“More millionaires have been made by winning the California Lottery than by writing screenplays.” So begins the new feature documentary by Michael Steven Gregory, We, The Screenwriter, in which sixteen film and television writers present a frenetic, fast-paced portrait of the person, process and profession of being a scribe in today’s Hollywood.

Marking the return of Gregory to documentary — or “doculogue” as he calls it — form, We, The Screenwriter will make its world premiere at the RealHeART International Film Festival this June, fully two years after the then-just-completed film was lost in a car accident only days before its initially slated premiere in New Mexico. With no other option, the highly stylized, edit-intensive movie was recut from scratch and only recently completed again.

Produced, directed and edited by Gregory, We, The Screenwriter features writers whose credits include Air Bud, Any Given Sunday, A Valentine Carol, Battlestar Galactica, Carnivàle, Cleopatra, Constantine, Hill Street Blues, House, Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, Land of Oz, Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight, The Last Boy Scout, Mission Impossible: 2, Moby Dick, Pacific Heights, Perfect Romance, Resurrecting the Champ, Roswell, The Role of a Lifetime, Silver Surfer, Spawn, Spider-Man Unlimited, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Sum of All Fears, Tales from the Crypt, Timeline and more.

The topics they address are equally eclectic, ranging from breaking into the business and what validates the screenwriter, to the profession’s impact on personal relationships, responsibilities, writing for TV versus features, writing on assignment versus on spec, pitching, outlining, adaptation, rewriting, agents, young executives, ageism, studio notes, gender bias, writing for market, being pigeon-holed by the industry, and others.

Ultimately, what the film is a testament to is the one topic not covered in it: finishing what you start. “Great, unproduced scripts are still circulating in Hollywood after 40 years,” said Gregory. “Only four years to get a movie made is like living in the fast lane!”

WHAT: We, The Screenwriter premiere (WeTheScreenwriter.com)
WHEN: June 19, 4 PM at RealHeART International Film Festival (RHIFF.com)
WHERE: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 17941 Von Karman, Irvine, CA 92614
COST: Full Conference - $355