Advice

It used to be that summer was the season for blockbuster movies. Now it’s a year-round phenomenon. Hollywood is in the business of selling films to a worldwide audience, which means they are always looking for a script with blockbuster potential. Most screenwriters think a blockbuster is simply a film that does really well at the box office. Technically speaking, that’s true. But the reality is that a script with blockbuster potential is a very special kind of script, with a number of story elements that studio executives are looking for. I’d like to point out five of the most...

This is not an article revealing The Three Secrets To Financing Your Independent Film or How To Network With Hollywood Big-Shots or How To Write A Hit Movie In Four Hours. There are plenty of books, DVDs, and classes for that, and they have their place. I'm skipping all of it and speaking directly to The Artist in you.If you haven't noticed, there is an ancient and ongoing war between Art and Survival. And yes, I'm serious. It is a War -- and Art has been losing. Whether we are writers, painters, directors, actors, poets, dancers, or musicians, the artists...

(adapted in part from his book Byte-Sized Television: Create Your Own TV Series for the Internet)Let’s say your dream is to write the next Oscar-winning script like Up in the Air, or to create the next groundbreaking TV series like Modern Family or Mad Men. Suddenly, a Voice (maybe yours, maybe someone else’s) cuts in and says Hey, why don’t you write one of those web series thingies , then go out and shoot it? You snort derisively and tell the Voice “I’m a REAL writer. I don’t do that YouTube crap.”Big mistake. You just scoffed at one of the...

Summer is the season of selling, as people from all over the world flock to Los Angeles (or online) to pitch their ideas with the hope of getting their project sold. With these opportunities come questions, so we sat down with the leading authority on Pitchfests, Signe Olynyk and Bob Schultz, creators of the upcoming 8th Annual Great American PitchFest to answer your burning questions.What do I need to do to prepare for a pitchfest?The best thing you can do to prepare is to practice, practice, practice. Know your story inside and out. Be prepared to answer questions about your protagonist,...

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...