SCREENWRITING DOLLARS (Get Paid to Learn Scriptwriting… 5 Hollywood Fellowships)

SCREENWRITING FELLOWSHIPS… They are Great.

Hollywood Secret: Shh! Scriptwriting Fellowships & Screenwriting Mentor Programs, offered by major studios and tv networks, are a much better use of your time than applying to Script Contests.

Why?

Simple, 3 Reasons.

Writing-1

(ONE) If accepted you are paid to learn. I hope you just read “paid to learn”.

(TWO) If accepted you many times also get Room-and-Board.

[Click to Continue…]

2 Comments

2,000+ SCREENWRITING & WRITING JOBS (Movie, TV, PR… Staff, Copy & Assignments… Pick one)

2,000+ WRITING & SCRIPTWRITING JOBS (Staff or Copy or Assignments)

Writing & Selling Screenplays is not difficult… once inside the industry.

Writing-4(TIP: Write a sample 25 page sitcom spec script of a present running series)

Securing TV staff writing gigs is not difficult… once inside the industry.

Pitching and Selling new ideas is not difficult… once inside the industry.

Now, how does one get “inside the industry”?

[Click to Continue…]

6 Comments

PRODUCER-DIRECTOR-WRITER ABSOLUTE MUST (Want to Fail? Then Don’t Do a Script Breakdown… Now Learn How.)

2 REASONS PRODUCERS, DIRECTORS & WRITERS FAIL AS FILMMAKERS

Poor Script and/or no Production Board (aka: Shooting Schedule) are the two most common reasons why first-time Producers, Directors, and Writers, of feature films F-A-I-L as profitable Filmmakers.

Huh? What do I mean (as if it ain’t obvious).

First is Screenwriting. If “It Ain’t On the Page, It Ain’t On the Stage”. If you have written a screenplay without a proper “Beat Sheet”

[Click to Continue…]

26 Comments

NY SCREENWRITING AGENTS (Got a Script? Need an Agent? Here are 50 in NY.)

NEED A LITERARY AGENT

Screenwriters need Literary Agents. Actors need Talent Agents. Producers need Packaging Agents.

AGENTS-2 (Although visual states “Hollywood Agent” the below list is solely for NY Agents that make Hollywood deals)

If you are a Screenwriter, with a script that has been Written (Treatment & 2 Drafts), Registered (WGA East or West), Copyrighted (Library of Congress)….and has been written with a structured Beat Sheet (40-60 scenes outlined),

[Click to Continue…]

43 Comments

$500 MILLION REALITY TV BUSINESS (Top 10 Non-Scripted Buyers & Producers… # 10 is New)

HAVE AN IDEA? REALITY TV IS ALIVE & WELL.

Tired of “American Idol”, “Survivor”, “Kardashians”, “Real Housewives….”, “Chef from Hell”, “Tiny Houses”, “Tree Houses”, “Garage Houses”, “Anthill Houses”, “Any House, Your House, My House…Duh House”, etc. well stay tuned for another 10 years of new and useless, but affordable and entertaining, non-scripted programming.

IDEA-1

Why?

Because last week “NBC’s “LITTLE BIG SHOTS” and “AMERICA’S GOT TALENT”

[Click to Continue…]

10 Comments

THE SUPER-GREAT SCRIPT (Part 2: GAMEPLAN): “A Screenwriter’s Roadmap”

SCREENWRITER’S GAMEPLAN

Write a Studio Feature Script (110-140 pages)… Write an Independent Feature Screenplay (90-100 pages)… Write a TV Drama (45-55 pages)… Write a TV Sitcom (25-30 pages)…

Where does a screenwriter start?

Writing-1

Remember; If productive, it takes 2-3 years or 5,000 hours to master a skill. So let’s start writing.

Thus, Write. Write. Write. And, when bored or disillusioned Write some more.

[Click to Continue…]

4 Comments

GREAT SCREENWRITING (Part 1: FAILURE): 25 Reasons Writers Fail (I love 17 & 29…29?)

CAN YOU READ MY SCRIPT?

“Dov, can you read my script?” “Dov, I’ve gotten great feedback…now what?”

Writing-2

Sometimes, I even get, “Dov my script has gotten some really good mixed reviews”… “Huh? Good mixed reviews? That’s an oxymoron. What do I do?”

Permit me to Cut-to-the-chase.

ONLY 2 TYPES OF SCRIPTS.

ONE: It’s either “it’s Great & Wonderful” (a page turner) and anyone that reads it “WANTS TO BUY IT” or there’s the other type.

[Click to Continue…]

1 Comment

NO-BUDGET FILMMAKING (The $5,000 Feature: 8 Secrets…. 3 & 8 Are Super Important )

8 NO-BUDGET FILM SECRETS

Filmmaking today has 4 worlds where a filmmaker can Produce & Distribute feature films with the hopes of securing Finances & Profits…. they are…

ONE: The Studio System (Studio Deals)

TWO: Global Co-Productions (Cannes Pre-Sales)

THREE: China (Joint Ventures)

FOUR: Micro-Budget (Backyard Independents)

This post will focus solely on the world of “Micro-Budget” which is 99.5 out of 100 times where a filmmaker,

[Click to Continue…]

9 Comments

SCHEDULING YOUR SHOOT… THE RIGHT WAY? (1, 2 or 3 Weeks?)

DIRECT YOUR FIRST FEATURE FILM

Your first feature, unless your mom or dad is a billionaire, 99 out of 100 times, will be either a 1-week, a 2-week or a 3-Week Shoot…. A 3-Week Shoot. Let’s focus on that.

That’s 18 Shooting days…Working Monday-Saturday, 12-15 hours/day, with a 90-Page Screenplay, within limited location moves, and no Exterior-Night setups pencils-out to be a Shooting Schedule of 5 Pages/day. Got It! 5 Pages/Day.

[Click to Continue…]

3 Comments

HOLLYWOOD FORMULAS… (3 Common Sense Film Rules… I love #3)

THE 3 HOLLYWOOD (Common Sense) FORMULAS:

Life, like Hollywood, has very simple rules for happiness to live by (i.e. Be nice; Act with love; Trust God; Work hard. etc.) and if you want to Produce, Write or Direct feature films and be happy…The key is “and be happy”… then be patient, use common sense, apply these very simple 3 Filmmaker Formulas (aka: rules)…. and “Happiness is almost *guaranteed.”

(PS: nothing is ever guaranteed…but it is likely)

Happiness (“Happiness”,

[Click to Continue…]

3 Comments