“Take the shot when you think you’ve got the moment.”
Christopher Lockhart
We continue our baseball themed week today by looking at Pete Rose. When Rose was a rookie with the Cincinnati Reds he picked up the nickname Charlie Hustle as a derogatory comment after he’d run to first after he walked, and because he’d slide head first into bases.
Rose embraced the nickname and there were a lot of Little League ballplayer who wanted to be just like Rose. I was one of them and in my micro doc Tinker Field: A Love Story I mention going to a baseball camp Rose did back in the day.
Here’s a picture from that camp. (I’m the little guy in the background next to where’s Rose’s left knee.) Charlie Hustle is a good metaphor for what is required of screenwriters. Don’t take my word for it, read the quote below my WME Story Editor Christopher Lockhart.
“It’s funny because when I would go out with my wife sometimes we’d be at an event or something and she’d always get annoyed when people would find out where I worked and then say, ‘Well, I have a script.’ And she’d think it was rude or that’s not why we’re there and it would piss her off because she didn’t want me talking about business. And I’d always say to her, ‘Look—it’s their job. That’s what they’re supposed to be doing.’ It sucks for me, it’s worse for you, but that’s what [screenwriters] are supposed to be doing….Take the shot when you think you’ve got the moment…Anybody in this business has to hustle. You just have to. And if you’re not a hustler, it’s not the best business for you. Unless you’re an amazing writer and the writing is going to do all the hustling for you.”
Christopher Lockart
Final Draft Webinar
(And for the record Lockhart says half of 1% of screenwriters are amazing writers.)
P.S. Pete Rose is still hustling.
Screenwriting from Iowa 
I agree. As a baseball fan and aspiring screenwriter, hustling is what it’s all about. You need product, but you also need to be hustling and closing.
While Alec Bladwin’s character in Glengary Glen Ross may not be the best role model as a person or even a sales manager there is something to be said for his David Mamet written words at the beginning of the film: “A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing, always be closing.”
https://screenwritingfromiowa.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/screenwritersaleman-pete-jones/