Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Screenwriting Guru

If you don’t know Zlatan, trust me… you HAVE to know Zlatan.

So…

I love soccer. It’s not the first sport I fell in love with. That’s baseball. But when I watched the World Cup on Univision in 1990, that got me hooked.

Let me be honest. I’m not a Eurosnob. I love the domestic league here in North America. It’s known as MLS. It’s young. Messy. Even goofy at times. But it’s our own damn league and I am a passionate fan.

I was a season ticket holder of the L.A. Galaxy and have rooted for them since the league’s inception in 1996.

They have won 5 MLS titles. But last year, they were awful. This year? The forecast didn’t look much better. Plus, there’s a new kid in town: LAFC.

And wouldn’t you know it, but LAFC got off to a great start this year while my beloved Galaxy was stumbling around like a drunk wasted on moonshine.

Then this guy entered into the equation:

The Galaxy had pursued Zlatan Ibrahimovic aka “Ibra” for several years, but he was busy making the big bucks over in Europe. You don’t have to be a football fan to watch this video and realize… this is one special dude.

I hear you. “Hey, Scott, what the hell does this have to do with screenwriting?”

Hold that thought for just one more minute and allow me to tell you a story which if I had pitched it to a Hollywood studio executive, they would have tossed me out of their office.

After pursuing Zlatan for years, the Galaxy finally signs him. He flies in from Europe precisely two days before the Galaxy play their first match ever against Los Angeles Football Club, whose ownership group includes Hollywood types Peter Guber, Will Ferrell, Magic Johnson, Tony Robbins…

It’s disgusting, really, their whole ownership lineup. Way too much money, influence, charisma, and good looks.

Suddenly, my Galaxy are on the precipice. LAFC has begun the season on the road while they wait for THIS to get finished:

Yes, a downtown stadium while my Galaxy plays out in someplace called Carson.

But Scott, what does this have to do with screenwriting?

Hang on, I’ll get to it.

So LAFC is playing great and the Galaxy are playing like shit. They meet up on Sunday on the Galaxy’s home turf. First meeting. This will set the tone of what will become a huge rivalry. The fans dub it “El Trafico”.

What happens?

LAFC is leading 3–0 after 48 minutes. It’s a complete drubbing. Disaster in the making.

Meanwhile, Zlatan — remember, he has just flown in to L.A. 48 hours earlier and has only had one brief kick around session with his teammates who I’m sure he doesn’t even know their names — is plunked on the Galaxy bench:

It gets so bad, by the 60th minute, the LAFC fans — and there were a lot of them at the Galaxy’s stadium — were chanting “Ole!” with their teams passes.

NOTE: This is embarrassing if you’re the other squad. Especially on your home field. It’s like their fans are pissing on you. Total denigration. But then:

We pull one back. Then about the 70th minute, Galaxy fans start chanting, “We want Zlatan! We want Zlatan!”

Guess what? They get him. Zlatan subs in. And within minutes, the Galaxy scores again.

Scott, come on, man! When are we getting to…

Trust me, this will be worth it. So, it’s now 2–3 Good Guys vs. Bad Guys. Then. This. Fucking. Happens.

Dude has been on the field for like 5 minutes. He’s recuperating from a knee injury. Has not played competitively for 9 months. Only been in the U.S. for 48 hours. Jet lag. Yada yada yada.

Golazo.

Now the game is tied 3–3. In the entire history of MLS, only 12 teams have ever gotten a result when being down 0–3 and only 1 of them has won.

Zlatan says: “Hold my beer.”

Dude scores the winning goal in extra time. It’s simply one of the most amazing sporting moments I’ve ever witnessed.

So NOW let’s get to the screenwriting lessons. Check out this interview with Zlatan after the game:

I implore you to watch the video because this world class athlete exhibits a sublime balance between Ego and Humility… which is PRECISELY what a screenwriter needs to have.

• “The fans wanted Zlatan. I gave them Zlatan.” As a writer, you need to have this kind of confidence in your creative abilities. Yes, screenwriters may be the low person on the movie production totem pole, but that doesn’t mean you should be a docile bump in the road. No, the Suits WANT your take, WANT your input. You know STORY, God damn it, so be fearless with the heart of a lion when pressing your story points.
• “I’m only here two days and what I see, I’m super happy because the team wants well, the team wants a lot.” As a screenwriter, you have to embrace your creative ego, yes, that’s fine. But movies are a collaborative effort. And that means you have to understand and acknowledge your team. It’s not just about you. It’s about the STORY and the combined efforts of everyone involved — above the line and below the line — to bring that story into being as a movie. Ego, yes. Humility, also yes.
• “If you look back, every team I played for, first official game I scored.” This is not ego. This is confidence. Big difference. As a screenwriter, you need to feel like every pitch you make… every OWA you pitch… every spec script you start… you will NAIL it. A big part of this is simply writing so many stories, you KNOW in your gut you can DO this. Just like Zlatan. Imagine how many thousands of hours he has spent practicing his craft. So, too, you. Watch movies. Read scripts. Write pages. Learn the craft. Then you can speak with confidence about any writing project.
• “When you are losing 3–0, the adrenaline is pumping even more because you want to do something, help the team, especially when they’re in a difficult situation.” Bottom line about screenwriters: We are problem solvers. Often we enter into a situation where the studio is down 3–0 on a script project… it’s a mess… and they need our help. It’s our job to get them out of that “difficult situation”.
• “I always said it’s difficult to describe the feelings you go through when you do something like that [score an amazing goal]… it’s… you cannot describe it… you need to go through it yourself and I went through it many times and wherever I went, the fans went crazy.” You know that experience where you’re writing and you lose yourself in your story, then look up and it’s 4 hours later? That’s like scoring a goal. Screenwriters understand this. But we don’t write in a vacuum. We are writing MOVIES. Which means we have to be aware of the audience. So ground what we write in our fans and hope they go “crazy” with our story.
• “I bring all the happiness because yesterday, somebody said I was too old, but I said I’m like Benjamin Button, I get younger. The only thing is the body needs to follow the head.” Okay, the dude watches movies. Good. For. Him. Take that to heart, people. If Zlatan finds time to watch Benjamin Button, get your ass off playing Solitaire and watch a God damn movie. Beyond that, age has NOTHING to do with whether your script can sell in Hollywood. The ONLY thing that matters is the vitality and inspiration you bring to the writing. Bring the happiness, people!
• “I can imagine LAFC winning 3–0, now losing 4–3, it’s not easy, but if they would have Zlatan, they would have the opposite.” Okay, this is the screenwriting guru lesson in aggregate. Empathy for LAFC losing the game. We need to have empathy for each of our characters. But then each of us needs to embrace our inner Zlatan to believe what we write is solid. If we’ve done the time like Zlatan has and learned the craft like Zlatan has and written the hell out of our script like Zlatan has on the pitch… we can feel confident in our story chops.
• “I’m demanding a lot from me. I have a lot of pressure coming from the media, from the fans, from the club, from the players, but nothing is compared to my own pressure because I want to do good.” No matter what others may expect of you, YOU have to be the biggest booster to do what needs to be done to learn the craft and exhibit the fruits of the craft.
• “Every movie has a good ending, yeah?” Ibra likes movies! And why not embrace the vision of your OWN personal movie having a good ending.

Like Ibra, put in the work. The hours. The sweat. The tears. Be arrogant. But also be humble. How to do that? Follow Zlatan’s path.

And go L.A. Galaxy!