Every writer needs readers. For feedback. Support. Direction. When you’re answering a thousand questions a day creating an entire world, it’s easy to miss a few things. We go to our friends and family first because we know they’ll be nice to us. What we get are a few taps on the back and a couple “Way to go’s!” But what we really need is professional objective criticism from what Hollywood terms “readers.”
Every studio, network, agency and production company hires readers. They are English and Film and Writing graduates who live and breathe screenwriting. Many are writers themselves or aspiring creative executives in the industry. They have read the books, taken the workshops and read a thousand screenplays. They know what to look for and when to look for it. They know how plots are woven and characters are developed, that your hero should reach their low point at the end of the second act and rage into battle in the middle of the third. They catch superfluous commas and reign in flamboyant description, make sure dialogue is realistic and your theme impactful. And that’s just for starters.
Reading takes time. A feature screenplay takes a few hours to read and do notes on. A written summary takes another hour or so. Meeting to discuss the issues requires even more. For writers, it’s easy to take this for granted. Don’t people want to read my screenplay for fun? No. They don’t. People have plenty to do. And providing feedback is a whole other thing. Especially when the writers are sensitive or defensive or family or friend.
There are many screenplay reading services out there you can hire that range in price. As with most things, you usually get what you pay for. For a modest fee, a professional will read your script in its entirety and respond with written feedback in what’s called coverage. It’s fast. It’s easy. And it’s worth it. To the left are a few of them. When you got your script as good as you can get it, send your script to one of them. They’ll be happy to help you.
Or if you would like to work with me on your script, email me anytime:
michael@screenwriterschool.com.
Whether you use them or me makes no difference. But for the love of all that is good in the world, please use somebody. It doesn’t mean you have to take their advice but getting it will make a world of difference in elevating the quality of your script from good to great.
What Where When
When I was a wee tyke, we had three television channels. That’s it. ABC, CBS and NBC. Sure, there was a distant, staticky, fourth quirky stepsister called PBS. But no one watched that. Except nerds. And us on Saturdays for a little known show called Soccer Made in Germany. Then along came Ted Turner. Our Atlantan native son gave us TBS that grew into the Super Station that soon spread nationwide. Then came the rest of the Turner empire: CNN, TNT, TCM and more. And then, thanks to the expansion of cable, came a hundred other cable networks. MTV, TLC, BET and more. Like salmon trying to swim upstream, they all jockeyed for position to find their place in the turbulent rapids of our media landscape. It seemed that was it for a while. Enveloped by our couches, we flipped back and forth between those hundred channels trying to figure out what was best. And then everything changed. Technical innovation gave way to digital proliferation, and soon every Tom, Dick and Harry could produce and distribute whatever their heart desired. We could watch anything we wanted anytime we wanted anywhere we wanted. Streaming services took root like weeds and nowadays we are bombarded by so much content we don’t know what to watch where or when. It’s hard to know what platform to go to or pay for to even see what it is they’re offering! Netflix? Amazon? Apple TV? Disney +? Hulu? Where the hell do we start?
The good news is this:
1. There’s lots to watch.
2. There’s lots to write.
All these platforms all need content. And it doesn’t write itself.
Mind you, the pay for writing for these companies may not always be comparable to what it was in the old days. But they all pay something. And chances are it’s more than you’re making now. Doing something you would probably rather be doing than what you are now.
So what’s stopping you?
After all, you can write what you want, where you want, when you want.
Starting now.
Going Online
For years my family, friends and students said I should hold classes online. And I refrained. Mostly, because one of the great joys to me of teaching is the exchange of energy and ideas in the classroom. The give or take. The repartee. The mojo, if you will. Well, thanks to social distancing protocol, the universe has caught up with me. I should know better. It always does.
When I returned home to Atlanta from Los Angeles, everyone said I should teach. But I didn’t. Until finally I slipped and fell into doing workshops. Then folks said I should write a book. But I didn’t. Until the opportunity dropped from the sky and landed at my feet. Everyone said I should teach at a university. But I didn’t. Until a call came one day inviting me to give it a try. And so here I am. A screenwriter. An author. A college professor. Doing what I love. Sharing what I’ve learned. Happy as a clam. Who knew? Well, everyone but me actually.
Thanks to the geniuses at Zoom, I now find the ability and opportunity to teach screenwriting much the same way I do in the classroom. Interacting in real time with students. Talking (and typing) back and forth. Sharing visual aids on-screen. And laughing uncontrollably with my students. All from the privacy of my own home.
The beauty of this, of course, is now my students can do the same, learning everything I have to offer in the privacy of their own homes too. From anywhere in the world.
For convenience, I have broken the 12 hours of my Screenwriter School weekend workshop into six sessions. They will take place Saturdays from 12pm – 2pm EST. The first online course will be May 16 – June 20. Enjoy lunch during it, if you wish. Interact if you want. Take notes however you like. Just join us.
Make the most of this damn quarantine. Learn something. Writing something.
Take a step in the direction of your dreams.
Just because I was slow to pick up on my cue from the universe, doesn’t mean you have to.
No More Excuses
If only I had the time. That is what many writers... or wannabe writers... say.
If only I had the time to write, then I would write. But alas, too often life gets in the way.
Well, this week and next week, and for the foreseeable weeks after that, thanks to COVID-19, we all have a little extra time on our hands. Sequestered in our respective alcoves free from the threat of disease, we stare at the walls, our phones, and each other, wondering what to do with our time.
Why not write now?
You have no more excuses. The whole world has been put on hold. You have been told to stay inside. For your own good, and the good of mankind.
The good news is if you are writing, you are not locked in quarantine, you are wherever your imagination takes you. Racing through the streets of France, hiking the mountains of the Himalayas, or cruising the coast of the Keys.
Turn off the TV. Put down the phone. Kill the internet. Do you really want all that in you anyway?
Instead, create something. So when all this nonsense is said and done, you have something to show for it. A story. A screenplay. A start to a career you have always wanted.
So quit complaining. About the circumstance. And start embracing it.
This is what you have been waiting for.
Don’t know where to start? We’re here to help. Offering one on one consulting via skype anytime you need it. As often as you need it. At half price during Coronarama. For more info, email us at info@screenwriterschool.com. Now you have the time and the support you need.
Who you talking to?
You can’t please all the people all the time. And anyone with an ounce of sense will tell you that trying to do so will put you on the fast track to pleasing no one. But that begs the question. Who are you talking to? With your stories.
Knowing your audience is Writing 101. Young or old? Black or white? City mouse or country mouse? And that’s just for starters. You should craft your characters, your stories, your themes specific to the audience you’re trying to reach. Too often writers try to reach everybody. And that’s where many fall short. Spreading their message too thin. Granted, some time-tested themes can transcend boundaries. But often they do not. No one said it was easy. Studios and networks spend millions of dollars each year analyzing personality traits and viewing habits of audiences to program content specific to demographics aligned with advertisers needs. But you’re just you. Trying to write a story. At home. In your kitchen. What do you do? Be thoughtful about the marketplace. What works. What doesn’t. What’s out there. What isn’t. I’m not suggesting you cater your creativity entirely to the whims of the world, but in an industry that requires millions of dollars of investment for development, production and distribution in order to succeed, it seems remiss not to at least consider it.
Some say write for yourself. Well, that’s fine if you want to be the only one to read it. Or watch it. But that’s not why we tell stories, is it? We want to entertain, educate, engage, enlighten, inspire and enrapture... others. I like to think there is common ground somewhere between the two approaches: The Personal and The Public. And therein often lie the seeds of our next story to devote six weeks, six months or six years of our lives to.
Strangely, some of the most successful filmmakers of all time lose sight of that. Recently, Martin Scorsese condemned Marvel Studios and its parent company for creating content less cerebral than, I guess, his. But the fact is Marvel dominated the global box office in 2019 and shows no sign of slowing down. Which means they, for better or for worse, have their finger on the pulse of what America, and perhaps the world, wants to see. Whereas, as I mentioned in a recent interview on GPB, Mr. Scorsese recently delivered a three-and-a-half-hour marathon of a film in "The Irishman" few moviegoers have the patience to sit through in a theater. It seems the studio knew this since they released it simultaneously on Netflix. But doesn’t that defeat the point? Of creating big screen stories that big audiences can enjoy en masse in movie theaters? What’s more is the film seemed highly derivative of Mr. Scorsese’s masterful past works. Why not try something new? And challenge yourself creatively.
Which brings me to my point. Write for the market. Write for yourself. Write something new.
Do these three things and you will be well on your way to writing something rewarding.