What screenwriters and TV writers make for a living should not be mystery.
No one wants to hear that their screenplay or television pilot is boring, or forgettable, or just plain Meh. But in today’s industry climate, there is one thing that is even worse.
Most new writers come to the industry seeking an agent who will help introduce them and their work to film and television professionals. But today, are agents still on the forefront of talent discovery? And, if so, how do you get their attention?
For many screenwriters either trying to break into the industry or make their way up the ranks, rejection is just part of the game. In fact, I tell new writers that come to work with me who have yet to make serious inroads in the industry that it’s their job… read more →
When I first wrote SAY WHAT: THINGS SCREENWRITERS SHOULD NEVER SAY, I had no idea that the simple concept – exploring those things that screenwriters on occasion say to me that make me cringe – would open a floodgate of such examples. It was entirely unintentional. But little did I… 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 →
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.
Full confession: I am an Excel junkie. I love data. I love slicing and dicing. I love finding commonalities and consensus. I can spend hours sorting data this way and that, exploring the various conclusions it gives me, seeking out new information within it I might not have seen. But… read more →
Full disclosure: Sometimes my job calls for me to be a hard ass. Luckily for me, most of my writers do their work and plough on forward come hell or high water. But when that’s not the case, when the writer is getting “in their own way,” it becomes my… read more →
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 →
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