Andy Cochran
WGA member · Walt Disney Motion Picture Writing Fellowship alumnus
“I’m fascinated by the terrible choices people (and characters) make under pressure.”
I was told by a mentor early in my career that (1) I didn’t look like a writer (whatever that means) and (2) that this would be a problem in Hollywood. It was. Seriously — this is my excuse and I’m sticking with it.
My career started when I was an intern. I made a $100 wager with a fellow intern that I could write a script that would sell. So I wrote a script. It went out to town, sold, and even got made. I never got my $100.
I was 23, and wildly ill-equipped. After the sale, every exec, producer and actor read my script, and suddenly I had three meetings a day, with no idea how to navigate the clusterfuck of egos and personality disorders that is the Hollywood machine.
Also: to sell anything, writers have to go into conference rooms and perform for executives. Like dog tricks. Before my first studio pitch, I asked for advice. “You want eye contact,” I was told. So, naturally, I felt good as I pitched a carefully threaded twist ending to a studio exec, who seemed rapt — with direct eye contact. After I said, “The End,” she leaned forward. “And how old are you?”
I was advised to grow a beard. I couldn’t (and still can’t). Glasses helped. Pitching over the phone helped more.
It was a rough start, but since then I’ve been a script doctor, restructured movies in post-production, punched up comedies at roundtables, and served as head writer on an independent series NBC bought.
I’ve written 26 scripts, 20 of which were sold or set up, which I’m told is a pretty good batting average. Some of those scripts got made. (Taking your name off a movie is harder than you’d think. Please don’t judge me by my IMDb.)
Personally, I like to think I’m better known for the scripts that didn’t get made than the ones that did — and that the true quality of my work is reflected in the caliber of the collaborators it attracted, including multiple Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Emmy winners, and even a Grammy winner.
