Writing Craft & Showbiz Career Info
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Our two new books... STORY QUESTIONS is currently 10% off! - https://payhip.com/b/ZTvq9 and 17 Steps To Writing A Great Main Character - https://payhip.com/b/kCZGd 0:00 - How To Overcome Shyness 11:23 - Beginners Guide To Starting Out In The Movie Business 34:32 - Why Are There So Many Remakes And Recycled TV Shows 47:57 - Great Story Doesn't Fake Authenticity 1:01:12...
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Published 7 hours ago
The platform that supports independent booksellers has launched a new subscription plan offering users 12 credits for $169.99 per year....
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Published 15 hours ago
The organization will donate books by authors who have been banned, starting with 20 schools in states where bans are most prevalent....
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Published 15 hours ago
In addition to pirating ebooks, they bought print books from wholesalers and used book retailers, including Ingram and Baker & Taylor....
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Published 15 hours ago
The independent publisher is cofounded by writers who raised $30,000 on Kickstarter....
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Published 15 hours ago
Each morning, I get a Signal message counting up how many days our city has been occupied. It bears information, reminders for new members. There are estimated to be 80,000 of us in the city. The hardest thing to remember...
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Published 20 hours ago
The closest analogy I can make to how it feels to be living in Minneapolis, a city besieged by ICE agents, is how I felt a political prisoner in 1970 for resisting the war in Vietnam. I was alternately bored,...
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Published 21 hours ago
The author is a poet from the Midwest. At this time, he prefers to remain anonymous. * My dearest daughter, When the poet Lorca died, he died on a road of dust. Sad men killed him and his body disappeared....
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Published 22 hours ago
The child was born late: much longed for, the only son. He is five now. He sits quietly beside the well, waiting for his mother to finish drawing water. The other women look at him from the corners of their...
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Published 22 hours ago
Pen name privacy is often seen as a digital mask, but a name alone isn’t enough to protect your true identity. Every article you publish can drop “invisible breadcrumbs,” from hidden image metadata to innocent anecdotes that can lead readers straight to your door. If you aren’t actively protecting your digital footprint, your professional firewall… The post Pen Name Privacy:...
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Published 22 hours ago
Roger Dooley’s quest, the one that would come to consume him and indeed to define his life, began in Seville, on a typically torrid day in July 1984. The thirty-nine-year-old archaeologist left his hotel after breakfast and made his way...
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Published 22 hours ago
Improv is about being in the moment, and showed one author how to let go, listen better, take risks, and move on when something doesn’t work....
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Published 1 day ago
Angela Schwesnedl from Moon Palace Books in Minneapolis picked up my phone call on Saturday almost two hours to the minute after Alex Pretti was murdered in the street by ICE officers. “If you haven’t seen the video, don’t,” she...
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Published 1 day ago
This is the second dispatch in our ongoing series of Letters From Minnesota in which we invite writers to share their experiences, as both witness and warning, of American authoritarianism. ____________________________________________ My youngest child has a habit of reordering time...
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Published 1 day ago
Those who are regular readers of George Saunders’ Story Club Substack were in for a treat on the tenth of December 2025 (a date chosen in honor of his story collection, a National Book Award finalist and Story Prize winner)....
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Published 1 day ago
Our two new books... STORY QUESTIONS is currently 10% off! - https://payhip.com/b/ZTvq9 and 17 Steps To Writing A Great Main Character - https://payhip.com/b/kCZGd 0:00 - Hollywood Isn't Dying For Writers, Here's What's Happening Now 11:18 - Chapter 2 36:01 - Chapter 3 42:49 - Chapter 4 51:45 - Chapter 5 1:13:54 - Chapter 6 1:29:03 - Chapter 7 1:56:00 -...
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Published 2 days ago
An unnecessarily deep dive into the world of actors on Cameo. Who’s joining, what they charge, when they work, how fans respond, and which familiar faces are quietly earning six figures from birthday....
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Published 2 days ago
Although it is not widely considered a signature episode of The X-Files (1993 – 2002) like “The Host,” “Irresistible,” “Home,” “Pusher,” or “Bad Blood,” Chris Carter’s “Syzygy,” now three decades old, is nonetheless one of my favorite installments of the two-hundred-plus strong catalog. In part that position of favor arises from the episode’s deliberate and crafty re-purposing of familiar horror tropes. In a...
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Published 2 days ago
Our two new books... STORY QUESTIONS is currently 10% off! - https://payhip.com/b/ZTvq9 and 17 Steps To Writing A Great Main Character - https://payhip.com/b/kCZGd Collin Watts is a Los Angeles based screenwriter with a focus on creating genre films with a personal touch. Originally from Illinois, he is a graduate of Florida State University and the UCLA professional screenwriting program. Collin...
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Published 3 days ago
Is Your Script A ‘Zombie’? You followed the rules. You hit the beats. Your structure is technically sound …. So why does the script feel dead when you read it back? If your story makes sense but doesn’t move you, you may be dealing with what I call a Zombie Script. This is a term… Read More »5 Reasons Your Script...
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Published 3 days ago
Our two new books... STORY QUESTIONS is currently 10% off! - https://payhip.com/b/ZTvq9 and 17 Steps To Writing A Great Main Character - https://payhip.com/b/kCZGd 0:00 - You Don't Need Film School To Be A Filmmaker 30:52 - "I'll Never Look At Football The Same" - Story Behind CONCUSSED: The American Dream 1:02:25 - What Filmmakers Know Before Flying A Drone 1:20:04...
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Published 5 days ago
Small bits of action—descending the stairs, cleaning off the car—might not be insignificant if they tell something about a character’s world....
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Published 6 days ago
Our two new books... STORY QUESTIONS is currently 10% off! - https://payhip.com/b/ZTvq9 and 17 Steps To Writing A Great Main Character - https://payhip.com/b/kCZGd Pedro Correa most recently co-wrote (with Fabio Frey), produced and stars-in the coming-of-age drama My Dead Dad (2021) executive produced by Declan Baldwin of Big Indie Pictures (Manchester by the Sea). In-front of the camera, he has...
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Published 7 days ago
The agency specializes in children’s books and will represent both authors and illustrators. Colvin previously founded Little, Brown Ink....
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Published 7 days ago
Many booksellers have told the author they recommend it, then the same reader comes back to buy copies for friends, relatives, and others....
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Published 7 days ago
The winner receives a book deal with Hachette UK with a £30,000 advance and £20,000 towards the marketing of the finished book....
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Published 7 days ago
The latest in bookselling, trends, and AI....
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Published 7 days ago
Callen Martin has joined the agency and will represent children’s and YA science fiction and fantasy fiction....
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Published 7 days ago
A publicist can be an invaluable part of your launch team when your book is published, but it’s also possible to do it on your own....
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Published 8 days ago
Our two new books... STORY QUESTIONS: How To Unlock Your Story One Question At A Time - https://payhip.com/b/ZTvq9 and 17 Steps To Writing A Great Main Character - https://payhip.com/b/kCZGd Glenn Gers was a professional writer of movies and television for 25 years. His credits include theatrical features including FRACTURE (2007) and MAD MONEY (2008), no-budget indies like DISFIGURED (2008), TV...
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Published 9 days ago
If you’re a self-published author, you might be asking yourself: “Has AI stolen my book?” With AI and large language models (LLMs) everywhere, it’s natural to worry that your hard work could be used without your consent. Here’s the quick answer to your question. It’s highly unlikely that your book has been copied and used… The post Has AI Stolen...
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Published 10 days ago
SIGN UP FOR THE FILM COURAGE NEWSLETTER https://filmcourage.substack.com Russell Palmer is a technologist and Silicon Valley Product Manager with a background in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, having worked at companies including Microsoft, Viv Labs AI, Samsung Research AI, and JPMorgan's AI Lab at Stanford Research Park. He co-founded the startup CyberFilm AI in 2021 with his brother Andrew, an...
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Published 12 days ago
Male Tropes To Watch Out For This blog may be known for critique of female characterisation, but that doesn’t mean male tropes don’t get a look in! I’ve been working on a new novel for 2026, so I’ve been researching male characterisation A LOT recently. Ready? Let’s go … 1) The Gentle Monster Example: Kofun… Read More »5 Male Tropes Audiences...
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Published 12 days ago
My number one tip for new writers is to think about using more sentence structure variations. If too many sentences look and sound the same or similar, the quick cure is to use more variety in how you write your sentences. The best part is that it’s a quick and easy fix for any form… The post 10 Easy Sentence...
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Published 12 days ago
Intimacy Coordinators went from almost nowhere to mainstream in a few years. I crunch the numbers of the number of films which hire them, the genres, and the arguments for and against the role....
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Published 13 days ago
Should I keep my blog despite AI and Google decimating my organic traffic and income? Would I let over one million of my words bite the dust? Could I use a third-party platform to reduce or even eliminate my costs? These are just a few of the questions that have been racing through my mind… The post Why I Chose...
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Published 13 days ago
Our two new books... STORY QUESTIONS: How To Unlock Your Story One Question At A Time - https://payhip.com/b/ZTvq9 and 17 Steps To Writing A Great Main Character - https://payhip.com/b/kCZGd Adam Argot has worked in film, TV, games, and publishing as a director, writer, author, story and concept artist for over 15 years for both major and independent studios. Along with...
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Published 14 days ago
All About Character Motivation Motivation is key in any good story: I call it the ‘why’ of characterisation. Your characters should not simply exist to serve the plot. Instead, they should drive the plot through their own choices, behaviour, worldview, backstory and actions. A subtle difference, but crucial. In other words then, a great character… Read More »On Character Motivation: How...
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Published 15 days ago
Our two new books... STORY QUESTIONS is currently 10% off! - https://payhip.com/b/ZTvq9 and 17 Steps To Writing A Great Main Character - https://payhip.com/b/kCZGd Corey Mandell is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter who has written projects for Ridley Scott, Wolfgang Petersen, Harrison Ford, John Travolta, Warner Brothers, Universal, 20th Century Fox, Fox 2000, Fox Family, Working Title, Paramount, Live Planet, Beacon...
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Published 16 days ago
This episode of Space:1999, which first aired on WPIX Channel 11 in New York 50 years ago today, sees a mysterious ball of energy - an alien life-force - infiltrate Alpha. In particular, the alien focuses on Nuclear Generating Area Three and Technician Anton Zoref, played by Ian McShane. Before long, to the dismay of Anton’s loving wife, Eva (Gay Hamilton), the technician begins to change.In particular,...
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Published 17 days ago
Our two new books... STORY QUESTIONS is currently 10% off! - https://payhip.com/b/ZTvq9 and 17 Steps To Writing A Great Main Character - https://payhip.com/b/kCZGd Our gratitude to Anthony Leone for crafting this set! And a special thanks to Christopher Pettoni for his work behind the scenes to make this possible! Lynda Goodfriend is the Creative Director for Acting for Film at...
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Published 19 days ago
