Are you somebody?
The Writers Guild Foundation has a new book out, Doing It For Money
There are no famous screenwriters.
There are rich screenwriters with houses in Malibu. There are acclaimed screenwriters with awards on their mantels. But none of them are actually famous. Your aunt in Pittsburgh can’t name a single screenwriter — except for you, her little champ, working so hard to make it in Hollywood.
She’s proud of you, but worries. Who wouldn’t?
True, there are the hyphenates: writer-directors can be famous, not to mention actor-writer-directors, whose many hats only add to their publicity value. But no one gets famous just for writing 120 pages of 12-point Courier. You should know this going in, because if you have any interest in becoming “a household name,” your best bet is to pick a pseudonym like Crisco or Clorox.
Here’s an example of someone who is actually famous: Drew Barrymore. A few years ago, paparazzi took pictures of us having lunch. In the caption, I was the “unidentified companion.”
I wasn’t offended, honest. By this point I had fully accepted that I would never be recognized. The more time you spend with actual famous people, the more you realize that it pretty much sucks to have random people taking your picture, or asking for autographs while your dog is pooping at Runyon Canyon Park.
Well-paid anonymity is a luxury, frankly. I came to enjoy it.
And then one day, someone recognized me.
My boyfriend and I were at LAX, flying to Colorado for Christmas vacation, with both our dogs in carriers. Out of nowhere, a young guy on crutches came up to me and stuck out his hand: “I just wanted to say, I’m a big fan.” I stammered and thanked him, then went back to my dogs.
At the time, I was busy promoting Big Fish, so I figured that Crutches Guy had been at one of the countless Q&A screenings. He’d seen the film, liked it, and remembered me as the guy sitting next to Danny DeVito. I was flattered, and enjoyed the little jolt of adrenaline, but quickly wrote it off as a one-time thing.
But it wasn’t.
As I’ve done more publicity, and talking-head interviews on various DVDs, I’ve found that random people are recognizing me and saying hello with increasing frequency. It’s once a month or so — nothing alarming — but it always comes when I least it expect it: shopping for strollers, in line at the movies, at breakfast with the woman carrying my baby.
The hand-shakers are invariably polite, so I can always genuinely say, “It’s nice to meet you.” But what’s fascinating is how everyone around us reacts. Remember: as a screenwriter, I’m not actually famous. Yet suddenly someone is treating me like I am. I love watching that double-take as bystanders try to figure out who I could possibly be.
Once a nearby woman actually asked me, “Are you somebody?”
Almost apologetically, I said I was a screenwriter. Her face showed a combination of confusion and disappointment that would have been devastating at another point in my life.
While I stand by my no-famous-screenwriters rule, I need to issue a clarification. It is apparently possible to be recognizable among the subset of “aspiring screenwriters living in Los Angeles.” That’s far short of famous, but quite a bit better, in my opinion. Screenwriters are commendable folk. (Except for one guy who asked me to sign his hat, then dissed me in his blog.)
If there’s a downside to being recognized, it’s that occasionally I get half-recognized. At a restaurant, someone will see me and know that they know me from somewhere. Throughout the rest of their meal, they will steal glances, wracking their brains to figure out who I could be. A musician? A contestant on The Apprentice? The Neo-Nazi from last night’s West Wing? By the time salads arrive, I can feel their growing frustration.
So I take off my glasses.
With 18 inches of vision, the rest of the world blurs out, leaving me alone in my happy anonymity. Unless that guy comes over and asks if I am somebody. Then I don’t know what I’ll say.
Articles
May 5th, 2006 at 8:45 am
I always tend to notice that most screenwriters don’t really have a distinct outward “look”. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of yours, John, but I could never identify you strolling down the street randomly. It’s mainly due to the fact that you don’t see screenwriters at all unless you seek them out. Even then, I’d be hard pressed to spot someone. I don’t really think it’s the level of fame, since plenty of people get noticed, but just the sheer amount of exposure the actors faces really do get. It’s kind of absurd to think of how I could describe Tom Cruise’s face in vast detail, even though I’m really not a huge fan. But I could provide a spot on police sketch. The only consolation is…
I could probably recite most, if not all, of the sharp dialogue in Big Fish from memory. Which, frankly, is a higher compliment.
May 5th, 2006 at 8:56 am
When I first started writing, being rich and famous was a definite possibility in my mind. That lasted all of about three days of consuming myself with everything screenwriting. I think it is a quick realization for most, if not all of us at some point in our “careers”.
May 5th, 2006 at 9:09 am
I wonder why so much attention is paid to celebrities in the first place. When you think about it, actors and athletes seem like they should be the servants of the public, because without viewers, their jobs would cease to exist. However, it’s exactly the opposite, and there’s become an entire industry based on media about media icons. Honestly, would you imagine that royalty went to plays about what the court jesters were doing in their spare time, or who they were dating?
This probably comes from people confusing actors and characters. We spend so much time watching Tom Cruise defeat bad guys, or Matthew Perry respond with instant witicisms, or Keanu Reeves fly and stop bullets, that we forget that these people don’t actually do that stuff (although I’m sure Matthew Perry is funny in real life, too).
May 5th, 2006 at 10:29 am
John,
One quick addendum: you can be famous to aspiring screenwriters living in Los Angeles AND to crazy film fanatics. When I mentioned that you had a Blog to a group of my film buddies, they went into hysterics and began tearing through your archives. Some want to be screenwriters, others are HUGE Tim Burton fans.
Sadly, my boyfriend has never heard of you… but sometimes I wonder if he’s even heard of me.
Best, JR
May 5th, 2006 at 11:01 am
I don’t know your fast john, but i certainly know your name and your work.
–RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
May 5th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
“My boyfriend and I…” Whoa. Did I miss something? Guess I haven’t read your posts closely enough. Not that it’s an issue, just one of those straight guy reactions.
Is being gay a prerequiste to being successful in Hollywood? If so, I’m changing teams forthwith!
May 5th, 2006 at 12:59 pm
John, after the hours I’ve spent devouring anything on your website, please indulge me a handshake when we cross paths. If we get any weird stares, I’ll handle it:
“Have you finished goggling? Go home home and google ‘John August.com.’”
May 5th, 2006 at 3:39 pm
Screenwriters are famous like newspaper reporters are famous, but most newspaper reporters can’t afford a house in the Hollywood Hills.
May 5th, 2006 at 6:29 pm
Who are you?
May 5th, 2006 at 7:08 pm
I don’t think I’d want to be famous. It must be a strange life. I don’t know how people like Tom Cruise deal with it. Although Tom may be dealing with it by going insane, so that’s a bad example. Yeah, I think screenwriters have it good. Work from home a lot, get paid well, have a hand in creating great stories and you can still walk down the street unmolested. Of course, first you need to become a succesful screenwriter. That’s not easy.
By the way, I’m planning on being one of those hyphenates!
May 5th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
Dear John, Love the website! Congratulations on your impending fatherhood. May I recommend the Continuum Concept by Jean Liedloff. It’s an incredible read for first-time parents. Warm Wishes, Mimi
May 5th, 2006 at 10:34 pm
I’m happy that a lot of people don’t know you. Why? Because when they see any one of your fantastic films, I can say “I know the guy who wrote that. He also wrote and I read his blog online all the time.”
May 5th, 2006 at 10:42 pm
Note: I had an “insert movie here” thing surrounded by less than and more than symbols. Obviously WordPress didn’t like that.
May 5th, 2006 at 11:19 pm
Funny cuz I’ve only met you twice, but whenever I see the back of a thin bald man’s head wearing a long sleeve button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, tucked out of a pair of jeans with tennis shoes, I think “Holy Crap! Is that John August?!”
And I don’t even live in LA.
May 6th, 2006 at 5:20 am
I have nothing constructive except a big Congrats on the incoming child!
May 6th, 2006 at 8:25 am
The book is about $10 less at Amazon than if you order it directly from Tallfellow Press.
May 6th, 2006 at 8:45 am
congrats on your life and success. i am a fan. your credit is something that will lead me to consider fronting the money out for an actual movie ticket in a theatre. i, before decsending into shameless jingle work, mainly worked as a backup musician. i figured out long ago that my role was going to be that. nobody was going to line up to buy tickets for “my” show. sometimes, i might get a polite introduction, but mostly my job was to stay out of the spotlight and make the person in it look and sound better. i’m ok with that. most of the time. the worst incident of ramming who and what i am down my throat came in san francisco. we had just finished a show at the great american music hall (one of my favorite venues in the world, the place has charm, is in san francisco, nuff said) and were at a club unwinding. now remember, i’ve just spent two hours on stage, a little behind and to the left of the star. somebody with their access pass still hanging around their neck comes over to me and asks if i know anyone in the band. . .this might be why i feel more kinship with the writer bloggers than the musicians. you guys know what the “are you somebody” questions are like. . .my stock answer to the somebody question has become “it depends on your criteria.”
May 6th, 2006 at 9:37 am
I (accidentally) corrected a website in one of your blogs, and then you replied with the actual website. I started squealing and fanning myself.
May 6th, 2006 at 10:09 am
Clarifications for those who came in late:
Gay. Domestic-partnered. My kid is nine-and-a-half months old. I have two dogs, one of whom goes swimming twice a week for physical therapy, which sounds very California, I know.
I don’t talk about family life much because I prefer to keep that inside the big Sphere o’ Privacy.
May 6th, 2006 at 7:46 pm
Well Mr. August, you’re famous in as far away a country as Australia… At least to a couple of people clinging to this island. I know I’d recognise you if I saw you on the street, but then I’d imagine I’m hallucinating or something, because why would you be here?
A few days ago, I was over at a friend’s house watching the extras on the Corpse Bride DVD. You appeared on screen and I suddenly shrieked, “hey! It’s John! It’s John!” (Like we went to highschool together or play golf.) Everybody turned to look at me like I had just had some bad acid kick in. Then I sheepishly had to explain, “that’s John August. He wrote this movie. I talk to him online.” I was met with approving nods and smiles when your name came up on screen, proving I wasn’t actually tripping. And then was a celebrity by proxy, for the next 20 seconds in a sort of six-degrees-of-separation way.
I’m sure those 20 seconds would have been shorter had I clarified that “I talk to him online…” actually means, “I leave comments on his blog, like the big ol’ fan boy that I am.”
By the way, I’ve never dropped acid. So I don’t know why my friends would have jumped to that conclusion. Now, excuse me, while I kiss the sky…
May 6th, 2006 at 8:59 pm
Ok so I’m only 9 and a half months behind the times… grats none the less John.
On the fame side I think writers fame extends much more to aspiring writers, as stated earlier, I know I’d get a little giddy if I saw you, Espenson, Greenwalt, Kaufman, etc. in person and most of my friends wouldn’t know exactly who they are…. the thing is though, they know your words.
May 6th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
Hmm… well, it’s a clever and self-congratulatory fluff piece, extremely superficial and devoid of any insight… like the rest of your writing.
May 7th, 2006 at 2:18 am
John
so you’re the ‘unidentified companion’ in that shot with drew! you look fab, babe.
Ajax Timex (very famous screenwriter)
May 7th, 2006 at 2:31 am
Wait, screenwriting isn’t the surefire way to fame, fortune, and infamy?
All these years wasted!
May 7th, 2006 at 8:13 am
I think the proper way to answer “Are you somebody?” is:
Aren’t we all?
Fun read. Thanks.
May 7th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Of course, this is also a surefire way to get into a bit of mischief if you’re not famous at all: introduce yourself as a screenwriter. You could claim you wrote a dozen major movies in the last five years, and it’s unlikely that you’d be talking to someone that could disagree.
May 7th, 2006 at 11:57 am
Screenwriters shouldn’t be famous I think…The anonymity we’re afforded allows us to write about satanic children, rivers of chocolate, massive explosions, vampires and earthquakes (to name but a few) with total faith that it “could happen” if this, this or that did first. If under the microscope of the media AS WELL I think most of us would crack and we’d all write films about getting up in the morning, going to work and coming back in time for tea. Can you imagine? The horror!
May 7th, 2006 at 4:25 pm
Summing it up in one sentence.
I started as a stand-up/actor, had my own show for a second and a half. After that, did auditions, a couple other pilots, kept working the festivals where all the the TV network people saw me year in and year out. Then I switched to writing.
Years later, all the young talent execs were running networks, were studio heads, etc. They’d hear “John Rogers is coming in,” ask “the comedian?” and be tols “No, the writer.”
I’d walk in the room, and hear, more than once: “John! You’re not a writer, you’re TALENT!”
May 7th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
The fame is all in publicity. I’m sure there could be plenty of ‘famous’ screenwriters if they wanted it - however, by definition (writers) I believe that the majority of us prefer the anonymity (to some degree).
For actors, it’s their face that is representative of their work. For us, it’s words. I know that I’ve read/seen so much of the writers works that I admire. I’m positive that if writers wanted to be out there more, it would just mean more socializing and publicizing to make it happen.
Problem is that would take time away from writing or enjoying our lives. The fame doesn’t improve our work or lives the same way it does for actors/directors who need that to stay in demand. All we need is to keep writing.
May 8th, 2006 at 6:26 am
I think the first poster had the best idea. Screenwriters are best known for what they have created rather than how they are created (looks).
That reminds me of the story about Paul Newman. Some TV host gushed about his piercing blue eyes and he responded, “That just makes me sick.”
May 8th, 2006 at 11:45 am
Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, I went on one date with an ex E! hostess who was quick to drop everyone into one of those two distinct categories. “Somebody� or “Nobody.� It is, to this day, the pinnacle exemplification of superficiality ever witnessed by my eyes. (Pardon all the syllables, but it was.)
“Oh, he’s nobody. And she’s sooo nobody.”
“Oh my God, he’s like totally somebody!”
I had a headache by the end of it. But, since neurosurgeons, well respected do-gooders and big time corporate CEO’s were “Nobody’s” as well, I quickly decided I was fine with that.
That, and the bulk of the “somebody’s� were oxed and spilling drinks all over themselves.
Anyway, I swear on saw her on Skinimax a couple weeks back.
May 8th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
John - lovely post. Thanks.
May 9th, 2006 at 7:52 pm
Let’s see.
My father saves lives as a physician.
My step-mother comforts the dying as a Hospice nurse.
My wife teaches some of the most severely and profoundly disabled elementary school kids out there.
I write funny stories.
I am a nobody.
May 10th, 2006 at 6:27 am
I just remembered a story James L Brooks said in an interview… He was at a blackjack table or something like that, and there was this guy playing next to him. The guy didn’t know Mr. Brooks from a bar of soap, but whenever the guy got a bad hand he said, “D’oh!” and when he got a good hand and won he yelled, “Woohoo!”
That’s when James L Brooks realised that he was reaching people.
May 10th, 2006 at 6:35 am
Or was it Sam Simon… I’m not so sure now. Anybody know for sure? Ironically, this is kind of the whole problem, isn’t it?
May 10th, 2006 at 10:48 pm
Good question. Are we somebody? Are we nobody? Friends I talk to tend to call me both. Working my ass off at nights writing screenplays that without much doubt no one except wife and untalented 22-y-old “agent/law student/hyperactive kid” will ever read? Nobody. Presenting some kick-ass stories about the business, monkeys and air vents written buy guys like John or Josh Friedman while passing them out to be my very own? Somebody.
Naaa, not really. Good writing, John.
May 11th, 2006 at 1:49 pm
“I’d feel bad about giving my essay away for free, except that pretty much every entry in the book is at least its equal. Buy the book. You’ll like it.”
Well I liked it, but only half were as good as yours and the other one’s were either 1) self-indulgent, 2) Angry or 3) Had no focus or point.
Anyway… thanks for the head’s up on the book, glad I bought it.
May 12th, 2006 at 2:49 pm
Forgive me my UNBELIEVEABLE off-topic note here, but I just watched the “Bananas: Proof of God’s Design?” link John has here on the botton of the links page, and in it, the gentleman makes note that the banana and the human hand are almost perfectly shaped to fit into each other.
Wouldn’t this be better proof that we are descended from monkeys?
Perhaps silence is the better answer.
May 12th, 2006 at 4:56 pm
To Earl, about the banana guys. Not only it is better proof that we were once monkeys, it also is quite an unintentionally sexual exlpaination. Those guys are loads of fun.
Oh and very entertaining and interesting post, John, as always.
May 14th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Charlie Kaufman is a very famous screenwriter. It seems he has recieved more attention than any one other screenwriter in the industory.
May 15th, 2006 at 9:46 am
I don’t think I’d like to be recognized on the street, chased by paparazzi and all that Jazz. I’d love to be recognized by my peers, though, and I think it’s safe to say John that in that circle you are already famous!
I saw “My Date with Drew” about three weeks ago and when I saw you on the interview I felt like a circle coming to a close. So that’s the face of that guy that I’ve been reading so much! Now when I read your posts, I can see you telling them to me, rather than imagining this old professor (that’s how I pictured you before).
May 16th, 2006 at 12:15 pm
Come to think of it, you do look a little like the Neo-Nazi from The West Wing
May 16th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
There WERE no famous writers, in the past, but these days…
I dunno John. I see your point, I really do, but I also think that’s changing. (And God help us all as it does)
“As I’ve done more publicity, and talking-head interviews on various DVDs, I’ve found that random people are recognizing me and saying hello with increasing frequency.”
And my bet would be that you’d better get used to it. Stay on the job, keep doing that publicity, keep doing those talking-head interviews, and the commentary on all those DVD’s (Have you noticed how much more often writers are asked to do those commentaries? Used to be only directors and players had to do ‘em, but now?…), keep it up, and like it or not you’re going to wind up a “real” celeb. In fact one of these days you’re likely to see a pic of you and Drew B. where SHE’S the one labeled “unidentified companion.”
And I’m not just engaging in hyperbole here either. Screenwriters and television writers are getting a lot more interest from the general public than ever before. It’s just starting now, but I don’t see it slowing down.
You can see it best at the moment in television.
Take Ron Moore. By luck, talent, the hand of fate, hard work, or maybe a lot of prayers to St. Elvis, Ron’s managed to grow a very real fan base all his own and, seriously, I’m not kiddin’, it’s nuthin’ to sneeze at. At a guess, a wild assed pull it outta my butt guess, I’d peg the number at anywhere between 2 to 8 million people. Trekkies, trekkers, whatever ya wanna call ‘em, sure as hell knew the name RON MOORE every bit as well as names like Pat Stewart, and probably better than the names of many the other cast members of the various Trek shows he wrote for. Now he’s running BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, and believe me when I tell ya, BSG fans, again, sure as hell know the name RON MOORE. So what does that get him? Not only do his fans know that name, so do the people likely to hire him in the future, and those potential employers are also VERY much aware that there’s a built in fan base behind anything with his name attached to it.
Ditto, to an extent, with his other half of the moment DAVID EICK.
Then there’s Joss “Firefly” Whedon, known not only to fans of that show, but quite a few hardcore “Buffettes”. And again, many of the fans of those shows know the name Joss Whedon every bit as well as the names of the cast playing their favorite characters.
Now there’s J.J. Abrams, whose name, yet again, is becoming every bit as well known to the many fans of LOST as those of the cast.
Now I’ll agree with you that in every one of those examples I’ve sighted, we’re talking about “hyphenates”, writer-producer, writer-director-producer, etc., but it’s the writer part of the hyphenates in those titles people notice and think about.
Ask anybody who knows the name Ron Moore, Joss Whedon, or J.J. Abrams, what they like about their work, and the very first thing out of their mouth is going to be - “I love his writing”, not “I love his shot choices and sense of composition”, or “Oooo. He’s soooo good with getting the most out of his cast on screen”, let alone his shrewd business acumen or ability to get the most bang for the buck out of a budget.
It’s the writing.
Writers are becoming “cool” these days. Studying writing at a film school is VERY “cool”. Hell, these days a claim of “majoring in screenwriting” can even get you laid, (OUTSIDE Hollywood of course, where people have little or no idea what screenwriters do, but I’m not kidding, these days aspiring “screenwriters” get laid nearly as much as musicians).
9 out of 10 people have no idea what a writer does, but they have a picture in their head of what writers do, and that picture is a hell of a lot more romantic than the reality. Which is basically the basis of celebrity in general. How many people do you think really realize how deadly boring being an actor on a set is during “roundy round”, or while the grips are frantically running around trying to figure out where the noise in the lines is coming from that’s screwing up the motion control on the camera mount?
Acting looks a lot more sexy to the general public than it is, and the same is true of writing.
People are beginning to notice who’s name is under the ‘ol written by, and Tinsel Town, against its better judgment, is beginning to realize that ‘there’s gold in them thar hills’.
Check out the p.r. for M.I. III
“From the creators of LOST!” “Having Lost creator JJ Abrams at the helm and Phil Hoffman as villain…” “JJ Abrams reveals details about Mission Impossible 3!” “Abrams on Alias, Lost, and Mission: Impossible 3!”
There WERE no famous writers, in the past, but the way things are going these days… I dunno. I think that’s changing. I really do.
June 2nd, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Get a blog!
September 29th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
Actually, I always thought you were somebody, even before you sold any scripts. Still do.