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Want to Be the Next Big Screenwriter? Why You’ve Got to Learn How to Take Creative Risk

One brilliant idea can make or break a screenwriter’s career. But how do you allow yourself to shed the judgement you have in your head and take risks to create something unique and inspiring?

What Can We Learn From Classic Movies? Pretty Much Everything

Classic movies may not have a lot of explosions or crazy car chases, but they still keep audiences nailed to their seats. So: how do they do it? What makes their stories so romantic, funny, heartrending or frightening? Why have these movies stood the test of time...?

Does ‘Writer’s Block’ Really Exist?

Many of us have a romantic vision of writing, but the truth is that writing is often slow, deliberate, painstaking work. We put one word after another. There's no way around: if you're a writer, you'll probably face writer's block at some point, and you'll be forced to find a way work through it. So let's think about some places to find inspiration if/when you get stuck.

WGA’s New Diversity Database: Will It Help Or Hurt Writers?

From #OscarSoWhite to the federal EEOC investigating the lack of working female film directors, outrage over Hollywood’s lack of diversity is everywhere. Now, the Writer’s Guild of America is doing its part to address the problem by creating a searchable database of its diverse members – but will it really make a difference?

What To Do When Your Script Gets Rejected

Rejection is the worst. Every writer who has ever shown their work to someone else knows this. Sharing your most personal creations puts you at risk for the most terrible sort of pain. Unless you're standing on a boat, scribbling pages and tossing them into the sea, sharing your work means there's a chance you'll face rejection. And everyone, everyone in Hollywood gets rejected at some point. Yes, everyone.

Five Old School Ways to Write Better Characters

Gone With The Wind. Casablanca. Citizen Kane. We all know the classics -- they're the movies that made us all want to start writing in the first place. They've got gripping plots, snappy dialogue... and absolutely unforgettable characters. ...

How to call Bill Murray’s 1-800 number according to ST. VINCENT writer/director

St. Vincent writer/director Ted Melfi thought it was more than a little quirky when he left a slue of messages for Bill Murray on his 1-800 number. He thought, this can’t be the means by which you get a screenplay to an A-list actor like Murray. ...

Screenwriter Margaret Nagle on THE GOOD LIE

It was 11 years ago when screenwriter Margaret Nagle started writing about the Sudanese refugees know as the “Lost Boys” who were orphaned by civil war in the mid 80s. “No one else is trying to tell their story in a movie. I felt I owed it to ...

"How I got 72 Script Requests!" With Screenwriter J.T. Quinn

Our ScreenwritingU Alumni just came back from the InkTip Pitch Summit and had a lot of success.  Every day right now, more script requests are rolling in for the group.  But one person stood out.  J.T. Quinn Going in with 12 scripts, J.T. and ...
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