Hey! I’m that guy trying to sell my latest screenplay, publish it as a novel or die trying.

In DIE TRYING, you will get an unvarnished look at a bitterly honest writer struggling to make it. No name-dropping or Hollywood phoniness. Just the facts ma’am on what the media landscape really is like behind the curtain.

In TODAY’S ISSUE, we talk to a card-reading development executive who tells us if the glass is half full or half empty for aspiring screenwriters.

If you’re an aspiring screenwriter, Justin Ross might be able to pull a card and ascertain the bounds of your creative potential.

We recently caught up with the Executive Vice President of Development at the Bohemia Group. Here are some excerpts from the conversation.

DIE TRYING: The screenwriting software Final Draft reports there were 23 sales this past summer of original spec scripts and pitches. Ok, glass half full. Statistically, it’s easier to get drafted into the NBA than get a WGA (Writers Guild of America) card. Glass half empty. Is it glass half full or half empty for aspiring screenwriters?

Justin Ross: The fact that the spec script numbers are going up is definitely a plus. It will never be back to probably what it was in maybe the '80s or '90s, when there was a flurry of spec sales.  Worry less, I would say, about the marketplace while still being aware of it in terms of the actual numbers and concentrating on your story or stories…and making those as sharp and viable and, dare we say, marketable as possible.

DT: Tell me about Bohemia.

JR: Bohemia Group is an international talent management company. It's been in existence for 33 years. It was founded by Susan Ferris, who still runs the company. For talent management, we manage writers. We manage actors primarily. We manage hyphenates. So actor-directors-producers. We have a music division…which is super interesting. Not a lot of management companies have that.

Then, my side of the company is the production and development side, which is Bohemia Group Originals. You can think of it as an independent production company.

DT: What has been your favorite screenplay from this past year?

JR: That's a good question. I think so far out of scripts that I've read and/or at least the scripts that have been made that people would be familiar with, I read Weapons. I thought that what Zach [Cregger] did in the writing is really, really good because it's so clean. It's so crisp. It's so clear as to what he wants to do. The action lines—he minimizes those. Yet we get so much information just in the little bit that he does put in. I got all of the characters. I got the symbolism from just reading the script.

DT: Now I know you're into tarot. What can you apply from your tarot readings to working with writers?

JR: I think there's a lot that could be said, but…a couple of things that are very resourceful and applicable to anyone is pulling cards for your character's journey, for their arc. Pulling cards for the plot sometimes. Pulling cards for the antagonist as well. 

Another key application of it is for the writer themselves. Tarot isn't predictive. What it does is it grounds energy that's available now. What it can do is, let's say that you or I were having a moment of doubt. It can say, "Stick the course, stay on the path, get out of your head," for example. That can be a very necessary bit of encouragement through something that seems intangible.

DT: How should people contact you? Carrier pigeon, query letter or something else like Roadmap Writers?

JR: Owl is great. No carrier pigeon! I would say Roadmap is certainly a great resource. I love them and I love the platform they provide and what they do—both to elevate and educate writers and put them in contact with people like myself.

Weapons screenplay by Zach Cregger

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