You spent over a year working up the perfect high concept screenplay that will surely be your first script sale, propelling you into your exciting new career. Unfortunately, the day you send it out to agents, a hit movie is released with exactly the same plot. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

You have your first big pitch meeting with a major studio executive. Sadly, when you walk in the door, you find out the guy you had the meeting with was just fired. Oops!

You’re so excited to have sold your first option to a hot shot film producer. A year later and the film is shelved, the option dropped and the project has been passed on by every major and minor studio in town. Oh well, at least you made a few thousand dollars off of the thing. Too bad it’ll never get made.

You sell your script, join the WGA, and are thrilled to be a real Hollywood screenwriter. The movie is completely rewritten by someone else who you have to share screen credit with and on top of all this, the movie bombs. Oh well, at least now you’re established and can get rewrite work.

Congratulations! You have one of the few hot spec script sales, cornering the market on a remake of a popular Emily Bronte classic. The movie takes off and becomes a huge hit. You’re considered the hot writer in town and everyone wants you to rework their project.