Scarcity of specialist stores for screenwriters

How can it be that there are literally fewer to no stores that cater to the screenwriter demographic? The last such store I was aware of was it in Los Angeles, California, home of Hollywood called The Writers Store that also has an online presence and a dedicated customer service line. When a store like that exists and has been around for a while, then why on great Zeus’ Olympus would there not be one in either Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne, Australia, or countries like New Zealand for that matter? Considering the fact that every single one of these countries has their film industry based on one the major cities, it should be a no brainer that one should not exist. No matter how many times I have googled or searched the Internet for the keywords: “screenwriter stores near me” or some variation of the keywords, I have found that the search results would only reveal either stationary stores or stores for art supplies. Perhaps, the keywords are rather vague or ambiguous. Perhaps, I needed to be more specific in my search. Perhaps, there were other suppliers that I am not even aware of - perhaps.

There are certain benefits, no matter how few they may be, a specialist screenwriters store where resources and products are available to assist the independent screenwriter or filmmaker with their filmmaking or screenwriting journey and add tools like the screenwriters initial draft pad to their workflows relatively easily. Considering that every movie or TV show originates from writing that first initial draft during the pre-production stages, why not have these readily accessible in physical form? It would save a lot of time and effort fruitlessly searching on the Internet.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a physical and an online store that curates and have expert advisors and sales consultants assist customers/clients with their screenwriting and or filmmaking journeys? May be research needs to be done regarding whether the business model in question would be viable in the countries where such stores do not exist and one can argue that people usually find things like this on Amazon. Truth be told, when people flock to Amazon by default for things like this, their customer service are no experts - all they do is reach out to the sellers of the products in order to get the information needed for the customer before the purchase. A brick and mortar store or at least an online version of the store with a dedicated customer service phone number like what the writers store has is a better proposition than the default setting.

One thing that can be done is reaching out to the writers store and ask them how they did it as up until recently, their brick and mortar store in Burbank has closed down since last I heard. This will include the business model to see what worked and what didn’t. Anyone can take a risk and give this a go (if they are passionate enough) and make it work with a business model similar to the writers store. So what are we waiting for? Let’s do this.

What's on your typewriter these days?

If you've ever heard the expression or phrase: "What's on your typewriter?", this comes from the early days of Hollywood and screenwriters who used typewriters and when Hollywood itself was at the peak of the silver screen movie business. Ever since the computer took over the industry, this expression or phrase was adapted or altered to say: "What's on your computer?" This expression is for when you or someone wants to ask a professional or aspiring screenwriter in the business what project (if any) they are working on. They would then turn around and respond accordingly. If you aren't aware, the standard typeface for writing screenplays was in the courier font; it was also the same font used in typewriters. So, you can see where this standard originated from. We are now learning that the pandemic has not only caused people and other professionals to find ways to save money, but was also hobbies like rediscovery of vintage technology like the typewriter. So, should screenwriters return to the simpler time where typewriters were the primary tool for writing screenplays and has reigned supreme?

I remember learning typing for the first time on a manual typewriter. I also remember using one when my maternal grandfather had one in his house, and it was one of those electronic daisy wheel typewriters that allowed you to type one sentence out and then printed it automatically on a piece of paper. The keyboard was that of a computer keyboard as was the tactile feedback that it gave for the time period it was manufactured in. My maternal grandfather was a humble professor and lived in an area with lots of trees and fauna.

The typewriter, as I recently came to realize, offers a few notable benefits over something like a computer or a tablet of today. One such benefit addresses our fast growing concern for privacy: No hacking, no compatible software or firmware updates to contend with, or security patches for that matter, and no spying from big brother or his Uncle Sam. No Internet access to distract us from the pantheon of information or social media stuff that people are so addicted to these days. Typing words directly onto the page is all that is needed, whether you are typing up an original copy of what you're working on for yourself or to be sent to an intended recipient. While this is a benefit onto itself, if you do need to make multiple copies of said original document, there is always the option of heading out to your local photocopy/xerox store and paying a small fee to accomplish this.

Why bother though? Why bother when a screenwriter can use software to easily format their screenplay to industry standards to begin with, save and send it to the intended recipient(s) at the click of a button via email? There is nothing stopping a screenwriter from continuing on with this trajectory, but to quote a recruiter: "If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten." To be honest, this statement or affirmation resonates in me in a few different levels as it should for a lot of you screenwriters reading this article: We can continue to deal with distractions from social media and other Internet content that is making us lethargic, or we can become who we screenwriters are born to be. I (for obvious reasons) choose the later. It will afford us the opportunity to exercise patience when writing our screenplay, which is a key qualification for any screenwriter to possess.

Now that we've taking a look at the white knights of the round when it comes to typewriters, let's turn our flaming eye from the towers of Mount Doom and towards the dark lord of their misfortune. I give you the darkest of them all: constantly remembering  the margin or tab settings for each screenplay element when you get to it. This dark lord  may be defeated and with Mount Doom felled, patience will once again reveal itself to be the Frodo Baggins that brought in a new age and a new instrument of sorcery to help screenwriters once more who shall be there and back again with another Baggins. So go ahead my screenwriting shirerings, type away your adventures while Gandalf the wise guides you through Fangorn forest while the tree beards show you to the path to the other side, and to Minas Tirith.