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Mike Jones is a journalist turned screenwriter two times over.
Which got us thinking: What advice would he give to others who dream of writing for the movies?
(Just, you know, hypothetically.)
In the course of two phone conversations, Jones gave his best advice to aspiring screenwriters.
Know Your Own Voice
Focus on what you have to say.
But its also finding a voice within the stuff that inspires you.
I loved Horton Foote, who wroteTender Mercies.
Last Picture ShowandMidnight Cowboy.
Those movies spoke to me, because I knew those characters inside and out.
Dont Wait
When I was atFilmmaker Magazine, independent film was exploding.
Suddenly this movement was happening.
They didnt send their scripts out and wait for somebody to say, Yes, well make it.
They just went and did it, over and over again.
They would write something specifically to be shot.
Just being around that energy gave me the courage and electricity I needed.
It was those early scripts, writing about my upbringing, that launched my career.
It was not right.
You just dont do that.
First of all, its a giant conflict of interest.
Second of all, its like, What are you really here for?
I never ended up using my journalism credentials to further my screenwriting.
Then I would go, Yeah, yeah, I am.
Look, Im not a journalist right now, kindly check it out.
Suddenly, the movie was real.
But after that, it took me forever to get work.
I think I might have quit my job and then had to ask for it back.
Eventually, I started to map out all these places in L.A. where I could pull over and pee.
When in Doubt, Think of What Would Be the Most Fun
I would swing at everything.
I had a couple of good samples, I just didnt have a name.
Ive been writing these small-town Texas dramas.
He wants monsters or robots.
Then I went: Oh, robots.
So literally hours before, I came up with just a pitch straight out of nothing.
It was giant robots fighting for pink slips and this was beforeBattleBots, beforeReal Steel.
I was desperate, so I pitched this crazy robots idea and they bought it.
Know That It Probably Wont Work Out … After the robot movie came and went, I was out of money.
I needed something right away.
It was going to be likeThe Godfather Part IIof theHollow Manseries.
I thought of this really silly, almost art-film version ofHollow Man 2.
I went in guns blazing on this pitch.
I went home licking my wounds that I couldnt even getHollow Man 2.
Theres this steady con job that a working screenwriter does to themselves for get through the day.
So every single project was, Yeah, this is the one.
So we decided to pack up everything and move to L.A. right after my son was born.
I went there with no money, and you could see the strike coming.
It was right over the hill.
Everything that I had lined up, I watched it fade away.
Before the strike started, I was writing an adaptation of a book calledThe Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break.
I adapted it with the blessing of the author and I was ready to send it out.
That script stayed in the drawer for two years untilVarietydownsized.
AfterMinotaurthere was a period where I was back out of work again.
That script got me a whole other round of different kinds of work.
As soon as I hit upon that, I feel like thats what kept me paying the rent.
Money got tight sometimes, but I was always able to bounce back.
I would write for other studios as well, but now I could say no.
I started to say no, which is such a power.
You want to get to a place where you’re free to say no.
The first reason is you should know what you might write and what you cant.
But an opportunity, if youre not there for it, wont happen to you.
Im ready to devote a chunk of my life to one movie.
