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« The Secret is Out
Screenwriting Quote of the Day #55 (Stephen King) »

Beatles, Cody, King & 10,000 Hours

March 11, 2009 by Scott W. Smith

“Reseachers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.”
Malcolm Gladwell

The second chapter of Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers is called The 10,000-Hour Rule. Every time you read about a first time screenwriter selling a script for six figures it would be good practice to read that chapter. Chances are pretty good that that screenwriter is one of those overnight successes that took ten years.

Gladwell uses the Beatles as an example of the 10,000-hour rule. While the talented group had been playing in their hometown of Liverpool their stage time was limited to an hour playing their best numbers. But according to John Lennon that would change when they began playing in small clubs in Germany. “In Hamburg, we had to play for eight hours, so we really had to find a new way of playing.”

It is estimated that before the Beatles hit the scene big in 1964 they had performed an estimated 1,200 times. Gladwell writes, “Do you know how extraordinary that is? Most bands today don’t perform twelve hundred times in their entire careers.”

“The emerging picture…is that ten thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level of mastery associated with being a world-class expert—in anything.  In study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master criminals, and what have you, this number comes up again and again.”
Daniel Levitin
Neurologist quoted in Outliers

The thing that gets overlooked in someone like Diablo Cody’s success of her first screenplay Juno is that she was around 28 when she sold that script. In interviews she has said that she had been writing daily since a youth. Daily. Poetry, short stories, journaling and eventually blogging. She also earned a BA degree in media studies at the University of Iowa. While not a part of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop she has said she was drawn to Iowa because of the famed writing MFA program. In her mind she was a writer. My guess is between ages 12 and 28 that Cody probably spent 10,000 hours writing.

Then thrown on top of that her self-confessed obsession with the Internet where she has said if allowed she could spend 19 hours a day on the Internet. Where do you think she picked up all that hip slang lingo tossed around in her scripts? I wouldn’t be surprised if she has 10,000 of hours of Internet surfing, which she turned into research. The truth is she wrote a lot before she was discovered. (In fact, back in 2006 she even appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman to promote a book she wrote.)

The same is true for novelist Stephen King who began submitting stories (and collecting a shoebox full of rejection letters) at the age of 12. So when the 25-year old sold his first book Carrie he too probably had hit the 10,000 hour mark before going on to write books that have sold over 300 million copies.

So keep writing, but don’t forget to do the math.

Related post: Screenwriters Work Ethic (tip #2)
Screenwriting Quote of the Day #83 (Stephen Susco)
Screenwriting Quote #87 (Ray Bradbury)

Scott W. Smith

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Posted in screenwriting | Tagged Beatles, Daniel Levitin, Diablo Cody, Germany, Hamburg, Malcolm Gadwell, Outliers, Stephen King | 18 Comments

18 Responses

  1. on March 11, 2009 at 7:48 am Screenwriting From Iowa » Beatles, Cody, King & 10,000 Hours

    […] “Reseachers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.”                                                                                […] Original Source… […]


  2. on March 12, 2009 at 10:20 am Terry

    Something to really think about. There’s no easy, short cut in life in obtaining those things truly worth going after.


  3. on March 13, 2009 at 2:17 am John

    Thank you for continual updates and inspirations. I have that book of his, but it was good to hear it all again. I believe there was discussion of this phenomenon on the Charlie Rose show. I don’t know if it was this exact author, but studies have certainly shown indeed….


  4. on May 11, 2009 at 7:20 am Screenwriting Quote of the Day #77 (David Franzoni) « Screenwriting from Iowa

    […] By the time he turned his full attention to screenwriting he was in his early 20s. It would take him five years before he would break into the business with a script sale and another 10 years before he saw his first screen credit. By the time that film, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, was released Frazoni was 39 years old.  It’s a process. (Remember Malcolm Galdwell’s chapter in Outliers on The 10,000 Hour Rule?) […]


  5. on May 30, 2009 at 8:24 am Screenwriting Quote of the Day #87 (Ray Bradbury Pt. 2) « Screenwriting from Iowa

    […] his over 500 other short stories, and TV shows and movies based on his writings he put in his 10,000 hours of learning how […]


  6. on June 10, 2009 at 8:50 am It Takes a Little Time Sometimes « Screenwriting from Iowa

    […] So I figure the time from his internship at AP to his first produced screenplay was just over 35 years. No Magic there—just plowing away at the work at hand and collecting material along the way. (And working on his 10,ooo hours.) […]


  7. on August 23, 2009 at 9:19 pm Screenwriting & Florida Surfing « Screenwriting from Iowa

    […] think champion surfers have risen from that area is it’s a great place to get you get in your 10,000 hours learning the craft and there is a history of surfing there that goes back for decades. […]


  8. on September 21, 2009 at 10:12 am Grey Gardens, Emmys & Michael Sucsy « Screenwriting from Iowa

    […] Related posts: Beatles, Cody, King & 10,000 Hours […]


  9. on October 1, 2009 at 7:04 am From West Virginia to Hollywood « Screenwriting from Iowa

    […] Related posts: Beatles, Cody, King & 10,000 Hours […]


  10. on November 4, 2009 at 6:15 am Screenwriting Quote of the Day #109 (Shane Salerno) « Screenwriting from Iowa

    […] Related posts: Beatles, Cody, King  & 10,000 Hours […]


  11. on June 27, 2010 at 1:20 pm Screenwriting, Infomercials & Gurus « Screenwriting from Iowa

    […] had many teachers who he learned from, but more importantly he was writing. (Getting in his 10,000 hours education and practice long before he met […]


  12. on July 7, 2011 at 8:20 am Rapid Prototyping « E-Filmmaking

    […] valuable lessons to learn in all rapid prototyping. It’s part of the process—part of the 10,000 rule that Malcolm Gladwell talks about in his book […]


  13. on January 10, 2012 at 10:42 am Self-Study Screenwriting « Screenwriting from Iowa

    […] P.S. I think endless hours fits the 10,000 hour rule. See the post Beatles, Cody, King and 10,000 Hours. […]


  14. on July 25, 2012 at 8:27 am The Making of Peter Bogdonovich « Screenwriting from Iowa

    […] (even the failures) that led up to his breakout success. It’s another prime example of the 10,000 rule in effect. What you can take away from Bogdanovich is he took small steps and moved forward. From […]


  15. on February 11, 2013 at 7:41 am Bob DeRosa’s “Shortcuts” « Screenwriting from Iowa

    […] In the post Beatles, King, Cody & 10,000 Hours I do point out that while Juno was Cody’s first script in interviews she talked about […]


  16. on February 13, 2013 at 1:04 am social empires hack tool

    I love reading an article that will make men and women think.
    Also, thanks for allowing me to comment!


  17. on February 15, 2013 at 11:00 pm 8 ball pool hack download

    Thanks for finally talking about >Beatles, Cody, King & 10,000 Hours
    « Screenwriting from Iowa <Loved it!


  18. on May 10, 2013 at 10:08 pm John, Paul, George and ? | Screenwriting from Iowa

    […] All that to say, if your desire is to work in feature films or TV and you’re not doing so there are 1,000s of other opportunities out there for you to gain valuable production experience—and to make money to pay your bills. And you get the bonus to meet and work with plenty of production people who have like-minded goals that you do. (Go back and read the ’09 post Beatles, Cody, King and 10,000 Hours.) […]



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