Advice

We know J.D. Salinger's views on movies and writing for Hollywood by reading the second page of The Catcher in the Rye. Speaking of his brother, D.B., the hero, Holden Caulfield, says "Now he's out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute. If there's one thing I hate, it's the movies. Don't even mention them to me." Where did this come from? Most people don't know that one of Salinger's short stories was made into a movie. "Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut" became "My Foolish Heart," starring Susan Hayward. And Salinger hated it. The result? No other Salinger fiction has ever been...

This sound familiar? You take a thankless job to pay bills for six months while you write the next great screenplay. Ten years and 20 jobs later, that great script still eludes you. Thinking about giving up? Marc Norman was. Fortunately, he decided to rededicate himself to learn the craft and write one last script. The result was Shakespeare in Love and Norman's reward was an Oscar. As a means of offering encouragement to others wondering if they should continue writing, Norman agreed to share his story. Norman received a Masters degree in English at UC Berkeley. As a film...

Patrice from Los Angeles asks: I'm currently writing a screenplay that I'll be directing myself in about 10 months. I would like to use a Frank Sinatra look-alike to sing 3 ORIGINAL songs in the STYLE of Sinatra. Is that a copyright violation? Do I need to get approval from the family of Sinatra before I can use his likeness? Larry Zerner ESQ responds: This is an issue that comes up quite a lot, and you were correct to spot this as a potential problem. But I don't think this is something you have to worry about. Using a celebrity...

An old deodorant commercial once proclaimed, 'If you're not a little nervous, you're really not alive.' Pretty sage advice, even though the only thing at stake was staying dry and odor-free. But there is something to be said for accepting -- and learning to navigate -- the minor turbulences of life. I'm talking here about common, everyday anxiety. The jitters. Butterflies. This is particularly true for writers, whose very feelings are the raw materials of their craft. No matter how mundane, the small anxieties can swarm like bees, making work difficult; distractions, like an impending visit from the in-laws, money...

I would never write about someone who is not at the end of his rope. --Stanley Elkin Many writers mistake the outer life of a character for the inner life, assume that by offering a physical description and a few surface details, they have created a character. In actuality, the creating is just beginning. In real life it might suffice to know very little about someone else. Take, for instance, a company. A company can only ask a potential employee so much--if they probe into his sexual preferences or religious beliefs, they could get sued. If they probe deeper, into...