The gate keepers to Hollywood are Readers.  Few Producers or Executives will read the script until it has been vetted; and some don't read at all if you can believe that.  So Readers hold a lot of power unfortunately.  If you get a cranky one because they have a 100 scripts to read, they are just looking for a reason to deleted your script and move on. Your job as the writer is to not give them a reason.  Please keep the following in mind:

Okay, I lied recently. I am on social media, Instasnap, twit, whatever...  only my account is in my real name and no one knows who I am... I surf the web in silence... solitude... er... stealth. WTF ever.

Some writers never get started because they think they have to have it all figured out before they sit down to actually write.   Well I am here to tell you, you don't!  You don't need to have it all figured out, but you do need a few things absolutely resolved in your mind before you write.   As a matter of fact, I think you can over-plot and convolute your mind and your story, which can bog you down.  I've never been a note card person (not that there is anything wrong with that), it just wasn't my "screenplay starter." 

Christopher Landon will write and direct Final Boarding, a supernatural horror film for Sony Pictures’ Screen Gems, based on the short story by Clarence Hammond.

Dr. Linda Seger is the original script consultant having literally inventing the job in 1981; before her it didn't exist.  Since then she has consulted on over 2000 scripts and presented screenwriting seminars in over thirty countries around the world. Seger has written nine books on screenwriting making her the most prolific screenwriting author we have.   Seger consulted for Peter Jackson’s break-through film, BRAIN DEAD and Roland Emmerich’s breakthrough film, UNIVERSAL SOLDIER. She also has given seminars for studios, networks including ABC, NBC, CBS, production companies, television series (MacGyver, The Mary Show), film commissions, universities and film schools. 

This is an interview I was really happy to get back in 2004, it was a pleasure to interview such a screenwriting legend as John Michael Hayes.  We have also added a neat short interview with him where he discusses characters and Hitchcock.

Rear Window is considered to be Hitchcock's most "cinematic" picture. At times it had to communicate a lot to the audience without a word ever being spoken. This isn't surprising as Hitchcock started directing in 1922, during the silent era, making several silent films. By 1954, the year Rear Window was released he had clearly mastered the art of directing. However, before he could unleash his visual brilliance there had to be a great script from which to allow such a great movie to be made.

Twenty-two years ago Christopher Wehner wrote his first screenplay.   Like most writers he dreamed of seeing his work make it to the big screen.  After many struggles, rejections, and disappointments he is on the verge of his dream.   When you go to his IMDB page it shows EL CAMINO CHRISTMAS as his sole writing credit.   From that perspective you might considered him an overnight success; only its been a twenty-two year in the making one.   And like almost all of these kinds of success stories it took chance encounters, some luck, and a lot of perseverance. 

First let me stop writing the script I am currently working on so I can pound out this short editorial. Though I should say allow me to stop bleeding at the keyboard as I struggle with the current scene I am writing. I have to admit that I am my own worst enemy as a writer.  I procrastinate, often, and it can sometimes be so debilitating that I never finish some screenplays. Why?

The Oscar nominated movie NEBRASKA, with an award winning screenplay by Bob Nelson, is in my opinion one of the better scripts recently produced for screenwriters to learn a little something about the craft. Why? It’s the epitome of efficient and dramatic storytelling. The script is pithy, direct, yet it has depth and emotion (theme) that is so subtle in its presentation.