General-ly Speaking...

How general meetings are a microcosm of a screenwriting career.

I recently saw a TikTok from one of my mutuals—a newly repped screenwriter, fresh on the Hollywood scene—explaining the concept of a “general meeting” to her followers.

For those of you who may not be aware:

gen·er·al meet·ing

a meeting between a creative executive and a screenwriter that is not in regards to any specific project.

Basically, an executive at a production company or studio will get a hold of your sample. Typically, that’s via your agent or manager, but it can also be through a mutual connection, contest, query, or chance run in. (I’ve heard tales of a writer who accidentally rear-ended an exec’s car and ended up getting their script read. But this approach is not endorsed by Julia Has Notes, so save yourself an increased insurance premium, please.)

Anyway, said executive reads your script… and likes it! Or loves it! Or thinks it’s just okay, but owes your rep a favor! So, they set a general meeting with you to chat.

My TikTok friend correctly described these meetings as “a vibe check.” Essentially, you give them your “This is Me” writer spiel, they give you their “This Is Us” company spiel, and you see if any part of those two spiels overlap.

But, sometimes, before you head back into LA traffic or log off of Zoom, the exec will bring up a project that they have in the nascent stages of development. Maybe it’s a piece of IP they own the rights to—a book or graphic novel or short story. Maybe it’s a nugget of an idea—a world or a theme or a basic logline—that someone higher up has expressed interest in.

So, they tell you about the project. Say they think you might be a good fit for it. Ask if you’re interested, which of course, you absolutely are. And then they tell you you to check out any relevant materials they’ll send, think on it, and if you “spark to it,” come back with a take.

For those of you curious about what a “take” is:

·take·

a writer’s original conception on the material

When my fellow TikToker talked about this part of the general meeting—the part where the execs throw you what seems to be a potentially career-making opportunity—she sounded excited. She sounded hopeful. She sounded optimistic.

She sounded like me, nearly a decade ago.

I’ve been a repped writer for 10 years now. Two years out of college, I landed my first feature agent at Gersh off of my second ever script.

And I, too, went into these general meetings like my career depended on it. At the time, I was working as a tutor and office manager at The Princeton Review, and I was constantly sacrificing hours and wages to run all around LA on what was cheekily deemed, “the water bottle tour.”

Every time an exec solicited my take on a project, I spent days coming up beats and set pieces. Because I thought every take I took was going to change my life.

But, in my decade of generals, it’s only been within the past three years that I’ve actually been seriously considered for these projects.

At the very beginning of my career, someone told me that the way to succeed in Hollywood was to outlast everyone else.

Everyone thinks their first script will be “the thing.” The thing to get sold, get made, make them millions, make them the next Sorkin or Shonda.

But, according to The Think Tank for Inclusion and Equity, it takes, on average, seven years to break into the industry as a writer. And, once you break in, you’ve got to stay in, which can prove even harder, if you can believe it.

That’s why general meetings are a microcosm of a screenwriting career.

It took me almost 7 years exactly to have any sort of direct success from one of the hundreds of generals I went on earlier in my career. But finally, in 2020, I went on a virtual general with an exec who had recently moved over to Buzzfeed. He floated me a concept, solicited my take, and BOOM! I got the gig two weeks later. Direct. Success.

But the funny thing is, I had met that exec before, when he previous worked for a different production company. And do you know how we met? On a general meeting.

The fact that we had met years earlier informed the general at Buzzfeed. At that point, he’d been aware of me for years, had been a fan of my writing and my “vibes,” and had kept an eye on my rise since we’d last met.

In short, I got the Buzzfeed movie gig because of a general meeting I had years prior. Indirect. Result.

A career in screenwriting is paved with indirect results. Until you reach a certain level, it’s free work and close calls and spec scripts and “water bottle tours,” but all of that effort you put in PAYS OFF.

Sometimes not right away. Sometimes not until years down the line. But it does pay off.

Remember the person who told me I had to outlast everyone to succeed in Hollywood?

He spent his mid-30s working as a pizza delivery guy in Downtown LA in order to support his writing career.

When I knew him, he had just gotten staffed on a TV show for a VERY popular comic book/cinematic universe.

Now, he’s credited on some of the franchise’s biggest blockbusters.

The screenwriting advice I dole out on TikTok and Twitter and Instagram and Youtube is the advice I wish I had received ten years ago, when I was just starting my career.

Every week on JULIA HAS NOTES, I’ll be breaking down what you actually need to know about the business and the craft of screenwriting. Because, let’s be realistic, there’s only so much bandwidth you have to devote creatively, especially when you’re working a day job to support your writing dream.

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