We're spoilt for choice when it comes to writer-related movies. As a profession goes, it's pretty sexy in movieland, probably because of the abundance of writers who scratch a living writing dialogue for Steve Segall movies (yes, someone ACTUALLY does that).
We all need to unwind and switch off so we can be at our creative best. That's science.
However, we might want to be inspired while we're doing it. Finding movies about writers from Charles Bukowski (Barfly), Truman Capote (Capote), Sylvia Plath (er... Sylvia), Shakespeare (take your pick, as long as it's not the dire Shakespeare In Love), Hunter S Thompson (The Rum Diaries), JM Barrie (Finding Neverland) and Jane Austen (Becoming Jane) is a cinch, it's not so easy to find ones about copywriters.
So I've compiled a list of movies that illustrate what it's like to be a copywriter. Get the popcorn ready and have a butchers at these "beauties":
In one of Harry Potter's film franchise star, Daniel Ratcliffe's first grown-up roles, he plays Beatnik poet Allen Ginsberg. The phrase to "kill your darlings" was first coined by the poet to mean get rid of those beautiful lines in your prose that don't add any value. It'll hurt, but it's worth it just to produce pithy and accessible work.
3. Adaptation
Before Nicholas Cage started churning out bilge like Ghost Rider and sacrilegious remakes like The Wicker Man, he made Adaptation. It's about a writer's book being turned into a screenplay. As a copywriter, you'll either be asked to improve (repurpose) something that exists or just to check what a marketing manager has written. Er, no.
The Coen Brothers never fail to produce clever scripts and compelling stories, something us copywriters could learn from. The title of this particular outing, starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney, refers to how we all feel about the dreaded first draft.
5. Misery
No, this isn't on the list because Stephen King's protagonist is a novelist. Or because of Kathy Bates' superb performance as a crazy fan. It's here as a reminder of our daily toil - the blood, sweat and tears we pour into a brief to make sure it connects with the reader, converts and wins a coveted Yellow Pencil. Not many truly understand how much of ourselves we put into writing a bit of micro-copy no one cares about or the moral questions we ask ourselves before taking on a client or our abject fear about how our work will be received.
6. The Reader
Kate Winslet plays an illiterate Nazi war criminal in one of her many Oscar contenders. However, it's here because we can't escape our readers. Firstly, we need to consider our audience; their language and persona. Secondly, our client or stakeholder who'll cast a critical eye on the piece of work that may have caused you a lot of misery... See what I did there?
This end-of-term staple (for people of a certain age) doesn't just provide a generation of unforgettable characters and quotes, but also the forever banding around of copy from copywriter to legal to regulatory to product owner to marketing manager and back round again can feel like a never-ending story, especially when you're just itching to get of your desk and start something new.
