I am coming back to Jamaica in September with a group of Hollywood screenwriters, producers and managers for the inaugural ScreenCraft Screenwriters Residency Programme at Jake’s Hotel in Treasure Beach. With attendance limited to only 14 students and applications accepted worldwide, it’s an exclusive and competitive destination programme. The retreat will be free for four students, including two Jamaican screenwriters, thanks to a scholarship fund provided by the Jamaica Film and Television Association (JAFTA).

The following are my battle wounds laid bare. These are the cautionary tales that developed my career and led me to the idea of this screenwriters’ retreat in Jamaica (and the relationships that made it happen).

I blew my first Hollywood meeting

Years ago, I wrote a spec script that got the attention of a major television network. As I was living in Jamaica, I accepted the network’s offer to conduct an interview over the phone. Painfully shy at the time, I considered a phone interview a triumph. During the interview, the network executives complimented my writing sample and expressed their interest in reading more material and meeting me in person. As we were making plans for me to come into the studio, one of the executives asked a question: “Where are you based?” I responded truthfully. In the silence that followed, I pressed the phone into my ear hoping the call had dropped, but I knew that I had said what they did not want to hear. What followed was a lecture about why writers who are serious about working in the industry need to be living in Los Angeles already. I insisted that I was ready and willing to relocate, but they had made their decision. At the time, I took the blow to heart and misinterpreted the rejection as a criticism of my nationality. The experience ignited a fury that I quickly channelled into action. I was determined to prove them wrong and to make painfully clear the opportunities they were missing out on by turning away talented writers from foreign shores.

Traction: Attending film festivals and writers’ conferences

What I did next was simply return to the work. I wrote new scripts, collaborated with directors and made films that turned into opportunities to travel to film festivals and expand my network. At the Austin Film Festival and Writers’ Conference, I attended panels and heard many of my screenwriting heroes speak, including Norman Lear, Chad and Carey Hayes, Brian Helgeland, and John Singleton. One afternoon, after a day of panels, I noticed two of those screenwriters at the Driskill Hotel. I had two options: I could do nothing, or I could let them know how much I appreciated their panel. Determined to be the active protagonist in my own life, I chose the latter. I intended to thank them and be on my way, but instead our conversation resulted in what is now one of the most important relationships I have in this industry.

In the months following that first conversation, those two screenwriters championed my work, passing it on to their management, which led to meetings, which resulted in career momentum, which led to more meetings that eventually helped me to choose the literary manager I have now (which is another fortuitous story, perhaps for another day, with its roots in Singapore and involving another indispensable champion of my work). Lesson learned: Not all major career strides are made in Los Angeles.

Screenwriting competitions: The good, the bad, and the Cannes Screenplay Contest

Let’s start with the bad. There are hundreds of companies designed to take advantage of amateur screenwriters. I have been burned by a few so that I may tell this tale. To give you an idea of the swamp of dubious screenwriting opportunities out there, just search for calls for entry on Film Freeway or sign up to receive the International Screenwriters’ Association’s New Writing Gig notifications. Why is it so easy to take advantage of aspiring screenwriters? Because they know very little about the industry. Even writers who have spent a small fortune on a film school education find themselves back home caressing their diplomas while Googling “How to become a screenwriter.” I didn’t have the option of living in Los Angeles and working my way up, desk by desk as an assistant, so instead I turned to competitions to get my writing noticed. There are several categories of screenwriting competitions.

Beware of these three red flags:

First, those which merely reward winners by publishing their names on a list on their own website designed circa the invention of the Internet. Offender: the Cannes Screenplay Contest. My script won the Grand Prize, yet there were no reader notes, no follow-up and no traceable names associated with the contest. For all I know, my script was chosen via turtle race on a rocky French beach. The truth is likely far less picturesque.

Secondly, those that offer winners professional feedback. Define “professional”. There’s a chance that the feedback offered is helpful, but if it’s feedback you’re after, then there are more efficient ways to get it.

And finally, those which promise to circulate winning scripts to a network of managers, agents and production companies. To those managers, agents and production companies, that’s called spam. Unless the people behind the competition have a respected reputation in the industry, your precious script is contributing to junk mail.

Good screenwriting competitions do exist. They are transparent about who runs the competition and who judges the entries. The prizes offer real value: cash, meetings, publicity.

Discovering future collaborators

Not all screenwriting competitions are full of empty promises. I first learned about ScreenCraft’s writing competitions at their screenwriters’ conference at the Nashville Film Festival where my pilot screenplay was selected as a finalist. I attended panels, participated in a pitch marathon, networked in the VIP tent with producers and writers of Empire, Straight Outta Compton, Die Hard, The Conjuring, and executives from Warner Brothers, Universal, and Circle of Confusion.

At the end of the conference I celebrated my birthday with those same screenwriters and producers in a double-wide trailer dive bar called Santa’s Pub, where it is always Christmas. Turns out, the VIPs were human – relatable, hard-working humans – whose discordant karaoke rendition of Purple Rain moved me to tears. Perhaps more significant than it being the night of my birthday was that it happened to be the day after Prince departed. Among the howling faces at Santa’s Pub that night were John Rhodes, co-founder of ScreenCraft and Emily Dell, who organised the Nashville Writers’ Conference and who is now in the midst of organising ScreenCraft’s upcoming programme in Jamaica.

The origin of ScreenCraft

ScreenCraft is a screenwriter talent discovery platform founded by John Rhodes and Cameron Cubbison in 2012. Rhodes had worked in screenplay development for OddLot Entertainment (the film production company behind Drive and Ender’s Game), and at Open Road Films (the film distribution company behind Spotlight and The Grey). After a brief stint working for Angelina Jolie and Nicole Kidman, he founded ScreenCraft with Cubbison, who is a sought-after script reader, having worked for such organisations as the Sundance Institute and Paradigm Talent Agency. Cubbison has earned a reputation among the ScreenCraft audience for his detailed script feedback.

Bridges need to be built

There were no substantial opportunities for screenwriters in Jamaica when I returned home to caress my diploma, yet there existed a thriving community of talented writers, directors and producers, united by their passion for film. Still, Jamaica has yet to carve out a place for itself in the global film industry. It isn’t for lack of talent, or interest, or even content. It’s lack of access.

In August of last year, I approached ScreenCraft with the idea of a screenwriting retreat in Jamaica. I introduced Rhodes to Justine Henzell, co-founder of Calabash International Literary Festival, and we discussed the possibility of the programme over neglected cappuccinos in a Los Angeles cafÃ&Copy;. Serendipitously, Henzell had also brought her friend, actor-writer-director Roger Guenveur Smith, who was in development on Netflix’s upcoming Rodney King, a film recording of Smith’s one-man play directed by Spike Lee and produced by Buffalo 8 Productions, coincidentally Rhodes’ partner on ScreenCraft’s short film production fund. Rhodes promptly visited Jamaica in January and Henzell introduced him to Gabrielle Blackwood, president of the JAFTA. The partners quickly put plans into motion.

The programme’s Hollywood mentors include Geoffrey Fletcher (Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Precious and Violet and Daisy), Peter Craig (WGA Award-nominated screenwriter of The Town and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and 2), Zack Estrin (screenwriter and showrunner of Prison Break and the upcoming big-budget adventure series Lost in Space soon to premiere on Netflix), Hannah Ozer (literary manager at Kaplan/Perrone) and Eric Fineman (vice-president of production at Sony Pictures Studios).

I hope that students of this ScreenCraft Screenwriters Residency Programme at Jake’s Hotel take the opportunity to approach the Hollywood mentors and relate to them authentically and without expectation. It’s a simple wish, but it has helped me tremendously. We may not have Santa’s Pub, but we have Floyd’s Pelican Bar. Here’s to building bridges across oceans, one script at a time!