My husband is not an industry guy. Marrying me, and becoming son-in-law to my producer father, is as close as he ever wanted to come to this business. So when a director friend came over for brunch one Sunday a few months ago and told us how, after his first… read more →
When you hear agents and managers talk about what differentiates them from the competition, many will narrow it down to this: Taste level. The belief that their taste level is superior, and that they are therefore able to single out the most promising talent and most marketable work. Part of… read more →
Recently, a newly minted emerging writer asked me to meet with her. She had recently made the decision to shift careers to screenwriting, got her copy of Final Draft, started taking television writing classes, and now wanted to sit down with me to find out what it was going to… read more →
For many runners, sprints are easy. Marathons are hard. With sprints, you’re in, you’re out. You give it your all for thirty or sixty or ninety seconds and you’re done. Marathons? You have no choice but to pace yourself if you have any hope of making it to the finish… read more →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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