{"id":2647,"date":"2010-03-22T07:46:29","date_gmt":"2010-03-22T07:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/\/?p=2647"},"modified":"2010-03-22T07:46:29","modified_gmt":"2010-03-22T07:46:29","slug":"tales-from-the-script","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/tales-from-the-script\/","title":{"rendered":"Tales From the Script"},"content":{"rendered":"
Sitting down for intimate conversations with dozens of Hollywood\u2019s best writers was a transformative experience. Although I\u2019ve been a professional screenwriter for many years, most of my work has been in the independent realm, so collecting material for Tales from the Script gave me a crash course in the realities of writing movies at the film industry\u2019s top levels.<\/div>\n
1. Good things come to those who wait . . . and wait . . . and wait. A recurring theme throughout the interviews in this project is the long (and painful) gap of time that stretches from the moment someone sets out to become a screenwriter to the moment that dream comes true. \u00a0Bottom line? Winning the screenwriting race isn\u2019t about speed. It\u2019s about endurance.<\/div>\n
2. Don\u2019t hold your breath if you\u2019re selling an original story. (I)n today\u2019s climate, the writer who rises from obscurity on the strength of a pure spec script is a rare creature. We\u2019re in the age of adaptations and remakes and sequels, so very often, the emerging writer\u2019s best hope with a spec is to get noticed and then hired for an assignment on an existing project. \u00a0To pour a little salt into the wound, consider this comment from Shooter scribe Jonathan Lemkin: \u201cIf I could pitch Wheaties: The Movie tomorrow, I\u2019d have a better chance of selling it than I would with an original idea. \u2018There\u2019s a cereal box, guys!\u2019 It\u2019s a very strange time.\u201d<\/div>\n
3. Don\u2019t underestimate the value of cynicism. \u00a0The upshot of discarding youthful na\u00efvet\u00e9 was discovering the importance of hustle, and learning that a career in film is built brick by painstaking brick. \u00a0John D. Brancato, who, with his writing partner Michael Ferris, has survived working on big-budget spectacles including Catwoman, The Game, and the last two Terminator movies (has this to say): \u201cI\u2019ve read screenplays, plenty of them, where the writer obviously hates what he\u2019s doing, and thinks it\u2019s B.S. That kind of cynicism is pernicious. It hurts the project. It hurts movies in general. So I try not to be cynical about the screenplay, about the movie \u2013 while being cynical about every single other thing attached to it. Staying innocent in the creative process is the thing.\u201d<\/div>\n
4. Learn to love your neuroses. \u00a0Agents lose interest, options expire, movies that seem close to production lose momentum . . . it\u2019s a heartbreaking cycle, and even the strongest people experience self-doubt after setback upon setback. The one hope new writers have is that once they become established writers, things will get easier. Turns out that\u2019s not necessarily the case. (S)creenwriter-turned-psychotherapist Dennis Palumbo (My Favorite Year) has observed: \u201cA writer friend of mine once described screenwriters as \u2018egomaniacs with low self-esteem.\u2019 \u201c<\/div>\n
5. It\u2019s worth it. Why not just self-publish novels or read poetry on street corners? There are easier ways to share your art, and the number of writers who achieve Hollywood success is dwarfed by the number of writers who don\u2019t. The reason why the dream is worth pursuing is that the rewards are beyond imagining. Nothing touches audiences with the power of a great Hollywood movie.<\/div>\n
The “Tales from the Script” documentary feature DVD Available for Pre-Order! Set for release on April 20, 2010, the “Tales from the Script” DVD is now available for discounted pre-order from First Run Features! Although the list price is $24.95, customers who pre-order now through this special offer will receive a 30% discount, getting the disc for $17.47. (First Run offers free shipping on orders of $30 or more, so buy one for yourself and one as a gift!) The disc includes more than an hour of fantastic special features, including “More Tales from the Script” (a collection of colorful stories that couldn’t fit into the movie), “The Gospel According to Bill” (spotlighting the wit and wisdom of William Goldman), and “Advice for New Screenwriters.” To pre-order the “Tales from the Script” DVD<\/div>\n
http:\/\/firstrunfeatures.com\/talesfromthescriptdvd.html<\/div>\n
\"Hanson\"<\/a>Here’s an interesting article from Peter Hanson, co-author of Tales from the Script <\/strong>with Paul Robert Herman. \u00a0The book is\u00a0a collection of interviews of famous screenwriters. \u00a0I’ve excerpted the 5 main points of the article but the full story is well worth reading. \u00a0It was first published in The Writers Store E-Zine. \u00a0You can read the whole article at the following link: \u00a0http:\/\/www.pitchfest.com\/newsletters\/march_2010\/peter_hanson.shtml <\/a><\/div>\n
\n
Sitting down for intimate conversations with dozens of Hollywood\u2019s best writers was a transformative experience. Although I\u2019ve been a professional screenwriter for many years, most of my work has been in the independent realm, so collecting material for Tales from the Script<\/strong> gave me a crash course in the realities of writing movies at the film industry\u2019s top levels.<\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
1. Good things come to those who wait . . . and wait . . . and wait.<\/strong> A recurring theme throughout the interviews in this project is the long (and painful) gap of time that stretches from the moment someone sets out to become a screenwriter to the moment that dream comes true. \u00a0Bottom line? Winning the screenwriting race isn\u2019t about speed. It\u2019s about endurance.<\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
2. Don\u2019t hold your breath if you\u2019re selling an original story<\/strong>. (I)n today\u2019s climate, the writer who rises from obscurity on the strength of a pure spec script is a rare creature. We\u2019re in the age of adaptations and remakes and sequels, so very often, the emerging writer\u2019s best hope with a spec is to get noticed and then hired for an assignment on an existing project. \u00a0To pour a little salt into the wound, consider this comment from Shooter<\/strong> scribe Jonathan Lemkin: \u201cIf I could pitch Wheaties: The Movie tomorrow, I\u2019d have a better chance of selling it than I would with an original idea. \u2018There\u2019s a cereal box, guys!\u2019 It\u2019s a very strange time.\u201d<\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
3. Don\u2019t underestimate the value of cynicism.<\/strong> The upshot of discarding youthful na\u00efvet\u00e9 was discovering the importance of hustle, and learning that a career in film is built brick by painstaking brick. \u00a0John D. Brancato, who, with his writing partner Michael Ferris, has survived working on big-budget spectacles including Catwoma<\/strong>n<\/strong>, The Game<\/strong>, and the last two Terminator <\/strong>movies (has this to say): \u201cI\u2019ve read screenplays, plenty of them, where the writer obviously hates what he\u2019s doing, and thinks it\u2019s B.S. That kind of cynicism is pernicious. It hurts the project. It hurts movies in general. So I try not to be cynical about the screenplay, about the movie \u2013 while being cynical about every single other thing attached to it. Staying innocent in the creative process is the thing.\u201d<\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
4. Learn to love your neuroses<\/strong>. \u00a0Agents lose interest, options expire, movies that seem close to production lose momentum . . . it\u2019s a heartbreaking cycle, and even the strongest people experience self-doubt after setback upon setback. The one hope new writers have is that once they become established writers, things will get easier. Turns out that\u2019s not necessarily the case. (S)creenwriter-turned-psychotherapist Dennis Palumbo (My Favorite Year) has observed: \u201cA writer friend of mine once described screenwriters as \u2018egomaniacs with low self-esteem.\u2019 \u201c<\/div>\n
.<\/span><\/div>\n
5. It\u2019s worth it<\/strong>. Why not just self-publish novels or read poetry on street corners? There are easier ways to share your art, and the number of writers who achieve Hollywood success is dwarfed by the number of writers who don\u2019t. The reason why the dream is worth pursuing is that the rewards are beyond imagining. Nothing touches audiences with the power of a great Hollywood movie.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The Tales from the Script<\/strong> documentary feature DVD Available for Pre-Order. Set for release on April 20, 2010, the “Tales from the Script” DVD is now available for discounted pre-order from First Run Features. Although the list price is $24.95, customers who pre-order now through this special offer will receive a 30% discount, getting the disc for $17.47. (First Run offers free shipping on orders of $30 or more, so buy one for yourself and one as a gift.) The disc includes more than an hour of fantastic special features, including “More Tales from the Script” (a collection of colorful stories that couldn’t fit into the movie), “The Gospel According to Bill” (spotlighting the wit and wisdom of William Goldman), and “Advice for New Screenwriters.” To pre-order the “Tales from the Script” DVD click on this link:<\/div>\n
http:\/\/firstrunfeatures.com\/talesfromthescriptdvd.html<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s an interesting article from Peter Hanson, author of Tales from the Script (a collection of interviews of famous screenwriters). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[25,26,27,28,30,31,32,33,34,957,35,36,37,38,39,40,704,41,42],"class_list":["post-2647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-writing-tips-tricks-advice-help-script-screenplay-screenwriting-blog","tag-character","tag-characters","tag-emotional-toolbox","tag-etb","tag-film","tag-films","tag-laurie-hutzler","tag-movies","tag-nine-character-types","tag-peter-hanson","tag-screenplay","tag-screenplays","tag-screenwriting","tag-script","tag-scripts","tag-scriptwriting","tag-terminator","tag-tv","tag-writing"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-300x225.jpg",300,225,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-768x576.jpg",768,576,true],"large":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"ttshowcase_normal":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",125,94,false],"ttshowcase_small":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",75,56,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",960,720,false],"Image Size 500x500":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n.jpg",500,375,false],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-300x400.jpg",300,400,true],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-600x450.jpg",600,450,true],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/30710870_10211699141895539_4496568718662303744_n-100x100.jpg",100,100,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Laurie Hutzler","author_link":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Here's an interesting article from Peter Hanson, author of Tales from the Script (a collection of interviews of famous screenwriters).","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/etbscreenwriting.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}