A writer calls me the other day: “So I wanted to get notes on my script. How much do you charge for that?” Me: “I’m a career consultant. I’m not a reader or – for that matter – a script consultant. Did you find me through my website?” Writer: “Ahhhh…… read more →
If you’ve yet to hear the name JEFF PORTNOY… Seriously? Where have you been? Not only did Tracking Board’s 2016 Spec Book name him the top manager when it comes to setting up feature specs (getting 13 specs to market, and setting up an unparalleled 6 this past year), but… read more →
What are some things that screenwriters should never say about their screenwriting? Explore screenwriting best practices in my SAY WHAT? Blog posts.
Let’s face it: We all say things we shouldn’t. We don’t mean to – and most of us come to regret it later – but things don’t always come out of our mouths the way that we intended. I am just as vulnerable to this as anyone else: When I… read more →
I am a sucker for advice. Any advice. I collect it like kids used to collect stamps (or like today they collect Shopkins or Pokemon cards), catalogue it, organize it, put it away for safe keeping only to pull it out again at just the right time, should it ever… read more →
Misconceptions about what it takes to become a working screenwriter, e.g. what is required in order to attract the right sort of industry attention, and where your time and resources are best spent, are everywhere. Is it all about the writing? Or all about relationships? Do you have to have… read more →
Every new writer seeking to break into television writing hears, sooner or later, about the freelance, that one episode in a seasonal television order assigned to a writer not currently on the show’s writing staff, and for which said writer is credited, earning not only a handsome script fee, but… read more →
When I interviewed Jewerl Ross, renowned literary manager (who is these days celebrating the immense success of his longtime client, MOONLIGHT writer/director Barry Jenkins), for my upcoming book, BREAKING IN: TALES FROM THE SCREENWRITING TRENCHES, he told me of the screenplays he reads and the content he sees: “If it’s… read more →
Where in decades past hefty options were given to screenwriters whose screenplays producers had hoped would “get there,” today those same options and shopping agreements are not often granted before the producer or executive involved is convinced that they have a ready-for-market, winning screenplay on their hands.
My seven-year-old daughter is a fledgling gymnast. Ahead of her first meet, she asked me, “Mamma, what if I fall off the beam?” I told her the same thing I always tell my writers, “If you don’t fall, you don’t learn.” The truth is that nobody likes to make mistakes.… read more →
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