The not-so-well-dressed screenwriter
I’m a newbie screenwriter and started to wonder if my appearance will come in to play as I try to pitch and sell my script. I was having a total femme moment and thinking of dying my hair with bold red streaks and then thought, “Would this speak to my creative side or would it convey too much whimsy?”
I know actors have to worry about appearances but do writers have to worry about too bold of hair color or the like…and when it comes to meetings do you dress semi-casual or do you have to suit up?
–Cheryl Laughlin
In my first Hollywood meetings, I always overdressed. I was uncomfortable, and the executive was uncomfortable. Gradually, I realized that the writer should always be the worst-dressed person in the room.
Not by much, mind you — you don’t want to look homeless or sad. But if the executive is wearing a suit, you want to wear a sweater. If he’s wearing a button-down shirt, you wear a polo. Just going one step more casual puts everyone at ease.
Obviously, women’s clothes are a little harder to gauge, so you’re a bit on your own. I’d say, wear whatever the assistants there wear: professional, but probably not a suit. If you dress like you’re working at a nice store, you probably won’t go wrong.
As far as your hair, do whatever you like. You certainly don’t need conservative hair to make it in the business.
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August 17th, 2004 at 9:34 am
In accordance with John’s comments, I was always told that it’s best to “under-dress” as well. You want to have that personae of the whacky, creative type…whatever that means.
Don’t be controversial in what you wear (political, provacative, etc.) but maybe try and go for the zany writer look. I think the streaks in your hair might be a good idea.
I bet the most important thing, as John mentioned, is to feel comfortable so you can focus on what you have to offer as a writer and not worried if like…your wig is crooked.
August 17th, 2004 at 2:47 pm
I know it may be a shock to some, but I happen to know that John August has a full head of wavy hair and shaves it off daily, embracing the aesthetic he states above… have a little less than the executive you are sitting with. Conversely, as the rule is the opposite for directors, Tim Burton is absolutely bald but has been forced to use the fabulous fright wig to secure his place in the industry!
August 17th, 2004 at 3:20 pm
Gustav Flaubert’s admonition: “Be regular and ordinary in your life, like a bourgeois, so that you may be violent and original in your work.”
If your hair’s the most creative thing about you, you need another line of work.
August 18th, 2004 at 7:07 am
The comment about my hair is shocking and libelious.
August 18th, 2004 at 8:33 am
Wow. You really do have to cover everything when it comes to a pitch meeting. I would be more worried about what I’m about to say rather then what I’m wearing. But I wouldn’t over do it.
I button shirt is what I was thinking about, with nice combed back hair. Remember to tuck that shirt in and polish those shoes. Pass as a professional so that you can get pass security.
August 18th, 2004 at 10:04 am
John is smarter, and taller, and cooler, and far more knowledgeable than I am about most everything. So it’s with great trepidation that I venture a different opinion, i.e., that the writer should be the best-dressed person in the room.
Not the most dressed. Not the suitiest. But there should be, I think, something deliberate that lets them know you care about surface, about style, about presentation.
Sometimes best-dressed means an untucked Prada shirt; sometimes it’s a white T under an anonymous zip-up. Sometimes it’s Jimmy Choos; sometimes it’s six-eyelet DMs with every trace of shine carefully waxed out. Maybe it’s a pair of old-school specs with visible bifocal lines. Maybe it’s a green blouse from Dosa or a black MA-1 from Buzz Rickson’s.
To be sure, we don’t want to look like directors (who pretty much dress like duck hunters). But we do want, I think, to convey on some level a correspondence between our charm and wit and style as humans, and what they can eagerly look forward to seeing on the page.
August 18th, 2004 at 2:42 pm
Duck hunters? WTF? Duck hunters don’t wear black!
August 18th, 2004 at 3:17 pm
Listen to Howard — he’s very smart. The writer can certainly be the coolest-dressed person in the room, but I wouldn’t recommend competing on best suit. Some poor executives have to wear suits every day. Let them envy your freedom-from-dress-code.
August 30th, 2004 at 5:35 pm
For the writer: a $2,000 navy blue pinstriped suit, silk tie, starched white shirt, cufflinks, braces and bare feet.
If the executives complain, ask them if they are willing to take off their Brooks Brothers shoes and socks and hand them over…
November 11th, 2004 at 10:57 pm
Were you trying to slam T. C. Boyle with the hair comment?
November 12th, 2004 at 2:04 am
nice combed back hair!
ha ha!
May 1st, 2005 at 9:08 pm
A $2000 suit? What kind of screenwriters are you? That’s four months’ rent! I think the writer should be the most simply dressed in the room, so when people read the screenplay, they can say “you mean the girl in the GAP chinos wrote this? I never knew she had so much depth….” I also think there’s something to be said for letting your ideas be what set you apart, not the amount you shelled out for your Jimmy Choos. (I know- forgive the naivete.)