Did I say "outline"? I recently handed in a first draft of a feature screenplay that I was hired to write by a production company that churns out about 20 films a year for Lifetime TV. I was initially given a one-page synopsis. From that synopsis I had to weave a detailed story that would fill a minimum of 95 pages. Thinking back on that one page, I couldn't conceive that I would be able to reach that page count. I had to lean really heavily on my imagination; all ideas and a

November 20, 2020 When you ask for (or pay for) someone to give you notes on your screenplay, you must accept that the reader may offer you feedback that isn't a ringing endorsement of your work. The reader may question decisions that you labored over for months, or point out discrepancies or errors or typos that went right by you, even though you may have read your own screenplay to the point where you've essentially memorized it. I have received the gamut of imaginable note

NOVEMBER 1, 2020 If you are a screenwriter, produced or not, you will know those moments… those moments when you start to question… WTF am I doing? Let the moment surface, and KEEP GOING. It took me nearly 18 years of writing, getting notes, taking classes, entering competitions, making my own short films (producing, directing, scoring, casting, art department) before someone was willing to take a chance on me. In the last three years I’ve written six commissioned feature s