Often we’ll get emails from writers wondering about the marketability of their project. Let’s face it, we all think our projects are marketable because we are passionate about them. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t have put months of blood, sweat, and tears into a story. So when somebody asks us about their high-budget period piece,…
Happy Labor Day, fellow scribes! Just a quick update this week as to where we’re at with Get Repped Now – and what happens next. We’ve been working overtime all summer long to review all the Get Repped Now submissions. And I’m happy to say the end is finally in sight. We’ve got around 80…
Every time we do Get Repped Now, we’re reminded of the common mistakes we all make — because we see them over and over and over. Sometimes (often) it’s because we’re inexperienced and/or don’t know any better; sometimes it’s due to ego and/or wishful thinking; and sometimes it’s just not taking the job (you do…
We figured this might happen. After almost three months of reading Get Repped Now submissions (and finding only three “considers” in that time,) boom – three more just this week. That has to do with many of you polishing and resubmitting at deadline (nice!) And of course other folks simply wait until the last minute…
A couple of weeks ago, we wrote a column about all of the people who take a bite out of your awesome spec sale. Your agent takes 10% so does your manager; the lawyer charges a million dollars/hour or takes 5%, depending on how established you are and how big the deal is, and so…
DOOM and GLOOM. That’s what 2025 has been for the movie and TV biz so far. US box office has been nothing short of catastrophic, with the only ray of light coming from (egad) The Minecraft Movie. TV writing jobs are down a whopping 42% from last year. Panicky reps have been wondering how to…
Writers are often worried about someone stealing their idea. So let’s parse out what we should worry about, what we shouldn’t worry about, and how we can protect ourselves. Let’s say you’ve got this killer marketable idea and it sings on the page. Great! If you send it out to someone, will they steal it from…
March 17th through May 31st 2025 We’ve gotten hundreds of writers read by our management panels, which has resulted in over 80 meetings, writers working with managers on developing new material, writers signed to agencies and management companies, and even a big spec sale — when manager Jake Wagner sold writer Brandon Barker’s script “Nottingham…
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…
What the heck is “voice”? Do I need it? Can I buy a bag at Costco? Read on… By Jim Cirile You’d probably guess that we read a fair amount of scripts here at CI. But you may not suspect how few of them display one crucial factor to help your writing grab…
