Advice — expert series

Don't be fooled by the notion that no one knows anything. Buyers may not know if a particular script will make over $100 million, but they have a pretty good idea of certain major story characteristics found in most blockbuster scripts. The top professional screenwriters -- the ones who get all the jobs -- know what they are, too. While the vast majority of screenwriters are off pounding out their simple three-act scripts, top screenwriters are using fundamentally different techniques. Three-act structure is designed to give you the same script everyone else is writing. Plus it tells you nothing about...

Secrets of Blockbuster Movies Part IV Writing for Hollywood requires more than a good premise and strong storytelling ability. You also have to write what Hollywood wants to sell. In today's entertainment business, that means a script with blockbuster capability. If the buyers don't think your script will appeal to a massive worldwide audience, they won't buy it. What may surprise you is that the elements that buyers think will appeal worldwide are found in the deep structure of a script. DESIRE LINE One element essential to good storytelling is a strong desire line. The main character wants something very...

You've slaved over every syllable to make it memorable. Your manuscript spills over with high ideas, scathing wit and a dash of drama that would send even the coldest executive producer groping for a box of Kleenex. Yet, for the life of you, you can't get anyone in the business to read it, let alone give you a call. What gives? Let's face it. You're not just competing with the other good scripts and first novels. You're competing with piles and piles... and piles... of bad ones. Aside from step one -- producing the most imaginative, tightest manuscript you can...

As a veteran writer and a licensed psychotherapist specializing in writers' issues, I know enough to know there aren't any rules when it comes to writing. Except for the following, which I modestly call the Three Cosmic Rules of Writing. I'm serious. Learn these simple rules, then burn them into your hearts and minds. It couldn't hurt. The First Cosmic Rule: 'You Are Enough' It's a growth industry: there are dozens of seminars, how-to books and audio tapes promising to teach you to write better, faster, more commercially. And there's nothing wrong with most of these. I know; I teach...

There's an old joke about the relationship between writers and agents: a writer comes home to find police and fire trucks crowding the street. As he scrambles out of his car, he sees that there's nothing left of his house but a pile of black dust and smoking embers. Stricken, he asks the officer in charge what happened. The cop shakes his head and says, 'Well, it looks like your agent came to your house, murdered your entire family, took all your valuables, then burned the place to the ground.' To which the writer responds, with an astonished smile: 'My...