Articles

If you want to sell your screenplay, production companies may be your best bet.  And one way to get to them is screenplay query letters.  But there's a problem...  Over the last year, we've received about 200 query letters and have found some to be inspiring, some to be shocking and some caused us to

Twice a year, we bring select ProSeries Alumni writers to town to meet 20+ producers.  Over the last seven years, our group has met over 150 producers and benefited from their experience. Our guests have included the producers of: The Bourne Trilogy Lethal Weapon Training day Die Hard Scrooged About Schmidt X-Men and 800 other

  For most people, subtext is the most ellusive of all the writing skills. Even great writers often can't explain how they create subtext. Why? Because they are operating primarily from intuition -- that has come from many years of presenting scripts to actors, directors, and producers. So they don't have a conscious structure they

Some people look at agents as the savior who will guide their career and make them rich.  Some see agents as the sharks of the entertainment industry.   Some see them as a necessary evil. In reality, agents are business people who have a certain function -- selling screenplays and packaging movies.  Their power comes from their

Whether you need a screenplay agent right now or next year, you should bookmark this series of articles.  Over the next two weeks, I’ll give you a list of strategies to get an agent. These are strategies that are working for our ProSeries Alumni writers.  But rather than  just listing the strategy, the real value here

What if agents and producers saw you as “naturally talented?”There are two ways to become a great screenwriter.  One is to find your “natural talent.”  The other is to build in all the skills, understanding, and creative process that can express that talent in the most amazing way possible. You need to do both.   Today, I’ll

Here's a secret that could help you sell a screenplay.There are more ways to break into Hollywood (including the Indie market) and sell a screenplay than there have ever been.   And after you read this article, you’ll have a new level of access and freedom to make your career happen.It is as simple as three steps and

For the last 50 years, you had to live in L.A. if you were selling a screenplay and building a screenwriting career.   It is just the way things were……but there is change in the air.We recently did a ScreenwritingU event where I interviewed 16 producers and 2 agents in Los Angeles for a group of our writers. 

It’s going to happen to you. When you get to a certain point in your writing, you’ll get requests to work on spec.  It is just a natural part of your development as a screenwriter. Your writing has become good enough that some small producers want to work with you.  Very likely, they’ll want you to work

If you ask people their favorite movie of all time, many will say Casablanca.On theAFI Top 100 Movie Quotes, six lines came from Casablanca and the movie was listed as the 2nd greatest movie of all time.What made those lines so memorable?And how can that benefit your writing?As you read this article, you’ll see Famous Lines