Advice — gatekeeper q & a

Reader Gail McCall of Toluca Lake asks What attributes do directors believe writers need to have for good collaboration to take place on the set? Expert Jack Rothman replies For my book, Hollywood in Wide Angle: How Directors View Filmmaking, I interviewed a cross-section of 32 feature film directors. In our talks, they gave their take on qualities of writers that make for good collaboration on the set. I'll spell out their responses briefly. Directors like working with writers who see the director as the decision maker in the situation, the person truly in charge of the process and outcome....

Our reader, Jimmy Pearson of Minneapolis, MN asks: I've got 3 scripts under my belt. How can I get someone to read my work? Professor Richard Walter, longtime Screenwriting Chairman of the legendary UCLA Film School, answers: Writers never stop asking me how they can get read by agents, managers and producers. My response is always the same. You "merely" need to have something WORTHY of an Industry Insider's time and attention. They aren't inaccessible. Writers want to continue to think they are, though. That's how they can blame Hollywood, rather than their own work, for why they're not getting...

Our reader F.X. Snyder from Garden Grove, asks: My villain is a bit too one-dimensional. Any tips for fleshing out a character who's not the protagonist? David Freeman responds: Sure, I know a lot about villains, although not from personal experience mind you. That bank robbery thing was a big mistake, and the reporter got it all wrong! 1. You can have the villain occasionally do something good -- but just make it something SMALL or we'll like him too much and be upset when he dies (unless you want us to be upset). 2. He can have reasons for...

Our reader Singh from Toronto, asks: My dialogue sounds flat and indistinguishable between characters. How can I work on writing more engaging dialogue? David Freeman responds: Dialogue has long been a problem for writers. The problem is that dialogue needs to serve a variety of functions: (1) make the characters sound different from one another, (2) capture the rhythms and sound of spoken speech, (3) employ "subtext" so that what the characters are saying isn't always what they mean, and (4) reveal all sorts of things about the characters and sometimes their time and place. When you talk about "indistinguishable...

Our reader Sanborn from Costa Rica asks: Why is there so much fuss about writing query letters? I always thought it's my story or script that counts, not my cover letter. Please advise. Marc Hernandez, Managing Partner and Literary Manager with the Crescendo Entertainment Group in Los Angeles responds: With seven years in the agency and (Literary) management business, I have received and read literally thousands query letters from screenwriters with various levels of screenwriting experience. The letters have ranged from the completely non-descript to those that have compelled me to immediately pick up the phone to call the writer....