Tip and Quote of the Week: Embrace White Space

Embrace White Space

The biggest thing aspiring writers can do to look professional is to embrace white space.

Keep action and dialogue to 3 lines or less.

Keep it MOVING.

If you put your pedal to the metal from page one and don’t let go, it will go a long way (and sometimes cover up or lessen some of the problems the script might have).

"The way I write is very much without kind of a goal. I have something I'm interested in and then I decide I'm going to explore it. I don't know where the characters are going to go, I don't know what the movie is going to do or what the screenplay is going to do. For me, that's the way to keep it alive."

-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: Cut Out the Boring Parts

Cut Out The Boring Parts

Why do we never see Batman take a leak between fighting crime?

Because great scripts are real life with all the boring parts cut out.

With both your movie and your scenes, always enter late and leave early.

If a scene, a character’s action, or even a line of dialogue doesn’t move the story forward or add depth to a character, it can be cut.

"When I write a screenplay, and when I direct, I always pull lines out."

-Stanley Tucci

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 for the Week: Master Writing Great Dialogue

Master Writing Great Dialogue

If you're an aspiring writer trying to break into the industry, great dialogue that pops off the page is the single best way to capture Hollywood's attention.

JUNO had an alright story, but the reason people went crazy over it was the dialogue seemed fresh and new and unique at the time.

In Hollywood, great dialogue is hard to find – master that, and you’re head and shoulders above the competition.

"I've found that good dialogue tells you not only what people are saying or how they're communicating but it tells you a great deal - by dialect and tone, content and circumstance - about the quality of the character."
- E. O. Wilson

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.

Get book here.

Tip and Quote of the Week: Query Letters

Query Letters

When writing a query letter, keep it simple. All the industry cares about is the logline – we’ve got enough emails to write, scripts to read, and calls to make. So keep it quick and easy: No bio, no why you're sending to them. Just a professional greeting, a great logline, and a professional close. You’ll be their new best friend if it takes them 5 seconds to read your letter. 

"I don't care who you are. When you sit down to write the first page of your screenplay, in your head, you're also writing your Oscar acceptance speech."

~ Nora Ephron

Source: 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.