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"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure." -- Colin Powell

If Mr. Powell's words are true, then my success is imminent. If nothing else, I've had bounteous opportunities to learn from failures. Fantasy Football drafts aside, I've made plenty of mistakes on my path to Hollywood. More on those later.

Had my story unfolded according to the dreams that were overtaking me circa high school, mine would already be a household name, for better or for worse. I was going to be a successful working actor with a part-time residence in Pasadena or Beverly Hills or Malibu. I didn't know when, but it would happen before the gray age of thirty. Right?

Wrong. At the rate I was going, it was going to happen never. Sure, I was being cast in a decent amount of productions, and when I wasn't cast, I was at least being called back. I was getting to know the casting directors in town; they seemed to like me. Acting colleagues were becoming friends and the support system was growing.

I'm embarrassed to admit it was only five or six years back that I realized Hollywood wasn't going to come knock on my door in demand of my acting services. So I figured I'd learn screenwriting. I'd write parts for myself, sell the scripts to Hollywood, and then they'd finally seek out my acting favor.

Problem is, I sucked at it. I've since learned that everyone does at first, so that's at least meager vindication. The formatting came easily. Not much rocket surgery in that. But what about all that jargon of character arc, structure, protagonist, antagonist, inciting incident? Isn't screenwriting just storytelling?

Years later I can answer that question with an irrefutable yes. And no. Great storytelling adheres to myriad rules, the knowing of which is a prerequisite to any desired breakage. I'm still learning when to break and when to take, and I'm still frustrated by paint-by-numbers movies that follow, unashamed, the exact formula that makes too many movies irritatingly predictable. Maid of Honor, anyone?

So that's my big screenwriting dilemma. Do I follow the rules to prove I know them? Or do I break the rules to prove I'm original? Or, am I only proving I'm confused by the whole screenplay business? After all, I'm trying to sell material to the same folks who green lit [insert awful movies here -- I would, but I may want to work for the producers].

At least I've got another iron in the fire.