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There are two reasons, actually. The first is what I call the Summer Vacation syndrome. Every person has, at one time, had to write something. In elementary school it was the "How I spent my summer vacation" essay. In high school it was the "Analysis of manuscript," formerly known as a book report. In college it was the "Thesis."
Having completed one or more of the above, people think that’s all there is to writing… any kind of writing. Books, magazine articles, TV shows. I mean, how can writing Felicity choosing Ben, no Noel, no Ben, be any different or more difficult than my summer vacation recap, right?
See, acting and directing and singing and dancing, all have their own special schools. One must learn how to act or direct because one has never done it before. But writing? Heck, I got a B+ on my 4th grade story about a dragon living in my mom's laundry basket—call Simon & Schuster and have them back up the money truck!
What these people tend to forget is that anybody can do anything. Literally. But doing it well, or even properly, is another story.
The 2nd reason everyone thinks they can write—especially movies—is what we in The Lounge call the Quentin Quotient.
Quentin Tarantino. Today’s twisted, psychedelic version of Horatio Alger. Everyone knows the tale; A video store clerk with ADHD writes his version of a screenplay by Ringo Lam & Tommy Sham, gets a couple of Hollywood names attached and boom, he is a cult hero overnight. Once people saw and heard this guy, they figured there was no way he was any smarter than they were, so they took whatever scribblings they had, loaded up their AMC Pacers and arrived at the Paramount Pictures gates with their version of Tarantino’s version of Chinese Action films/70’s blaxploitation films/etc./etc.
And they were actually smart to do this. Because the studios, in their futile and never-ending quest to catch lightning in a bottle, thought that maybe every video store clerk possessed the magic that QT did, so they began buying anything remotely legible that crossed their desks… and some things that were completely illegible.
A similar phenomenon took place in the 80’s when Shane Black’s script sales were so colossal the evening news reported the figures.
Am I saying that you can't do it? That us professionals is gooder than you is? Categorically no. I am merely suggesting that if you are interested in being a good writer instead of simply a working writer, then you might spend some time learning the craft before you type that first sentence.
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