Month: January 2016

Writers Guild of America, West Honors John August

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by Team TVWriter™ Press Service

Screenwriter John August (Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) has been named the recipient of the Writers Guild of America, West’s 2016 Valentine Davies Award in recognition of his humanitarian efforts and civic service, as well as his pivotal role in fostering a community of writers. August will be honored at the WGAW’s 2016 Writers Guild Awards West Coast ceremony on Saturday, February 13, at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles.

“John is the writer we’d all want to be: wildly intelligent, deeply practical, effortlessly inventive, and generous to a fault,” said WGAW President Howard A. Rodman. “Whether he’s creating apps, campaigning for marriage equality, mentoring younger writers, podcasting with Craig Mazin, sitting on our Negotiating Committee, or constructing a school in Malawi, John has made service to the larger community a part of his second nature. Protip: when you find yourself in difficult straits, ask yourself ‘What would John August do?’ The times you’ll regret are the times you fail to act accordingly.” read article

Can’t Sell Your Original Screenplay? Try Sidewinding Your Way to Success

 by Lew Ritter

adaptationSelling a script to Hollywood can be hard. I had read stories in the trade papers of writers who gained entrance into the Hollywood system by optioning a true story. They gained the rights to a book or magazine article and then developed an interesting pitch letter for studios to evaluate.

They might hire you as the writer, or simply pay you a fee and send you on your way. Either way, you have a credit and a foot in the door.

My first attempt was back in the late 90’s early 2000’s. I was searching for books in my local library. I came across a book about two unsung Jewish brothers at the time of the 1941 German invasion. read article

Don’t Forget to Learn from your Failures

It’s positive spin time here at TVWriter™, gals and guys, so here are a few words that should help us all find upbeat showbiz futures in even the darkest of clouds. What better way to make ourselves feel better than this helpful – albeit slightly generic – investigation into the human condition?

despairby Art Markman

We all fail, all the time. We might miss a call with a client because of an emergency work meeting, or miss that meeting because another project has suddenly become urgent. And then we (or our families) get sick, and we have to shift priorities around again.

These unsystematic failures are benign, though. They reflect that all of us have limited resources. There simply is not enough time, energy, or money, to do everything you want to do all the time. Part of being a responsible adult is learning to make tradeoffs: balancing your conflicting goals and trying to get as much done as you can in the time you have. read article

Peggy Bechko on Overthinking – the Writer’s Plague

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by Peggy Bechko

Actually overthinking probably is pretty much everyone’s plague – but I’m talking about writers here so that’s where I’ll take this article.

Do you over think, over edit, over tweak everything you write? Yeah, it’s tough, I know. Insecurity, worry, apprehension, am-I-doing-it-right-itis.

We all do it sometime. Writers do it more often. Worry a plot, a scene, a paragraph to death. read article

The Only Rule is Success

Really? Success is a rule and not a goal? A way and not an end? Another mystery of the universe revealed!

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The Only Rule is Success – 3 Lessons I Learned
by Talece Brown

The Only Rule is Success.

Sounds easy, right? Not always, but it is something you can trust. read article