Archive for the ‘WRITING’ Category

How To Sell Your Screenplay

Posted by admin in WRITING on October 13th, 2009

writer How To Sell Your ScreenplayI am currently working on selling my screenplay No Ordinary Love to a producer and/or production company.As I continue to study and learn more about the entire screenplay selling process I was fortunate enough to come across a very informative article by screenwriter Ashley Scott Meyers.

Here’s an excerpt from his article:

“Many of the trade publications (The Hollywood reporter, Daily variety, Backstage West) will often  have ads in them placed by producers or directors seeking screenplays.  Over the last few years I’ve noticed that there are fewer and fewer of these sorts of ads in the trades as they have moved to Craig’s List.  Read my post about submitting to Craig’s List.  While you do have to be very careful, it is a great resource for writers, especially beginning writers. I recently optioned a script to a producer I met on Craig’s List so it can be done.

I actually began my screenwriter career by submitting to Reader’s Digest Writer’s Market.  They have a section for screenwriters and have filtered the list a bit so that most of the listed production companies will read scripts by unproduced writers.

The Hollywood Creative Directory (HCD) is a comprehensive list of every single production company in the United States with addresses, phone and fax numbers, and sometimes email addresses.  While this isn’t an easy road I have optioned screenplays through unsolicited submissions this way.  It’s going to require a lot of letter writing, faxing, emailing, and phone calls, but if you do it on a large enough scale you will eventually get some of these companies to read your material and hopefully option it from you.  There’s well over 2000 companies listed so you have plenty of places to submit.”

Ashley’s words of wisdom are helping me to launch an effective and professional submission campaign to sell my screenplay. I highly recommend that you visit his website and read his article How To Sell Your Screenplay (in a nutshell).

No Comments


5 “must read” books for the passionate independent filmmaker

Posted by admin in CAREER ADVANCEMENT, DIRECTING, PRODUCING, WRITING on August 10th, 2009

Is your film career worth 30 minutes of your time everyday? Young man reading a book 0011 300x180 5 must read books for the passionate independent filmmaker

As you make your professional journey through the film industry, you will encounter both challenges and uncertainty that might leave you feeling hopeless and discouraged.

But there is always an answer/solution to any problem you might face as a movie director, producer or scriptwriter.

“There will never be a new problem. Somewhere… someone had the same problem as you, find the solution and wrote it down in a book”   – Will Smith

Here are 5 must read books for any passionate moviemaker:

1) Reel to Deal: Everything You Need to Create a Successful Independent Film by Dov S-S Simens

This is an easy and informative read. Very inspiring for someone who’s interested in making movies. Especially for independent film producers. I really like his advice about “first make a movie, then make a deal”.

Also, Dov S-S Simens has a very successful online and DVD package web film school loaded with priceless industry knowledge that helped launch the careers of several high profile Hollywood directors like Guy Ritchie, Christopher Nolan and Baz Luhrmann. I highly recommend his course, check here for more details.

2) The Film Director Prepares: A Complete Guide to Directing for Film & TV by Myrl A. Schreibman

Loaded with a vast amount of useful information for newbie film directors ranging from topics like directing actors to camera coverage to how to be professional and efficient onset.

3) Rebel Without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez

Robert Rodriguez is the modern day king of D.I.Y. moviemaking. His book chronicles how he made a feature film for $7,000 that launched his film career. What I love about this book is Rodriguez cuts through all the Hollywood noise and b.s. and gives you real,honest, useful tips on what you really need to succeed as an independent movie director.

4) The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters: Insider’s Secrets from Hollywood’s Top Writers by Karl Iglesias

Based on conversation with successful working Hollywood script writers like Eric Roth, Akiva Goldsman, Ed Solomon, Nicholas Kazan, Leslie Dixon, Scott Rosenberg, Gerald DiPego, Steven DeSouza, Tom Schulman, Michael Schiffer, Amy Holden Jones, Robin Swicord. This book gives you the real deal about the daily routines and how to break into the industry tips from the writers of many of today’s top Hollywood movies. I really loved what Ron Bass (Rain man) had to say about succeeding as a screenplay writer.

5) Stop Waiting and Make Your Movie by Ian Agard

 This is a feature film financing guide with 32 information-packed pages of valuable tips and strategies used by both established and emerging filmmakers to secure money for their film productions. For a novice or expert. If you are an independent moviemaker who needs $5,000 to $500,000 to make your feature film, then this e-book is for you. To learn more about it, click here.


No Comments


How to be a film screenwriter: 2 Quick and Powerful Tips

Posted by admin in WRITING on July 21st, 2009

Are you interested in making a living as a movie screenwriter?

If so, this article is for you. Back in 2000, I watched a video interview with Oscar-award winning screenwriter Ron Bass (Rain Man, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Entrapment) discussing how in order to become a successful screenwriter you just need to do two things. The simplicity of his advice has still stuck with me today and I’d like to share it with you.
1. Write everyday.
Ron Bass highly recommended that anyone who is serious about screenplay writing (or writing in general) must invest some quality time working everyday on your script. Ron Bass himself said he has a daily routine where he writes for 1 hour everyday from 6am to 7am. 7 days a week.
2. As soon as you finish writing one screenplay, start writing a new script that same day.
Bass said the biggest mistake novice screenplay writers make is that they’ll finish writing a certain film script and immediately fall in love with it…thinking it will become the next great spec screenplay sold. They will begin to fixate on how original and clever their story is and start looking for ways to sell it and get it produced. (I’ll admit, I’m guilty of this)
Bass mentions that your screenwriting ability will only get better from writing not deal making. Also, that the first couple of screenplays from newbie writers usually lack what it takes to become a produced film.
So, say today you just finished writing a screenplay…don’t fall head over heels in love with it just yet. Start on another new script that same day, even if it means just doing some research about your proposed story line or main character. The faster you write a few bad screenplays, learn from the experience and keeping writing. The faster you’ll be able to become a professional screenplay writer.
After 20+ years of following these two simple tips, Ron Bass has had 25 screenplays produced into movies and won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

No Comments


Best Screenwriting Programs

Posted by admin in WRITING on June 22nd, 2009

screenwriter laptop Best Screenwriting Programs

When you are embarking on your journey to take your movie idea and put them onto the page. It helps to use top-notch script writing programs. This article will explore the top five best scriptwriting programs used in the movie industry today.

5. Montage (Mac users only)

The only screenwriting software exclusively developed for Mac OS X. Melding the theory that a simple user interface, combined with powerful and intuitive features, provide the best writing experience, Montage makes it easy to create, edit, and manage screenplays on your Macintosh. From the ability to import and export Final Draft documents, to using custom, pre-formatted templates for film, TV, and theater, Montage guides both the first time screenwriter or the seasoned veteran, from start to finish.

Retail Price: $139.95 U.S.

4. Scenewriter Pro
SceneWriter Pro is totally different in that you don’t have to worry about pages or writing in a linear fashion from start to finish, you write on a scene-by-scene basis and you may write in any order you wish!
However, SceneWriter Pro formats your script to Hollywood Industry Standards, but that’s only a small fraction of the benefits that writing your script in SceneWriter Pro offers.
From outlining, character development, location lists, project notes and of courseindustry standard formatting, SceneWriter Pro’s non-linear, scene-by-scene approach to writing will make writing that multi-million dollar blockbuster a piece of cake.

Retail Price: $99.00 U.S.

3. Celtx

This program is ideal for you writer/director/producers. Celtx helps you pre-produce all types of media – film, video, documentary, theater, machinima, comics, advertising, video games, music video, radio, podcasts, videocasts, and however else you choose to tell your story. Unlike scriptwriting software and sites, you can use Celtx for the entire pre-production process – write scripts, storyboard scenes and sequences, develop characters, breakdown & tag elements, schedule production, and prepare detailed and informative production reports for cast and crew.

Retail Price: free. An indie filmmaker’s favourite word.

2. Final Draft
This screenwriting software is excellent for writing and formatting a screenplay to meet the screenplay submission standards set by the theater and film industry. It is the only preferred screenwriting software using WGAW Registry for online submission.
The current version, Final Draft 7, contains over 50 movie and television templates. It also offers the feature of allowing users to assign computer generated voices to their characters, who then read the script aloud. How cool is that!

Retail Price: $229.00 U.S.

1. Movie Magic Screenwriter

Used to format screenplays, teleplays and novels. Magic Screenwriter is the grand daddy of them all. It’s the official script writing software of the Writer’s Guild of America and has been used by writers of the following movies: Pirates of the Caribbean, Crash, Babel and many more. The newest version has an outlining ability that really helps you organize your scenes.

Retail Price: $209.95 U.S.

If you are serious about making screenwriting your profession, Movie Magic Screenwriter or Final Draft would be a wise investment.

Also keep in mind that a few of these programs offer free demo trials of their software.

No Comments


How to write a screenplay in just 5 minutes at a time

Posted by admin in WRITING on June 22nd, 2009

office worker frustration thumb741745 How to write a screenplay in just 5 minutes at a time

Last week I read the book One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way by Robert Maurer and quite enjoyed the wisdom that it had to offer. The basic premise of the book revolves around the fact that we can achieve any goal or change any challenging and difficult thing in our lives through simple, small baby steps forward.

As I poured through the book it got me thinking about how some filmmakers (especially screenwriters) could benefit from this type of mindset. I know from my experiences that sitting down to write a feature length screenplay can sometimes become a painful test of will power and self discipline.

So if you’re a writer, instead of sitting down and promising to write 5 pages before you get up…start by just writing for 5 minutes a day.
That’s it.
Once you have built up the habit of writing for 5 minutes…then stretch it to just 10 minutes working on your story everyday. Feel no pressure to increase your writing sessions. Just work at your own pace. But I’m sure that as you continue to faithfully work on your story in 5,10 and 15 minute sessions you’ll easily build up your writing stamina to 30 minutes to one hour per day.
Next time when the thought of writing your screenplay comes to mind and that small voice tells you that you’re too tired or too busy or not feeling inspired. Just walk right over to your computer, turn it on and invest just 5 minutes towards your future film.

No Comments



SetPageWidth