Novelist Daniel Wallace looks at how books become movies.

Figuring out what the audience needs to know -- and when they need to know it -- is one of the trickiest aspects of screenwriting.

Reader Logan is dispirited by Hollywood's zeal to turn every toy and board game into a franchise.

No! Stop and re-assess. There are at least three options, but simply stealing the plot and characters isn't one of them.

MakingOf has an interview up with me in which I talk a bit about my writing process, the challenge of adaptations, and why one's career is often as much about the scripts you *didn't* write.

Story lessons from Star Trek, from the mouths and minds of the writers.

You shouldn't just answer questions. Get rid of them before they're asked.

With an adapted screenplay, it's not altogether obvious what awesomeness came from the screenwriter, and what came from the underlying material.

I might as well confirm the news: I'm writing a big-screen version of Preacher.

Let's look at what we can learn from the first batch of summer movies.

If I've only read 38 on the list of 1001 "Books You Must Read Before You Die," does that mean I'll live a long time?

The story behind former assistant Rawson Thurber's second feature.

Nine second answers to nine burning questions. Ready...go!

Not if it will get you read and your expectations are adjusted.

Titles matter.

If you're looking to put your story out into the world, paper beats film, hands down.

Easy steps to tracking down rights.

An author rails against his Hollywood adaptation.

Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day or something?

Two stories of letting down a great script.

Where the adapted screenplay might reside in academia.

I adapted a computer game into a movie and I didn't feel a wee bit cheap.

Let your story pick your format.

Why attorneys exist.

Turning book into movie: from acquiring rights to writing.

Books and movies should be compared, if only to understand what each does well.

When I criticized Rob Ager’s analysis of spatial impossibilities in The Shining, I didn't realize the extent of wild theories about Kubrick's film.

In episode four of Scriptnotes, Craig and I discuss migraines and zombie apocalypse preparations before we segue to the main topic: how screenwriters work with directors, from the first meeting to on-set etiquette to giving notes in post.

The genius fallacy at work: Since Kubrick was a perfectionist, anything that seems like an error in Kubrick's work *must not* be an error, but must instead be a deliberate choice.

No Meaner Place has a lengthy conversation with Howard Rodman about August, his original screenplay that become the Josh Hartnett tech-startup indie from last year.

There is no grand tradition of a "director's pass." When it happens, it's because some directors (1) believe they can write and (2) believe they can fix the perceived problems in the script. They may say they want to "make it their own." But underlying that is the fact that there's something about the script that bugs them, and you haven't been willing or able to address it.

As a general rule, don't waste your time building a proxy career. But if your goal is to direct big action movies, a killer reel may make commercial and music videos worthwhile.

When you make something that you yourself use, that's called dogfooding, a contraction of "eating your own dogfood." That's developer-speak, but it's something screenwriters would do well to appropriate.

Most screenwriters are broke at some point. Better it happens at the start of your career than the end.

I've not written Alice in Wonderland three times. It's a recurring motif, dating back to 1995 and the very start of my career.

Tonight and next Wednesday, I'll be hosting the Director's Close Up panels for Film Independent. Tonight's director is Jason Reitman, joined by cinematographer Eric Steelberg, editor Dana E. Glauberman and composer Rolfe Kent. We'll be talking about Up In The Air, Juno and Thank You For Smoking.

Film is a hundred different skills and disciplines, and no one person is going to be great at all of them.

What makes one high-concept idea more execution-dependent than another?

Yes, you can have characters talk about people like Michael Bay without getting permission.

Screenwriting continues to be the most transparent and opaque part of moviemaking.

Lessons on screenwriting in action, straight from George, Steven and Larry.

A clip from my 2003 pilot, directed by Kim Manners.

Sometimes there's good reasons why original writers leave and return to their projects.

How the writer, actor, director and audience work together.

A pioneer explains how 3-D changes (or doesn't) cinema.

How to avoid being talked out of your dreams.

When the shoot begins, the real world comes to play.

In a collaboration, how to identify contributions and distinguish contributors.

A blog reader helps steer another reader towards his dream job.

The disorienting effects of movie magic.

And both the film and I were better for it.

Access leads to learning which is everything.

If you don't like it, don't do it.

I feel exhausted just thinking about it.

There's little time or room on set for the writer in me once the director in me takes over, but he's good to have around.

This is one of the worst things about being a screenwriter: you ultimately have very little control over the movie that gets made. Here's how to deal.

Almost certainly once, before she signs on for the job. After that, it's hard to say. And that's not all bad.

The job of a writer and the job of a director are fundamentally different, which is why so few people are great at both.

If a screenwriter gets a film produced, will he or she get to see a rough cut of the film at its earliest stage?

How to bring your dialogue to life without stepping where you don't belong.

Timed right, they can take you places.

What happens when you disagree with what a director does with your script?

John and Craig discuss why screenwriters want to please people -- and how it often hurts them and the movie they're writing -- before a lengthy discussion of the pros and cons of going to film school.

Today's First Person demonstrates an important point: you can't pick the single moment at which you've "made it."

Jay Faerber is trying to transition from writing comics to writing TV, and is doing so with the help of the Warner Bros TV Writers Workshop.

Allison Schroeder works in both features and television. She exemplifies something I've seen again and again: a career is shaped by talent, luck and extraordinarily hard work

Every year, the Writers Guild Foundation holds a series of discussions with film and television writers focusing on one of their past or current projects. This year, I'll be a guest, talking about Big Fish.

A reader unearths coverage I wrote for both Quentin Tarantino's NATURAL BORN KILLERS and Sam Hamm's PULITZER PRIZE.

In general, it's a mistake to think of universities as businesses and students as consumers. But for certain specialized film training, for-profit programs can make sense.

If you can't find that one smart reader amid your circle, it's possible that you'd benefit from paying someone. I don't have any names to recommend, but if I were in your place, I'd look for a few things.

Scott wonders if his online filmmaking classes are teaching him what he needs to know.

New York Times writers offer suggestions for incoming college students.

When I was buying a house, the rule of thumb was that you could afford a home three to four times your annual income. It feels like there should be an equivalent rule of thumb for how much you can spend on your education versus average salary of your studied profession.

It's easy to pick numbers that show how a plumber who saves diligently will out-earn an egghead saddled with student debt.

Synthian Sharp taped my Q&A in Rancho Mirage, and has it available on Vimeo.

At the gym yesterday, we were discussing which language would be the best foreign language for a native English speaker to learn. Specifically, can you make a compelling case for any language other than Spanish or Mandarin?

My advice to recent film school grads. What did you do today to get closer to your goals?

Connect with your Trojan brethren.

An editing class will recut The Nines from scratch. Final film unseen.

You need good readers. Here's how to choose and keep them.

USC Film School getting a whole new set up. The spoiled bastards.

Often, the best answer is the simplest: something physical and achievable.

Confronted with a bad script, step back and ask the right questions.

What are the pitfalls for a foreigner trying to break into Hollywood?

Advice for hasty filmmakers.

Oh to be 16 and anxious...

There's no shortcut around becoming a "screenwriter" to becoming a "script doctor."

Ground your notion of Hollywood. While it seems glamorous and lucrative, if you’re coming to the film industry looking to get rich, you’re wasting your time.

Another assistant makes his way.

Thoughts on public speaking.

Depends on your sensibility.

Advice for your film school applications.

Candid advice, straight from a decider.

Cool resources with fountains of inspiration.

How I discovered that good writing is invisible.

There are a few types/stages of scripts. Some teach more than others.

Choosing what you study isn't as important as doing it passionately.

Movie scripts looked so simple, it seemed a lot easier than any other form of writing.

Encouraging the next generation of filmmakers without scaring them off.

There's so much to play with, study and write about in the world around you. Start there.

There's a hell of lot to learn about filmmaking, but school's not the only place to do it.

I've only just started reading Danny Rubin's How to Write Groundhog Day, but it's promising enough that I think many screenwriters will want to take a look at it this weekend.

Standardization is good. Differentiation is good. But they're *competing forces.* You can only differentiate your product by moving away from a standard.

Craig and I talk a bit about the effects of first-sale doctrine in this week's podcast, but we don't define it. So let's do that here.

Redbox, the DVD rental kiosk company, sent out a press release with a list of their most-rented titles for 2011. The winners are not who you'd expect.

Following up on last week's podcast about the economics of the film industry, more details on the business from the exhibitor's perspective.

When you read articles claiming every Hollywood movie loses money, an obvious question arises: "Why do they keep making them, then?" In this installment, John and Craig explain how the film industry spends and makes money.

Witney Seibold has an extremely useful explanation of what a projectionist does, and why filmmakers should care.

The three major manufactures of motion picture cameras have stopped making new film cameras.

Remember that guy who's suing the agencies for not representing him? Jim Vines has an interview with him, and asks one question that kept nagging at me.

Aspiring screenwriter leaves locked suitcase at talent agency. Bomb squad destroys it.

Superhero movies continue to make money, but the rise of very profitable R-rated comedies is the box office story of the summer.

Nicole Iizuka takes issue with my assertion that "All the interns in Los Angeles could get Raptured tomorrow and the town would function just fine.”

Justin Samuels, the aspiring screenwriter who filed a lawsuit against two agencies for not representing him, wrote in with comments on my original post about his case.

Cory Doctorow revisits a 2009 Harry Potter participation statement, marveling at how the hugely successful fifth installment manages to lose $167 million.

Justin Marks argues on behalf of literary managers.

Following up on an email exchange, I sat down for a conversation with writer/director Jay Duplass to talk about his Kickstarter-backed indie documentary, and the larger questions of balance indie projects with studio features.

As a screenwriter, with no aspirations of getting behind the camera, how hard is it, or would it be to sell a spec script, that could possibly be a 100-110 min movie, but only a 65-70 page script? Understanding that execution is key, is it even possible to get your screenplay looked at, with it being so short?

I'm the guest on the most recent installment of the New Mediacracy podcast, discussing The Remnants, this blog, and the shifting role of the screenwriter.

I wrote a lot of coverage during my first few years in Los Angeles. Sometimes, the only way I could get through 120 terrible pages was imagining what I'd get to write about it.

An agent may ask to see "everything you've ever written." Don't take that too seriously. Show him your best screenwriting.

Copyright is a bundle of protections granted to the creator of a work. It doesn't cover the pure idea ("Save the Last Dance with dinosaurs"); it covers the expression of the idea (your original, 120-page screenplay Dinosalsa: The Jurassic Dance).

When it was announced in November, one of the bold new ideas of Amazon Studios was letting any user rewrite any screenplay in the competition. I thought that was a terrible idea, and users agreed.

Khoi Vinh argues the Blu-ray format is demonstrably worse than what came before it.

I'm perpetually amazed by mega-edits like this one, which combines pieces of 270 movies from this past year.

While you can intuit a bit about producers' taste by the films they've made, don't assume producers only get certain genres. And never turn down a chance for a read.

A screenwriter colleague recently vented her frustration with always getting paid late for her studio jobs. I didn't have any particularly good advice for her -- what she describes is hardly unique. In fact, the situation is so much the norm that I asked if she would write up a post about her experiences, since I've never really discussed it on the blog.

If Amazon Studios were a simple finance and production outfit like Relativity or Morgan Creek, there would be nothing more to say. But Amazon Studios has an unusual strategy that combines competition, crowdsourcing and a lot of question marks.

I have to believe she was misquoted, or excerpted in some unflattering way, because Jessica Alba couldn't have actually said this.

Any work you're not getting paid for should be yours and yours alone. That's why aspiring screenwriters write spec scripts. That's what you should focus on writing. Still, there may be situations in which it makes sense to write a script for someone else without getting paid.

What's a reasonable amount of time to give your manager to read a draft of your script? It sometimes takes this screenwriter's manager up to a month.

General meetings aside, how many pushes merits cause for concern regarding interest in you/your idea?

Based on some printed scripts I've seen recently, a related skill may be on verge of being lost forever: writing on the spine of a script. Here's a quick tutorial.

Could a Canadian screenwriter with a criminal record sell specs in Hollywood?

"Unsheets" are posters made *after* the movie by talented fans -- in many cases, decades later. They're not trying to make a movie look appealing. They're celebrating movies that are already beloved.

A Slinky movie parody is all too real.

Most screenwriters are broke at some point. Better it happens at the start of your career than the end.

When a novel is adapted into a film or television series, how does compensation to the writer of the original novel work?

Reader Logan is dispirited by Hollywood's zeal to turn every toy and board game into a franchise.

How much should a first-time writer expect to make on a sale?

The Bechdel test points out how rarely women characters in movies talk about anything other than men.

I follow the keys rule: only if they take possession of my car keys.

In the short term, yes, the rush towards 3-D may affect the kinds of movies that get greenlit. But the underlying "nature of cinematic storytelling" doesn't tend to change much even in the face of tremendous technical innovations.

Paul spent 29 years in a job too good to leave, and regrets it.

NYT on unpaid internships, which are common and often illegal.

The iPad makes a terrific device for reading screenplays as .pdfs, particularly with third-party apps.

The job of an agent or manager is to put your work in the hands of people who might like it, then get you into rooms to meet with them. If they can't do that, you need someone new.

In books and in movies, increased sampling usually generates more sales than it costs.

I've not written Alice in Wonderland three times. It's a recurring motif, dating back to 1995 and the very start of my career.

Producers and production companies aren't necessarily going to be excited that someone else had the project before them. Yes, it validates their taste a bit, but they may worry that the script has already been burned out around town. If everyone has read it and passed, what are they going to do with it, exactly?

Scott wonders if his online filmmaking classes are teaching him what he needs to know.

Chris works as an assistant at a studio? Do they own anything he writes?

Netflix announced that it wouldn't be shipping new releases from Warner Bros. until 28 days after street date.

Useful suggestions for screenwriters working on their first animated feature

ScriptShadow reviews scripts to upcoming movies. And that hurts screenwriters more than anyone.

Since I was name-checked twice this interview from the top-ranked Wharton School of Business, I feel some responsibility to point out a few fallacies and follies.

WGAw screenwriters should have received an email yesterday about an online survey the Guild is conducting. Please find the email -- it might get stuck in your spam filter -- and click the link.

For newcomers, I can offer a bit of a summary

I have little sympathy for users outraged that Hulu is going to start charging.

Is it a good idea to focus on making a movie for Christian audiences?

Writers are making less money, and it's part of a bigger shift in the industry.

A reader asks if a planned DVD crosses into dangerous copyright territory.

Somewhat remarkably, the top two movies in America have subtitles. Lots and lots of subtitles.

It's the wrong kind of question, but you don't know that at the start.

An LA Times article about the island of Pagasa makes a great case study in the difference between an interesting setting and an actual movie idea.

Brian Lowry cautions against [taking Comic-Con buzz too seriously.

The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal on the Cablevision case, allowing the Second Circuit Court's decision to stand. Cablevision can begin introducing its service.

Indies have high per-screen averages *because* they're on so few screens, not despite it.

Any sort of application, whether it's for a grant, for college or for a job, needs to do exactly three things.

Film is a hundred different skills and disciplines, and no one person is going to be great at all of them.

At a screenwriting panel last week, Robin Swicord said something that reframed the issue in a very helpful way.

Jonny Sommers has a job many readers want -- or at least, think they want: the assistant to a successful and busy TV showrunner.

I flew up to Oakland yesterday for lunchtime lecture and Q&A at Pixar. And wow. It's really nice up there.

Story lessons from Star Trek, from the mouths and minds of the writers.

What makes one high-concept idea more execution-dependent than another?

They filed with SEC, noting "substantial doubt" about their ability to continue.

An article about Redbox, whose kiosks rent DVDs for a dollar a day, isn't quite the beacon of doom it's made out to be.

Don't turn up your nose to actual paid writing for a company that makes movies.

Is one reader's frustration indicative of the Hollywood culture, or specific to him? Likely both.

I've been asking around to find more information about studios' anti-piracy efforts.

The New Yorker has a terrific piece about screenwriter-director Tony Gilroy.

Lessons on screenwriting in action, straight from George, Steven and Larry.

Taking generals: how to turn a get to know you meeting into paid work.

Terms that will save you some embarrassment on set, unless -- writer -- you start throwing them around like you know what you're talking about.

Matt gives the full report from a WGA panel about the film industry.

WGA hosts a panel and Q&A on studio feature development.

The Kevin Williamson Problem, explained.

The thin line between unlimited DVR and video-on-demand.

Hey SAG, back away from the crazy.

How technology could upend the economics of filmed entertainment.

If it were optional, the studio would make sure you didn't take that option.

What a mash-up indicates about genres and modern storytelling.

Thanks and good riddance.

Read this before you cash that first check.

Sometimes there's good reasons why original writers leave and return to their projects.

Knowing the answer is part of the craft, just like a cabinetmaker promising a delivery date.

Knowing when to cut and run.

Rifle or shotgun approach to getting an agent?

How some are navigating distribution of indie fare.

Old questions, dusted off and answered.

David Mamet argues that even high-minded goals like social commentary ultimately become Cameron Diaz's swirling ass -- attractive distractions that ultimately lessen a movie. And he's got a point.

A play by play of how it should go down.

Explorations of ownership in a corporate environment.

You made a movie. Get the most you can out of it, then get cracking on doing the next project.

You can do it, but know the facts and consequences.

A plug for staying involved in WGA politics.

Making your movie. Keeping your soul.

The survival of dayplayers benefits us all.

A long hard look at distributing independent films.

Why is Puzzle Farter so gassy?

Challenges and fixes to the WGA arbitration process.

The brand to content relationship has come full circle.

You need good readers. Here's how to choose and keep them.

Moment by moment; what to expect and how to behave in meetings.

How to expose, fund and distribute your pilot appropriately.

DIY audience screenings help your product and save you money. Here's what to ask.

How some scripts get an awards push.

As a writer who legally changed his difficult-to-pronounce German name, I gotta say yes.

If there's an idea that really is phenomenal at the heart of the short, you're better off writing it as a script again.

Why you don't get residuals for old spreadsheets but you do for screenplays.

Why the WGA was forced to strike.

Capitalize on people's affection for your script to find something that pays money.

Some families, like the WGA, just have a lot of Big Drama, and once you accept that, it's much less uncomfortable.

Solidarity equals leverage in negotiations.

A tough question. Here are some signs that you should quit or stick with it.

Sage advice from a fresh transplant who took the plunge.

First person account of the glorious drudgery of starting at the bottom in Hollywood.

The key ingredient is mutual benefit. Both sides have a lot to gain from making it work.

Steps a publisher can take to offer up properties to moviemakers.

Update on New York City's struggle with what to charge productions.

Apologies and congratulations to the filmmakers, I had to bolt.

If it's you and a buddy with a tiny camera, should you really have to register with a governmental agency? I say no.

MPAA carries water for The Simpsons movie.

Who gets paid what, when and how. Broken down.

Why I can't say definitively that I'm not in Transformers.

An episode of Grey's Anatomy might have the same title as your spec. That's not even close to being plagiarism.

How to avoid being talked out of your dreams.

Video links explaining how film and television writers should approach promoting themselves and their work through the media.

Every intern has a script. So tread lightly.

In a collaboration, how to identify contributions and distinguish contributors.

A read-out from the first WGAw Screenwriters' Dinner.

How I earned $86.50 a second.

There's no shortcut around becoming a "screenwriter" to becoming a "script doctor."

Your (excellent) suspenseful thriller spec will find a receptive readership no matter what your ethnicity.

Ground your notion of Hollywood. While it seems glamorous and lucrative, if you’re coming to the film industry looking to get rich, you’re wasting your time.

When writers direct and a screenwriters' co-op, discussed.

It would be nice if the general public had some sense that movies are actually written, and that the actors aren't making up their dialogue.

The iPod and mobile phone media will demand their own unique ways of telling a story.

Knowing the market isn't the same thing as taste, and everyone's taste is different.

Should the independently financed Star Wars prequels count?

The 2007 Oscar screeners.

The decision about which writers' names are listed in the credits, and what the conjunctions mean between them.

2007 Screeners update.

Coming across the accidental debris of celebrities -- or better yet, quasi-celebrities -- is strangely fascinating.

Your money would be better spent elsewhere. Such as Vegas.

When to sell and when to hold.

No studio push for an Academy Award for your film? David Lynch inspires to get creative.

A blog reader helps steer another reader towards his dream job.

An author rails against his Hollywood adaptation.

How to deal with the waiting cycle. The good/bad news: no screenwriter, at any level, is immune.

Often, the only power a screenwriter has is to walk away, and the decision whether to do it is almost never straightforward.

No. But getting a movie made is worth a lot more than any award.

Scripty is often the last defense against our scripts being mangled.

Access leads to learning which is everything.

When writers do and don't get paid residuals.

Fuck Wal-Mart, seriously.

Is your agent asking for money up front? Run away.

Test screening is important but potentially dangerous in the internet age.

The Tabloids would do well by following the example of DC comics.

I feel exhausted just thinking about it.

Have it your way first, then compromise if need be.

Awkward dances with public recognition.

Almost certainly once, before she signs on for the job. After that, it's hard to say. And that's not all bad.

As the screenwriter, there are hundreds of variables I can't control. So I consider it a minor miracle any time a movie gets made.

Can't make it to Sundance? Here's what you're missing (or not).

Link to an interview on the blog and the state of digital arts in 2005.

Good to know before you walk onto a set.

Entering production, introduce yourself to the AD (if possible) and stay on top of the schedule.

Depends on your sensibility.

Debunking the so called "crisis" at the box office.

Detailed account of the lifestyle of a professional reader.

More from inside the meeting room.

Not the time to play it cool. Don't waste a day and risk her forgetting who you are.

Important questions to ask the clients of prospective agents.

When why and how to incorporate.

It's just as important to read bad writing as good.

The single most asked question (How do I get an agent?) answered directly by the source and amended by me.

Two new terms for the glossary.

The step by step process of making a Hollywood movie.

Including the best explanation for how to keep a pitch engaging. Two words: "But then..!"

If you can set something up without an agent, go for it. But don't do it without a lawyer.

DVD revenue is often bigger than theatrical. No wonder some studios hide their numbers.

For working writers, Craig Mazin says to pitch.

Not from these parts? Don't try to sublimate your natural writing style to match some mythical American standard.

I outsourced this question to my former assistant, Rawson Thurber.

You don't want to make a career of it. But sometimes, rewriting a bad movie can be liberating, because you know that almost anything you do will improve it.

Why it's important for screenwriters to stay active throughout production.

Is it reasonable that a writer who's spent several months working on a given film may find her name is nowhere on the final product?

You're much better off with one good screenplay than four noble intentions.

Scam warning for so called "mentor" programs.

What to do if you share a name with other screenwriters. In this case, me.

The downside of going wide is that if your script doesn't receive a great reception, it's over pretty quickly.

The WGA tracks down money owed, even for my failures.

The nomenclature's different for both TV and films. Here's a way to match titles with functions.

2004 WGA agreement reached. Here's the good, bad and ugly therein.

Unless you're calling to offer him gainful employment, an agent is not the one to help you. But here's where to find out.

On whether making films or writing them is an easier way in. My writing is what makes me hirable, but it's sociableness that gets me hired.

Short answers to two questions: How do I get exposure for my (un-screenable) short. Can you make enough as a writers assistant to survive?

Why the writer should always be the worst-dressed person in the room.

Do agents submit anything their clients write, or do they ever tell clients that they need to work on something a little longer before they'll send it out?

Where to find the jobs. Warning: you may have to start at slave wages.

The writer doesn't get residuals on rentals, except for whatever Blockbuster paid for each videotape or DVD it bought it from the studio.

If you've written a role that's "perfect for Tom Cruise," you have almost zero chance of getting it to him. But the more specialized the actor you're targeting, the more reasonable it is to try.

Initial contracts are what keep you from being booted off the gravy train of a franchise.

In finding a day job, ask yourself what other people always say you're good at. Then do it. But never stop paying attention to your real career: the one you're not getting paid for yet.

Weighing the future of celluloid.

So does the WGA absolutely guaranteed the first rewrite on your spec script? No.

Those great movie lines, bringing infamy to those who deliver them, are actually written by writers.

Is picking a fight with the MPAA a good way to market your film?

Should you move to Los Angeles? Only if you're really serious about making it as a writer.

Baby-writer protocol. If you're not yet in the WGA, can you sell during a strike?

There are resources for finding out what scripts sold for what, but verifying the truth is another story.

When or whether to cross the pond.

If it's big movies you're talking about, big movies require big money, which pretty much means LA.

The awful truth: having a female lead in an action script will cap the budget at a lower level than the male equivalent.

Trouble writing a biography? Feeling like you've done nothing as a young screenwriter? Here, I wrote one for you. Fill in the blanks.

The mechanics of multiple writers jumping in and out of a single project.

Screenplay awards are handed out based on the final movie. Would it be better or more fair if they were based on the actual script?

Even the most experienced writers with multiple credits find themselves rewritten badly at times. When should you take your name off a movie?

Well-written is rarely good enough. The idea must be compelling and marketable.

Making a good short film is an incredible amount of work, but it's absolutely worthwhile if you have directing ambitions.

Screen credits are a huge, sticky mess that pits writers against writers.

When you sign with an agent, know what you're signing and how to protect yourself.

Finding the right agency means doing your homework and consulting with others.

Advice on finding those hard to come by writers assistant jobs.

What few writers understand before visting a set is just how boring they are. For my money, a writer's time is better spent in the editing room.

Boy does this question come up a lot. If your life's dream is to become a giant Hollywood screenwriter, then you need to live in Hollywood.

Way down on the list of MPAA responsibilities is the job of keeping track of its members' movies. That's all the numbers are for.

Not many agents are apt to pop in a videotape to check out a low-budget movie from someone they've never heard of. The odds of suckage are just too high.

RUNNING ON EMPTY screenwriter on going from Sesame Street to Hollywood.

A case of paid script analysis paying off for an aspiring writer.

Someone (anyone) else saying your script is great is infinitely better than you doing it yourself.

Thai noodles led a baby writer to a baby agent. This is more likely to happen in LA.

Using a short to lure agents to your script.

A good example of why impressing assistants matters.

Oscar nominee for BULLETS OVER BROADWAY tells his story.

My personal answer to the most asked question of young writers.

The differences between craft services and catering and who to go to when one isn't up to par.

For work this afternoon, I needed to read a screenplay written in the early 1970s. I think it's the earliest-dated script I've read that wasn't reprinted in a book.

Musical numbers are a lot like action sequences: you're trying to convey how it's going to feel in the final movie, not beat out every little moment.

Only very rarely do you have to do a full dead stop to explain something to readers. I've probably done it twice in 40+ scripts.

If you're staying in one location -- or a series of similar locations -- you don't need individual sluglines.

To me, an outline tends to be less prose-y and feature more bullet points, but there is no common consensus in Hollywood about what's what. We use "treatment" and "outline" interchangeably.

You can use bold sluglines in your screenplay. It's just a matter of personal preference.

A black screen is a black screen. It's not INT. or EXT. Whether you start the film with a black screen, or you create one mid-way with a CUT TO BLACK, you can simply have your characters speak over it.

How do you go about formatting IMs and text messages in your scripts?

One hyphen, two hyphens or none at all?

An ambitious reader crunches the numbers to find how many parentheticals successful screenwriters are actually using.

Three quick answers on writing camera angles, formatting TV scripts and choosing a pen name.

Check through any of the .pdfs in the Library, and you'll see that title pages are kept minimal: the name of the script, your name, based on (if any), and the date.

If you have a line that only makes sense one way -- and it's not the first way someone would read it -- you have a couple of choices.

How to format the script for faux-documentaries like "The Office."

For dialogue, use as few numbers as possible, and write them out unless it's cumbersome to do so.

If it would be obvious to the viewer, make it obvious to the reader.

You may notice several variations on "continued" in screenplays.

I handed in a script today, and thought it might be helpful to talk through my best practices when finishing up a draft.

Since you released "The Variant" independently, how'd you get the nifty cover art?

First, avoid it if possible. But if you have to, here's how.

Italics are a good choice for sign language.

Generally, no. Try to make terms understandable in context.

Kindle 2: great for books, but not ready for screenplays.

Sluglines can be more specific, but only when it's important for the reader.

Great lesson in how comic books distinguish action, dialogue, and all the rest.

A couple of techniques for letting the audience know that two things are happening at the same time.

Clear sluglines help to weave in and out of animation.

Formatting radio chatter.

Formatting for a specific character's point of view.

One writer, five questions.

Just as important, what NOT to do when trying to cut length. Don't cheat.

Always treat your readers like audience members, and think about it from their perspective.

Sometimes, you only see one side of a conversation. That's okay.

Using dialogue to bridge a cut. (Warning: some readers are haters)

Split screens aren't always spelled out in scripts, but you can get the idea across.

It takes both a letter and an omit.

You really don't need fancy paper for hand-writing drafts.

All you need to know about formatting a screenplay, right here (for sale anyway). Second opinions included.

I spent a few days in Chicago to see the workshop of my friends' new musical, Asphalt Beach. And then I wrote a play.

Treat your reader like an audience member. Give them the same information on the page that they would get on the screen.

Your characters won't always be speaking English. Here's how to handle that.

Generally, italics and a parenthetical.

Yes. Sometimes.

O.C. means "off camera." But O.S. does the job just as well.

PDFs are almost always the right choice.

You don't need as many parentheticals as you think.

Two spaces still looks best for screenplays.

If it feels like dialogue, it's fine to use that formatting.

Some thoughts on the two major screenwriting platforms.

You can indicate where the titles go, but only if it serves a story purpose.

Figuring out what to capitalize when indicating groups of people.

Don't be afraid of including imagery if it's important for your story.

If you need us to know that it's 1945, put it on the screen.

When intercutting between two scenes, the key is keeping it readable.

Sluglines are a powerful tool. Use them wisely.

You don't need a great printer, just one that can kick out 120 pages.

Nobody really wants to read them anyway.

You can reveal a character any time you want.

An early look at an early version of the alternative screenwriting platform.

As a former designer, I now spend most of my working life in the world's most boring typeface.

As long as the reader understands what you're doing, it's no big deal.

Keep it short and simple.

It's not a great idea.

Here's how to present a reality TV show. Use it wisely.

It's actually not as standardized as you'd think.

Everyone can tell when you're fudging. So don't.

An early draft of what would later become Scrippets.

Think like a reader, not like an editor.

Shorthand for INT./EXT.

Does the page-a-minute rule apply across the board?

There's not a standard format, so try to anticipate what producers would like to see.

Once you start numbering scenes for production, you have to find ways to add new scenes between existing ones.

I took a poll, and here's what you said.

It's okay. And if you're having trouble getting FD to do it, here are some workarounds.

I asked readers to tell me about themselves and the software they use.

I met the Final Draft guy.

Review of the Final Draft update.

A few different versions shown here. Pick the simplest version that gets the point across.

How to superimpose places, times and dates into your screenplay.

Which software to use?

Voice-over should never replace actual scenes, nor should it be redundant to what we do see.

Ways to say "moments later" without necessarily writing it.

Keeping the reader oriented as characters move through a space.

Not only will looking at real scripts show you how they're formatted, but it will also give you a sense of how standardized the format truly is.

Anything shorter than 100 pages feels too short. It's literally just not enough pages in your hand. And if you go much beyond 120 pages, people get nervous.

How to handle scenes that take place both inside and out.

Overusing parenthetical comments will not only break the flow of the dialogue, they'll drive the reader crazy.

CUT TO: is an effective transition when used appropriately and sparingly.

While someone watching a movie can follow the action happening in multiple sections of the screen at once, the reader simply can't.

ALL CAPS for character names is fine throughout plays, but just use them once in screenplays.

If you think the dialogue would probably be subtitled in the movie, italicize it in the script.

Use common sense in differentiating between the two and try to read the script as if you didn't write it, then see what's clearest.

From SUPERMAN to FIGHT CLUB, keeping the reader clear on characters with multiple names/identities.

The majority of scripts that go into production fall between 110 and 120 pages. That's generally what I aim for.

If you have the choice, always pick the Courier version.

Best practices for keeping your script formatted correctly.

I've only just started reading Danny Rubin's How to Write Groundhog Day, but it's promising enough that I think many screenwriters will want to take a look at it this weekend.

Theresa Couchman wishes Pixar hadn't played into princess tropes for their first female-driven movie.

In the spirit of the season, let us say thanks to Wikipedia for this comprehensive list of fictional diseases.

Wait, how did I not know the Manic Pixie Dream Girl existed as a trope?

NY Times has a nice piece on Aline Brosh McKenna, screenwriter of "the BlackBerry 3."

Superhero movies continue to make money, but the rise of very profitable R-rated comedies is the box office story of the summer.

Bruce Sterling publishes a list of Lovecraft's undeveloped story ideas.

The Lazy Self-Indulgent Book Reviewer asks why graduates of Starfleet Academy lug around physical cylinders that emit light from one end? Why don’t they all have chip implants in their palms that glow when activated?

Tad Friend points out that funny women in movies must not only be gorgeous; they must fall down and then sob, knowing it's all their fault.

It's remarkable how much my appreciation for Google has shifted over the last year or two. I use their products, but I don't love the company anymore. In fact, I'm kind of nervous about them.

While I'm worrying about higher education as philanthropy, Samuel Arbesman dares to question the value of a Hogwarts education.

You have to make us care whether the two lead characters end up together, which is really two requirements.

Machinima offers a lot of potential for making cool projects, but you need to match the idea with the style.

How to format the script for faux-documentaries like "The Office."

Screenwriters benefit from worst-case scenario thinking.

In real life, people do say this. But in movies, maybe they shouldn't anymore.

Having worked with many emerging filmmakers through the Sundance Institute and other programs, I'm convinced it's usually the wrong choice.

The Academy is hosting a Monday night screening series focusing on film noir of the 1940's. I'll be handling "The Dark Mirror" on July 12. (Olivia de Havilland! Twins! Murder!)

Joseph Shoer looks at some of the uncomfortable science behind these science-fiction mainstays:

Useful suggestions for screenwriters working on their first animated feature

Zombies are more than the walking dead. They're a useful paradigm for a range of common scenarios in many genres.

Is it a good idea to focus on making a movie for Christian audiences?

This compilation clip demonstrates what a hoary cliché it has become to explain why movie characters can't use their cell phones.

An observation made halfway through a five-hour meeting in Beijing: in the movie Groundhog Day, it is never explained why Bill Murray's character is stuck in a time loop.

An LA Times article about the island of Pagasa makes a great case study in the difference between an interesting setting and an actual movie idea.

We've got a winner and a slew of honorable mentions in the Superheroic Scene Challenge.

Brian Lowry cautions against [taking Comic-Con buzz too seriously.

I really had no idea what people were getting paid for short stories, so I asked Matt to dig up some numbers.

What makes one high-concept idea more execution-dependent than another?

Your hero doesn't have to fix The Big World Problem by the time the end credits roll.

Don't turn up your nose to actual paid writing for a company that makes movies.

The New Yorker has a terrific piece about screenwriter-director Tony Gilroy.

Traditional period costume drama + alien crash landing = the definition of high concept.

Short answer: yes. But be realistic about the chance of it getting made.

A short film, like a short story, can't waste any time. Here's what to include, and what to leave out.

A writer can get away with quite a few things on stage that are tough to pull off in movies.

An episode of Grey's Anatomy might have the same title as your spec. That's not even close to being plagiarism.

If you're looking to put your story out into the world, paper beats film, hands down.

The big villain in Spider-Man 3 was a plague of coincidence. Here's how they could have avoided it.

The Motaba virus sounds bad, but the cure -- heavy doses of Dustin Hoffman -- is arguably worse.

No. But getting a movie made is worth a lot more than any award.

I spent a few days in Chicago to see the workshop of my friends' new musical, Asphalt Beach. And then I wrote a play.

You rarely see clinical depression in movies and TV, despite being much more common in real life than, say, retrograde amnesia.

In all likelihood, it's not -- you just think it is.

The vast majority of memoirs are written by vain, delusional nutjobs, so there's no reason you shouldn't be entitled to your six-figure advance.

You've never met an undead blood-sucker, and neither have I. Yet we can both agree on quite a few characteristics of these non-existent beings.

There is definitely room in the film universe for a uber-geek movie, be it a thriller, a drama, a comedy or whatever.

This "knowing when it's done" sense only develops with experience.

I want to know that no one's hurt, but even more, I want to know what the hell I saw.

A useful guide to super-villainy.

It's surprisingly difficult for any villain -- even a powerful alien race -- to actually destroy the planet.

Welcome to the world of experimental film, where you invite mocking simply based on hubris.

The right genre is the one that will actually get you to fire up your word processor, rather than surf the internet.

Nail down characters, tone and action come before plot and structure.

Yes. So write one.

A cleverly animated bit with Hitch talking about these screenwriting staples.

The protagonist is the character that suffers the most.

Links to the do's and don't-do's of comedy writing.

Residuals, defined.

Old hollywood constructs still highly relevant.

The nomenclature's different for both TV and films. Here's a way to match titles with functions.

A writing team is getting good response to their first script -- but it's their only script.

Jordan Mechner has posted the game-footage trailer we used when we pitched Prince of Persia to the studios six years ago

An LA Times article about the island of Pagasa makes a great case study in the difference between an interesting setting and an actual movie idea.

Hollywood folk are savvy enough to realize that the guys who wrote Saw aren't any sicker than most screenwriters.

Knowing when to cut and run.

A play by play of how it should go down.

Not if it will get you read and your expectations are adjusted.

Have it your way first, then compromise if need be.

Check out some great ones to get inspired.

For working writers, Craig Mazin says to pitch.

I've heard tales of studio executives buying ideas they heard during a pitch panel, but I don't know of any verifiable success stories.

Follow up on a pitch I sold.

Don't do it. Unless that person is writing it with you.

When it's useful and how to distribute it to gain interest in your movie.

Getting the meeting, but also what to do in the room.

Do stunts work in pitching?

Craig and John discuss the screenwriter's role in casting, then segue to the New York Times profile of producer/executive Lindsay Doran's approach to story.

Craig and John explain what producers do -- at least, what they're supposed to do -- and discuss the myriad subclasses of producers that litter the opening titles of many movies.

How do you handle a producer who won't stop giving notes?

Lawrence Turman suggests asking random people for their opinions of your concept. Great idea for a producer, but potentially a bad idea for a screenwriter.

What's a reasonable amount of time to give your manager to read a draft of your script? It sometimes takes this screenwriter's manager up to a month.

General meetings aside, how many pushes merits cause for concern regarding interest in you/your idea?

If you can't find that one smart reader amid your circle, it's possible that you'd benefit from paying someone. I don't have any names to recommend, but if I were in your place, I'd look for a few things.

At a screenwriting panel last week, Robin Swicord said something that reframed the issue in a very helpful way.

"Based on an idea by" is a rare credit, for good reason.

Rifle or shotgun approach to getting an agent?

Making your movie. Keeping your soul.

Not if it will get you read and your expectations are adjusted.

When to sell and when to hold.

How to get producer credit? Use leverage and do the work.

How to handle development meetings. Be open, learn and remember the changes are yours to implement.

A good example of why producers matter.

Selling people on your ideas is critical to keeping control of a movie from the beginning.

How a writer can stay involved in a producing capacity once the script is written.

Lauren Bagby offers an office PA's perspective how it feels when your show gets cancelled.

Over at Tom the Dancing Bug, Ruben Bolling looks at how journalists have a faulty memory when it comes to past award seasons.

I'd missed this piece from November by Jesse Lasky in which he describes his first experience pitching a TV show.

Pivoting of the discussion Craig and I had about Charlie Kaufman's speech, Josh Barkey outlines a path that may lead screenwriters to resent their audiences.

Screenwriter and TV scribe Christine Boylan talks through her work habits and tools.

At the end of any day in which I've had to keep up in French, I'm zombie-tired. Research Daniel Kahneman has the explanation.

John and Craig discuss why screenwriters want to please people -- and how it often hurts them and the movie they're writing -- before a lengthy discussion of the pros and cons of going to film school.

I had a hunch that late in the day wasn't the best time to introduce a new song for Big Fish. Science agrees.

Sean Hood writes up his experience of dealing with a film flop.

How do you handle a producer who won't stop giving notes?

I never watched Oprah. But I'm not surprised she had some good parting thoughts.

College was the first time I started writing how I speak. Or, more accurately, college was when I stopped trying to write the way I thought I *should* write.

Sure: everyone's already linked to Austin Kleon's wonderful post How to Steal Like an Artist (and 9 things nobody taught me). But I can't *know* that you've read it. And I don't have better advice for you today, or even this week. So I really recommend you read it, and take some notes.

Lawrence Turman suggests asking random people for their opinions of your concept. Great idea for a producer, but potentially a bad idea for a screenwriter.

The Time Magazine profile on Mark Zuckerberg offers a concise description of what makes me uneasy about Facebook in its current form: the binary definition of friendship.

While you can intuit a bit about producers' taste by the films they've made, don't assume producers only get certain genres. And never turn down a chance for a read.

When you make something that you yourself use, that's called dogfooding, a contraction of "eating your own dogfood." That's developer-speak, but it's something screenwriters would do well to appropriate.

What's a reasonable amount of time to give your manager to read a draft of your script? It sometimes takes this screenwriter's manager up to a month.

General meetings aside, how many pushes merits cause for concern regarding interest in you/your idea?

What do you do when your best work is met with an indifferent shrug?

Ostracism is a handy motivation for both heroes and villains.

Screenwriters benefit from worst-case scenario thinking.

Jenny was prescribed anti-anxiety medication, but worries it will mess up her writing.

Paul spent 29 years in a job too good to leave, and regrets it.

You're naturally going to be drawn towards real-life people who are fascinating. That's a good thing. Observe behavior. Figure out motivations and pathology. Then forget the real person.

In defense of fake tears and the emotional work screenwriters do.

Scott wonders if his online filmmaking classes are teaching him what he needs to know.

For the past few years, I've been aiming more towards "areas of interest" rather than true resolutions. That way, there's no implied promise to be broken.

As the writer, you need to burn down houses. You need to push characters out of their safe places into the big scary world -- and make sure they can never get back.

At a screenwriting panel last week, Robin Swicord said something that reframed the issue in a very helpful way.

Do you ever get sick of working with the same script that you are loathe to even look at it anymore? Yes.

I can't reduce it to some simple "He's Just Not That Into You" formula, but two months is far beyond the limit.

While it's great to have an extra brain helping to write a script, you're unlikely to always agree, and compromises may not always make sense.

Writer Elizabeth Gilbert discussing healthier ways to look at the creative process.

Is one reader's frustration indicative of the Hollywood culture, or specific to him? Likely both.

They're not a terrible idea, as long as they're approached with the right expectations.

Don't just think about who "owns" what. There are more practical considerations.

I'd recommend writing the one that has the best ending.

The Kevin Williamson Problem, explained.

Hollywood folk are savvy enough to realize that the guys who wrote Saw aren't any sicker than most screenwriters.

Sometimes there's good reasons why original writers leave and return to their projects.

Your first script is like the first time you have sex. It's not the best sex you're ever going to have. In fact, it would be sad if it were.

Explorations of ownership in a corporate environment.

You made a movie. Get the most you can out of it, then get cracking on doing the next project.

Superhero politics should remain abstract.

Making your movie. Keeping your soul.

Why did Edward Bloom leave Ashland? Does beginners luck exist? Shocking answers revealed, inside!

Killing backstories, writing out lyrics and why you will always want to be writing something else (amongst other topics), explored.

Confronted with a bad script, step back and ask the right questions.

Capitalize on people's affection for your script to find something that pays money.

A tough question. Here are some signs that you should quit or stick with it.

How to write when it suddenly seems to become a trivial pursuit.

Every intern has a script. So tread lightly.

Obey the muse, whatever the timing, or risk her departure.

When other people have the same ideas and act on them, it helps me clear my slate.

How to deal with the waiting cycle. The good/bad news: no screenwriter, at any level, is immune.

Get over it. No one wants to steal your crappy idea.

You rarely see clinical depression in movies and TV, despite being much more common in real life than, say, retrograde amnesia.

Eventually, you learn that you can't depend on strangers for validation.

This is one of the worst things about being a screenwriter: you ultimately have very little control over the movie that gets made. Here's how to deal.

A political quiz helps understand characters whose beliefs are different from my own.

The process of adding and dropping friends and colleagues isn't unique to this business. It sucks for them. It sucks for you. Accept that and move on.

It's just as important to read bad writing as good.

Embracing the chaos and letting go.

Rejoice and learn from the suckiness. Their low standards make your great script all the more unusual.

Tricks to get you back in the mood of your screenplay.

Methods for breaking through the self doubt and general madness when you've lost your way to the end of your story.

I don't think you have to be nuts to be a good writer. Nor do I you should use writing as an excuse for not getting help when you need it.

Important steps for the beginner who's ready for the next level.

Pretend you're confident. Eventually, you will be.

The flip side of Insecurity tends to be Arrogance. I highly recommend the former over the latter.

When you don't think you deserve to be in the room, no one else will, either.

Don't wait for flow. It might come; it might not. But it's your job to keep writing anyway.

Starting a career in film is difficult at any age, so if it's 15% more difficult at 35 than 25, I can't imagine that would deter you.

Craig and I talk a bit about the effects of first-sale doctrine in this week's podcast, but we don't define it. So let's do that here.

Eriq Gardner looks at lawsuits filed by producers of an upcoming Emma Thompson film trying to establish her screenplay doesn't infringe on existing works.

"Happy Birthday to You" -- a common song famously still covered by copyright -- may in fact be free and clear.

Kirby Ferguson and Andy Baio show two very different sides of remixing.

Checking clearances means making sure you're not inadvertently referring to real people and real companies in your project.

Copyright is a bundle of protections granted to the creator of a work. It doesn't cover the pure idea ("Save the Last Dance with dinosaurs"); it covers the expression of the idea (your original, 120-page screenplay Dinosalsa: The Jurassic Dance).

There is no grand tradition of a "director's pass." When it happens, it's because some directors (1) believe they can write and (2) believe they can fix the perceived problems in the script. They may say they want to "make it their own." But underlying that is the fact that there's something about the script that bugs them, and you haven't been willing or able to address it.

I have very little patience for accusations that someone "stole my idea for a movie." Or a TV show. But such complaints are common. Sometimes, it becomes a copyright lawsuit. More often, it's a campaign of whispers.

Composer Jason Robert Brown is flattered young singers like his work, but wishes they wouldn't pirate his sheet music.

Any work you're not getting paid for should be yours and yours alone. That's why aspiring screenwriters write spec scripts. That's what you should focus on writing. Still, there may be situations in which it makes sense to write a script for someone else without getting paid.

When a novel is adapted into a film or television series, how does compensation to the writer of the original novel work?

You're naturally going to be drawn towards real-life people who are fascinating. That's a good thing. Observe behavior. Figure out motivations and pathology. Then forget the real person.

Producers and production companies aren't necessarily going to be excited that someone else had the project before them. Yes, it validates their taste a bit, but they may worry that the script has already been burned out around town. If everyone has read it and passed, what are they going to do with it, exactly?

Chris works as an assistant at a studio? Do they own anything he writes?

ScriptShadow reviews scripts to upcoming movies. And that hurts screenwriters more than anyone.

No! Stop and re-assess. There are at least three options, but simply stealing the plot and characters isn't one of them.

A reader asks if a planned DVD crosses into dangerous copyright territory.

Screenplays don't cite references because they don't quote things.

Yes, you can have characters talk about people like Michael Bay without getting permission.

Cory Doctorow makes many of the points I would about the Authors' Guild's grumpiness over the Kindle's text-to-speech function.

Don't just think about who "owns" what. There are more practical considerations.

Explorations of ownership in a corporate environment.

Killing backstories, writing out lyrics and why you will always want to be writing something else (amongst other topics), explored.

Steps a publisher can take to offer up properties to moviemakers.

If it's you and a buddy with a tiny camera, should you really have to register with a governmental agency? I say no.

An episode of Grey's Anatomy might have the same title as your spec. That's not even close to being plagiarism.

Easy steps to tracking down rights.

If this sounds like you, stop reading and start dialing. You need a better attorney, stat.

Let's say you're at work and you overhear some great dialogue. Should you worry about co-workers suing when they hear it in your movie?

Do you need signed legal permission to use a friend's name in a script?

Clearing (and not worrying about) brands, artwork and monikers for your movie.

Link to a great legal resource for filmmakers concerned with portraying reality.

How to deal when your situations and characters are based on real incidents and people.

Legal and moral issues arise when taking someone else's story, even just pieces of it.

Link to a great book to ease your fears of getting permissions to copyrighted material.

Options; defined and explained.

Using unlicensed material can be okay at the festival level. The trouble comes when you make money off of it.

What is the average option price short stories are optioned for? Just to get an estimate of what I should be offering/accepting. Where else can I do research about these confidential matters?

If there's a book you can't afford to option yourself, it's worth trying to get someone to option it for you.

Having the rights shouldn't necessarily be your first concern.

Dead people are fair game, for the most part.

How to track down rights after someone passes on.

Navigating the differences between public domain and intellectual property.

Let lawyers handle the law. You have plenty to worry about as a mere screenwriter.

Got an idea but no writing chops? Here's some options for getting a writer on board.

Copyright almost certainly rests with the songwriters, so start there.

How much needs to change to make re-registering your script worthwhile?

There's a long tradition of movies parodying each other, and it would be hard to prove any actual damage or wrongdoing.

Thoughts on writing a biopic.

How much is my book worth? Should I option or sell?

How is that label earned? What are the legal parameters?

Worry about writing the best scenes and not about lawsuits or song rights.

If you can, option. If not, don't be afraid to show your script for fear of losing the rights to the source material.

Copyright almost certainly rests with the songwriters, so start there.

In GO, the threeway, the strippers and the burning hotel room all happened - at different times, to different people - but in stringing them together, I created a fictious work that is not really "based on actual events."

Sometimes an attorney should be your first stop on the search for rights.

If you feel like writing a remake be prepared to approach the original studio first. Know that, If they don't want to make it, and no one else is willing to buy the rights from them, you're screwed.

Only written, detailed ideas can be registered and protected.

Every studio has somebody who handles exactly these kind of rights.

At a certain point, some jokes circulate out in the popular culture enough that I would argue they're essentially public domain.

The consequences for trampling someone else's copyright are not that dire. Since you're a student, and probably broke, it's not like 20th Century Fox is going to sue you for your life's savings.

Hope you have to worry about these problems when the movie gets made. Until then, don't.

This is America. If you want your characters to say that TOWN AND COUNTRY was a boring, unfunny disaster, they can.

How important is it to register your screenplay?

The fact is that very few people who write screenwriting how-to books have meaningful writing credits. They make a living selling advice to aspiring screenwriters, either one-on-one or at seminars.

Try replacing the question of what the character wants/needs with, "Why is the character doing what he's doing?"

Nine second answers to nine burning questions. Ready...go!

Often, the best answer is the simplest: something physical and achievable.

Video link.

All you need to know about formatting a screenplay, right here (for sale anyway). Second opinions included.

Your money would be better spent elsewhere. Such as Vegas.

A lecture to Trinity University on authorship and authority in the internet age.

Corrections to notes on my Q&A at the WGA.

Stop thinking about structure as something you impose upon your story. It's an inherent part of it, like the setup to a joke.

It's the law of delayed consequences: people tend to put off work that doesn't have immediate gratification.

Is your mentor program a tad shady?

If you really have limitations in a given area -- dialogue, plotting, whatever -- you need a writing partner, not a self-styled guru.

Workshops often bill themselves as helping writers avoid the painful mistakes, but sometimes what you really need are the painful mistakes.

If you were hired to write a magazine article in French, you wouldn't think twice about having a native speaker look over your work. That's what you need.

Internalize what makes sense to you and chuck the rest. Anyone who tries to convince you that theirs is the One True Way is deluding themselves and you.

A couple can be a boon to a young writer, others are in it for the cash.

A waste of time and money?

If you're looking to strangers for notes, protect yourself and check them out first.

Link to a template to write your baby-writer biography.

Craig and John discuss the screenwriter's role in casting, then segue to the New York Times profile of producer/executive Lindsay Doran's approach to story.

All movies exist in unreal time, not because of cuts and gimmickry, but because the experience of watching a movie involves surrendering to that film's reality. We go into dream mode, especially when watching something on a giant screen in a dark theater.

So, hey, you're pregnant. And it's not welcome news, because you're in college and hope to go to medical school. But before you marry scruffy-cute ukelele guy, maybe think about adoption.

Roger Kamien's description of the sonata form, a building block of the classical symphony, will seem familiar to screenwriters.

Most stories end one of two ways: resolution or logical exhaustion.

Nick's heard from the experts is that you need character arcs and all that jazz but he just doesn't see that in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Is there a unspecified limit as to how much face time a main character gets on screen?

Figuring out what the audience needs to know -- and when they need to know it -- is one of the trickiest aspects of screenwriting.

Ostracism is a handy motivation for both heroes and villains.

If you're making a movie on a limited budget, it may put real constraints on your locations, schedule and cast size. But that frugality doesn't need to limit your story. Story is free.

The protagonist is the character that suffers the most.

The Bechdel test points out how rarely women characters in movies talk about anything other than men.

"Theme" is a word screenwriters use without defining it clearly, but here's a good way to think about it.

One of the joys of screenwriting is putting childhood terrors into words. But nihilism is not a crowd-pleaser.

If both plotlines are key to your story, you need to make that clear in the logline. Otherwise, you risk future readers feeling like you bait-and-switched them.

You're naturally going to be drawn towards real-life people who are fascinating. That's a good thing. Observe behavior. Figure out motivations and pathology. Then forget the real person.

Index cards are a great tool for outlining. Use them wisely.

As the writer, you need to burn down houses. You need to push characters out of their safe places into the big scary world -- and make sure they can never get back.

A helpful thing to remember when plotting out stories with a clear antagonist: he probably doesn't know he's the bad guy.

An observation made halfway through a five-hour meeting in Beijing: in the movie Groundhog Day, it is never explained why Bill Murray's character is stuck in a time loop.

Story lessons from Star Trek, from the mouths and minds of the writers.

You shouldn't just answer questions. Get rid of them before they're asked.

Many great movies feature characters struggling against their demons, or attempting to find themselves. But that's not plot.

The New Yorker has a terrific piece about screenwriter-director Tony Gilroy.

On storytelling in games.

David Mamet argues that even high-minded goals like social commentary ultimately become Cameron Diaz's swirling ass -- attractive distractions that ultimately lessen a movie. And he's got a point.

A useful visual reference for that adventure tale you can't work out.

Killing backstories, writing out lyrics and why you will always want to be writing something else (amongst other topics), explored.

Dedicate one day a week to disassembling good movies.

A short film, like a short story, can't waste any time. Here's what to include, and what to leave out.

How to outline and structure a non-linear story.

In all likelihood, it's not -- you just think it is.

The vast majority of memoirs are written by vain, delusional nutjobs, so there's no reason you shouldn't be entitled to your six-figure advance.

Videogame-makers need to stop trying to ape Hollywood blockbusters, and instead focus on creating playable stories. A link to an article detailing the differences between the storytelling needs and styles.

Mostly the main character is all three. But the terms apply to separate functions in the story.

Predictability in structure does not necessarily doom the story to boredom or sameness.

An "idea" is essentially unprotectable. What is protectable is the execution: the plot, the characters and all of the details.

A question of fair use in the treatment of tragic events.

Be happy you also thought of a great, marketable idea and move on.

Taking the "character driven story" idea too literally can derail your story.

Theme defined. Its function explored.

Hollywood is making a lot of bad movies, but Hollywood has always made bad movies.

Matching the right name to the character while keeping them distinct from one another.

Why do movies suck?

Paramount has just bought a project that sounds horribly similar to yours? Remember that there's a vast chasm in scriptland between being bought and being made.

Lauren Bagby offers an office PA's perspective how it feels when your show gets cancelled.

I'd missed this piece from November by Jesse Lasky in which he describes his first experience pitching a TV show.

The second season of Downton Abbey debuts Sunday in the U.S. As I've discussed on the podcast, I couldn't wait and bought it off the UK iTunes Store. I've already watched the whole second season and the Christmas episode. So, for American audiences, here's a non-spoilery preview of what I found notable about this season.

Comparing Archer's actual script to my transcript-y approximation shows a little bit more about how Adam Reed's show works.

Screenwriter and TV scribe Christine Boylan talks through her work habits and tools.

Procedural-plus shows are simply more difficult to pull off, both at the whiteboard stage and in the finished episode. Once you've established the stakes of the A-plot -- a killer is on the loose! -- any scene that doesn't address that feels like filler. So writers need to find ways to weave character moments into plot scenes, which can be difficult.

John and Craig discuss the new fall shows and how little kids become screenwriters, with discussion of D&D, Malcolm Gladwell and daisy-wheel printers.

Peter Aspden remembers when TV wasn't art, and certainly wasn't something to talk about seriously. He argues that cable dramas -- in particular, those on HBO -- changed everything.

Merlin Mann's Back to Work podcast has a great discussion with Rob Corddry this week, talking about Children's Hospital.

Kevin Fallon points out that most reboots of classic series don't stick around long. But that's because most TV shows fail. That's TV.

Pronunciation jokes have a tendency to feel cheap and hoary. But when they work, they work -- and it's easy enough to show them on the page.

The Tiny Protagonist has a good interview with Javier Grillo-Marxuach (a writer/producer on LOST and many other shows), talking about how he got started and the craft of television.

I'm reading more network pilot scripts this year than in years past, so I can't say whether this is a new trend or just something I was unaware of: What's with all the swearing?

Today's First Person comes from Daniel Thomsen, a television writer who’s worked on staff at Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles and Melrose Place.

Several readers questioned my advice to write a TV spec, even if feature screenwriting is your primary goal.

A writing team is getting good response to their first script -- but it's their only script.

Jay Faerber is trying to transition from writing comics to writing TV, and is doing so with the help of the Warner Bros TV Writers Workshop.

Mary McNamara has an article in the LA Times about married TV showrunners.

Roddenberry's 1964 outline is the same kind of write-up TV writers use today.

If you're writing the pilot episode of a TV series, you have a choice to make: will this episode be more-or-less typical for the series, or will it be The Beginning?

Three quick answers on writing camera angles, formatting TV scripts and choosing a pen name.

Really, wireless radio devices don't need to be touched to work.

Writers are making less money, and it's part of a bigger shift in the industry.

The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal on the Cablevision case, allowing the Second Circuit Court's decision to stand. Cablevision can begin introducing its service.

Any sort of application, whether it's for a grant, for college or for a job, needs to do exactly three things.

Jonny Sommers has a job many readers want -- or at least, think they want: the assistant to a successful and busy TV showrunner.

Josh Friedman recounts the cancellation of his excellent show Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

With an adapted screenplay, it's not altogether obvious what awesomeness came from the screenwriter, and what came from the underlying material.

A site featuring tons of TV pilot scripts.

The thin line between unlimited DVR and video-on-demand.

A clip from my 2003 pilot, directed by Kim Manners.

Mourning one of TV's great directors: Kim Manners.

How technology could upend the economics of filmed entertainment.

Knowing the answer is part of the craft, just like a cabinetmaker promising a delivery date.

Two unrelated questions answered. 1. Clarifying young and old versions of characters. 2. How much research to do before writing.

The survival of dayplayers benefits us all.

My agent leaves me to head HBO. Yeah Sue!

How to expose, fund and distribute your pilot appropriately.

DIY audience screenings help your product and save you money. Here's what to ask.

Nine second answers to nine burning questions. Ready...go!

The strike gives you time to write fantasy mash-up scripts, if only in your head.

Video courtesy of THE OFFICE writers.

The WGA strike kills a spin-off, and my episode with it.

How I got the gig to write and direct an episode of the (now defunct) HEROES spin-off.

An episode of Grey's Anatomy might have the same title as your spec. That's not even close to being plagiarism.

A correction for Jane's awesome website.

Kudos to the writers of HEROES for letting the audience connect the dots.

When other people have the same ideas and act on them, it helps me clear my slate.

If this sounds like you, stop reading and start dialing. You need a better attorney, stat.

A shout out to a good show and their low budget ways.

I feel exhausted just thinking about it.

The annoying disparity between google ads and the content they glom on to.

Mysteries of the staffing process revealed.

Writing the right show sample during each season's important.

Notes for auditioning actors.

In reality TV, editors and producers often perform functions that would normally be the purview of writers; the question is, why aren't they being compensated for it?

Having happened in the past doesn't signify future action.

Here's how to present a reality TV show. Use it wisely.

Announcement for a FOX pilot in the works.

Example of a show "bible." Yours to mimic.

Four questions related to the research, creation and execution of a TV series.

Does the page-a-minute rule apply across the board?

Good reasons why you shouldn't write a sample of LOST if you want to work on LOST.

Can and unknown writer get a show produced?

On the structures and control limitations of each.

Learn and know the qualities of both. They're not independent of each other.

To me, an outline tends to be less prose-y and feature more bullet points, but there is no common consensus in Hollywood about what's what. We use "treatment" and "outline" interchangeably.

Roddenberry's 1964 outline is the same kind of write-up TV writers use today.

Is a beat sheet an actual thing, or a mythical Hollywood construct?

"Based on an idea by" is a rare credit, for good reason.

The big villain in Spider-Man 3 was a plague of coincidence. Here's how they could have avoided it.

Ladies and gentlemen, screenwriters, it's time to stop putting character in air vents.

Update query on the video game potentially becoming a movie.

It's hard work to take an idea and turn it into a movie without knowing how to write, but it happens all the time.

Can't write your great idea? Find someone who can.

If Kafka ran google.

There's no standard, but past 20 pages I'd be worried.

The differences, defined.

For work this afternoon, I needed to read a screenplay written in the early 1970s. I think it's the earliest-dated script I've read that wasn't reprinted in a book.

Comparing Archer's actual script to my transcript-y approximation shows a little bit more about how Adam Reed's show works.

Archer does a strange thing I haven't seen in many shows: the final line of a scene often serves as the first line of the next scene.

A new browser extension points out an interesting and esoteric problem in English: "her" functions as both an objective pronounce and a possessive one.

Pronunciation jokes have a tendency to feel cheap and hoary. But when they work, they work -- and it's easy enough to show them on the page.

In a screenplay, you're not going to write every punch. Rather, you need to get specific about what makes this fight unique to this moment and this movie.

The Tiny Protagonist has a good interview with Javier Grillo-Marxuach (a writer/producer on LOST and many other shows), talking about how he got started and the craft of television.

If you're staying in one location -- or a series of similar locations -- you don't need individual sluglines.

College was the first time I started writing how I speak. Or, more accurately, college was when I stopped trying to write the way I thought I *should* write.

As a screenwriter, with no aspirations of getting behind the camera, how hard is it, or would it be to sell a spec script, that could possibly be a 100-110 min movie, but only a 65-70 page script? Understanding that execution is key, is it even possible to get your screenplay looked at, with it being so short?

I'm reading more network pilot scripts this year than in years past, so I can't say whether this is a new trend or just something I was unaware of: What's with all the swearing?

Movie characters hang up the phone earlier than actual people would.

You have several choices for situations in which one character interrupts another.

Eric Heisserer offers a good example of why you need to make sure to read dialogue aloud.

A helpful tutorial on apostrophes.

Last night, I struggled with a scene that went on too long without really accomplishing its aims. The solution ended up being pretty simple: get rid of a character.

One hyphen, two hyphens or none at all?

What’s the accepted tolerance for parentheticals in screenplay dialogue?

Three quick answers on writing camera angles, formatting TV scripts and choosing a pen name.

If you have a line that only makes sense one way -- and it's not the first way someone would read it -- you have a couple of choices.

Today's scriptcast is nominally about dialogue, but I ended up switching a lot of stuff around in the scene in order to accommodate new -- and less -- dialogue.

It's okay to refer to emotions in character descriptions, even beyond what the character is experience at the moment we meet him.

How you arrange the words can determine whether a line is rim-shot funny or thrown-away funny.

Jane Espenson makes the case for finding the essence before writing the jokes.

If it would be obvious to the viewer, make it obvious to the reader.

Useful suggestions for screenwriters working on their first animated feature

You're almost never going to show the exact same thing twice. So don't do it on the page, either.

A handy and scary glossary to terms from the Mexican drug war.

Gary Whitta wrote in with his proposed moratorium: the wall of expository newspaper clippings.

Double negative points for saying something quippy after being revived.

This compilation clip demonstrates what a hoary cliché it has become to explain why movie characters can't use their cell phones.

Is it okay to include a brief list of characters for a particularly complex and character-rich script?

I handed in a script today, and thought it might be helpful to talk through my best practices when finishing up a draft.

Somewhat remarkably, the top two movies in America have subtitles. Lots and lots of subtitles.

Screenplays don't cite references because they don't quote things.

I almost invented this word today. But didn't.

If you say "on accident," you're very likely under 30 years old. In fact, among Americans in that age group, it's more becoming more common than the traditional "by accident."

We rarely refer to women as assholes.

The present progressive tense can be your friend.

A YouTube lesson on making more-readable scene description.

A correction in the LA Times points to a deeper flaw in English.

With a few simple instructions, you can turn nay normal sentence into a David Foster Wallace super-sentence.

Sluglines can be more specific, but only when it's important for the reader.

Do you give them a name, even if they haven't shown up on-screen yet?

After eight long years in hiding, the semicolon's glorious return.

Clear sluglines help to weave in and out of animation.

It's a lovely word, and a nice alternative to the similar unctuous.

A pet peeve and a losing battle with popular meaning.

Formatting radio chatter.

Is it okay to put a drawing into a script?

Old questions, dusted off and answered.

Do millionaires dream of being billionaires?

How the writer, actor, director and audience work together.

Ways to keeping the reader engaged and clear when you're skipping around in time.

Two unrelated questions answered. 1. Clarifying young and old versions of characters. 2. How much research to do before writing.

Formatting for a specific character's point of view.

One writer, five questions.

Simplicity is not the same as idiocy, or pandering.

Llittle choices are what form your style, and developing a narrative voice is a crucial part of your career as a writer.

Just as important, what NOT to do when trying to cut length. Don't cheat.

Always treat your readers like audience members, and think about it from their perspective.

Done just right, jargon helps ground characters in their setting, much the way medical-ese makes you think those pretty people on TV could actually be doctors.

When the subjunctive shows up, there's almost always drama.

I spent five days in Maine, writing and researching my next project.

Try replacing the question of what the character wants/needs with, "Why is the character doing what he's doing?"

Answering the tricky questions elegantly, so your audience can remain focussed on the story.

A short film, like a short story, can't waste any time. Here's what to include, and what to leave out.

How to format when characters have mysterious beginnings and change identities.

Don't be lazy and stupid by relying on existing scenes to visualize your own.

Taking issue with a mischaracterization in the paper of record.

How to treat characters we'll meet later but don't hear from right away.

The rules for slipping in unknowable lines in your screenplay.

Nine second answers to nine burning questions. Ready...go!

A writer can get away with quite a few things on stage that are tough to pull off in movies.

Handling perspective in your action lines.

Using dialogue to bridge a cut. (Warning: some readers are haters)

How specific to get in your sluglines.

When the shoot begins, the real world comes to play.

If you're looking to put your story out into the world, paper beats film, hands down.

Scene Challenge! Give me your best dry-cleaner intro.

One of the most difficult and important lessons to learn. Here's some great examples and helpful guidance.

Some rules to using TV for exposition in screenplays.

Scene Challenge! The first (and dirtiest) ever!

Most times, dialogue reads fine without any special indicators, so save them for when they're truly needed.

Seven steps to writing meaningful, entertaining dialogue while handling exposition.

Kudos to the writers of HEROES for letting the audience connect the dots.

Examples of the differences between the sketch and the full scene.

Update on "How to write a scene" post. Does the character drive the story or the storyteller?

The steps I take and questions I ask myself in order to write a scene.

New (to me) term for a useful device in serial fiction.

Why not just call them rich?

Let's say you're at work and you overhear some great dialogue. Should you worry about co-workers suing when they hear it in your movie?

Treat your reader like an audience member. Give them the same information on the page that they would get on the screen.

Movies are about what characters do and say, not who they were before the story started.

True, grammar can't be filmed. But scripts are read by people, not cameras. And people deserve the best writing you can muster.

If you're gonna heckle, back it up or look stupid.

Needing the right word and finally finding it.

Are you a Literalist Shower Fragmenter Filmist? Discover your writerly personality.

Some projects sell mostly on their title. Choose wisely.

Most successful shorts don't spend much of their time filling in the details about their characters. Strive for economy.

Look at every scene and ask whether it feels movie-like in the bad way.

Learning how to show, not tell.

Is it okay to be specific about locations and brands without their pre-approval?

Helpful grammar tips for one of them foreign types writing American dialogue.

Movie dialogue is what real people would say if they could take a few seconds to think between lines.

Why it's never okay to include drawings with a screenplay. Words are all you get.

The director, cinematographer and visual effects supervisor have the final say about what the effects look like. But until these people come along, the writer is all those jobs

Cliches are shortcuts. The more you avoid taking them, the more interesting the places you'll end up.

Planned ad-libbing is like hoping for a white Christmas. Maybe it will snow, or maybe it won't. Your sleigh better have wheels just in case.

Give it the attention it deserves or risk it dying in production or edit.

Expect to do multiple drafts and revisions and make sure the first draft you show people could actually be shot.

They can help visualize the structure and pacing, but allow for invention along the way.

Always ask, "Do I need this?" But don't sacrifice tone for brevity.

A page-a-minute is a good rule, with exceptions.

Sorry, you can't outsource the hard stuff to the actors and director.

When to use them. Which to use.

If I get to the third page of a scene I'm writing, I automatically stop and re-examine it to figure out why it's so long, and whether it really needs to be.

Until the movie is in theatres, there's no such thing as a final shooting script. Angles are for Directors and edits are for editors.

Reading a screenplay should give you the sense of watching the movie. There are times when it's appropriate to mention angles, just as it can be necessary to point out costuming, or music, or effects in order to let the reader know what's what.

This week in the podcast, Craig and I follow up on our earlier comment about kids being the death of screenwriters, then dive into the process of outlining a script, from index cards to whiteboards to spreadsheets. Along the way, we discuss Curious George, Torchwood and V.

Michael Agger looks at scientific studies on writing to find reasons why it's so damn hard, and slow.

Bruce Sterling publishes a list of Lovecraft's undeveloped story ideas.

A reader asks whether it's wrong to skip the outline stage. It's not.

A reader asks: How you read scripts these days? Do you print, or read it on a device?

Your hands shouldn't hurt after writing. If they do, you need to check your ergonomics and habits.

You'll notice big changes if you read the earliest drafts. But the later ones give you a better sense of how words on the page translate to the screen.

When approaching a big rewrite, should you start from the existing script or a blank page?

Before you start writing any screenplay, make a playlist of music that feels like the movie. It's a fundamental part of my process.

If you're having a hard time finding a character's voice, get him talking about something unrelated to the scene at hand.

"Theme" is a word screenwriters use without defining it clearly, but here's a good way to think about it.

One of the joys of screenwriting is putting childhood terrors into words. But nihilism is not a crowd-pleaser.

In defense of fake tears and the emotional work screenwriters do.

I'm interviewed in a new book about screenwriters' experiences.

Index cards are a great tool for outlining. Use them wisely.

Useful suggestions for screenwriters working on their first animated feature

MakingOf has part two of my interview up on the site, in which I talk about work habits, writer's block and 20-minute timers.

Story lessons from Star Trek, from the mouths and minds of the writers.

Do you ever get sick of working with the same script that you are loathe to even look at it anymore? Yes.

Alvin Sargent's advice: If you have a problem, give it to the character.

A YouTube lesson on making more-readable scene description.

Readers will follow you down almost any rabbit hole provided you can convince them something rewarding awaits.

They're not a terrible idea, as long as they're approached with the right expectations.

Two unrelated questions answered. 1. Clarifying young and old versions of characters. 2. How much research to do before writing.

Making your movie. Keeping your soul.

Killing backstories, writing out lyrics and why you will always want to be writing something else (amongst other topics), explored.

Dedicate one day a week to disassembling good movies.

Having trouble with a scene? Here's six questions to ask yourself.

You need good readers. Here's how to choose and keep them.

I spent five days in Maine, writing and researching my next project.

Try replacing the question of what the character wants/needs with, "Why is the character doing what he's doing?"

I generally caution that rewriting is the enemy of finishing, but sometimes it's necessary.

A call to contribute to a lecture on authorship in the digital age.

You don't have to know everything about your story and characters before you begin. Discovery is the best part of the writing process.

Link to an interview on creativity.

Obey the muse, whatever the timing, or risk her departure.

Knowing the market isn't the same thing as taste, and everyone's taste is different.

Seven steps to writing meaningful, entertaining dialogue while handling exposition.

Examples of the differences between the sketch and the full scene.

Update on "How to write a scene" post. Does the character drive the story or the storyteller?

The steps I take and questions I ask myself in order to write a scene.

Get over it. No one wants to steal your crappy idea.

If you don't like it, don't do it.

My first experience with being translated.

This "knowing when it's done" sense only develops with experience.

Decide what you want to accomplish, then figure out which scenes would need to change. Only fix one piece at a time.

Don't strive for likeability. It's a fool's errand. Rather, aim for believability.

Suggestions for saving paper, your money and the environment.

A dispatch from China.

Dedicating to craft and characters while maintaining contact with actual human beings.

I outsourced this question to my former assistant, Rawson Thurber.

Read it as if some other, lamer screenwriter wrote it. What would you do differently? Then, do that.

If screenwriters only wrote about subjects they knew intimately, most screenplays would be about Tetris, television or getting picked last for team sports.

Stop thinking about structure as something you impose upon your story. It's an inherent part of it, like the setup to a joke.

Be brutal. The needs of the movie outweigh the needs of the scene.

Any joke becomes unfunny after you stare at it for too long.

KINGDOME COME writer talks candidly about his process.

How to juggle multiple ideas. First, avoid it if you can.

There are real hazards to being glued to a desk all day long. Some tips to avoid pain and suffering.

BRING IT ON writer on setting goals and taking advantage of fear.

Avoiding the early edit and other ways I get my story down on paper.

FOXY BROWN writer on coloring his beats to visualize the structure, and other methods.

CAMP writer uses bad movies as a muse and motivator.

Techniques for solving script problems and staying focussed.

Every screenwriter needs feedback from a trusted set of eyes.

I can't help with writer's block. But I do have experience with Laziness, Brain Lock and Perfection Paralysis. Defined herein.

Keep in mind, does it pass the "I'd buy that" test?

The hive mind approach for screenwriting? Good luck.

Don't wait for flow. It might come; it might not. But it's your job to keep writing anyway.

Techniques for solving script problems and staying focussed.

Estimating how it takes to gestate and write a draft is part of the job.

You need to actively clear time in your day to write, which means giving up something.

Knowing the exact shade of ochre in the king's bedroom is pointless unless you have a fascinating scene taking place there.

It's awkward enough to take over someone else's script without having to ask for the file.

You don't need to know everything, just enough to firmly place your characters in the world.

If you're beating yourself up over not plotting out your whole script beat-for-beat. Guess what? You don't have to.