What do you Ex-spec?

Just got back from a great long weekend in L.A. where we screened our short film "Static" at the 168 Hour Film festival.  The film was very well received and our lead actress Morgan took home the award for best actress.  I worked in a few extra days while out there to take in some meetings and networking events.  It was interesting to hear the perspective from those those working inside the industry  and hear their frustrations on the state of the industry.  A few interesting points:

-  The various networks and cable channels are still reducing the number of scripted shows.  A movie channel that used to produce 30 of their own films are now only producing 12.

- The studio model of hiring writers to write and develop scripts is dying a slow death.  If you are hoping to break in by writing studio films you are chasing an illusion.

The good news is that the opportunity to self produce and self distribute has never been better.  Now is the time to make an independent feature, TV series, web show.  Get something up online and get it noticed.  It's like the wild west, no one knows the rules for new media because the market changes so quickly. 

Writing spec scripts and trying to sell them to Hollywood is a waste of your time.  If you want to be in the film industry then it's