The Business of Screenwriting
The Business of Screenwriting is a weekly series of Go Into The Story articles based upon my experiences as a complete Hollywood outsider who sold a spec script for a lot of money, parlayed that into a screenwriting career during which time I’ve made some good choices, some okay decisions, and some really stupid ones. Hopefully, you’ll be the wiser for what you learn here.
Always be nice to the assistants
Commencement of principal photography
Don’t stand in water where you should be fishing
Everybody gets rewritten in Hollywood
Everyone is here because of us
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 1: 1900–1942]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 2: 1942–1990]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 3: 1990–2019]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 4: The Buyers]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 5: The Reps]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 6: Handling A New Writer’s Spec]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 7: Attaching Producers]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 8: Attaching Talent]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 9: “Own All The Tickets”]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 10: Creating Buzz]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 11: Slipping A Script To Someone]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 12: Serendipity]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 13: Targeting Specific Buyers]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 14: Going Wide]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 15: Bidding War]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 16: Preemptive Purchase]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 17: Write What They’re Buying]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 18: Sell Them Your Dream]
Everything you wanted to know about specs [Part 20: The Value of a Spec Script… If It Does Sell]
God gave you two ears and one mouth for a reason
How to Respond When Taking Script Notes
I don’t have to smell it to sell it
If it ain’t got no soul, it ain’t gonna sell
It’s not just about the script
Living and writing in Los Angeles
Low-budget filmmaking [Part 1]
Low-budget filmmaking [Part 2]
Low-budget filmmaking [Part 3]
Movies are a director’s medium
Movies don’t owe anybody a living
Never send out a script before it’s ready
Screenwriter as problem-solver
Script Readers: Hollywood’s threshold guardians
Selling Scripts and Shooting Scripts
Someday someone WILL beat you to the punch
Sometimes you just have to say ‘yes’… even on a crap project
Sometimes you’re just going to get it wrong
Spec scripts aren’t just for aspiring screenwriters
Surviving a script notes meeting
Sweepstakes Pitching, Prewrites and One-Step Deals
The Birth, Life and Death of a Movie (Part 1)
The Birth, Life and Death of a Movie (Part 2)
The Birth, Life and Death of a Movie (Part 3)
The crazed life of a movie studio executive
The importance of a writers group
The Travails of Pitching, Part 1 — The Distracted Exec
The Travails of Pitching, Part 2 — The Surprise Visitor
There are three groups of people in Hollywood…
They don’t think like you [Part 1]
They don’t think like you [Part 2]
They will pigeonhole you (and why this can be a good thing)
Trailer Moments, Set Pieces and Bits Of Business (BOBs)
What to do if your movie sucks
What to do on the day your movie premieres
What to do when the phone stops ringing…
When getting fired can be good news
Who do I have to **** to get off this project?
Who does what in a writer-representative relationship
Withdrawing screen credit and pseudonyms
Work stoppages and picket line etiquette
You always need more than one in your gun
Max Millimeter: Hollywood Movie Producer Extraordinaire
It’s either gonna happen, or it ain’t gonna happen
