Your Agent or You - Who's Working Here?
by Nancy Rainford
Not all agents are the right agents all of the time. The ideal agent is the agent who’s right for you, right now, under these circumstances and in this particular phase of your career.

Protecting your Script
by Evan Smith
Cars are insured, money can be borrowed, and, okay, a good parking space can be worth quite a bit, but to have someone steal your script? Your baby? Ouch. That’s not only damaging, it’s personal.

Hollywood's Best Kept Secret: The Expanded Scene Breakdown
by Christopher Keane
What is Hollywood's Best Kept Screenwriting Secret? Answer: The Expanded Scene Breakdown. What is the Expanded Scene Breakdown? It's the middle step between the story development stage and the script itself.

PASSION: Without It, Forget It
by Christopher Keane
For a new screenwriter, the only way to tear down the Hollywood barriers is to burn them down with your passion. Your passion for the story and for the characters who drive it. Without Passion, your script is no more than a tinker toy network of rules and regulations, plot points and pinwheels, bare architectural bones which no one wants to see, or make.

Writing Loglines that Sell
by Jonathan Treisman
Pitching your ideas effectively, whether from a script, novel or even your own mind, does not come naturally for most of us. But with a little practice, it can. Once you learn what a 'High Concept Idea' is and how to create exciting story 'Loglines' for your work.

From Mailroom to Oscar(R) Winner - Marc Norman
by Frederic T. Dray
He took a thankless job to pay bills for six months while he wrote the next great screenplay. Ten years and 20 jobs later, that great script still eluded him. Thinking about giving up?

Marc Norman persevered. Read his story.

Who Killed Salinger Movies?
by John Truby
We know J.D. Salinger’s views on movies and writing for Hollywood by reading the second page of The Catcher in the Rye. Speaking of his brother, D.B., the hero, Holden Caulfield, says “Now he’s out in Hollywood, D.B., being a prostitute. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s the movies. Don’t even mention them to me.” Where did this come from?

When All That’s Left Is Writing: Turning Anxiety Into Creativity
by Dennis Palumbo
In time of mind-bending stress many creatives feel stripped of their muse by a host of real and imagined threats. People's reactions to this tense environment can cover both ends of the spectrum: some freeze, unable to create and others thrive. In this article psychotherapist Dennis Palumbo doesn’t try to cure our anxiety. He shows us how to USE it.

Comedy's Greatest Wish
by Stuart Voytilla
Writing comedy can be serious business, as author Stuart Voytilla points out. In this thought-provoking article, he examines the various forms of comedy –- from slapstick to satire -- and the important role wish fulfillment plays in creating comedic potential.

The Entrepreneurial Screenwriter: Selling Yourself in Hollywood
by Peter W. Smith
Don’t spend all your time trying to find an agent -– make some waves for yourself. That’s author Peter W. Smith’s advice in this Expert Article.

A Storyteller's Resolve in the New Year
by Stuart Voytilla
The Roman god, Janus, is often depicted with two opposing faces to see where he's come and where he hopes to go. As we move into the new year, a writer can value this god's symbol. We can reflect upon our personal journey, appreciate its past with its numerous thresholds and acknowledge our individual values that help us determine the stories we need to write.

Bringing Real People to Life in Memoir
by Kathleen Finneran
In many ways, memoirists have it made. Their plots present themselves wholly realized; characters come fully formed. By using their own lives as subject matter, they are spared the hard work of imagination that fiction writers must bring to their craft. Yet their stories often suffer from the fact that they are too familiar with their stories and characters starting out.

Lying in the Land of Memoir: Straddling the Line Between Fact and Fiction
by Kathleen Finneran
Most memoirists have an exceptional memory, but it is not the quality of their memories that draws us toward memoir. What draws us, as writers, is the need to commemorate major and minor moments in our lives and the people and places in them, something that can’t be achieved through fiction.

The Art of Self-Promotion for Writers
by Ron Suppa
Much is made about the value of toiling for years in the Hollywood trenches before ‘making it.’ Baloney. Directors become directors by directing, producers by producing. There is no glory or career edge gained by laboring in obscurity while honing your craft. Learn to hone it right out there in the limelight.

How Do I Critique My Own Work?
by Leigh Michaels
When we go back to read the words we've put on the page, we not only read the actual words, we relive the emotions we felt as we were writing. Whether the book is done or you're stuck in the middle, it's perfectly natural to be suffering the heebie-jeebies about whether the characters are right, whether the story is working and whether you're ever going to slay this monster.

Fishing for the Hook
by William Missouri Downs and Robin U. Russin
Often you’ll hear producers, agents and others whom writers must deal with asking them for more of ‘a hook’ to their pitches or screenplays. What exactly a hook is, is rarely spelled out; they just know they want one. It’s sort of like the problem faced by the hapless writer in Albert Brooks’ ‘The Muse’ - everyone tells him he’s ‘lost his edge,’ but he can’t for the life of him figure out what that means.

Why Good Writers Keep Journals
by Ruth Folit
Journals have been the secret weapon for writers from Allen Ginsburg to Virginia Woolf to Victor Hugo. Ruth Folit’s article tells you why good writers keep journals, and how you can make your journal your secret weapon, too.

Classic Story Structure Begins with Plot
by Adam Sexton
What is plot? Simply, plot is ‘what happens’ in a short story, novel, play or film. No more, no less. It isn't description or dialogue, and it certainly isn't theme. Specifically, plot is the result of choices made by characters in a story, especially the story's protagonist, or main character.

The Ins and Outs of TV Series Writer Deals
by Dina Appleton and Daniel Yankelevits
The television business has undergone a dramatic change in recent years. Studios no longer spend millions of dollars on long-term development deals with TV writers in the hope that the writer will create a hit show for the studio. Nowadays, a writer is typically engaged to perform the initial step of writing a pilot script.

The Mystery Defined
by Greg Fallis
Mystery and detective fiction comprises a literature of questions, including Who done it? What was done? How was it done? Why was it done? An even more fundamental question, though, is What is a mystery?, which is answered in great detail by Gotham Writers Workshop faculty member Greg Fallis.

The Myth of Sacred Writing Time
by Stephen Berger
Most writers spend time studying to master certain aspects of the craft of writing, such as story, plot, character arc, dialog, archetypes or the hero’s journey. What Stephen Berger considers a plague on the entire creative process is something many writers also struggle to achieve, which he calls the Myth of Sacred Writing Time.

Mining Your Mind: Journal Techniques for Writers
by Ruth Folit
Most writers carry a notebook, scraps of paper, old envelopes, to jot down ‘thoughts of the moment.’ A journal is another medium in which a writer can keep a record, albeit a slightly more unified one.

Selling Secrets of the Selling Trade - Proven Advertising Techniques Can Make Your Queries & Loglines Stand Out From The Pack
by American Writers & Artists Institute
Copywriters may tell you writing advertising copy isn’t art. There are proven, specific techniques that make it work. The same formulas that sell a product can also help you sell your screenplay or your novel. Take a look at the writing of screenplay loglines –- a typical screenplay logline is about 25 words. So is a typical print ad headline. In both, you get about 3 seconds to grab –- and hold –- attention.