From the Pages of a Book: Five Successful Adaptations
When I was in film school at UCLA, the head of our department, Richard Walter, gave a lecture in which he asked the question, “What does a screenwriter owe the original material?” Immediately, he answered his own question, saying “Nothing!”
While this is a great point—as a ...
You know the story you want to write. You’ve learned the formatting rules for writing a screenplay. You’ve drafted and drafted and drafted. And, now you want to make sure that when your spec script gets read, everyone loves it. How does that happen? I can hear you in the back row saying, “I wrote a good story. I don’t need to do ...
If you want to be a TV writer, you need to write a spec script -- that's your own personal episode of a popular TV show.
So, like many fledgling TV writers, Billy Domineau -- who works as a tutor -- paid his dues to the spec gods and crafted his own TV spec script. But unlike most writers, Domineau took a big risk. He wrote an episode of ...
Sausage Party is an R-rated animated film for adults that has a lot of fun turning the sacrosanct Pixar genre on its head. Then, slashing it with a knife. Then lighting it on fire, while throwing in some social commentary on the Israel/Palestine conflict. Yes, the movie does all those things and then some.
Even if you've been writing for a long time, there's always room to hone your voice and see if you can amp up your originality and style. So let's take a look at a few writers and directors -- by no means an exhaustive list -- and see what we can glean about voice from their uniquely resonant work.
Many writers despise networking. Networking can produce serious anxiety in those who worry that they'll come off as awkward. Just as importantly: many of us don't have time to do the networking necessary to advance our careers -- many of us have responsibilities both at home and at our day jobs -- and what little free time we have, we'd like to spend writing. But since networking is crucial for your career, let's think of a few ways to take your networking game up a notch.
In person, screenwriter Matt Allen is a friendly, attractive man with salt and pepper stubble, and a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin. Little did I know when I went to meet him at Pete’s Coffee in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Westwood that he would reveal an outrageous story of survival that’s probably only possible inside the magical bubble of Hollywood.
Most of the rest of us struggle with procrastination at some point in our writing career. This article is for you. Since we all know putting things off is bad, let's think of some ways to get ourselves out of hole when the temptation to procrastinate (nearly) overpowers us.
Not many of us enjoy selling ourselves. It can be awkward and embarrassing. But since it's such an important part of the meeting structure here in Hollywood, let's think about some ways to pitch yourself.
Writers rarely stop to categorize the many different variations of characters out there. But categories can be useful if you are at the conception stage and unsure which way to go, or stuck in the middle of draft and wondering what your hero ought to do next. Let's look at five types of classic heroes.
The Ellen Page thriller Into the Forest is like most indie films in that character - not plot or action sequences – fuels the movie’s central story arc. Here are 5 tips according to writer/director Patricia Rozema to distinguish your character- driven indie film from the rest.
“My biggest fear is that I’m too old, if you want to know the truth,” she said. I was on the phone with a new client, it was our second session together, and we had begun digging into the deep ugly roots of her crippling self doubt and writer’s block. I wasn’t surprised that one of the first monsters to jump out of her closet was the fear of being too old.
