Just fucking figure it out

Then maybe you shouldn't speak about it as if you do. I have heard the same advice in this article from a number of people working as tv writers (either reading articles, or as part of my mfa in creative writing), and it does seem like the vast majority of them only got where they are by "working their way up". The idea that you can just make something good enough that people can't ignore it is, in fact, the view that is hopelessly naive. It isn't like the internet where you can easily achieve massive distribution. You have to get it in the hands of a very small number of people who are swamped by an incredibly large number of people in the exact same situation as you.

The amount of good content that is generated by writers is overwhelming and, in fact, incredibly easy to ignore. Not saying you can't point to success stories of people who produced their own stuff. You can just point to more stories of people who lost a lot of money producing their own stuff and have nothing to show for it. Building relationships certainly seems to be a more reliable way to go about breaking into the industry.

To put it another way, what is a "good" script from the point of view of the movie industry, and how many people actually want to write one, and would be willing to put their real name on it?

If you look outside the blockbusters, and even at many blockbusters themselves, most scripts aren't that good. I know a few people who watch a lot of terrible movies who are kind of allergic to quality, or at least allergic to the aspiration to quality. They are tolerant of crap and want their movies to be tolerant, too. A friend of mine is a huge fan of horror and action movies, and the only movie he has ever walked out of was "The Thin Red Line." Why did that movie offend him, out of all the movies he's seen? It wasn't because it was bad. (He and I saw "Deuce Bigalo: European Gigolo" in the theater.) It offended him because it insulted his taste. It aspired to be better than the movies he liked. That's what I'm guessing, anyway.

So if you're in the movie industry and trying to get a non-A-list movie made, you have to think about who's going to go see it. Writing a "good" script by your own standards may be a mistake. Maybe writing a "good" script only proves you don't understand the business and won't be an asset to the people who can help you. Maybe showing some hustle, some talent at getting noticed, and some crass instincts is necessary, not to draw attention to your good writing -- nobody gives a shit about your writing -- but because hustle, self-promotion, and crassness is how you prove you can succeed in the industry and help them make money in the future.

At that level, I think it's possible that some fantastic scripts slip through the cracks.

There's the highly prestigious Nicholl Fellowship, run by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, that awards up to 10 fellows a year based on their sample scripts. Scripts judged to be outstanding by actual respected Academy members. Most of those won't sell either, although the writers will get jobs out of it.

The Black List has become more political in recent years, but it's a list of great scripts that don't get made.

The Coen Brothers and Woody Allen seem to be able to make whatever the hell they want, but other geniuses like Scorcese and even Spielberg have projects they've been trying to get off the ground for years, and haven't yet succeeded.

Based on all that, I'm inclined to believe there are plenty of great scripts that don't get produced.