Author Patrice Williams Marks on Screenwriting, Novel Writing and Tom Selleck
Author Patrice Williams Marks on Screenwriting, Novel Writing and Tom Selleck
(Part 1)
Hi, I’m Patrice Williams Marks, the writer of THE UNFINISHED short story, and the soon to be released full novel, THE UNFINISHED 2.. I’ve always been a writer; loved it from infancy. In the second grade I wrote the wildly successful (in my own mind) “The Day Snoopy Got Married.” My teacher shared it with her fellow instructors. Never got it back.
By third grade I was writing commercials for shaving cream after watching my grandpa wield a razor expertly. I can still hear him, “drink buttermilk; it’ll put hair on your chest.” Yuck. Needless to say, I never drank buttermilk.
Right out of college I took a job at a bank in Portland Oregon. It was a new branch, so we had few customers and time to kill. I decided to write my first script. It was an episode of Magnum P.I. Not because I saw myself as a screenwriter or television writer, but because I just HAD TO MEET TOM SELLECK! (No I didn’t this time in my life. However, several years later, I met him twice)
I went to the library (way before the internet) and checked out the only book on screenwriting. It had cobwebs covering it, but it taught me the basics of formatting a script. I hired a friend of the family to type up the script, ordered a list of agents from the Writer’s Guild of America, and sent off my mimeographed letters of inquiry.
Some agents actually wrote me back saying they could not take me on as a client, but they were impressed with my ability to have a bank pay for my postage! However, one agent from Woodland Hills, CA did reply and wanted to read my script. I shipped that sucker off the next day (of course with the bank’s postage).
I was very naive. But sometimes naivety can work for you. It lets nothing stop you. I expected to get interest, and I did. This agent actually got this poorly written, poorly executed script into the hands of the producers of Magnum P.I. Negotiations were fast and furious for a month before they petered out without a sale. I later found out that they were interested in the idea, and would have re-written it. They would have paid $5,000 back in the early 80’s for the storyline. Not bad for a teen just out of high school who only wanted to meet Tom.
I’ll continue the story in Part 2.