Category: Productivity

Video Interview: This One isn’t Just for ‘Beetlejuice’ Fans

This TVWriter™ minion has to proclaim the truth for all to hear:

“I am a huge Beetlejuice fan and think y’all should be too!!!

That’s why we’re so delighted to have found the following recent interview with Beetlejuice producer and co-writer Larry Wilson. As we’ve said a time or two before, “Watch and learn, kids. Watch and learn!”

Yeppers, this time we really mean it.

As one of the YouTube commenters put it, “Larry [Wilson] is the friend every screenwriter wants to have.”

To which Larry Brody and TVWriter™ say, “Amen.”

InkTip.Com is More Than Just a Catchy Name

EDITOR’S NOTE: InkTip.Com and TVWriter™ have been associated for almost 20 years, but this is the first time the site has been reviewed here in over a decade. How’s the place holding up? Dawn McElligott tells us all about it:

by Dawn McElligott

From the “About” section at InkTip.Com:

InkTip was born in 2000 after witnessing the difficulties associates and friends in the industry have had in getting exposure for their works, let alone getting their scripts sold. The mission of InkTip.com is threefold:

  • Help the producer easily find a good script
  • Save time for the agent and manager in locating the right people for their clients’ scripts, or new clients
  • Greatly increase exposure for the screenwriter

InkTip seems more to this writer like Q-Tip, since it has a soft touch. Wary of scams but compelled to try a service that connects writers and producers, I registered two screenplays with InkTip at the end of February. As of this writing, the loglines for my works have been viewed 50 times by producers.

To register a script, the writer completes a questionnaire so that InkTip can categorize it for prospective producers. The survey asks about the genre, possible sub-genre, locations, etc. The writer must also be able to supply proof of prior registration with a creative works protection organization such as the Writers Guild of America, in order to list a script or a book on their website, https://www.inktip.com/.

After registering a script, I received an email from InkTip about loglines. The web service has a logline lab that gives practical guidance for a crucial ingredient in marketing: the logline. Writers can easily revise their loglines, synopses and scripts at no extra charge from InkTip.

After eight production companies read my loglines and went no further, I consulted the website’s loglines lab. Revising the logline caused me to re-think the essence of my work. The experience made me feel better prepared for an eventual sales pitch.

If I had a question, I was advised to email the company’s President, Jerrol LeBaron, at jerrol@inktip.com. Within 24 hours, either Jerrol or one of his employees would politely respond to my question. The website does publish a Writers’ Protocol, admonishing writers to first, wait three to six weeks before contacting production companies who’ve viewed their scripts and to do so only by snail-mail letters.

The company also advises writers to contact only those producers who have viewed their books, treatments or scripts. Contacting producers or production companies after a view limited to the logline and/or synopsis, is prohibited.

A non-refunded removal from the website is a published consequence of breaking these rules so writers are encouraged to play nice. As of this writing, at least one producer has assigned my script to a reader. InkTip notified me by email and the producer’s physical address was given.

The website states that viewing scripts is limited to members only and producers hoping to join are thoroughly scrutinized. Two of the criteria for membership as a producer are proof of funds and a perceived ability to make a film.

The website boasts that since its establishment in 2000, over 350 movies have been made through its services. The cost for listing a script is $60 for four months with discounts for multiple listings. The website also offers many other goodies, such as listings of networking events.

Receiving worldwide exposure from vetted producers makes InkTip.com a sound investment. Being treated politely and fairly will keep me coming back.

Dawn McElligott is a an award-winning writer and filmmaker in Los Angeles by way of Philadelphia and other points East. You can learn more about her HERE

Writers and Concentration – Distraction Doesn’t Have to Win…Does It?

Nathan Bransford, author of the Jacob Wonderbar series of books, is one of TVWriter™’s go-to guys for writing and productivity tips and tricks. One particularly relevant example of Mr. Bransford’s helpfulness is the article below. Especially to this TVWriter™ minion in particular because, as my partner often says, “Distractions?” You don’t just  succumb to them, you create them just so you can do the succumbing.”

Sorry for the TMI. This should make up for it:

How to regain your concentration
by Nathan Bransford

Around the end of last year, I noticed something really alarming: I was having a seriously hard time concentrating.

  • I couldn’t write a blog post without flipping through random tabs.
  • I couldn’t read a book without checking my email.
  • I could barely make it through a long form news article.
  • Forget about trying to sit down to be productive writing a novel!

Since then, as you may have noticed with the uptick in blog post frequency, I’ve made a nearly-full concentration recovery.

You too can once again have an attention span greater than a hamster’s! Here’s what I learned about how to regain concentration.

Turn off your notifications

All of them, except for the barest essentials.

I now keep my phone almost entirely in Do Not Disturb mode, and have programmed just a few exceptions, namely phone calls from family members in case of emergencies. And I turned off notifications on my computer entirely.

Now…

  • When I walk down the street, I can let my attention wander without getting pinged. I have ideas again!
  • When I’m at my computer, I’m not getting distracted with incoming emails.
  • I’m not getting a random notification about the latest Netflix show I’m not going to watch.

Decide when YOU want to look at your phone. Don’t let your phone decide that for you.

(And for a look at some of the science behind the effect this type of technology is having on us, check out Jennifer Hubbard’s recent article in Creative Nonfiction).

Close all those browser tabs

I used to have about twenty tabs open to sites I would check frequently. Email. Facebook. Twitter. The weather. The news. You name it.

The problem with having a million tabs open is that I got into this mind-numbing habit of scrolling through them and checking for updates… even sites that basically never update.

And meanwhile, every time I got a Twitter notification or a new email, I’d jump and check it, interrupting whatever else it was I was doing.

Close those tabs, or at least limit to the precious few that you need to check a million times a day. Otherwise, open stuff only when you need to.

Write in full-screen mode

Even when I was writing, I was still constantly distracted. I’d see a new email open up behind my writing window and go and check it. And good luck if you happened to have Twitter open underneath your word processing application….

Read it all at Nathan Bransford’s Blog

Overcoming Blocks – For Writers & Regular Humans Too

This particular TVWriter™ minion was assigned to “YouTube Browsing Duty” this week, and here’s one of the great tips I found:

More to come. (Gotta prove I’m on the job, you know?)

From Actualized.Org

It’s Writing Meme Time!

Don’tcha just hate all those writing memes about grammar? Not-so-confidentially, so do we. But this one, found on God’s Gift To Social Mayhem, aka Facebook, does make a few points of writerly importance:

Waitaminnit! Judged? By whom? I dare she, he, it, or they?

Oh, you’re talking about our readers. The people we’re trying to entertain, edify, and show off for. Well then yeah, okay. Let’s all write one for the reading Gipper!