So Much Noise!
The busier I get, the more I can't handle all the damn “noise” that comes at me. How do we combat the sheer amount of input everyone throws at us?
Blah Blah AI Blah Blah Here’s Why Blah Blah Dead
I currently work in the middle of an office space. When one person wants to talk to another, that conversation happens over top of me. It’s… loud sometimes. Constantly, actually.
When I reach sensory overload, I throw on some headphones and zone out to some soft piano vibes. That way, I can hear myself think, and better yet, quiet my thoughts.
Today on LinkedIn though, with this in mind, I paid attention to all the posts I normally ignore, and I realized this was largely the same thing. So much of social media is such discordant noise, and I kind of hate it.
First, let’s chat AI. I don’t care how you feel about AI. You don’t care how I feel about AI. You probably hope I agree with you. It doesn’t matter if AI can do anything and everything. That’s noise. It doesn’t make a difference to you right now. Whether you see it as a gift from the Gods or the ultimate doom of humanity, right now you’re working towards Professionalism in Writing. What you need to do is finish your project. Do the edit. Get the draft done. Take care of yourself.
You know what else is noise? Hollywood is dead bullshit. Hollywood is working on scales of billions of dollars. Most people can’t comprehend the sheer size of one billion anything. It’s too much for human comprehension. Hollywood can feed the entire planet with every major blockbuster. Whether you see a decline, or an industry fighting for an audience and a return to the glory days, it doesn’t matter. First, it can’t be dead if it’s still running. That’s not what dead means. Like… duh. So many posts seem to herald some end to an era, but it’s just noise. How do I know? Because immediately after they herald the death of the industry, they try to use that supposed death to support an opinion that they want to be true.
These people aren’t here to help you do what you need to do: become a professional writer (by writing professionally.)
The Noisy Guru
Let’s chat about the myriad of script gurus and coaches that “know” exactly what’s holding you back without ever talking to you. These people are noise. I hate saying it, but there’s no other choice but to see their yammering as noise.
I love this topic. I often wonder about different script coaches and gurus, knowing full well that some of the things they do look a lot like what I do.
But there’s a difference between gurus who tell you how difficult the job is and attempt to teach you skills, and a guru who holds a magical elixir that will somehow propel you into a writing job. I’m sure they will do just that, if you pay their subscription price. I’m sure hundreds, if not thousands of writers are now working professionally as a result of their coaching.
So much of this is sheer noise! I’ll tell you why: unless they’re here to help you level up your script into something professional (and they know by real, industry experience what that looks like), no amount of coaching about the industry will help.
Just people yelling over top of me.
Noise that Requires Attention
On top of that, our lives are also so noisy. This week, three of my major appliances all died at once. I swear, they coordinated it. Traitors. Then I have my family’s issues and concerns, and then, circulating outward, my extended family’s issues and concerns. And work, and my side hustles.
All of this is noise, but it’s not noise you can just shut off or ignore. It’s noise that’s important to you. It’s noise you need to deal with.
Sometimes our lives scream real loud, and sometimes it is oddly quiet.
The thing with noise is some of it is important, and most of it is not. How do you know what is what? That depends on what you want in life. That depends on your goals.
My goal is to work with my wife towards a happy household. Financially healthy, physically healthy, mentally healthy, emotionally healthy. This is a big goal that can encompass a lot, but it’s a pretty simple filter for a lot of noise that comes our way. For problems, the first question is “is there anything we can do about this problem, or is it out of our control?”
If it’s out of our control, then so be it. If it is within our control, then the question becomes: “is this in the way of our happy household goals?”
In my example above, the death of the appliances comes with two problems. It costs money to replace them, which doesn’t help us get out of debt, and not replacing them will cause us more work day to day, which takes a toll. The AC unit? Yeah, our place is an oven in June. We’ll take that financial hit immediately to replace it. The microwave? If that was a highly expensive machine, we likely wouldn’t replace it until we were in a better place financially.
Either way, we’re running these problems, and other problems, through these filters. These two simple questions tell me what’s noise worth paying attention to, and what isn’t.
With all that said, let’s talk about your writing goals, and the noise surrounding it.
Goalkeeping
You are a writer who wants to make money through your writing. This means your writing is a business. As a business, you need to decide how you want to proceed.
Is your goal to become a professional screenwriter in the Hollywood system? That’s an Olympic achievement. If that’s your goal, then anytime you see noise, you need to ask yourself one question: will this noise truly assist me in creating an industry calibre script? If you believe it will, what evidence backs that up? I try to use my lessons from working agents, professional screenwriters, people who actively get paid from professional work.
For everything you do in regards to your writing, you should be able to explain why this will assist you in your goal.
I hope that’s why you’re here with me, reading this blog!
Those script doctors, coaches, clubs, and even some big writing services are happy to take your money and hopefully even provide value to you, but do their goals align with yours? I had a fun debate online once where a stranger was discussing simple ways to improve Tinder, and I chimed in. “How would this help Tinder with its ultimate goal: money?” The short answer was, it wouldn’t. A perfect app that matches you with the love of your life might solve your dating problem, but hasn’t solved their money goal. The stranger had a real lightbulb moment when he realized that meeting your soulmate through a dating app was not the big win for the dating app itself, because you’ll stop paying them.
When a noisy guru comes my way, I want to know exactly what makes them believe they’ll help me become a professional screenwriter.
Which leads me to the indie scene.
This is also how I think about the AI film making. Or “independent content creators,” who aren’t actually independent at all. They’re Google’s content creators. They use Google’s distribution system, and Google’s advertising system to monetize. They work because Google gave them access to these things through a site called Youtube. They make money utilizing Google’s algorithm. That’s not exactly independent. That’s a heavy reliance on one specific company, and one specific system. If I could change how people talk about youtubers, or influencers on apps like X or Meta’s various ones, I would never refer to these people as “independent,” but as some other way to highlight who pays the bills and owns the systems. I dunno. You come up with something good, let me know in the comments!
Indie filmmaking refers to films powered outside the studio system, and there is money that can be made. But… Do you want to be an indie filmmaker? Is that your goal?
And if so, let’s scrutinize that further. Is your goal to then make the movie you wrote? What about getting it out in the world? There’s a lot of people that will offer all the advice and coaching in the world about making a movie… but what about marketing it? Anyone can make a movie on their phone or whatever, but how will you market it? How much do you need to earn for your time and effort to be profitable?
The indie scene is touted as the ultimate freedom in filmmaking, but… is it? If it’s so easy, and Hollywood is dead, why isn’t everyone doing it? I know why.
Because it’s extremely hard and expensive and risky.
“Make a short film,” is not a strategy towards my goal without a lot of pieces carefully thought out. “Make genre films,” could be a viable career, but does that align with my writing business brand?
Make no mistake: there are a thousand paths into Hollywood, but there is no short cut for creating a professional script. There is no way forward without professional work leading the way in all aspects. Anyone unable to discuss this plan without addressing the needs of these aspects to be professional is spouting noise. Obviously. Because if the work I do isn’t great, it’s not going to achieve great results in the market.
Simplicity Found in Silence
I can’t recommend this enough. I would scream it from the rooftops, but that would be noisy. When you’re feeling overwhelmed with possibilities and a myriad of choices in front of you, take a quiet time out.
Pack a small meal. Leave your phone behind (when was the last time you did this to go anywhere?) and visit a park. Sit, and think about your goal. What is the goal? What do you need to accomplish it? How will xyz assist you in that?
To do this best, you can’t have social media at your fingertips. You need time with your thoughts and feelings, so you can sort them out. You need to sit with whatever’s in front of you, so you can figure out what it is.
If you’re feeling like a lot of noise is surrounding you, this is a great exercise to remind yourself what the goal is. To remind yourself what your priorities are. The silence will help. And even 30 minutes can make a world of difference.
Everyone has solutions for problems, but not necessarily your problems. Know what you’re doing, and you’ll find ways to do it. You can then best filter out the noise.
That's it for this week. Happy Writing!
I looove leaving my phone behind. This is so on point! Thanks, Law!