Advice

Doesn’t it seem as if a new screenwriting book is published every twenty minutes? I bear no small portion of the blame, as my third such tome burdened bookstore shelves just last year. What’s left for me now to write except a book about writing screenwriting books? My longtime pal, beautiful Viki King, author of the timeless How to Write a Movie in 21 Days (I asked her, ‘Why should it take so long?’) told me that the writers of such books do not actually compete with one another. Writers don’t buy one or the other but several such books....

How many screenplays do you have to write before you throw in the towel and delete your screenwriting program from your computer? 17? 12? 3?It depends on how seriously you take your screenwriting career--even if you don’t technically have a career, just a bunch of scripts that have: a) been rejected (if you’re fortunate enough to have had them read by someone in the industry even if they said no). b) or if you have a bunch of scripts that haven’t been read by anyone except your significant other and your film buff cousin who thinks “Citizen Kane” is overrated...

The reality of reality is that the genre may be the most often overlooked option when it comes to careers in storytelling. While the debate about whether or not reality television is “written” rages on, the real skinny is that story is story, and story is written - sort of. Pause for a moment to consider host copy, interview content and carefully structured stories that can span the length of a single episode to the full duration of a series. Life doesn’t just tumble through a lens and spill out the other side of a cable as a series of...

KATHIE FONG YONEDA: Everybody knows that getting hired in this business is about who you know. So, Ellen, you’ve been hired to write on over twenty shows, how do you get to know people and even more important, how do people get to know you? What is your advice on networking?ELLEN SANDLER: Actually I hate the word “networking.” It sounds so calculated, because it is. I don’t think it’s really the most productive thing to be doing – that kind of “active networking” thing.K: You mean where people are rushing at everyone handing out cards and pitching their loglines?E: Yeah....

Pilar Alessandra is the director of the Los Angeles-based writing program On The Page and a highly sought-after speaker and script consultant. She’s worked as Senior Story Analyst for DreamWorks and Radar Pictures, trained writers at ABC/Disney and MTV/Nickelodeon and presented classes at The Great American Pitchfest. Her students and clients have sold to Warner Brothers, Sony and more. She recently released her new book, The Coffee Break Screenwriter Writing Your Script Ten Minutes At A Time.Ann: In your book, The Coffee Break Screenwriter, you discuss how emotion + action tells the story, can you share your theory about story...