Advice

For many writers, working with a collaborator is great. Instead of sitting in a room, alone, staring at the wall, waiting for inspiration to strike, now there are two of you, together, sitting in a room, discussing last night's episode of The Daily Show waiting for inspiration to strike. However, as any writer who has worked with a partner knows, a collaboration is like a marriage, and like a marriage, issues of money, control, separation and custody should be discussed and agreed to in advance. In essence, the writers needs a prenup (a collaboration agreement) in order to ensure that...

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...

We all know how incredibly hard it is to get a screenplay produced. We have all heard talk about all the great scripts out there that never got made. And that might be true. But why is it true? If you have a professionally crafted screenplay, one with obvious commercial potential, which has never been produced, the real problem might be that someone got discouraged and dropped the ball. After your work is of a professional quality, perseverance is the key to success. It doesn't really make sense to ever be discouraged or deflected by criticism, rejection or a slammed...

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...

One of the best phone calls a writer can receive is when someone calls and wants to option his or her screenplay!For many writers, this can seem like a dream come true because it validates the months they have toiled away on their laptop, losing all sense of night and day, even neglecting friends and family. For others, this can be a scary moment filled with unanswered questions, especially if it is their first time in this situation.Here is what every writer should know about the ins and outs of Option Agreements and how to make the most out of...