Ahead of the Curve - Philip Delves Broughton

Everything we read can teach us something about writing or the business of being a writer, so I will post about those books and articles here too. 

This books is a detailed account of the author's time at Harvard's Business School...

The book taught be a lot about managing the business side of things. I don't have it with me, so I don't think I'll be able to articulate too much. But I'll add to this later.

1) Deepen Your Verticals: If you sell business shirts, don't also sell vacuums. Start selling cuff links, and ties, and belts and jackets. This is a handy way to think about choosing and pursuing opportunities. 


2)  Think about your goals as a mountain range. Each mountain on the range can be scaled, but it's smart to focus your attention on scaling the tallest mountain. 

In our business that boils down to the idea that you should pursue whatever vertical will lead to the most opportunities and money and satisfaction down the line. It's an effective argument against a hodge podge career and in favor of narrowing your lane and pursuing the big goal without distractions. (This will also come in handy when picking between opportunities: "Does this get me closer to the peak of the highest mountain?")

This is particularly helpful because in screenwriting, some mountains have bridges to the others, but not vice versa.

For example: if you sell a studio comedy you can get staffed on or create a comedy series, but the opposite is not true.

3) More definitely TBD. This was an interesting book.