Advice — d.b. gilles

Raymond Chandler wrote his first screenplay at 56. He didn't even publish his first novel until he was 51. For the record, he wrote the original screenplays for 'Double Indemnity' and 'Strangers On A Train.' In 1939, after F. Scott Fitzgerald's career as a novelist had faltered, he needed money fast. He went to Hollywood and found work as a screenwriter. He was 43 years old. William Faulkner wrote his first screenplay at 48. Joseph Mankiewitz (who, incidentally, rewrote Fitzgerald) was well over 35 when he wrote 'All About Eve.' As for contemporary screenwriters: William Goldman is pushing 70; David...

How many screenplays do you have to write before you throw in the towel and delete your screenwriting program from your computer? 17? 12? 3?It depends on how seriously you take your screenwriting career--even if you don’t technically have a career, just a bunch of scripts that have: a) been rejected (if you’re fortunate enough to have had them read by someone in the industry even if they said no). b) or if you have a bunch of scripts that haven’t been read by anyone except your significant other and your film buff cousin who thinks “Citizen Kane” is overrated...

I know a lot of comedy writers.Some are funnier than others both in daily life and on the page. More often than you’d imagine, the funniest scripts are written by men and women who aren’t that much fun to be around. They can “write” funny, but not “be” very funny during normal life. Some are downright boring while others are depressed and a drag to be around. Likewise, some of the funniest writers I know are hilarious when they’re hanging out with friends or one on one, but they aren’t funny on paper. Because they were so funny, early in...

-- About The Screenwriter Who Decided To Write A Comedy? There was a moment in your life when you acknowledged to yourself that you were funny. Maybe you were trying to be funny. Maybe you weren't. Maybe it just slipped out. But somebody laughed. It might have happened when you were in second grade, a freshman in high school, senior year in college or when you were out of school and into a career. Somebody laughed. You liked saying funny things. Maybe you even loved it. Getting laughs did something to you. Maybe it built up your confidence. Made you...