Tip and Quote of the Week: Write A Great Opening Scene

Write A Great Opening Scene

It's tough with today's spec market.

Help yourself out with a great opening scene.

It doesn't matter if it's a drama or a comedy or a thriller: have the opening be gripping, or intriguing, or mysterious, or exciting, or all four.

A great opening scene will get you a lot of leeway when it comes to how long an industry player will sit down to read your script. If you keep the scenes consistently great, you might achieve that rarity of all rarities – an agent who reads a script from cover to cover.

"There's nothing more important in making movies than the screenplay."

-Richard Attenborough

Sources: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/screenplay.html#Qt2XAKBwUuITJCDb.99 and http://www.screenplay.com/default.aspx.

A former Hollywood Lit Manager, Michael Ferris started ScriptAWish.com as a way to help other writers get their foot in the door and has helped several writers sell their scripts (like Travis Beacham of PACIFIC RIM) and set up projects with producers like Academy Award Winner Arnold Kopelson. The mission of ScriptAWish.com is to help aspiring writers get their scripts into shape and then get their foot in the door. His new venture is a collaboration with several professional screenwriters called StudioGhostwriters.com and is intended to help producers get their movie ideas on paper or their drafts polished for production.

Tip and Quote of the Week: Breaking into TV

Breaking Into TV

Breaking into TV is tough and you need to make sure your pilot and/or show specs move FAST.

Hit it hard from page one and don’t let off the gas!

Don’t just write a great episode, write the kind of episode for a show that people would talk about at the water cooler if they had actually seen it on TV.

"There's this inherent screenplay structure that everyone seems to be stuck on, this three-act thing. It doesn't really interest me. To me, it's kind of like saying, 'Well, when you do a painting, you always need to have sky here, the person here and the ground here.' Well, you don't."

-Charlie Kaufman

Sources: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/screenplay.html#Qt2XAKBwUuITJCDb.99 and http://www.screenplay.com/default.aspx.

A former Hollywood Lit Manager, Michael Ferris started ScriptAWish.com as a way to help other writers get their foot in the door and has helped several writers sell their scripts (like Travis Beacham of PACIFIC RIM) and set up projects with producers like Academy Award Winner Arnold Kopelson. The mission of ScriptAWish.com is to help aspiring writers get their scripts into shape and then get their foot in the door. His new venture is a collaboration with several professional screenwriters called StudioGhostwriters.com and is intended to help producers get their movie ideas on paper or their drafts polished for production.

Tip and Quote of the Week: Great Titles Are A Must

Great Titles are a Must

Great titles that grab you – off the bat – are paramount in this day and age.

Don’t write cutesy titles that require a person to read the script to “get” why it’s a funny or an interesting title.

Write a title that both tells a potential reader EXACTLY what kind (see: genre) of script they are about to read, and one that is attention grabbing and/or interesting.

Many times, your title will not be something that would ever possibly end up on the poster were it to get made (See: “F*ckbuddies”, which eventually became NO STRINGS ATTACHED, or "Untitled Teenage Sex Comedy That Can Be Made For Under $10 Million That Most Readers Will Probably Hate But I Think You Will Love" that eventually became AMERICAN PIE).

 "All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath." 

— F. Scott Fitzgerald

Sources: http://blog.quotabl.es/2011/04/12/screenwriting/

and http://www.screenplay.com/default.aspx.

A former Hollywood Lit Manager, Michael Ferris started ScriptAWish.com as a way to help other writers get their foot in the door and has helped several writers sell their scripts (like Travis Beacham of PACIFIC RIM) and set up projects with producers like Academy Award Winner Arnold Kopelson. The mission of ScriptAWish.com is to help aspiring writers get their scripts into shape and then get their foot in the door. His new venture is a collaboration with several professional screenwriters called StudioGhostwriters.com and is intended to help producers get their movie ideas on paper or their drafts polished for production.

Tip and Quote of the Week: Writing TV Pilots

http://www.writersstore.com/
developing-a-tv-pilot-ellen-sandler/

Writing TV Pilots

If you write an original TV pilot, you should have an existing show spec to package with it when you send it to Agents.

Make sure it's the same tone of show as your pilot if your interest is in getting staffed on a show (which it should be).

The odds of a first time writer selling a show are extremely low (though not unheard of), so your goal when writing TV should be:

1 – getting an agent

2 – getting staffed.

"You sell a screenplay like you sell a car.
If someone drives it off a cliff, that's it."

-Rita Mae Brown

Sources: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/screenplay.html#Qt2XAKBwUuITJCDb.99 and http://www.screenplay.com/default.aspx.

A former Hollywood Lit Manager, Michael Ferris started ScriptAWish.com as a way to help other writers get their foot in the door and has helped several writers sell their scripts (like Travis Beacham of PACIFIC RIM) and set up projects with producers like Academy Award Winner Arnold Kopelson. The mission of ScriptAWish.com is to help aspiring writers get their scripts into shape and then get their foot in the door. His new venture is a collaboration with several professional screenwriters called StudioGhostwriters.com and is intended to help producers get their movie ideas on paper or their drafts polished for production.