We, The Screenwriter wins in Toronto

"More millionaires have been made by winning the California Lottery than by writing screenplays." So begins the new feature-length documentary by filmmaker Michael Steven Gregory, We, The Screenwriter, in which sixteen film and television writers present a frenetic, fast-paced portrait of the person, process and profession of being a scribe in today's Hollywood.

Marking the return of Gregory to documentary - or "doculogue" as he calls it - form, We, The Screenwriter is the follow-up to his critically lauded 1996 film We, The Writer, and won a Best Feature-Documentary Award at its festival premiere at Toronto's ReelHeART International Film Festival last month. Like its predecessor, in it there are no on-screen questions. The film unfolds as a highly stylized, rapid-fire, cross-cutting compendium of insider perspectives geared to inform, enlighten and inspire its audience.

With their credits spanning the gamut of genres, including Air Bud, Any Given Sunday, Battlestar Galactica, Carnivàle, Cleopatra, Constantine, Hill Street Blues, House, Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, Land of Oz, Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Last Boy Scout, Mission Impossible: 2, Moby Dick, Pacific Heights, Perfect Romance, Resurrecting the Champ, Roswell, The Role of a Lifetime, Silver Surfer, Spawn, Spider-Man Unlimited, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Sum of All Fears, Tales from the Crypt, Timeline and more, those appearing in the film are Erich Anderson, Shane Black, Allison Burnett, Larry Brody, Frank Cappello, Sharon Y. Cobb, Anton Diether, Dana Fox, Anna Gilson, John Mankiewicz, Aaron Mendelsohn, Ronald D. Moore, Gary Phllips, Daniel Pyne, Deborah Serra and Robert Ward.

The topics they address are equally eclectic, ranging from breaking into the business and what validates the screenwriter, to the profession's impact on personal relationships, responsibilities, writing for TV versus features, writing on assignment versus on spec, pitching, outlining, adaptation, rewriting, agents, young executives, ageism, studio notes, gender bias, writing for market, being pigeon-holed, and others. Ultimately, however, Gregory believes the film's aim is to answer one simple question: Why?

Why do the roughly 13,000 members of the Writers Guild of America - only one-third of which actually make a living writing screenplays - and all the other aspiring screenwriters who collectively registered some 50,000 screenplays, treatments and general ideas for movies and TV shows with the Guild last year, for an American industry that pumps out only around 300 movies annually, desire to be part of a medium that systematically sabotages their ideals and efforts, and which too often clearly regards their contributions with such disdain?

"Faith," said Gregory. "Screenwriters are the Special Forces of the creative writing world in that they're highly skilled at executing a very specific objective in often extreme circumstances. Most make their living in excruciating anonymity and in the face of incalculable odds against their work being successfully realized as initially envisioned. But faith in the possibility, the belief that it might actually just this once transcend the commercial collaborative process and engage, even touch, a stranger who watches their story, that is what warrants the effort. To hell with the money."

Financed by Random Cove, ie, Gregory's production company, We, The Screenwriter was over four years in the making as a result of other projects taking precedence over its completion, and a car accident in which the then-nearly completed film was all but destroyed. As with the first film, We, The Screenwriter will ultimately be made available to MFA and creative writing programs nationwide.

For more information visit WeTheScreenwriter.com.