Blog

Over the years, many of my colleagues in representation, development and productions have been kind enough to humor me and ask me for my two cents on material they are developing, producing or considering taking out into the marketplace. And equally, over the years, many have gotten in the habit… read more →

One fall, many years ago, I happened to visit my family in Israel right around the time of the European Basketball Championship. Israel made it all the way to the finals that year, and on the night of the big game, Tel-Aviv was a ghost town. My uncle, cousin and… read more →

Every writer who goes into an industry meeting with pretty much anyone of consequence has that ONE question that he really hopes no one is going to ask. Don’t fool yourself. EVERYONE has it. The  question that they don’t want to have to answer, gnawing at the back of their… read more →

You guys are going to love me on this one, right off the bat, for one simple reason: There are no 3 steps to building a screenwriting career. It doesn’t exist. If there were three simple steps to building a screenwriting career, one-two-three-paycheck, someone would have formulated it, sold it,… read more →

This is an unapologetic rant. I know. I usually stick to the positive. I usually try to keep my pet peeves to myself and off the page. I don’t want to make anyone upset. I certainly don’t seek to offend. Enough times people have said to me “that one time… read more →

I am an observer of the human experience. Always have been. And nowhere do I get to indulge this particular proclivity more than I do in my work with screenwriters. Add to that the fact that I love numbers and stats and facts and figures; after all, my mentor was… read more →

This past year was good to many of my writers. And I’m not talking about the ones who got staffed again, or the ones who landed repeat writing assignments. I am talking about those writers who moved up the “emerging” ladder: Made it into fellowships, landed reputable representation, pitched studios… read more →

Dear writers (or as Todd likes to call you, My Scrappers), Returning home from a Thanksgiving getaway to San Francisco, I sat on my bed with my beautiful 8-year-old son and my sparkly 4-year-old daughter for our nightly ritual, tell-me-time. My son mused: “Mommy, don’t you wish you and daddy… read more →

To many emerging writers her in Los Angeles, Tawnya Bhattacharya needs little introduction: Not only is she a working television writer who has been staffed consistently for the last four years, but she is also the mastermind behind Script Anatomy, the elite television-centric writing program attended by many a television-aiming… read more →

If you’re gonna hit the road with a specific destination, you have to know what steps, milestones and landmarks you have to hit in order to get there. This, in its most stripped down form, is the logic behind setting effective screenwriting goals. With that in mind, at the end… read more →