In this interview, Nina Jacobson talks about how to become a successful screenwriter in Hollywood. How do you find a literary agent? How do you get your script in front of the studios? These questions and more are answered by one of the most powerful women in the entertainment industry.

Screenwriting Tips Store

Article by Jean Lester

TEN HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL SCREENWRITERSByDerek RydallFounder, ScriptwriterCentral.com

“Bad habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard to get out of,” — Unknown

“Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones,” — Benjamin Franklin

Think of this as a quick-reference for instant inspiration – whether you’re a screenwriter or script consultant:

1. DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE EVERY DAYWrite something every day – whether it’s your project or an assignment. If you find yourself stuck just staring at a blank screen, try staring at a great script instead — and try to figure out how it’s put together. It might inspire you to get your own writing done. The point here is to keep exercising and refining your craft, building your knowledge, and keeping the momentum – all of which will give you a competitive edge. This isn’t about becoming a workaholic. It’s about breaking through the inertia of complacency. It’s so easy to get comfortable, to settle for the status quo, to rationalize why you’re not doing what you know you need to in order to succeed. “I don’t fee like it,” is not a viable excuse anymore.

2. TAKE FREQUENT BREAKSThis may sound like a contradiction to the above habit. It’s not. In fact, without this one, you won’t be able to sustain the level of quality and productivity referred to above. Unless you’re able to take a break (whether it’s ten minute, an hour, a day, or a week) and recharge, you’ll soon be booking a room in burnout city.

3. GET ORGANIZEDA messy, disorganized office is an energy sapper if there ever was one. Not just because it takes longer to find that important document under that stack of unopened bills, but also because it literally pulls power from your psychic field. Every little ‘toleration’ you put up with burns fuel that could be put to much better use in growing your business.

4. WORK WHEN YOU WORK BESTSome of us are morning people. Others are struck with the muse at the stroke of midnight. If you don’t already know, find out what time of day you work best, and gear your most labor-intensive activities for that time period. (Of course, if you’re on a deadline, you might have to work around the clock, but that’s a different issue.) If you schedule your activities based on your energy cycles, you will find your productivity take a quantum leap. For example, I have two periods when I work the best – late morning and late afternoon. So I try to schedule the heavy-lifting (writing, analyzing) during those hours. When I first get up, I need to ease into the day’s work, so I do more preparatory work, like going over the day’s schedule, straightening up the office, e-mails. Once I’m warmed up, I crack open the script or writing file and get to work for a few hours. I break for lunch, meditation, make calls, work out, do some errands – and start my second writing period. Then it’s home for family time, dinner, and bedtime stories. But not my bedtime. Because at night, my energy cycle is perfect for opening mail, paying bills, filing, during simple research – tasks that don’t take a lot of energy. The point of this example is that if I opened my mail and paid my bills in the late morning, I would waste my most productive energy cycle (not to mention become depressed) which I couldn’t make-up very easily at night during my bill paying, mail-opening time. Make sense? It may take some time to find your perfect energy-schedule, but it’s worth the experimentation. I’m still making adjustments.

5. GIVE EVERY PROJECT 100%Treat every project like it’s the job of your dreams – and you’ll soon attract more and more of your dream jobs. Why? Because you don’t get what you want in life, you get what you are. Ghandi said we must become the change we want to see in the world. Likewise, we must become the kind of person who would get the kind of jobs we want in the world. This is another one of those universal principles I keep slipping in here. If it gives you a headache to try and make sense of it, don’t. Just give it a shot and see what happens.

6. KEEP LEARNINGTo have what others don’t, you must do what others won’t. The average person – and for that matter, the average script consultant – has a tendency to take the path of least resistance. So you must take the road less traveled. Stay open at the top. Maintain a Beginner’s Mind. Besides continued study in related and complimentary fields – read and investigate areas outside of your field – and outside of show business. Some of the most innovative ideas have come from people adapting concepts they discovered in completely unrelated fields.

7. ACT AND DRESS LIKE A PROThis is another relative rule. A stockbroker acts and dresses quite differently than a tennis pro. In the entertainment industry, an executive acts and dresses differently than an actor. Even more specific, different clients will have different expectations. In general, business casual seems to work best. You also want to have an updated resume and work samples readily available. Do your homework, show up to appointments with all the right gear to get the job done, and treat each client or prospect with the utmost respect and value.

8. HONOR YOUR WORK HOURSDuring work hours, especially in a home office, you’ll have plenty of opportunities for distraction from well-meaning friends and family members. In the most diplomatic tone you can muster, kindly inform them that you’re at work not at home. This is a real business, not a hobby. You’ll talk to them after hours, or on your break.

9. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELFFeed your mind and body with high quality nourishment — and exercise. I know this is obvious to most people — yet most people still don’t do it. Writing and consulting is hard work that requires real endurance. If you want to be a high-performance person, you need to run on high-octane fuel.

10. KNOW THYSELFThe most successful people, in this or any field, know who they are so they can be true to that. They also know their strengths – so they can play to them – and their weaknesses — so they can compensate for them.

If you’d like to take this to the next level, check out THE WRITE SYSTEM or THE SCRIPT CONSULTANT INSTITUTE at http://www.scriptwritercentral.com

We look forward to helping you achieve all of your writing and/or script consulting goals!

“As a screenwriter, Derek Rydall has sold, optioned, or been hired on assignment for over 20 film and TV projects. He has developed projects for the producer of Ghost, RKO, U/A, Miramax, Saturn (Nick Cage), and many indie producers, as well as worked as a staff writer for Fox, Disney, and Deepak Chopra. As a story consultant/script doctor, Derek has helped writers, producers, actors, and directors turn books into screenplays, secure millions in financing, make six-figure script deals, get hired to exec produce, direct, star in their movies, obtain major distribution, and win awards. And as an author, Derek’s book, I Could’ve Written a Better Movie than That!: How to Make Six Figures as a Script Consultant– Even if You’re Not a Screenwriter, is due out October by Michael Wiese Publishing. For more info, you can check out his site, http://www.scriptwritercentral.com, email derek@scriptwritercentral.com or call (661) 296-4991.”

Screenwriting Tips

Article by Zinn Jeremiah

As things now stand, screenwriting may be the most popular form of writing there is. If one seeks evidence for this claim, consider that there have been numerous books published about screenwriting, some of which are bestsellers and are now in multiple print editions. There are also any number of screenwriting contests, the main purpose of which is to give aspiring screenwriters an opportunity to launch a professional screenwriting career. Some of these screenwriting contests receive tens of thousands of entries annually. Lastly, a number of universities, some of them quite prestigious, have programs that are dedicated solely to writing for the screen. Clearly, these outlets exist because of a need, and that need is represented by lots of aspiring screenwriters.

People write screenplays for various reasons. Some people simply enjoy the process, and have no real intentions on pursuing a career. Some people will write a screenplay or two, and then never write another one. There are those who consistently write screenplays, hoping in many cases to establish a screenwriting career. The lure of a screenwriting career holds different things for different people, obviously: for some it’s the prospect of working in glamorous Hollywood alongside famous celebrities; others hope to become rich; and then some just have a burning desire to create drama.

One element almost all professional screenwriters share is being committed to writing screenplays. It’s vital to have this sort of commitment for at least a couple of reasons. Firstly, it takes time to learn to write screenplays at what’s considered a professionally acceptable level. There is not set length of time for learning to write screenplays, but in most instances it takes years. The notion of a person taking up screenwriting and having a screenwriting career several months later is essentially unheard of. There are people who move to screenwriting from other writing forms, but typically they’re established writers who’ve been writing for years.

The other reason for needing a sense of commitment is gaining entry. Unknown screenwriters are not given much consideration in the entertainment industry. To ultimately launch a screenwriting career typically takes significant perseverance: doors don’t open easily for the unknown. There’s also typically a lot of rejection to endure along the way. Becoming a professional screenwriter certainly isn’t impossible, because people do it. The best policy with respect to a screenwriting career however is to go into the situation understanding it won’t be easy. Those who have the desire as well as the ability have the best chance to succeed.

Screenwriting Tips

Article by Zoul

Screenwriters are not usually given stellar billing. The movie audience may not even notice their names once the credits start rolling. However, despite this lack of attention they generate, these talented individuals are the souls behind every movie. Without their genius, it is simply impossible for brilliant movies to be made. Every film, after all, must have a story and it must have dialogues to make it more understandable by the audience. This would not be achieved without the skillful performance of the screenwriter. This is the reason why, despite not being very popular, screenwriters enjoy financial successes.

Newbie screenwriters should first remember though that before they could earn good money out of producing wonderful stories and scripts, they should first hone their skills. Not even the best screenwriter in the movie industry nowadays could boast of being an expert already when he started. He could be just like any newbie, making mediocre scripts that could hardly get the approval of a filmmaker and producer. However, instead of stopping and going back to a regular ‘just-for-the-money’ day job, he may have to continued to write better stories and screenplay until he finally got the break that he deserved. This should be a lesson for the newbies; they should not be discouraged when their first few works are turned down. They should instead work harder on improving their skills.

While a screenwriter may write dialogues that use colloquial or common language, he still has to make these very interesting for cinematic or aesthetic effects. This means that he has to be really creative in the way he writes. A newbie may find reading books a great help towards this end. However, he must also remember that the written word has an entirely different effect from that which is spoken. Since scripts are delivered verbally, it is best for the newbie to watch films which are know for having quality dialogues. A newbie may do some research on which won the Oscars for best screenplay and watch these movies later.

There are screenplay software that have been developed and sold. Many of these are found on the internet and can be easily downloaded. A number are even for free. However, while these may help when it comes to formatting and other technical concerns in screenplay writing, these would not do much when it comes to making original stories. In the end, it is still the screenwriter who has to be imaginative in coming up with unique stories. The software’s benefit only comes after an idea on what the movie should be about has been found.

Since the film is not just an expression of the filmmaker’s views but a means of entertaining the audience, it is necessary for the screenwriter make his story really interesting. Whatever genre it may fall under, whether it is drama, comedy, or horror, its story and dialogue should keep the audience on their seats. Again, for the newbie, this could be difficult at first. However, with constant practice, he should be able to distinguish himself as a prolific screenwriter soon.

Screenwriting Tips

In his BAFTA Screenwriters on Screenwriting lecture, Peter Morgan discusses his career to date. Watch the three minute highlighs from the lecture. To watch the full lectures visit www.bafta.org