Advice

Question: What’s the best advice you can give writers to help them develop their own unique voice and style?John Truby: Voice and style are among the most misunderstood of all elements in storytelling. Voice and style aren’t simply a unique way of talking and writing. Voice and style come from content. Successful content comes from having an original story idea that is structurally well told. And this combination is extremely rare.This question is really about the writing process. Telling your story with a unique voice and style comes near the end of the process. The beginning of the process has...

Aspiring comedy writers spend years grinding away as P.A.s, pounding out spec script after spec script and dreaming of TV’s holy grail: a staff writing job. Then finally, they get the job! On staff of a prime time TV show. And something happens. They do the craziest, boneheaded things. One can only wonder… What are they thinking? Do they want to get fired? Is it too much pressure? Are they looking for a way out before anyone discovers they’re a fraud? Here’s 10 surefire ways to "Make a Big Impression in the Writers Room and Lose That Plum TV Writing...

You’ve been practicing your pitch for weeks: You’ve established a unique protagonist, given him a something he wants with a passion and even better, you’ve created a compelling antagonist. You’ve practiced making eye contact. You know this story backwards and forwards. You are ready to face anyone across the desk.As soon as you open your mouth one of the executives asks if you’re married to it being aliens. They tell you they’ve had twelve pitches this week about aliens. They want to do westerns. Have you got a western? Or she picks up her cell phone and makes an appointment...

Writing a first draft all the way through to the end gives you knowledge about the climax of the story. The climax is the point of highest drama in your story, the crowning moment when the thematic significance or deeper meaning becomes clear to the reader. Just as it looks as if all is permanently lost for the protagonist, at the climax she delivers the gift. The climax generally hits a chapter or scene before the final page.The climax determines many of the earlier decisions you need to make in your novel, memoir, and screenplay. The action the protagonist takes...

The winner is... Tyler Marceca - "The Disciple Program""After waking to find his wife dead in their backyard, a man conducts his own investigation, and uncovers the hidden life of a woman he thought he knew."Breaking News: "The Disciple Program" sells to Universal Studios with Mark Wahlberg attached to star and produceThe Industry Insider Screenwriting Contest gives you the unique opportunity to turn this idea into a solid spec screenplay that could be your ticket to Hollywood success, just like last round's winner, Tyler Marceca with The Disciple Program.The Industry Insider Screenwriting Contest is an international competition that facilitates relationships...