10 Ingredients of Successful Screenwriting: Self Confidence
Marilyn Horowitz tells us how self-confidence is the key to success in Part 1 of her video series: 10 Ingredients of Successful Screenwriting.
Self-confidence is the No. 1 ingredient for success in any field, and screenwriting is no exception. This is not to diminish the fact that the work must be great. But in my 18-plus years of coaching and teaching, I have found self-confidence to be the most important ingredient in determining whether a project actually makes it to the big screen.
We all know the refrain: “How’d that inferior screenplay get made?” Well, what probably happened is an absolutely great screenplay was sold and, in the course of many hands touching it, it became weakened. But more than likely the initial script was terrific and the writer knew it when pitching it and delivered it with confidence.
When working on a project, keep in mind what the great rabbi and teacher Hillel said: “If I am not for myself, who will? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?”
So, before you take a screenplay to market, make sure you have the self-confidence and conviction to stand by it.
- More articles by Marilyn Horowitz
- Meet the Reader: Screenwriting Success - Confidence Game
- Download your FREE video from our Editor on facing your fears!
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Marilyn Horowitz is an award-winning New York University professor, author, producer, and Manhattan-based writing consultant, who works with successful novelists, produced screenwriters, and award-winning filmmakers. She has a passion for helping novices get started. Since 1998 she has taught thousands of aspiring screenwriters to complete a feature length screenplay using her method. She is also a judge for the Fulbright Scholarship Program for film and media students. In 2004 she received the coveted New York University Award for Teaching Excellence. Professor Horowitz has written several feature-length screenplays. Her production credits include the feature films And Then Came Love (2007).
