Dear Friend,

Screenwriter Joe Forte (writer of "Say I Do") once said about screenwriting:

"The price of getting into the film business — and probably a lot of other businesses that have competition — is figuring out your path. If there's a brick wall in front of you, are you going to ram your head against it? Are you going to build a ladder? Are you going to dig a tunnel? Are you going to sit back in a beach chair and watch everybody else hit their head against it? How are you going to get over that wall?"

That's the question that every screenwriter must answer for himself.

And The Screenwriter's Success Newsletter is here to help you do that!

Here's what we've got for you in this week's issue:

Networking Makes the Difference: is this week's article by yours truly. In this piece I give you 3 ways to break the ice with complete strangers. These are powerful networking tools to keep in your back pocket.

The Box Office Report: gives you the latest feature film releases as well as the opening weekend projections, so you can be on top of this critical information.

Nerves: is this week's article by mc foley. mc is an active writer and regular contributor to this newsletter. The title of her column is "Lessons Learned: One Writer's Journey."

A Legal Perspective for Screenwriters: is our column by entertainment attorney Gordon P. Firemark. To ask your legal questions, email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . If your question is chosen, it (and your answer) will appear in an issue of The Screenwriter's Success Newsletter.

Thinking Big...How to Sell Your Small Town Story: is this week's article from Director of Development for Clifford Werber Productions, Daniel Manus. The title of his column is "No B.S. for Screenwriters — The Executive Perspective."

Best Business Advice for Screenwriters: is dedicated to asking a top executive or successful screenwriter the absolute best advice they could give a screenwriter looking for success. This week's contributor? Screenwriter Adam Rifkin — writer of "Underdog"!

The Scoggins Report: is our bi-weekly/monthly spec market analysis. Use this information to see what's selling, who's buying what, and what genre you should be writing for. This information is pure gold...

Digging the Well Before You're Thirsty: is our column dedicated to tracking the promotions and movements of Hollywood's Executives. Use this market intelligence wisely...

Criticism — Read Between the Lines: is this week's article from our newest contributor — screenwriting contest judge and author of "39 Ways to Win a Screenwriting Contest & The Nine Mistakes New Writers Make" — Sean Hinchey. The title of his column is "Insights and Screenwriting Wisdom from a Veteran Screenwriting Contest Judge."

The Business of Show Institute Recommends: is the weekly screenwriting product or service that our staff has personally reviewed and feel you would benefit from. This week? "The Ultimate Guide to Attracting Representation!" If you'd like to get represented by a successful literary agent or manager... NOW... then this is going to be the most important message you will ever read! Best Part — you don't need to live in Los Angeles to work with an established & successful Hollywood Representative!

That's it for this issue, but we are dedicated to making this newsletter THE resource for aspiring screenwriters.

If you enjoyed it, and would like to pass it along to friends, please have them go directly to http://www.TheBusinessOfShowInstitute.com and have them sign up there.

May Your Life Be Extraordinary,

Marvin V. Acuna

Networking Makes the Difference

by Marvin V. Acuna

"Based on a wide range of cognitive and social measures, from standard tests for IQ to personality inventories, there's little meaningful difference in the innate abilities of star performers and average workers.

"Rather, the real differences turn up in the strategic ways top performers do their jobs. While it's impossible to get in the door of Bell Labs without technical competence and high-level reasoning abilities, these cognitive skills don't guarantee success. But specific work strategies like taking initiative and networking make for star performance and are trainable."

I plucked the above quote from an article written by Robert Kelley and Janet Caplan which was published in the Harvard Business Review July of 1993.

Scientists, like screenwriters, are traditionally deemed loners; therefore I propose you read the entire article at your convenience because it emphasizes the importance and necessity of cultivating good relationships. It scientifically proves the value of networking.

The great news is... Networking is a learnable, trainable skill.

In a previous writing I instructed you to engage five random people in conversation as you navigated your day.

My hope is that you leaped into action immediately. If so, I applaud you. I submit the suggestions below to further enhance your next encounter.

In the event that you resisted my instruction, I propose the following three tips on small talk with the intention that they inspire you to breach your self imposed limitations on engaging random people in conversation.

• Ask open ended questions versus those that simply require a "yes" or "no" response i.e. "What excites you most about 2010?"


• Preparation enhances confidence i.e. Make a list of all your interests and determine what you have to offer on the subject prior to your next outing.


• Diversify your reading i.e. Cookbooks, travel, case studies. This will afford you the opportunity to vary your discussions.

I appreciate and recognize that small talk can be a huge challenge, but as you begin to develop and nurture this skill others will perceive you as a much more approachable individual.

The Box Office Report

Lessons Learned: One Writer's Journey

Nerves

by mc foley

They do the same thing to a lot of us.

Keep us up at night. Make us sick. Sick with worry. Make us drink. Drink the entire bottle. Make us wonder — Where is my relief? And my vacation? How long is this godforsaken road? When can I take all the earnings from an intellectual property and let go?

Make us think — I'm not sure how much more I can take. I just wish someone else could see my pain.

Somehow we manage to ignore them. To keep on moving towards the goals that we've been told were impossible. To take a step, and another step, toiling ahead, slogging along in daylight. Where everyone thinks we're fine with this pace. Where we manage to brush off rejection and the never ending waits and we keep on.

I often ask myself — how can I use these nerves to my advantage?

How I can I turn them back on themselves, so they're not stabbing me with daggers at 2 am.

How can I make frustration and the fifteenth month of waiting for a word of hope work in my favor?

When I toured as a poet for many years, I funneled my nerves into my performances. Standing backstage, when I could feel them rippling through my chest, I would imagine gathering them into a ball and blasting them out at the audience. Within moments of my first uttered words, I felt free. Alive. And powerful..

How can I make my nerves work for my writing? And my writing career?

The truth is, there are several options for this. One of which — is remembering that I am running out of time.

Because, while it's true that we should savor life — that we should slow down and pause to take in the beauty that surrounds us everyday — as someone trying to earn a living off my writing, the sheer force of will that is required for me to push through and to generate more material, more stories, more scripts, more words.... is enormous. And to call upon that will day in and day out, especially in difficult times when money dwindles, health is shaken and sleep is hard to come by... to call upon that, it helps to look above the tangled mess of daily human frustrations, and to know that I will not be here forever.

To know — that I am here to leave a mark.

That regardless of how I feel today, tonight or tomorrow, none of this will be remembered in the long run. What will be remembered — is what I left behind. What I did to affect others.

And as a writer — my greatest impact — can come through words.

Through the words that I use to overcome my nerves.

Through the stories that I craft because imagination can be more important than knowledge, as Albert Einstein sort of said.. And it can be more important, because it fuels us as writers. It allows us to take the nervous worry, the anxious wondering, the gnawing fear, the quiet hopes, the exhilaration's — to gather them into a ball and blast them out at a reading audience. Or at a watching/listening audience, when we are produced — (or when we produce ourselves).

And if we've channeled these raw emotions effectively, we can help an audience to see themselves in an imagined story, to identify a similar pain, to breathe a sigh of relief, see the beauty in the smallest things. And to let go.


- mc foley


About mc foley:
Melinda Corazon Foley was born in Cebu, Philippines, raised in Virginia and currently resides in West Hollywood, CA. In 2005, MC Foley was named East West Players' James Irvine Foundation Mentee affording her the privilege to craft a new original stage play, the result: "Down and Out." It debuted at the Union Center for the Arts. Foley was then awarded the Asian American Writers Workshop Scholarship, which she utilized to re-imagine the aforementioned play into a web based series incorporating verse, motion graphics and comic book illustrations. Recently Ms. Foley completed work on a debut YA novel, The Ice Hotel. The novel is a fantasy adventure written especially for readers experiencing the profound pain of loss. In the book, a family, reeling from their eldest son's death, escapes to the Ice Hotel, where an age-old, arctic magic connects this world to the next.

A Legal Perspective for Screenwriters

by Gordon P. Firemark

Question:
"I have a letter from the Copyright office that a book, written in 1880, was in public domain. I wrote an adaptation of that book into a screenplay. I then found that someone had taken the author's works (28 books) and trademarked them on the Internet. I talked to an attorney who said that I would probably win in court, but if they fought it, I would have to defend it.

"What is your take? Can I move forward, stating that it is 'based on the..book' or just write a new original script, using the same concept?"

Answer:
This is one of those questions that really requires a lawyer to have all of the specifics, and to conduct a bit of research before giving a definitive answer.

Generally, if the book is indeed in the public domain, you're free to proceed with your adaptation. But, the fact that the title of that book has been registered as a trademark MIGHT interfere with your use of that title as the title for the film, but since trademark protection extends only to the specific category(ies) of the goods or services for which they're registered, it's possible that the registration doesn't even extend to a film project by the title in question.

I'd advise consulting a lawyer who can run a quick search of trademark office records to clarify what's protected.


For a limited time, readers of this newsletter can sign up for my email mini-course "6 Ways to Finance a Feature Film". Just visit http://firemark.com/minicourse to sign up.


Have a legal question? Email them to: legalquestions@thebusinessofshowinstitute.com

The foregoing is intended as general information only and does not establish an attorney-client relationship with Mr. Firemark. This information is not a substitute for a private, independent consultation with an attorney selected to advise you after a full investigation of the facts and law relevant to your matter. Neither Mr. Firemark nor The Business of Show Institute will be responsible for readers' detrimental reliance upon the information appearing in this column.

About Gordon P. Firemark:
Gordon Firemark is an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles. For almost 20 years, he's helped creative and business people in the fields of film, television, theatre, music and new media achieve their professional and artistic goals. His practice focuses on negotiating and drafting entertainment contracts and business deals, film and theatre financing, corporate startups/operations, and intellectual property protection and licensing. Get more information at http://firemark.com/.

No B.S. for Screenwriters - The Executive Perspective

Thinking Big...How to Sell Your Small Town Story

by Daniel Manus

"Your story is too small!"
How many times have you gotten this note? How many times has a consultant said that you had a good basic concept or the script was well written but the story or setting was just too small? I know I have a number of clients (not to mention agents and managers) who have heard me say these words. It used to be that movies set in a small town were relegated to indie cinema. But you'd be surprised at how many big movies are actually small-town stories. They CAN sell! They CAN be commercial! And so I wanted to give you the keys to making your small-town story a big-time page-turner...

The first step is looking at your small town setting and asking — what makes this place special? Is it the people? Is it the location itself? Is it the town lore or legend that surrounds it (often used in horror movies)? Is it a secret that is held? What sets this place apart from all other small towns? Keep this phrase (that I just made up) in mind when figuring out what type of town you are creating. Towns with quirk, work. Towns that bore, snore. I'm copyrighting that one!

Next, take a look at your story. Do you have a new and original hook? Is your logline more exciting than just, "A couple, living in a small town, deals with stuff"? Use the town you've created to make your story shine. Are you treating the town like an actual character in your script? Sometimes doing this will connect a reader to the setting and really make it pop. How does this town add to or affect the main conflicts in your story?

Many writers think that if their setting is small, their story can't be high concept, and that couldn't be further from the truth. Most small-town set movies are all about the characters and what happens to them, and who says something big, commercial and exciting can't happen in small towns? Raise your stakes! Sure, perhaps the stakes in your small town setting aren't of national importance, but raising the emotional stakes of a story can be just as satisfying!

In my article on what you can learn from the Black List scripts, I mentioned that the comedy "Cedar Rapids" is a perfect example of how to make a small-town story commercial. The writer of Rapids built the story perfectly. It starts out in this tiny, cold Wisconsin town with a sad man who has never left, and never wanted to. But when he's forced to venture outside (to a slightly bigger town), he not only realizes there is more out there that he has never experienced, but the story builds in an over-the-top way to this big climax involving sex, drugs, violence, love, money, etc. It goes from small town to commercial and crazy. And the stakes for the main character were huge to him, and therefore seemed huge to us. Basically, in the end, it didn't seem so small anymore. That's the result you want.

But this isn't the only project that exemplifies small town, big story. Let's look at some other successful films that at their cores are personal, small-town stories. "No Country For Old Men," "Sweet Home Alabama," "The Amateurs," "Beautiful Girls," "Where the Heart Is," etc. All of these movies are set in small towns — some Southern, some New England — and all have certain elements that help them connect to a broader audience.

The most important element they all have is characters that we like and/or can relate to. Yes, they all have wonderful actors, but the actors were attracted to these movies because of the characters the writer created. Characters in a small-town piece need to have real depth, real personality and quirk and a point of view so that executives (and audiences) in LA and NY can connect with them even if they've never stepped outside a big city.

The best way to make your smaller story connect with a broad audience is to use universal themes that everyone can relate to — friendship, revenge, protection of one's family, love, hate, jealousy, greed, etc. Make us feel like we've all gone through what your characters are going through — they are just doing it more cinematically and in a different location. Fellow Black List top ten script "Prisoner" has a small town feel, but it's an exciting thriller that encompasses themes and character motivations that everyone can connect with — trying to save one's child. In "Where the Heart Is," it's about mothers and daughters and making hard decisions and sacrificing. These are universal themes that elevate your story and can make it more commercial.

How about the ultimate small-town, high concept movie — "Groundhog Day." This film cashed in on the feelings of coastal snobs — the horror of being trapped in a small town without any way of escaping. Of course eventually Bill Murray's character makes the best of the situation and finds what he's always wanted — love. The story was wonderfully high concept even though the setting was wonderfully quaint. All it takes is an original and clever hook.

There are some other small-town story templates that have always worked well — you just need to find an original hook for them, a new angle that will set it apart. One is a big city guy with big city problems moves into a small town and therefore brings his problems with him, basically infecting the whole town and changing it somehow. Or the reverse, where he comes with his problems but is changed by the town and realizes the error of his ways ("Did You Hear About the Morgans?" was the rom-com couple version of this story). Or a town must solve a problem or controversy together or a town erupts in conflict over something amazing that happens, like in "Waking Ned Devine." Heck, even "30 Days of Night" was a small town story — a sleepy Alaskan town is invaded by vampires who are about to embark on a feeding frenzy because it's dark 24/7 for 30 days. Small town, big story. "Sweet Home Alabama" used the contrast between big city life and small town livin' as the lynch pin of its love triangle story. "The Amateurs" (an indie movie I highly recommend) finds a whole town of wonderfully eccentric but ordinary people coming together to do something extraordinary and hilarious.

And the same rules apply for television. I know I don't discuss TV a great deal in my articles, though I'm going to try to in the future, but small town shows can lead to big ratings. People may go to the movies for escapism, but they want to curl up on the couch every night and watch their "friends," and I don't mean the show. People connect with small town shows because most of the cities in this country...are small. There's a reason reality crap like "Wife Swap" has lasted so long!

Plus, these shows often do quite well because if you create the right town, there is so much rich material to pull from, and you will find more than would fit into a 90 minute movie and characters you want to see week after week.

It all started with "Little House on the Prairie" and "Gilligan's Island" — the two smallest towns ever created. But the 90s through today have continued the tradition with "Northern Exposure," "Friday Night Lights," "Picket Fences," "Ed," "Providence" — even "King of the Hill" and "South Park" are all small-town shows. Don't forget "Twin Peaks"! That show turned a small town into the biggest cult murder mystery of the decade. And the much-loved "Jericho" was basically just the small-town answer to "24," where a town had to come together to save themselves and figure out what happened.

So for writers out there who are worried that they are writing what they know, but all they know is small town life, stop worrying! All you need to do is add a little imagination, find a new and original hook and conflict, create quirky wonderfully developed characters, use universal and relatable themes, build your story — no matter where it's set — to a big exciting climax, and make it connect to a broad audience. And voila, your small town story can find big time success!


About Daniel Manus:
Daniel Manus is the Director of Development for Clifford Werber Productions (Cinderella Story, Sydney White). CWP recently set up a family fantasy/adventure project at United Artists which Daniel is attached to co-produce. He is also attached to produce several projects independently including "Dreams of an Aspiring Romantic," starring Emily Osment and "Strange Fruit," written by J.S. Cardone (Prom Night).

Daniel recently started his own script consulting company - No BullScript Consulting, which can be found at www.nobullscript.net. He has been a freelance script consultant for years, working for companies such as ScriptShark and Script Coach and teaches courses to writers at conferences around the country.

Daniel was previously Director of Development for Sandstorm Films, which had a first look deal at Sony Screen Gems and a development deal with Top Cow Comics. Raised on Long Island, NY, he holds a BS degree in Television with a concentration in Screenwriting from the Ithaca College Park School of Communications.

Best Business Advice for Screenwriters

Screenwriter Adam Rifkin, writer of "Underdog" — on his best business advice for screenwriters:

"If you're a purist, and you don't want your words touched, then you should either be a playwright or an author. Because if you're going to be a screenplay writer and expect that your words are going to be treated like gold... that's just not reality."

The Scoggins Report

2009 OWA Scorecard: Lionsgate through Screen Gems

by Jason Scoggins

Here's the next installment of my look back at the studios' 2009 open writing assignment activity. I explained how and why I'm doing this exercise in Part 1, but here's what you need to know in order to understand the below grids:

• I'm taking copies of one big talent agency's OWA Grid from six points throughout 2009 and comparing them side-by-side to see the number of OWAs at each company, as well as which projects were particularly active last year.


• To keep the below grids concise and consistent, I'm not differentiating between projects that came off the grid because the assignment was filled or for some other reason (e.g., the project becoming inactive, moving to another studio, etc.), which is why I've labeled any project that fell off the grid "Closed" rather than "Filled."

Part 1 of this series covered CBS Films and Columbia Pictures and is available here. Part 2 covered Dimension, DreamWorks, Focus and a few others and is available here. Part 3 covered Fox and is available here. I'll wrap up the rest Tuesday and Wednesday next week before I head to Sundance and will post them in chunks at http://blog.itsonthegrid.com. I'm also planning to pull all of the scorecards together in one document, and if you'd like to receive a PDF copy of it, there's a sign-up form at http://blog.itsonthegrid.com as well.

My next article will talk about why this OWA information is important and how you can use it to your advantage whether you're an aspiring writer or an entertainment industry pro. Have a great MLK weekend.

Lionsgate

Recap: 16 projects on the grid in 2009, 11 of which closed. Technically, there were only 14 projects on the grid for Lionsgate in 2009, since "Nurse" and "God And California" went off the grid in the first half of the year and then came back on the grid in the second half. All 6 from April were closed by December.


New Line

Recap: 18 projects on the grid in 2009, 12 of which closed. All 10 from April were closed by December.


New Regency

Recap: 20 projects on the grid in 2009, 10 of which closed. All 7 from April were closed by December.


Paramount

Recap: 85 projects on the grid in 2009, 47 of which were closed.

Paramount had a staggering number of OWAs in 2009, and most of the activity happened in the second half of the year. Just 7 of the 38 projects on the grid in April were still open in December, not including two of April's projects that went off the grid and came back on later in the year (Sebastian Knight and Texas Hold ‘Em).


Relativity

Recap: 4 projects on the grid in 2009, two of which were closed.

I was surprised by how few OWAs Relativity had in 2009, since I'd thought their single picture business was broader than the above indicates. Of course, one explanation could be that the company stuck with the original writers on their projects. But that's ridiculous, right?


Screen Gems

Recap: 9 projects on the grid in 2009, 7 of which were closed.


About The Scoggins Reports:
The Scoggins Reports (Jason Scoggins' Spec Market Roundup, Spec Market Scorecard and now this OWA Scorecard) are terribly unscientific analyses of the feature film development business based on information culled from a variety of public and non-public sources. These are by no means official statistics, merely a fairly complete summary. Past editions can be found in the archives of The Business of Show Institute (http://www.thebusinessofshowinstitute.com/newsletter/past-newsletters.html) as well as on Scoggins' website: http://www.lifeonthebubble.com.

Details on each person, project and company in the Reports can also be found at http://www.itsonthegrid.com, a subscription-supported, web-based database of feature film development information recently launched by Scoggins and several other literary managers. For daily posts of new and updated spec script, OWA and ODA information, check out the IOTG blog here: http://blog.itsonthegrid.com.

About Jason Scoggins:
Jason Scoggins is a partner at Protocol, a literary management and production company. He manages writers, directors and producers of film and TV alongside Protocol's founding partners Brian Inerfeld and John Ufland. Follow him here: http://twitter.com/jscoggins.

Digging the Well Before You're Thirsty:

Tracking the Movement of Hollywood's Executives

What do you do when a friend gets promoted or moves to a new position? You congratulate them right?

What else might you do? You might send them a card telling them how excited you are for their new position. Later, you might follow up with that person to see how they're settling in. Then, you might send them an interesting article once in a while.

Why would you do this? Because that's how relationships are nurtured and developed. (They're not developed by asking for favors before the relationship has matured)

So we'd like you to help us in congratulating the following executives who have just been promoted or moved positions.

The Business of Show Institute Congratulates the Following Executives in Their New Positions:

Jason Burns
Senior Vice President, Alta Loma Entertainment

Richard Caleel
Principal, The Caleel Agency

Dara Gordon
Talent Manager, Authentic Talent & Literary Management

Jim Griffin
Head of Broadcasting, Paradigm (New York)

Todd Maginn
Talent Agent, Peter Strain & Associates

Margot Menzel
Manager, Evolution Entertainment

Duncan Millership
Manager, Management 360

Insights and Screenwriting Wisdom from a Veteran Screenwriting Contest Judge

Criticism — Read Between the Lines

by Sean Hinchey

As you are well aware, before you enter any screenwriting contest, you need to have your screenplay read by someone else: a friend, professional service or mentor. While we all would like to have that person gush over our script, what you are really seeking is constructive criticism — honest feedback — concerning your work.

How do you utilize any critique of your work to your advantage? There are Three Simple Steps that allow you to read between the lines to increase your chances of winning that next contest.

Step One, before submitting your screenplay to anyone, let them know specifically what you are asking of them. Simply saying, "Could you read my script" isn't enough — it's too vague.

As an example, if you were to ask me to read your script, and you follow up with a call in a week or two, the conversation may go something like this.

"Did you read my script?" you ask.
"I did," is my reply.
"Well, what did you think?"
"It's good, needs some work, but it's good."
"Did you like the story?"
"Yeah, it was interesting."
“What about the characters?"
"They were good, you could develop them a little more, though."

See where this is going? All you asked me to do was "read your script." Originally, there was no mention of what you wanted me to do. Then, you throw me curve balls by asking questions that I may not be prepared to answer. Therefore, I'm going to play it safe.

This is what I mean by being specific. Your request should be something along the lines of, "Could you read my script and give me some honest feedback? I want to know what you think of my story — does it have a flow to it? Is it an interesting read? Also, let me know what you think of the characters; do they come across as real people? Finally, if you could give me feedback on my dialogue; does it sound like how people actually talk? That would be appreciated."

Does that sound like a huge request? Not really, because you are actually telling that person what you would like them to do, so there's no guess work. By being specific, you won't be putting them in the awkward position of having to sugar-coat their responses because you are indicating that you are prepared to accept an honest evaluation of your script. A nice thing to do is offer to discuss your screenplay while you take them out to lunch. This will guarantee a quicker turn around on your feedback!

Step Two is a little more complicated. Once you get your feedback how do you really process what they are saying? Let's say you submitted your script to a production company and you are able to get an assessment of your work.

Note: Most production companies don't have the time to give you any feedback. If they do, listen to what they are saying and don't argue with them. After all, they could've just given you a firm "No thanks, we're not interested." Instead, thank them for speaking with you. Many times this will help you establish a relationship because you've demonstrated professionalism.

For example, let's say that a certain production company had a problem with the overall story. They felt the script was a bit too long at 122 pages, and felt it needed to be trimmed down. What does that mean?

It doesn't necessarily mean that you can lop off two, five or ten pages and they'll buy it. Look at the projects that they have brought to the screen in the past, or what they currently have in production. If they are making movies that are consistently in the 90 minute range, then they may be looking for shorter movies. This could be due to budgetary constraints, or direct to DVD sales. Their idea of a trim could be more dramatic than what you had in mind.

Many companies have a formula that they are looking for in the scripts they are buying. They could also be simply trying to hop onto the latest trend. No matter how great your writing is, if they are hot on vampire movies and your script is a teen comedy, you won't capture their attention.

Step Three involves the difference between honest feedback, and trying to turn your script into another story. Some contests will offer a critique of your screenplay that may not benefit you. Most of the time, they give you excellent insight into how to tune up your script. Here's how you tell the difference.

For example, if someone suggests that you add a new character to your story and changes to the ending completely throw the time line of your script out of whack, that may not be helpful. The person offering feedback is putting in too much of what they would like the story to be, instead of assessing your material on its own merits.

However, if they suggest that you change the time period of your story — shifting it from a period piece to a contemporary one — that may be good feedback. I've personally read many scripts that take place in the 1800s or even the 1970s, that really don't make use of that time period. They've obviously written it for the "cool factor," but the story would be just as effective and even more marketable if it took place in the present.

Subtle differences? Absolutely. That's why you really need to understand what they are saying and make the call yourself. However you interpret the feedback, remember that it is just an opinion. You can make all the changes people suggest, none of them or some of them; the decision is up to you.

The main key to accepting any criticism is to not take it personally. Recognize that anyone who is taking their time to talk to you about your work is doing it to help you succeed. It's not about putting you down, but helping you get a leg up. Never get defensive when listening to feedback. While it's OK to ask probing questions to dig deeper, if anyone gets a hint that their feedback is upsetting you, they will play it safe. In that case, nobody wins.

Write it, get feedback, re-write and repeat until you have a solid script and you'll be hearing you name right after, "And the Grand Prize for the Best Screenplay Goes to...."

Next week: Are you Selling Out or Buying In? Here's how you should approach your writing process. Understand what the contests are looking for in your material so you can recognize if your writing is about hopping on a trend or actually writing a quality product that can win the grand prize.


About Sean Hinchey:
Sean Hinchey has been a script consultant for International Creative Management (ICM), Miracle Entertainment, Nash Entertainment, and Viviano Entertainment. He's also read the preliminary drafts of Michael Crichton's best-selling novels, State of Fear and Next and has performed extensive research for the stage plays and screenplays of writer/director Floyd Mutrux (American Hot Wax, Million Dollar Quartet).

Sean's expertise has made him a highly sought after judge for such prestigious screenwriting contests such as: The Big Break Contest, The Miramax Open Door Contest, Artists and Writer's Contest, Energy Contest, Smart Contest and The Chills and Thrills Contest. Throughout his career, Sean has read over two thousand scripts, giving him an insight into what it takes to become the winner of a screenwriting contest.

Three of Sean's screenplays have been optioned and one was a finalist in the Film in Arizona Screenwriting Competition. He won an award for his first non-fiction book, Backpacking Through Divorce.

Drawing from these experiences, he's written a book, 39 Ways to Win a Screenwriting Contest & The Nine Mistakes New Writers Make, set for publication in Spring 2010.

The Business of Show Institute Recommends:

If you'd like to get represented by a successful literary agent or manager... NOW... then this is going to be the most important message you will ever read.

Best Part — you don't need to live in Los Angeles to work with an established & successful Hollywood Representative.

Discover how by reading more about 'The Ultimate Guide to Attracting Literary Representation!'

Check out all the details HERE!