Takeaways from the American Film Market ’24 Earlier this month, Las Vegas played host to the fabled American Film Market. This is the annual marketplace where distribution deals are made, foreign sales are negotiated, packages are packaged, and buyers and sellers from all over the world converge to schmooze and hopefully make new relationships. Now…
With Any Coverage for a Screenplay Centering Around a Holiday Yes, any holiday that takes place at any time during the year. From January to December. From Diwali to Ramadan. From Talk Like a Pirate Day to Festivus. If your script centers around a holiday–or, at the very least, a holiday plays a…
There’s a whole hidden infrastructure in Hollywood devoted to tracking and scoring Open Assignments. Come get some.  (Note: This article was originally published in 2019, and some of the people mentioned have moved on.) It’s not just about specs. The vast majority of a working screenwriter’s income often comes from assignments. We spoke…
Yes, we know, eyes are glazing over at the thought of yet another missive about formatting. Look, guys, you don’t want to give the gatekeepers a reason to pass on your script before they’ve even read it. And if they open the PDF and it’s clear that the author doesn’t know the difference between sheeeit…
SLUG LINES are one of the most useful tools in a writer’s arsenal. Get to know them and love them! They serve many functions. Of course, we all know they can tell us where we are… INT. JOANIE’S CLOSET – DAY But they can also be used to call attention to a certain character or…
According to the WGA, no one is supposed to write anything in Hollywood without getting paid for it. Yeah, about that… by Jim Cirile Here’s a topic that may shock those of you who hope to one day sell a spec or maybe even make a living as a screenwriter. And that is:…
FREE Half-Hour Consultation w/ Every Horror Submission thru October Are you working on a scary good horror/thriller script that you plan on unleashing on the world to wreak havoc, terrorize, and lay waste to us all? Cool! For the entire month of October, we’re giving away FREE half-hour consultations with every horror pilot…
We were overwhelmed with entries this year and a surprising amount of near misses that may only be a draft or two away. But in the end, eight scripts were undeniable. What did they get right? Each showed a strong and distinctive writing voice as well as a command of the genre they were…
What possible avenues would I have with my script in terms of pitching (contests, etc)? What do I do with it once it is awesome? One of our clients just asked these very questions and, of course, we figured many of you might be wondering the exact same thing. That’s a big question. We could…
We’re still working our way through GET REPPED NOW! submissions and have noticed a tendency for Shot Calls and Music Calls. Yes, we understand you can visualize your writing so well that you know exactly what it should look and feel and sound like. However, sometimes this tendency can hurt your material and your career….