Why Even Good Screenwriters Need Followers
Phil Hudson and Kevin Lewandowski tell how us how Rook Digital Marketing can help.
I can’t believe it’s February already. How did dry January go for you? For me? Well let’s just say it was more of a NO PANTS JANUARY. (Thank you Zoom for the blurry background function). But I did get a good start on my long standing resolution to do more writing than talking about writing.
To that end I am participating in Michael Jamin’s 30 day pilot writing challenge. He has a ton of great classes, check them out here. And his book, “A Paper Orchestra”, has essays about his life that are so beautifully written, touching and funny.
So, I told you that so I could tell you this: EVEN GOOD SCREENWRITERS NEED FOLLOWERS, and Michael has two guys who can help you figure out how to get a social media presence with digital marketing, i.e attention for your writing, or your mud wrestling tutorials or whatever you’re into, no judgement here.
Phil Hudson and Kevin Lewandowski are working with Michael Jamin to facilitate the pilot challenge. And like almost every screenwriter I have ever met, they both have a side-hustle, only they’re not slinging hash as Denny’s. But like hot coffee on a Sunday morning, you’re going to want more of what these guys are serving up, starting with a free, yep free WebClass, Digital Marketing for Screenwriters
Phil and Kevin are screenwriters, really good ones, but no one is safe from strikes, pandemics, show cancelations et al, so there is always going to be down time when one must keep the lights on until the next gig, and that’s where Rook Digital comes in.
Phil started Rook Digital after leaving a publicly traded marketing agency to pursue a Screenwriting Degree on a Robert Redford scholarship. After his non-compete expired, Phil’s clients reached out asking if he could work with them again, and that’s how Rook Digital started. That agency has helped provide a steady income while Phil has worked his way from the ground up during film school and through years of ups and downs in LA.
Phil - Can you tell us a bit about Rook Digital and how helping writers build an online presence is important?
Rook Digital is a full-service digital marketing agency. We help businesses of all sizes, but our company has always been a “lifestyle” company. We’re all creatives. We all want to pursue our crafts, so we look at everything through that lens. The first time I realized that filmmakers needed help with marketing was when I was a panelist at the Annapolis Film Festival. I felt like an imposter sitting next to a head of distribution at a major studio, but there was clearly a discrepancy between what major studios do and how an indie filmmaker (or writer) handles their marketing. In Hollywood, if your writing is good enough, you get called in for a “Pants Meeting.” They want to make sure you wear pants and shower if they have to sit next to you in a writer’s room. Online, your pants test happens by looking at your social media and how you present yourself online.
Kevin has been working with Phil and Michael for a long time in addition to an impressive lists of industry credits including: TV Shows - The Muppets, The Ranch, Magnum P.I., Doubt, Why Women Kill, Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Thundermans Return, Still Star-Crossed and Pilots - The Fulffy Shop, Unit Zero, Crash & Burn.
Kevin – For screenwriters just starting out, which comes first: The chicken, i.e. write a bunch of screenplays or the egg, get a bunch of followers who will read what you put out there?
This is the question for new screenwriters, and the honest answer is: you can’t skip the writing.
To actually hone your craft, you need to write a lot, which means finishing scripts and moving on to the next idea, not endlessly polishing the same one. It’s fine to revisit older scripts from time to time and make small improvements, but you won’t get very far in the industry if you’re putting all your hopes into a single script. Volume and quality matter because you only get better with each new idea. I look at scripts I wrote 10 years ago, thinking they were good, and now, because I have improved on my craft, I see the problems, and it’s not even worth going back to polish that one. I just moved onto a new idea. No one hits it out of the park with the first script. That’s part of the process; you need to get those first few bad scripts out of the way to make room for the good ones.
That said, in today’s world, having an audience absolutely helps. A strong social media presence can make it easier to get noticed. Michael often talks about adopting the mindset of making Hollywood come to you. If you create something that’s genuinely compelling and different, and it starts to build a following online, you’ve already done much of the heavy lifting. At that point, Hollywood isn’t discovering you from scratch; they’re simply amplifying something that’s already working.
But none of that matters if you don’t know how to write.
And by “know how to write,” I don’t mean just dialogue or clever ideas. I mean understanding how to tell a story in the entertainment medium, whether that’s TV, film, shorts, or independent projects. Stories need certain structural elements to feel complete and satisfying. When those elements are missing, audiences sense it, consciously or subconsciously, and they tune out. Story structure is a structure, not a formula, but it’s non-negotiable. Writers today don’t need to redefine what story structure is; they just need to find new and unique ways to tell stories that fit in that structure
So the answer isn’t chicken or egg. Write first. Learn the craft. Take classes. Then, when you’re ready, let the audience help carry the work the rest of the way.
Phil- You have your screenplay on your website, “Ripple” an action- thriller pilot, which I read and could not put down. Do you worry about someone stealing it, and would you recommend writers who are trying to break in putting scripts out there for people to read?
Thank you so much for that compliment. That script is the first writing sample I ever came up with that got that reaction from people. That’s why I have on my website. It’s a calling card to show people: this is the quality of story I can write. Personally, I’ve never worried about someone stealing my ideas. That mindset is a scarcitymindset: this is all I have to offer. I have an abundance mindset: I know in my soul I have 12 better ideas that I need to write. One of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned from my friendship with Michael Jamin is dispelling the belief that I’m going to sell anything I write. Could it happen? Absolutely. Will it happen: not likely. Everything I write is a calling card to get a job writing someone else’s great idea (which is honestly much easier).
Kevin- When you first started out to become a screenwriter, what do you wish an experienced, working writer had told you?
When I first “studied screenwriting,” and I put that in quotes for a reason, I took classes at a university in my home state of Michigan. At the time, I didn’t know any better. Looking back now, after working in professional writers’ rooms, I realize that many of those professors had never actually worked in the industry. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it is a different ball game. I learned more about how television writing really works in a single week of studying with Michael Jamin than I did in all of film school.
Early on, what intimidated me most was watching TV and seeing the “Written By” credit at the end of an episode. I remember thinking, How did one person write this entire thing? I could never do that. It felt impossible.
It wasn’t until I started working in the industry that I understood the truth: television writing is a team sport. In a professional writers’ room, you might have 12 to 15 writers at different levels, all contributing ideas, breaking the story together, and shaping each episode as a group. When one writer goes off to draft the script, it comes back to the room for notes, feedback, and rewrites. Realizing that took a huge weight off my shoulders. It wasn’t one person locked alone in a room for a month; it was collaboration. And I was like, “Yeah, I can do that!”
That said, when you’re starting out and you don’t have that room yet, it can feel incredibly daunting. Which is why it is important to study from people who have actually done the job you want… not just read a book about screenwriting and then decided to teach a course.
So if I had to boil the advice down to one thing I wish someone told me earlier, it’s this: treat screenwriting like a professional sport. Elite athletes train for 10 to 15 years before they ever go pro. They study fundamentals, practice relentlessly, sacrifice comfort, and accept that progress takes time. Screenwriting is no different. You’re going to spend years honing your craft, taking classes, writing bad drafts, and giving things up so you can get better.
When you frame it that way, the path makes a lot more sense, and it becomes a lot less intimidating.
Phil- What would you say to curmudgeons who feel like the only way to sell screenplays is being popular for not writing screenplays, have no interest in all the new-fangled malarkey, and just want to snail-mail a query letter?
Can that approach still work? Sure. I bet that works all the time. Does that mean it’s the most efficient and time effective way to do things? No. The Internet gives us powerful mechanisms to reach people real-time. You can put content on the web and get instant feedback about what works and what doesn’t work. Building a social media following, branding yourself as a professional, making sure you show up when someone searches for you, those are simple, and largely free things that you can control. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of those tools if it makes your path easier and more likely?
Kevin- Can a writer who has a gazillion followers but has not done the work to be a really good writer make a script sale? What is your advice to them?
This is a really interesting question, and it speaks to how much the industry has shifted in the last few years with the explosion of content and social media.
I’ll circle back to fundamentals, because they still matter. If someone truly wants to be a writer and wants a real career writing and selling scripts, they have to know how to write. That’s just my honest opinion. Story, structure, character, and execution don’t stop mattering just because someone has a large following.
That said, we do live in a different landscape now. If someone has built a massive audience around a specific character, voice, or piece of content, it’s absolutely possible they’ll get a call from Hollywood. They might sell an idea, get attached to a project, or be brought in as part of a larger team. We’re seeing more of that than ever.
But here’s the part people don’t always want to hear: the audience might open the door, but the writing determines whether you stay in the room. At some point, the script has to work. I’ve seen firsthand how quickly things fall apart when the execution isn’t there; no amount of followers can fix a story that doesn’t function.
That’s why I think performing and writing go hand in hand. If you’re creating content, you should also be studying writing. If you’re writing, you should understand performance. I genuinely wish more writers studied acting and more actors studied writing, because the strongest creators tend to understand both sides of the equation.
I’ll end with this: EVERYONE has a story worth telling. You’d be surprised how much other people find interesting about parts of your life you assume are dull. Think about it in the context of social media. People will stop scrolling to like or comment on a photo of someone’s lunch. If that can hold attention for a moment, imagine what happens when someone takes the time to tell a real story, especially one that comes from a place they’re usually afraid to go. The stories that resonate most aren’t the polished or performative ones. They’re the honest ones. The vulnerable ones. The ones that cost the writer something to tell. Those are the stories I’m always drawn to.
Thanks Phil and Kevin for your time and advice.
Readers, if most of your followers are your cousins and your mom’s church/book club, you need these guys. Now go follow them and me.