is creating your own luck, is that right?

Luck is a word I don’t subscribe to, because you can’t control it. What I like to do with people that work with me is to make them as appealing as possible to the buyers.

In my career, it hasn’t been so much luck as hard work and being very clear on what I want to accomplish. A lot of people stop themselves before anyone has the chance to stop them. It isn’t a question of luck or being in the right or wrong place, it’s a matter of self-limitation.

I also tend not to talk about talent, because the people who succeed are not always the most talented. Talent is not a guarantee at all. What has worked is clarity and persistence.

8.You try to make them as appealing as possible. Can you give us an example of that?

There was this fellow who came to our round table and he was a big blustery guy. He said “I’ve written these screenplays and I can’t get anyone to read them. I call these agencies and they won’t read them.” I asked him to tell me what he does when he calls. His answer was “I’ve written some screenplays and I’d like you to read them.” I said “What happens?” He blurted out “They either don’t take them or they say they’ll read them and then they don’t.”

His screenplays were legal thrillers and crime dramas. So I asked him to tell me about himself. “There’s nothing to tell. For 12 years, I was a cop in D.C. and now I’m a public defender here in L.A..” But of course, he wasn’t telling them that! It was the one thing that would cut him away from the heard. If a producer heard that, they’d assume that he had some expertise and they’d look at his scripts.

Most people don’t honor their experience. So as a result, they say exactly the same thing that thousands of other people are saying. It becomes a non-statement because that’s what everyone says. So no one is going to hear how you’re different. How do you expect to be treated any differently unless you’re saying something different?

So the trick is to convince people that you’ve got something on the ball, some special expertise, some greater amount of wit or humor, anything that’s going to make them want to spend time to see if you got what it takes.

9.Do you spend time trying to figure what the buyer wants?

Exactly, yes. This is standard salesmanship in any business. Most people selling something are so full of their own agenda that they don’t even think of what the other person needs. Once you can put yourself in their shoes, understand their objective, and find out what they need, you’ve got a significantly better chance of a sale.

I’m not talking about what genre or type of script they’re looking for. It’s about recognizing that there’s another person in the room with you, that they’re not just another obstacle to your goal. The more you can honor who they are and what they’re about, the better things will go.

That doesn’t mean you don’t write from passion or just write to sell. I strongly believe that you have to write things you care about. But once you finish that process, it’s a matter of writing a commercial for it and pitching that commercial. That’s salesmanship.

10. Can you give us some strategies for getting in the door?

There are a number of things that work. The first thing we do is talk with you about your contacts. Who do you know? Who do you know who knows someone? What organizations do you belong to? What speakers have you heard?

Then we make a list of whose work you’ve admired. Start to get present to directors, writers, films, studio executives you admire. Who is making the kind of shows that you’d be proud to make? If you target the people who are hearing the same music that you hear, it increases your chances of selling what you’ve got, but also working with people who won’t make your life a living hell.

Often, people spread their nets so widely that they don’t know who they’re selling to. Then they’re surprised when they sell it to some Hollywood sleezeball who screws it up. If someone is making the kind of work that you loathe, and you give them your baby that you’ve labored on for years, of course they’re going to chew it up and spit it out. So you can increase your chances of success and quality of life by really doing your homework and deciding who you want to work with.

I also believe in starting at the top. When you target people, you don’t have to start with the lowest level of people. You can actually get to the people who are more powerful and do higher quality work. When Elaine and I affiliated with Tom Fontana, who created OZ, I’d never been in crime drama or written anything along those lines. But I set out, step by step, to partner with him and we succeeded.

You’ve got to decide what’s important to you. Do you want to write a movie or make a movie? For me, power and control are very important. Knowing that helps me gauge what I do with myself. The reason I work in TV as a producer is because I’m in on the final cut. I’m there from the initial concept through casting through watching the dailies through the editing. So I have a very strong sense of authorship of what gets on the air.

Even when I was a staff writer, I was lobbying very hard to not have people rewrite me. As a result, usually what I write gets shot. That’s because I’m willing to write and rewrite and rewrite, rather than have someone come in and put their fingerprints on it.

So once you have all your lists of contacts and the wish lists and your goals and whatnot, then comes the most important and challenging part -- actually taking action.

Many people spend all their time in preparation, because it's not as scary, you're not risking rejection. But then, of course, if you never put yourself out there, it's a certainty nothing will happen.

So with the people we're mentoring, we lay out a very specific, personalized timeline to take the necessary actions -- but only once their materials are solid and they know what to say succinctly on the phone.

And what they take on should be challenging -- not doing one phone call per day or week, but twenty in a day, etc. We also encourage people to hold each other accountable day by day. I've come up with something I call the "assistant program" where people can act as each other's assistants to make those difficult phone calls, to remove ego and fear of failure from the equation. It's just business, that's all.

The thing to remember is that EVERBODY gets rejected... and you survive. But the more quickly you can recover from rejection and take the next step, the more quickly you'll get where you need to get to. When asked what he most owed his success to, director Tim Burton said, "I don't stop myself."

11. What would you say is your basic philosophy having to do with making it in this business?

My philosophy is to find what I care passionately about, get very skilled at expressing it on the page, and then partner with people who will honor that vision. Then keep at it until it gets made. Be absolutely obsessive and relentless.

My book agent in New York said “You’re going to keep pitching MAGIC TIME until there’s no one left standing, aren’t you?” I said that’s right. Because what happens is you pitch to one group of executives until they get fired and then another group comes in. For the things I love and have passion for, I’ll just keep going with them. It doesn’t mean it’s my only project, it means I care deeply about them. I’m driven. I think you need that passion to fuel your career.

Find out more about Marc Zicree and his SuperMentor process online at http://www.zicree.com. Mailto:marc@zicree.com or call (323)363-1259.

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