Category: Resources

40 years worth of TV writing experience and info, yours for the taking.

Peggy Bechko Outlines Her Thoughts On Outlines

by Peggy Bechko

Okay, so not the kind of outline Peggy’s talking about…but still an outline, yes?

Don’t run away – I’m not going to tell you to outline or not to outline. I just going to talk a bit about my writing process and you can take from it what you may.

Many writing ‘instructors,’ whether they be talking about novels or scripts, will tell you it’s a must to outline or to create a beatsheet or whatever. With writing, nothing is really a must. It’s how you do it and what works for you.

The outline process works great for many writers. A detailed sketch of where a story is going. And, admittedly, it is a good place to stash all sorts of notes regarding characters, plot and background. read article

Fancy Words for Mundane Health Problems

We know, we know, we’re always talking about simplicity in writing. But let’s face it, sometimes going all out in the other direction, doing a kind of “playing dress-up with words thing,” is just what a writer needs to get out of a rut.  Arika Okrent, etymologist extraordinaire, knows just what we mean, and after watching her video, so – we hope – will you:

More about Arika, YouTube’s Patron Saint of Wordsmiths

Must Read! ‘5 Best Screenwriting Software Programs COMPARED’

Big thanks from TVWriter™ to ScriptReaderPro for performing the public service this comparo definitely is:

from ScriptReaderPro

We get it—comparing all the best screenwriting software options out there can be overwhelming. read article

16 Old Words for Young People

Words for millennials and their descendants so you can portray your, erm, “elders” better in the media of your choice…and understand and in general communicate better with all the alte cockers in your life.

Ooh, good news for those of you who’ve scanned down this far: LB didn’t know any of the above words either. In fact, when we asked him, he answered, “What language is this in?”

Peggy Bechko’s Thoughts on Taking Multiple Writing Paths

by Peggy Bechko

Seriously, guys, writers write. I’ve said it before. Many of us have scripts or manuscripts or short stories or articles stashed on a hard drive that no one has ever seen.

So what? read article