Joe Bob Wisdom

At this last hosting segment, Joe Bob Briggs (celebrated author, comedian and commentator John Bloom) just went on a rant about how most executives (and people with power of approval and general influence) don't read scripts. How it is mostly young, unpaid interns and barely paid (and put upon) assistants. The common thread among all these people is that they are miserable and potentially resentful (that'll be important later on).

This is so true and something I've told and reminded myself of after years and years of rejection from agents, producers, publishers, etc. Although, for a while I wondered if this was even true, or if it was just something I was telling myself to make up for either my lack of talent (which, though I try not to be arrogant or pretentious, I know is not true) or the lack of marketability in my scripts.

But now I know it to be true.

Because Joe Bob said it. On Shudder. On Friday night. On The Last Drive-In (literally, my favorite show). 

Anyhow, I've been with Joe Bob since the mid-90's on The Movie Channel with Drive-In Theater. I've met him 3 times. Stellar human being. Full of a lot of truth and wisdom.

Going back to the truth of what Joe Bob said: no one of influence, of authority, of proven talent or ability, has read my scripts.

Mostly it is frustrated film school graduates who are probably either resentful of the fact that a nobody like me has somehow gotten onto the desk of their boss, or what I write is just not their aesthetic. At any rate, my scripts are being tossed out due to the perspective and opinion of just one person.

I just love that my career (and thus, my validation) as a writer is in the hands of people (presumably) much younger than me, (again, presumably) less talented than me and who don't know me.

If only there were a way to bypass the middlemen.

But our world is full of them.

And it always will be.

Unfortunately.