Persistence

I've often said that my former students who "make it" in the film industry are seldom the ones with the most talent and skills but always are the ones with the most persistence, the ones who don't give up. Today I received an email from a woman who hands down is the most persistent student I've ever had.

This woman wanted to write sitcoms. Everything was going against her. She was a woman over fifty in a business full of ageism and sexism. She was living hand-to-mouth, so without funds for marketing blitzes and the other things a newcomer does to get attention. She was an average student.

But she was determined. Once she learned you should be in LA to launch a TV writing career, she left for Calif. For weeks she slept in her car down there, making the rounds, bugging folks, not taking no for an answer. Weeks turned into months. Then she'd been there a year, still down and out, still without a door cracking open.

Then slowly things began to turn her way. She was an eccentric familiar face by now, this strange "old lady" who wanted to write sitcoms. A producer took her under his wing as his Girl Friday, so she finally had a job. She was writing TV pilots all the while and through the producer found an agent willing to peddle them. She met lots of folks, make a lot of contacts. Still old, still eccentric, but she's down there and slowly she's getting her shot at it. She's writing pilots and she's got an agent to handle them.

This is an amazing story. She is the very definition of persistent. I'd love to see her sell something. She might be the oldest "newbie" writer down there.