There’s a piece by Lucy Scher over at www.twelvepoint.com relating her encounter with a pharmacist on a residential writing course who asks when she’ll start to be paid for her writing now that she’s done some training. Because, the way things work is clearly that once you’ve qualified you’re ready to get out into the market.

Now, it’s easy to dismiss such a naive question, but what’s the best way to respond to it in a way that will help the pharmacist? You wouldn’t, I hope, sneer at a 12 year old schoolboy for making a schoolboy error, so why pick on someone older who is clearly fresh to the scene? One of the better responses to people wanting to get ahead and make some money as a screenwriter is to invest a few pounds in Adrian Mead’s Making It As A Screenwriter, available as a download over here, all proceeds going to Childline.

I bought a copy having heard good things about Adrian Mead and his workshops, and wanting to see how I measured up as a screenwriter, script doctor and trainer. And I was impressed. Adrian’s book is a no-nonsense primer on the intangible qualities that help differentiate those who have a chance of making it in the business from those who are too precious or ill-disciplined for it.

Did I learn anything startlingly new from it? No. But that’s not the way to look at this book. It brings together a number of ideas that are relevant to the success of any creative freelancer, with a specific focus on screenwriting. And having been a creative freelancer with a specific focus on screenwriting for more than a decade, I can tell you he does a very good job at articulating some of the key distinctions that I’ve become aware of over that time. Sometimes, they’re to do with things I ‘naturally’ do anyway. Other times, they’re about matters I’ve become aware are weaknesses, and which I’ve tackled through changing my attitude or strategies.

It wasn’t a great surprise to come across reference to Anthony Robbins and Jack Black (the other one) in the text, both of them known for getting people all whooped-up about what they want to get done. That’s fair enough and fine for some people, but I prefer the more subtle and elegant approach of NLP, which is where Tony and Jack learned their schtik before dumbing-it down for audiences that like quick fixes and a bit of evangelistic fervour.

The learnings you’ll acquire from someone like Michael Breen run a lot deeper than you’ll find on one of Tony’s courses, and Michael himself has used NLP to develop astonishing expertise as a communicator and problem solver. You’ll pay about the same for a week or more of small group training with Michael as you would a weekend of high-intensity Tony hollering in an arena, and having met people who’ve done both I know where I’m going to continue to invest my training budget. There are other good NLP trainers out there too, and a bunch of crappy ones — anyone wanting to know more on this fascinating front, please get in touch.

One aspect of NLP is that it provides a set of heuristics, that is rules of thumb, to help shape your thinking and behaviour in various situations. Making It As A Screenwriter contains plenty of these, as well as a refreshing no-bullshit attitude, and it’s because of this that I recommend it for anyone wanting to see how they measure up, and what they can do to brush up.