Screenwriting

Happy Sunday, Creative Army! Have you had a creative weekend so far? I have some content here for you that is sure to get the creative juices flowing, so grab your coffee, and let's dive in. It's Oscar weekend so there has been a pile of great content coming up online, and one of the best pieces came from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert's interview with Steven Spielberg and John Williams. They've been collaborating for decades and it shows in their interactions. Williams has created numer...

Audio dramas are a fun way to bring your project to life without the cost of television production. Think War of the Worlds. When radio was the only medium available to digest content from, dramatic shows gained popularity but fell to the wayside with the introduction of visual media. However, with the introduction of podcasting and its resulting popularity, audio dramas are making a comeback. I published my first novel, Day After Disaster, in 2014. It became book one in a series of novels ti...

When considering projects for development they often arrive at different stages. A lot of the time there is a pilot script and a rough idea for how the rest of the show will play out. But when it comes to presenting your work to an executive, the pitch deck becomes essential. This can sometimes take weeks or even months to get right, but over the years I’ve always seen one thing come out of the process – the whole project improves. If you’re doing your pitch deck right, there are several reasons...

Last year, Stage 32 was kind enough to publish several blog posts, in which I described my career path, going from an unknown writer in a small country to now being able to have a career in filmmaking. And Stage 32 did what it does best - it sparked connections. A producer based in LA noticed a few of my blog posts, and then noticed my insight on a topic. He decided to get in touch via Stage 32, asking what I was working on. And then, magic happened. Within a month, I had a meeting with...

Happy Sunday, Creative Army! Have you had a creative weekend so far? I have some content here for you that is sure to get the creative juices flowing, so grab your coffee, and let's dive in. The 95th annual Academy Awards are scheduled to air live on ABC on Sunday, March 12, from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay were announced on January 24. Check out the trailers for the nominated scripts below and email success@s...

Many writers want to know how long their scripts should be. And the answer is almost always, “Shorter than you think.” This is especially true, dear creatives, as we start out our careers. The other day on Instagram, writer/actor Shawn Parikh laid to rest the excuse “but Aaron Sorkin gets to do it” – namely, write massively long scripts – by reminding us, gently, that we are not Aaron Sorkin. For us mere mortals, 90-110 pages will do just fine. But why is this the case? Why can’t we push it...

When I wrote my first screenplay, I was 17, outspoken, and very confident in my writing abilities, so when the teacher told us we were having a stage playwriting contest, I nearly jumped out of my chair with excitement. I spent the whole day writing and planning out my screenplay. The next day, I gave copies to almost everyone in my class to see what they thought. One student said it was terrible and tossed it in the garbage. I even had a close friend tell me to stop sending her stories, and we...

William Goldman was pretty spot on with this astute observation of Hollywood. "Nobody knows anything."  Like any industry that requires human capital — or to be more dramatic since we are talking storytelling — like any industry that feeds on metaphorical blood, sweat, and tears, the spec screenwriting business has been through booms and busts. Ups and downs. Just google “Shane Black 1990s’’ to get some specific historical context for what the spec business has looked like over the years. As...

Like many, I’m reasonably new to screenwriting. I taught college courses in writing and Goth Lit for 15 years, and when I made the switch to screenwriting, I thought, “It’s writing. How hard could it be? Look at all the stuff that gets made.” I embarked on a journey to learn all I could about writing scripts, something I’d dreamed of doing for nigh-on 30 years. I wrote a couple of sitcoms I thought were awesome and sent them to some managers who accepted unsolicited scripts. I was turned dow...

A common question aspiring screenwriters crafting big blockbuster scripts ask is: "How can I sell my script to the studios?" The truth, while not impossible,  the chances of this happening for an "unknown" screenwriter (meaning you haven't sold anything before) is very slim. So, let's try and broaden the odds for you and look at Indie Film Production. Stage32 has a plethora of Producers in this community, so let me suggest you start by forming relationships with them and seeing where that l...