I had a long conversation recently with a friend about branding.

And as creatives, we often underestimate that. She’s an actress, but she approaches her career like a business, as we all should. And it got me thinking about how the exact same is applicable to us as writers. We want to be seen, we want to be found, we want to be known as writers. But beyond that, we want to be known as the specific type of writer we are.

It doesn’t do me any good to try to be found by people who make slasher horror. I admire everyone who can write that kind of genre - I cannot. I am unable to can. I get scared… I’m a wuss.

No. What I need to be found as is a writer who writes deeply character-driven stories. Who writes with a voice that speaks of tribal culture. Who writes with a background in trauma-informed storytelling. Who writes about small things that have big impacts. That’s the type of writer I am.

So how can we leverage our online presence (because let’s face it, that’s where the industry lives now) to create a profile that will actually position you as not just a writer, but the exact kind of writer you want to position yourself as?

Who Are You?

What do you write? Horror? Subtle psycho thrillers? Everything?

Even if you write pretty much everything, you still have a unique selling point (USP). And that’s where we come towards approaching all this like a business. Every entrepreneur will tell you that before you get started on creating a business, you have to figure out what you’re selling. Where it stands in the market. What it can do that no other product can.

And yes, sadly, we will have to take our “artist” hat off for a moment, and think of our scripts and our work as something that is a sellable commodity. I know. Blasphemy. But news flash… investors think of it that way. Producers also have to think of it in that way to a certain extent. So let’s go with it.

Ok. So how do you find your USP?

Have a look at what you’ve done. Really think about who you want to be. When you get your Oscar, what’s the genre of film you get it for? Create a five or ten-point list of things that you’ve written that you’ve not seen in cinema in the last few years. And out of that, filter a profile of YOU.

For me, that was easy. My first really critically successful and critically acclaimed script was The Indian Wife, which won me quite a few accolades. It is a deeply trauma-led story about an Indian refugee. It speaks from the heart, because it spoke from my heart. It encapsulates everything I am as a writer: led by my history, led by my trauma, led by my womanhood.

So when I tried to analyse who I was as a writer, it was easy to define. I am a trauma-led storyteller.

You are something completely different. Something completely unique. So find that.

What Do You Want?

Figuring out what you want is either very hard or very easy. Oscar, you’ll say. Dinner with Tarantino, you’ll say. Margot Robbie’s phone number, you’ll say. Maybe.

Maybe you’ll say, “To be able to make art on a continuous basis.”

Maybe you’ll say, “Tell this one story, but really well.”

Whatever it is that you want, figure it out. Really, all the way deep down. Because you might be surprised (I was!) to find that it’s actually a lot smaller than what you thought.

I know what I’ll say when the Oscar comes along. But right now? I have a play on. That’s all I want in my life right now, is to prepare and get to that stage and give the audience an experience. That’s all I can think about. What comes after that will be another step, but my joy in my career nowadays comes from the small things, the immediate things. The things I get to do in my daily life. By that definition, I’ve already “made it”.

So when you really analyse what you want, you then have actionable items. Things you can do to get you there. You want Margot Robbie’s phone number? Write an absolute killer script that would be ideal for her. Work your behind off to get that killer script in front of the right people. And while you’re working on that? Build the rest of your career. Go on podcasts. Build your brand. Be known as the writer who writes something Robbie might be interested in.

You want to create an artistic masterpiece? Learn. Learn your craft. Experiment. Fail. Fail. Fail. Try again. Do again. Be weird. Be Werner Herzog and drag a ship through the jungle.

What Can You Do?

So after you have figured out who you are and what you want, it comes to building your life and career around those things. Building your brand.

I hate AI; it is slop. But for this small and very specific thing, it can actually be a helpful tool. What could know more about the internet than the internet itself?

Let it analyse your website (because of course you have a website, right?!), your social media presence (you have that, right??!!), your publicly findable, available writing (because you are a WRITER, so you have WRITTEN, riiight??!!), or your online profiles like Stage 32.

If none of that exists yet… well, there are four things you can do this week.

After that, it’s a numbers game. The more you exist in the world, the more you will be found.

And I know. For most of us, this part of the work makes us go “ugh”. It gives us the ick.

But the sad truth is… this is the job.

If you want to get paid for your writing, if you want to get Margot to love your words, if you want to make a film that speaks to the world, you have to be known.

And more importantly, you have to be known as YOU. So figure out who you are, and climb that mountain and be your amazing self. No one else is gonna get to do that.

Good Luck!

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