WORKING WITHOUT A NET

WORKING WITHOUT A NET

When I was a young boy my family lived in West Palm Beach, Florida.  We lived close to what is now the Palm Beach International Airport and was then a small airport on a left-over Air Force Base from WWII.  There was a very large area surrounding the airport and one day my dad took me over to watch a circus being set up.  It was the Ringling Brother’s Barnum and Bailey Circus and to a little boy, it was the Greatest Show on Earth.

A day or two later he took me to see the show.  I’m sure I was completely in awe over everything there, but I have always remembered two things. One was a seal who came out and his trainer set him or her down in front of a set of horns like you would find on a bicycle. The seal pushed each rubber bulb with his/her nose and played a little tune.  I have no idea what it was now but I still remember that part of the show. The other part I remember was the tightrope act.  Not because of the walk but where they did it.

In the center ring was a large metal cage with all sorts of ferocious beasts that need to be tames with whips and chairs, and the occasional blank fired from a pistol.  They were put through their act and then the lion tamer, or whatever the now PC name for that person is, left and all the animals were still there.  Sitting or walking around in the cage.  With a door.  With bars. But without a top.  It was open.

Then the Ringmaster announced that the next act would be a tightrope walker.  He began to walk out over the wire and got to the edge of the animal cage.  It was then I realized he would walk over them and if he fell, he’d be in deep kimchi.  I asked my dad why he did that and he explained it was called “working without a net.”

How many of us are working without a net waiting to fall into a den full of ferocious beasts?  Do you have an agent?  Is that agent a safety net that protects you from all the things that can be lurking below? Do you need a net, or are you confident enough to walk the wire without it?

I have had that safety net of an agent in the past and I am talking to another one at this time, but I have done okay in the past without that safety net.  I sold my first screenplay without and agent.  Smart idea?  Not at all.  In retrospect, I probably would have gotten a better deal if I had someone who knew more about the art of the deal than I did at the time.  The point here is, the script sold and was made into a movie.  That sale created more and ultimately got me a safety net for my screenwriting.

You will know when it’s time to get the safety net.  You don’t need one if you are just standing on the platform and about to step on the wire.  You need it when you are out there walking and looking down into the mouth of the beast wondering “what the hell have I gotten myself into?”

And if writing doesn’t work, you can always run away, join the circus and learn to play a tune with your nose.