Scriptwriting

arcticookami asked: Hello, I have been writing ever since I was little and recently declared that I am going into Script Writing-- nothing too exact, just sort of jumping in to see what happens and go from there. So, I sort of have two questions: 1) how important is a resume and/or business card and when&where do you use them? 2) for someone who pretty much lives in the middle of nowhere with only news stations to really look for internships, how should I start getting good experience? Thanks!

Your brand new spec scripts will be your resume. The title page, which contains your contact information, will be your calling card. Sure, carry around a business card if you like. Sign up on Google + and Facebook and LinkedIn. Type up and post a resume and keep it updated. But don’t confuse scriptwriting with a “normal” business. It’s more like a combination of door-to-door salesman and furniture maker. You craft the product yourself, then you attempt to sell it yourself.

Getting internships at news stations won’t help. (This coming from someone who got wonderful experience as a journalist before going into screenwriting.) If you’re pinned down where you are, take online courses. Read books. Watch TV, see movies and take note of what you love and what you hate. (The things you love you’ll probably be best at writing.) Fly to seminars if you think they’ll help. But more than anything, write, write, and write some more.

Hope this helps. Feel free to follow up.

Hello! I’m a second semester college freshman. My dream is to work in television writing/producing one day. I attended Hofstra University in NY for 1 semester but had an awful experience. I’m now at a state school in RI. Would you recommend transferring to a school in CA to finish my undergrad (which is what I’m seriously considering) or do you think the small state school will be enough for a bachelors? I love USC, UCLA, and LMU. Suggestions? Thank you!

It depends upon what you’re after by attending college. If you like the school you’re attending, then from an educational point of view by all means stay there, especially if you’re willing to move to California to pursue your career afterward. TV production companies don’t look that closely at which college you graduate (with the possible exception of The Simpsons, aka the Harvard Mafia). If you’re interested in a Masters degree, so much the better: you can attend one of the fine graduate programs in TV production and writing at USC or UCLA (see my previous post answering a similar question).

If, however, you’re not especially thrilled with the education you’re getting in our nation’s smallest state, do consider transferring to USC or UCLA if you can make the grade and afford it. Your education will improve as well as focus on what you really want to pursue — and you’ll be in LA that much sooner.

Hope this helps. Feel free to follow up.

Anonymous asked: How do you feel about Emerson as a grad school choice?

Emerson is obviously a well-known school of good repute, but I have no firsthand knowledge of the institution or its writing program. My previous advice stands: if you can, take your classes in the middle of show business.

If any of my readers have an informed opinion of Emerson, feel free to sound off in the comments below.

Anonymous asked: I'm a senior in college and have been looking at grad schools to attend for screen writing. No one at my university has ever wanted to pursue this and my advisors can't help me much. The Internet had given me many different opinions on this, but what is your feeling on grad school for screenwriting? My dream is to become a writer for television some day. Thanks so much for all your help!

If as you say your goal is to write for television, I would say yes, you can learn a lot in a grad program for TV writing — with one caveat. It should be in Los Angeles. That is still the epicenter of the TV business, and there’s really no point in learning the nuts of the bolts of the teleplay-writing craft without being immersed in the giant machine where it almost all happens. This will greatly increase the chances that you’ll meet the right people, possibly land an internship or even a job.

So let’s assume you move to LA. There are two major choices: UCLA, and USC. These are both private schools with sterling reputations and high tuition costs. Each lays claim to a storied and sparkling heritage. Both have Masters programs in TV writing and many related subjects. And both have excellent infrastructure to teach you, not only writing, but production. I happen to teach at USC, so I’m a bit biased, and won’t try to advise you here. Research both on the Internet, and if you have any specific questions you can’t answer there, follow up with me.

If both schools are too expensive, there are other options, including colleges based in other states that have satellites in LA. They all want your business, so they’ll be on the Web.

Hope this helps. Thanks.

Roger

Anonymous asked: Hello Schulman, this is probably inappropriate but I'm a USC grad student in my 3rd year, and have been trying to take the 434 class for 3 quarters. Mostly it was my stupidity navigating the writing track D-clearance, I ended up applying to the waitlist for the wrong section. This is my last semester and I really want to take your class, especially with your level credentials. If there is anyway I can get on the waiting list or anything, please let me know? Thank you Tim Wen 6263185577

Instructors do not handle wait lists for classes. You may see the Division about this, or sign the attendance sheet in my class, which will be filed with the Division. 

Anonymous asked: I have been writing with my writing partner for a number of years and now. We have completed six screenplays. Cameron Johann at Hallmark Hall of Fame read three of our scripts, told the agent he liked them and to send him anything new we wrote -- but no sale. This keeps happening and it's frustrating. I keep thinking that they're just not good enough, but pros with decades of experience say they are. I'm not sure what to do next, so we just keep writing. Any suggestions?

From your query it sounds like you have representation, so you’re over the biggest hurdle. Don’t forget that “agent” is short for “employment agent” — in other words, the person you pay to get you work. I think it’s time to sit down with your agent, assuming you like and trust her, and calmly ask the question you’re asking me. To wit: “I’m getting good feedback on my scripts, but no sale. I’m happy to keep writing, I’m never giving up. But what are you doing to take this product, already praised by pros, and exchange it for currency?” Your agent may have her own qualms about the work, and those opinions are welcome and valuable, but don’t let that be the extent of the conversation. Is your agent getting the work distributed widely enough? Is your agent pushing you when on the phone with prospective customers? Are you attending general “get to know you” meetings so executives can match the work with a face and personality? 

You might also contact your supporter at Hallmark (or anywhere else) and be frank. “You like my work consistently, but you don’t buy it. I realize you have your own needs to meet, but can you take a step back and recommend any writing I should do to make the work more marketable? And if it’s not right for Hallmark, can you recommend a place where it might be just right?” 

In short, you have to do more than write. Write, yes, but sell. Sell yourself. Sell your agent on you. Sell your contacts on your work. No one cares about your career as much as you do. Now go out and prove it. 

Hope this helps. 

QUESTION: I recently came across a short video clip of Dov Simens saying (if I understood him correctly) that the final selling price of a writer’s first feature film script — i.e. a draft and two rewrites? (presumably to a WGA-rules signatory) is limited to the MINIMUM allowed by the WGA, ca. $60,000 as I recall for a feature film.  If this is the case, those of us who are working on big canvas stories should not submit them till we’ve sold a “smaller” indie-type story.  Can you “smarten us up” on this issue?

ANSWER: I’m a bit confused by your question.  Instead of attempting to answer it and screwing up, I’d like to YOU a couple of questions to help me help you.  OK?  

1. Is this clip someplace on the Internet where I can view it?  I’d like to get the exact wording down, because I don’t quite understand it.  

2. Assuming I do eventually understand what Mr. Simens is saying, please take me through your logic.  Why, if this is the case, should you sell a smaller story before you sell a bigger story?  What’s the advantage to that, exactly?

Thanks.

Roger

QUESTION: Link to Simens: http://vimeo.com/96389 . This is sort of a promo for his course, I guess. The rhetorical point is, the money is in t.v.  But to get to his point he talks about the WGA rules.

My logic is (if Dov is correct):  Why would I want to sell a big-canvas, epic historical work I’ve been working on for years for the lowest possible amount I could ever get for it (from a WGA signatory).  Why wouldn’t I prefer to first try to sell a “smaller story” that I’m sure is not worth the same kind of money as the former (and in which I don’t have so much invested) — and then start shopping the “bigger” story.

Answer: As far as I was able to tell, the link you supplied connected to me to a brief trailer of young persons performing skateboarding stunts.  I did a separate search on Dov, but came up with too many hits to narrow it down to the video in question.  I will say based on my viewing of Dov’s videos that he probably earns his profit based on volume.  He’s the loudest film instructor I’ve ever heard.  

So I’ll try and consider your question in the absence of the primary source.  

I understand your reasoning, but to me it smacks a bit of speciousness.  Here’s my reasoning.  

I don’t know that there’s  really a direct relationship between the “size” of a story and the size of its worth TO YOU.  On one hand, big budget movies tend to be more commercial and executives “get” them a little better because they tend to be high concept.  And a big budget movie might tend to carry a higher price tag for everyone, including the screenwriter.  But there are plenty of exceptions to these truths.  A screenwriter’s first sale is often a low-budget horror script, because these are easily marketable around the world, cost less, not more, and don’t require star casting.  In addition, comedies are sometimes big box office despite their relatively low budget, assuming the comedy is high concept and funny enough.  

Far outweighing this rationale, however, is the fact that none of this really matters.  People like Dov make their living based on the seemingly logical premise that there’s a “business” to show business, with its rules and do’s and don’ts and so on.  And to a certain extent, this is also true.  However, it only goes so far.  

Do you think that if there were a gold-plated set of rules describing a path to profitable movie-making that everyone wouldn’t be following it by now?  Why do brilliantly commercial and fantastically successful producers like Jerry Bruckheimer make fortunes on franchises like “Pirates of the Carribbean” and then lose a small fortune on a movie like “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice?”  It’s because for every rule there are six hundred exceptions and an infinite number of combinations of rules.  And here’s another rule: it’s the exceptions that change the business.  There used to be a rule that science fiction movies don’t sell.  Then George Lucas, after making “American Graffitti,” made “Star Wars: A New Hope.”  And of course all of show business crowded onto his bandwagon until the axles broke.  There used to a be rule that comedies can’t compete in the box office arena with special-effects driven films.  Then someone made “The Hangover.”  

It happens over and over again.  I ask my agent what “they’re” looking for, and she says, “big budget father-son rites of passage with special effects.”  Then the Coen Brothers make a Western.  It’s got to have a “gettable” title.  Until someone makes “The China Syndrome.”  Big stars are the best guarantee of box office success.  Until they’re not.  And on and on and on.

It’s tough enough to succeed in the canned soup business, where every goddamned can is exactly the same size and shape.  How can anyone create rules for an industry in which each product is a different length, a different cost, appealing to a different audience, in dozens or hundreds of different countries?  

I don’t know the answer.  If I did, of course, I’d be very rich.  I do believe the ones who are the most consistently successful have some kind of a gut that’s connected to the ever changing tastes of the public, and a good head for numbers.  But I’m a writer (and TV producer).  I don’t want to spend my time trying to get rich, because I’ll probably fail.  I want to spend my time writing those things about which I’m most passionate, if at all possible.  And that passion, if it’s even vaguely commercial, is as good a barometer of what might sell as any other measure.  And if I fail, at least I won’t be kicking myself for spending ALL my time working on something I didn’t like, but thought would make me money.  

Write the screenplay you want to write.  Pray to God that it will sell.  Don’t make a ten-year plan for financial success.  Have as much fun as you can, and try to put some of that fun on the page.  Your enthusiasm will be contagious.  

Hope this helps.  Feel free to follow up.  

Roger

My “secret” dream is to become a screenwriter. But I am aware that I cannot afford to become a full-time student to learn the craft,  as I need money to help my family.

Could you suggest a way of learning for people like me?

I’m a radio producer in London, working from 9 to 5p.m. Usually I have to wake up at 6.30 to prepare before taking a one-hour train to my office. After 5 p.m, another one-hour train back home. I then would make - my wife and I take turns to make - dinner, and play with one-year-old son. 

I think my free time would be from 9pm until midnight. Sometimes if the work is not demanding, then I can “steal” some working time to browse through screenwriting materials on the web during the working shifts.

Apart from my love of watching movies, I read a lot, so spending time to read books or magazines is not a burden for me. If there is any concern, maybe it is the fact that I read too widely. That is, there are many topics that I would like to read about, from American politics to Englishness, to screenwriting to literature. If you think that as a screenwriter, you need to focus on reading a certain topic at any given time, pls share your tip.

Well, you’re already in some version of show business, in that you produce radio (whether it’s journalism, music, drama or whatever makes no difference).  That’s good; you’ve got the rhythm in your blood and it’s little wonder you aspire to screenwriting.  

There are two basic aspects to training yourself to be a screenwriter.  The first is writing and learning to write; the second is learning and observing everything in life you can.  So no, I wouldn’t recommend you focus too tightly.  Things like degrees in film making and courses in screenwriting are often a mistake for just that reason.  You fashion yourself into a hammer, so to speak, but have no idea how to recognize a nail.  It may take longer to get where you’re going, but being a student of life is never a mistake, in my opinion.  

Now to the first aspect.  Try surfing the Web for books on screenwriting that seem to appeal.  Avoid the ones that promise you’ll be writing “blockbusters” in 30 days.  Go for the ones that seem to you to be about the craft of writing.  I like Syd Field; he’s an old-timer and pretty conservative.  My current pick is Christopher Hague, another old-schooler. You can read the current vogue, which is Christopher Vogel, Joseph Campbell and the concept of a “universal myth” that drives all storytelling.  But beware: this can be taken too far.  Ever since “Star Wars,” too many screenwriters, studios and directors have been trying to shove square scripts into round holes.  

There are also many sources online for information and opinion about screenwriting.  Visit the sites that drive sales of Final Draft and Movie Magic Screenwriter, the two biggest screenwriting programs.  They have many links to pretty solid articles (opinion, mind you) about what makes good and bad screenwriting.  Again, take what you like and discard the rest.  And in any case, don’t get so involved in reading about writing that you skip the far more important part.  

That, of course, is WRITING.  Anything you can do to write is a good thing.  Cordon off time.  Get yourself a nice pad of paper or a nice computer or whatever it is that makes the process more pleasant and magnetic for you — because there will be plenty of other excuses to be had to stop writing.  Keep something with you at all times with which you can jot down or otherwise record your ideas, be it a digital recorder, an iPad, a smartphone, a leather notebook with fountain pen, or a small rock and a sharp nail.  You must be available to your brain at all times. When you find an idea about which you are passionate, you’ll know it, because your brain will be popping ideas like so much movie corn, and you’ll want a bucket in which to catch them.  

Think of screenwriting in its component parts.  What’s your IDEA?  What STORY comes from it?  What CHARACTERS will dramatize it?  What’s the STRUCTURE of the movie?  The BEGINNING, the MIDDLE, the END?  What are the STORY BEATS within that structure?  Finally, what will your DIALOG sound like?  How will all these elements efficiently and simultaneously drive the movie forward, from beginning to end, in a compelling way?  How will it all happen in 120 crisp pages?  Break it down so it doesn’t overwhelm you.  ”Writing” means doing any of these things.  You’re not Shakespeare with a dream in one hand and a quill pen in the other (although the real Shakespeare wasn’t like that at all).  You’re a furniture maker now.  A construction worker.  Your job is to build a script.  Don’t get carried away by it or with it.  Don’t feel overwhelmed.  Don’t overthink it to the point of Hamlet-like inaction.  Break it down into manageable crisps and eat it, one by one.  (See I worked a British foodstuff into it?  Pretty good, huh?)  

Do whatever you can to keep yourself moving forward.  Find a writing buddy online (there are chat rooms and forums galore) and set a schedule with her or him to which you must be faithful.  Tell your wife you’re going to give her an outline in two weeks, and do it.  At first, it doesn’t matter how good it is.  Honestly.  It’s all going to be rewritten anyway, first by you, then by the guy they hire to destroy everything you’ve done.  You may as well get used to it now. There are thousands upon thousands of unproduced scripts sitting in drawers.  But far worse are the millions of ideas sitting in aspiring writers’ heads that never even make it to the drawer.  Don’t be one of those writers!  

Don’t forget weekends.  If you’re serious, set aside Sunday for the family — but use a big chunk of Saturday to write without interruption or distraction.  Tell your wife you have a mistress now.  

Hope this helps.  

Roger