March 3rd, 2023

HOW TO FUND AND MANIFEST YOUR CREATIVE OBSESSION
BY MODERATELY INVESTING IN BOOKS AND SCREENPLAYS

By Johnny Blue Star, CEO of New Galaxy Enterprises,
A Media Content Development and Broadcasting Company

So, you are an investor with stars in your eyes about creating a great book or a powerful screenplay. Admittedly, you feel obsessed about it. You feel driven to do it and you are not fundamentally taken by the monetary reward which can vary from the astronomical to the non-existent. Rather you are taken by the idea of participating as a writer and at least co-creator in the development of the content, slightly, somewhat, or quite significantly, but you know you can’t do it yourself. For this reason, you are willing to pay something- as an investor- to find a partner or collaborator with the experience to make it happen.

This article is not about the multi-million-dollar type of investment nor working with the inside centers of power to fulfil that dream. It is about creating that level of creative product worthy of that kind of manifestation without millions of dollars. It is about creating a beautiful powerful book or screenplay without spending the money you would spend on a small mansion in Beverly Hills.

As an investor, undertaking the creation of books and screenplays can involve a prodigious amount of risk, but, if you are determined to fully participate in the dream of every would-be writer or creative investor, it can be a spectacular, fulfilling dive into the power of your own imagination.  And, in respect of writing a screenplay, that dive is perhaps a profound reward that no amount of failure to achieve commercial success can take away. And if you are smart enough to realize the obstacles, you should also be smart enough to value the experience if the outcome doesn’t materialize. 

Still, one must not forget that the ultimate objective is to make the greatest public impact possible- and in my view, the attempt to bring this child of your imagination to the screen or to book form is. of course, a critical component of the reason you have invested. The reality is that, with a bit of capital, everyone can publish a book these days- but making it onto the big or small screen- as a screenplay- is not that easy. The same is true of actually making money from just self-publishing a book. Very difficult- but many authors have made hundreds of thousands of dollars- in not more- from either self-publishing or finding a publisher.

In my experience, sometimes funded by outside investors and sometimes by my own capital and time, I have delved into the world of non-fiction books, documentaries, novels and live-action and animated feature film. Perhaps the most challenging of these types of projects are book-and-film franchises and the triumphant Netflix-type series form. The canvas of creative opportunity is vast but the waters of taking these projects to full physical reality are treacherous. Those inside the world of Hollywood A-listed writers and A-listed best-selling authors still can demand tremendous advanced and royalties- but, for the outsider, you must certainly run the gauntlet.

The immediate challenge- outside of sweat, fear, and time, supplemented by creative ecstasies= makes it all possible to start. The fact is that a screenplay and a book are just pages of words printed on a piece of paper or digitally accessible on a computer monitor. Besides the computer that almost everyone has, there is the convenience of creating screenplays on special software like Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter- because there is a format for screenplays that is not really possible with Microsoft Word. So, of course, you can do it yourself for not too much more than a few hundred dollars if that. But, of course, if you are an inexperienced writer with a big dream, your active involvement with an experienced professional could be highly attractive.

For myself, experienced in both writing book and screenplays, I can tell you that the former is a lot less demanding than the latter. Originally, I trained myself to be a neoclassical poet and wrote several dramatic plays in that form, a discipline demanding knowing how to create a meaningful montage of many types of versification. Yes, this was when I was younger and, yes, writing verse plays of any kind was not an art not readily practiced in this age. I thought, when I wrote neoclassical verse- and specifically in the form of a stage play, I had discovered the hardest form of writing- but when I tried my hand at screenwriting, I discovered that I had found one of the most amazingly hard things to do, which was to create a coherent, meaningful, and impactful screenplay.

The main reason for this is that the challenge of screenwriting demands the meaningful compression of hours, days, years, or centuries into scenes that fit more or less into two hours- since you are generally talking about theatrical releases. That compression must be realistic, and poignant and would not distract in any way from the immersive experience of the audience. Both action and dialogue must serve that unreality for that is the essence and purpose of making movies for entertainment purposes. The great screenwriter paves the foundation for that level of escape demanded by the dramatic experience itself.

That is the reason that investors, often without billions of dollars, will seek out someone, perhaps on the outskirts of Hollywood, that has that gift.  One way to find them would be to go on the platforms for freelance writers such as Guru or Upworks or like myself, who has partially graduated from that arena, find them on a social network or, of course, by meaningful referrals from people you know…

CLICK HERE FOR SAMPLES OF MY WORK

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In our New Galaxy Blogs, we share various types of videos for you to scrutinize. Unless we specifically say so, we do not necessarily agree with their content, in whole or in part. Sometimes, we will present written or audio/video material concerned with health or financial issues. We always recommend that before you try anything, you check with your medical or certified health professional before engaging in a health protocol- and with your best qualified financial advisor before embarking on any financial adventure.