Screenwriting Tips

agent, manager, representation, writing career - June 02, 2021

What Else You Got?

You have written a great script. Awesome! Now what? Or more specifically, are you ready for representation? Are you ready to shop it? What comes next? In this article, I want to discuss a common question I hear among new writers: Is one good script enough? Let’s dive in. From my years of working in the industry, with multiple reps and a rather large network of writers I know at various levels – the best advice I would give on this topic is that one good script is essential, but it isn’t nearly enough. Put differently, that one script that...

Approaches to The Big Idea

Throughout my time in LA and becoming a screenwriter, I have met dozens of other writers, and have always been fascinated to learn where ideas for their scripts come from. If anyone (in the industry or not) has read something you wrote, they almost always ask, “Why did you write it?” or “How did you come up with that?” This article aims to explore those two questions a little more. Despite the many ways to break story, get to outline, write the first, final draft and polish – no matter what you are writing, it always starts with an idea....

Story Structure

Today I want to talk about structure. If you are a writer, you will inevitably talk or be asked about the structure of your film. When I first started writing, I remember thinking, “What does it mean for a story to have good or bad structure?”. You can’t Google, “story-structure”, and learn how to write your story in the right way, so how do you crack the code? This article will hopefully offer some insight into what it means to have a well-structured script, but I want to do it from a birds-eye view instead of analyzing every “beat” a...

Combining Genres

In this article, I want to talk about genre. I believe it’s commonly overlooked by new writers and often leads to scripts that aren’t commercially viable, and even if they have a strong concept or story, they aren’t executed in a way that makes it easy to sell, or even digest as a reader. Moreover, new writers tend to write scripts that combine genres in a way that makes their story miss both. Combing genres is VERY HARD TO DO, but we will also look at examples of how they are done well. To start, does your script easily fit...

Your First 30 Pages...

I run one of the largest writers’ groups in Hollywood, with writers at all different skill levels. Every week the group hears 30 pages of a screenplay acted out by professional actors (like a table read), then the rest of the writers in the group gives notes on the pages. As you can probably imagine, people mostly present the first 30 pages of a feature. At this point I have heard nearly 1000 Act One’s, and in this article, I want to discuss what makes an Act One FLY or DIE. There are multiple things you need to accomplish in...

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What Else You Got?

Approaches to The Big Idea

Story Structure

Combining Genres

Your First 30 Pages...

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