Advice — interviews

John Truby is Hollywood's premier screenwriting instructor and story consultant. Over the last 25 years, more than 30,000 writers have attended his sold-out seminars around the world, with the American Film Institute declaring that Truby's "course allows a writer to succeed in the fiercely competitive climate of Hollywood." Called "the best script doctor in the movie industry," Truby regularly serves as a story consultant for major studios and production companies worldwide, and has been a script doctor and story consultant on more than 1,000 movies, sitcoms and television dramas for the likes of Disney, Sony Pictures, FOX, HBO, Alliance Atlantis,...

Jeffrey Stepakoff has been writing professionally in Hollywood since 1988. He has credits on shows including The Wonder Years, Sisters, Major Dad, Beauty and the Beast, and Dawson's Creek. Stepakoff has also created and developed pilots for many of the major studios and networks, and has developed and written major motion pictures, including Disney's Tarzan and Brother Bear. His new book, Billion-Dollar Kiss, is about his life and career in the screenwriting business. Jeffrey sat down with The Writers Store to answer a few questions about the TV industry. How did you become a TV writer? In truth, I kind...

Every script can (and should) be a learning experience for the writer. The more we write, the more we experiment and stretch, and the quicker we learn what works and what doesn't. We take these learnings to our next script, where we build on them and learn more. And then we do it again. And again. Writer/Director Stefan Schaefer learned a lot while working on the script for his movie, Confess. He benefited from public readings, workshops, and mentors. But he didn't stop there. He continued to refine his script all the way through production and post-production, and in the...

When the first Emmy Award category honoring new media programs was announced, it ushered in unprecedented opportunities for screenwriters. Not since cable television has the industry experienced such a shift. Those willing to write for the Internet and portable devices now have the chance to gain recognition from the most respected leaders in the industry, and at the same time help shape the new cross-media form of storytelling. "It's the future of TV," said Brent Stanton, director of the Daytime Emmy Awards. "It was not hard to get this category launched -When setting this up, we had no idea how...

A real gem on the craft of screenwriting, the third edition of Syd Field's preeminent book, Screenplay, provides easily understood guidelines on writing a script from concept to finished product. Syd sits down to talk to the Writers Store about the next generation of screenwriting. What led you to write Screenplay in 1979? At that time, there were only a few books on the market that dealt with the art and craft of screenwriting. I was teaching screenwriting at Sherwood Oaks Experimental College in Hollywood, where hundreds of people flowed through my courses, and asked me to present what I...