style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> You’ve been working for months on your latest script, and it’s almost ready to market. Frankly, you’re just about out of steam. Of course you are. Screenwriting is hard work – at least if you’re trying to do it well. But it’s not all so damn laborious. Here are…
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> All screenwriters deal with it: the dreaded negative review. Does it mean you have no talent? Does it mean you should give up? Absolutely, positively not! Here’s why: style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> Every Script Gets Negative Feedback > > I remember…
I’ve read many, many opening sequences. Their importance to the success of your story is at the deity level. Here are a few ways to help your opening pages set the stage for scripting stardom: Borrow A Copywriting Technique There’s a rule of thumb in ad writing that you should spend 50 percent of your…
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> I’ve had producers mean very different things when they’ve asked me for a “synopsis”. Some have meant a one page “pitch” for my script. Others have meant a full-on multi page “summary” of the story (otherwise known as a treatment). These are very different things, and it’s important to…
One: It Matters How You Say It I flew into Los Angeles from New York one afternoon and headed immediately to the offices of a well known production company to practice a pitch we were taking out to several studios the next day. The President of the company, who had brought me in to do…
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> A producer wants to develop a new project with you. It could be on spec. It could be a paid assignment. Either way, my advice remains the same. There is one thing you should never ever do. style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”>…
Do titles matter? Here are two brief anecdotes that say yes. A few years ago, I was in L.A. pitching ideas to a well-known manager. He sat quietly on his living room couch as I tossed log line after log line his way. Nothing seemed to resonate with him. Finally, I pitched a new idea…
style=”font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;”> For a bit of extra motivation to push harder on our screenplays – and as an excuse to spend some time thinking about my favorite Hollywood area hotels – this month’s blog lists five great Los Angeles locales to celebrate a big break. style=”font-family: Cambria; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;”>…
Many screenwriters have heard tales of Ron Bass. Bass, who wrote Rain Man and other well-known movies, was a huge screenwriting machine back in the nineties. At one point he had an insanely lucrative deal with Sony and was purported to make as much as a million dollars per screenplay for up to seven scripts…
style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;”> When I say cheating on your loved one in this blog, I’m of course referring to cheating on your screenplay’s plot. Our stories are dear to our hearts, and they depend on us, so in the New Year let’s all resolve to cheat less (in our plotting). style=”mso-layout-grid-align: none;…