Dear Friend,

Last Friday we had an amazing teleseminar with screenwriter Jessica Bendinger. Jessica is the writer of the smash feature films "Bring It On" and "Stick It." But her most recent project is her novel called "The Seven Rays."

And to help promote the book, she's decided to hold a cool, free contest for screenwriters that I highly recommend you enter. Here's the deal:

It's called the Script-a-Scene Contest. And you can either download the first chapter of "The Seven Rays" for free off the website — or you can purchase the book.

It's not mandatory that you buy the book to enter the contest, but you may want to, considering that the contest is to take one scene from the novel and adapt it in 2-5 pages in Final Draft screenplay format.

Here are the prizes: Five runner-ups will get an I-Chat pitch session with Jessica, an agent, a producer, and a studio executive.

And the grand prize winner will get... a one-on-one script consultation with Jessica!

Plus, if you live in LA, she'll meet with you in person to give you notes on your entire script — and to really talk to you about it. If you don't live in LA, the consultation will be done via I-Chat. How cool is that?

So register now for the contest at http://www.TheSevenRays.com.

And check out Jessica's "Best Business Advice for Screenwriters" as well as the rest of the fantastic content, in this week's Screenwriter's Success Newsletter!

The Secret to Screenwriting Success: is this week's article by yours truly. In this piece I talk about the single biggest factor that determines your success... or failure as a screenwriter!

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.

Other Pleasures: 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.

The Age Old/Old Age Question: 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 month's contributors? Screenwriter Jessica Bendinger — writer of the smash hits "Bring It On" and "Stick It"!

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...

Tid-bits of Value: is this week's article from studio reader, screenwriter, novelist, and producer, Liz Maccie. Liz will be giving you her insights as a studio reader who has gone through hundreds of scripts, and is a produced writer herself. The name of her column is "Diary of a Studio Reader".

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 Shortcuts to Success — Meeting with the Masters Mentoring Program! Hollywood's only screenwriting mentoring program where Marvin V. Acuna and his network of industry contacts will help you achieve the success you desire and deserve.

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

The Secret to Screenwriting Success

by Marvin V. Acuna

"This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill — the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill — you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes."

Morpheus – "The Matrix"

If you're looking for the magic pill, the secret ingredient, the elixir that will transform you into a superstar screenwriter, then here it is...

There IS no magic pill!

There IS no secret ingredient!

There IS no spoon!

The secret is that there IS no secret.

The single mental quality that separates successful screenwriters from those who fall by the wayside can be reduced down to one word:

And it's not what you think. It's not "ambition," "connections," or "talent."

The word is... decision.

Successful screenwriters decide to become professionals before they actually achieve their desired success. They are already celebrated, respected, and wealthy screenwriters in their minds, before they become so in the real world.

And the most important thing is... they ACT accordingly. They work as if they were million dollar screenwriters who are in high demand.

Do you want to be a successful screenwriter? Then ACT like it!

Here's an example of a million dollar habit that you can immediately apply into your life. In fact, this habit is so powerful, that it could quite literally be the "keys to the kingdom." This is what every successful screenwriter does everyday, as a routine.

Ready? Here it is...

Successful screenwriters schedule time to write, everyday. It's that simple.

Academy Award Winning Screenwriter, Oliver Stone once said that he placed a banner above his desk that simply read, "Ass plus chair equals script."

My hope is that you have made the decision in your own mind to be a successful screenwriter.

Assuming you have then the following tips may assist you with scheduling time to write while you manage all the other aspects of your life.

• Make a Writing Plan — I believe the written word is powerful. It motivates and inspires people to take action. As a writer I have to believe you'd agree.


• Keep It Simple Silly — Your plan only needs to address three specific things: A) What? B) When? And C) How?


• Look at your Plan Everyday — Mine is written on a white wash board in my office.

A very simple plan may look like this:

• What — To complete a first draft


• When — By March 1st


• How — # Pages per mo/# pages per week/#scenes or pages per day

If you are so inspired to add more detail to your plan go for it, but the bottom line is this: The Great Wall of China was not built in a day.

I'd encourage you to focus on laying down one brick at a time every day and soon you will have a wall. I mean script!

The Box Office Report

Lessons Learned: One Writer's Journey

Other Pleasures

by mc foley

A friend recently asked me (twice) — "when is this town going to start buying stories again?!"

This friend is someone whom I greatly admire and respect. A writer who has supported his entire family as the sole breadwinner for years, purchased a home, raised a son, and he did all of this — with money he earned as a screenwriter.

However, if you were to look my friend up on IMDB, you wouldn't find the epic list of projects he's been involved with for years. You would find two produced credits. Credits, which say nothing about his real career, his rewrites and polishes on countless features, his extensive network of writers, agents, executives, etc all over town, his commitment to — and success in — his craft.

There are several reasons for the shortlist on IMDB — one of which is that none of these websites can be considered the authority on anyone's actual work. Even resources like Baseline, TV tracker and the guild databases can't include every project in which a writer is involved. Especially if the writer is involved via rewrite, polish, or selling something that doesn't get made.

Another, less technical reason, is that my friend has managed to develop a solid reputation as a writer. Again — someone simply looking at IMDB would never know this. But the people who hire, have definitely known, for quite some time.

So — why discuss my friend's frustration with the industry?

Because he is someone with a track record. Someone who has built an entire career, a life, a family — with the money he earned from his writing.

And if he gets frustrated, then it is almost a guarantee, that someone else who still has quite a ways to go before they feel that satisfaction of "breaking through" — (in whatever manner suits their personal definition) — will also feel frustrated.

Sometimes, that frustration will only be a flicker of melancholy, a sigh, a shrug. Other times, it will be a full-on mid-life crisis or a long night full of whisky bottles and hugging a poor, defenseless jack russell who has nothing to do with the twelve years of "wasted effort" about which, his drunken pack leader sobs relentlessly until sunrise.

Recently...

(...and maybe it's because Thanksgiving just passed and we're nearing those heart-warming yet somehow dreaded winter holidays... but...)

...recently, I thought about my own long, drunken nights (except the dog, in my case, was a little brown chihuahua).

I felt that familiar pang of nostalgia
for when I was younger,
had more time in front of me,
lived in more luxuriously, ignorant bliss,
and definitely
paid fewer bills

And the more logical part of my brain began to chime in:

You're forgetting how much worse your writing was
It said

You're forgetting what an uninformed, arrogant jackass you sometimes sounded like

You're forgetting how unrealistic your dreams always tended to be

You're forgetting how "easy" you foolishly thought it would all be

You're forgetting...
that you were a lot less sure of yourself, no matter how much your I'm-in-college! brassiness helped you paint the most glorious picture of take-no-prisoners ballsiness and "I know exactly what I'm doing"

when you didn't

You're forgetting...
...what's happened in between all these times
these times
when you think too much upon
where you aren't...
as opposed to
how far you've come

True. None of this is new. But it's necessary. Because — to pursue a career, a career with earnings and health insurance. A career, which arises from writing. That, is indeed, a monumental feat. And it will definitely include struggle.

Note — I did not say "writing" includes struggle. I'm not an advocate of the whole "writing is painful" school of thought. I don't find it painful. I find it uplifting, inspiring, releasing. I find it to be one of the most powerful talents available to the human mind.

What I said was — pursuing a paying career — off of writing — includes struggle. Period. Unless you are independently wealthy, a trust fund baby, or so damn lucky that everyone else hates you.

Requesting payment for your words — intrinsically means: asking for approval, review, desire... from other people. And no writer, no matter how talented or connected, can ever obtain all of those things from other people.

And so,
The "mean times" will come.
The "down times" will arrive.
The "unemployment line" may someday be mine.

And when they do
I try to remind myself
that it's the way I handle those chapters
and what I learn from them
that's most important.

I try to remind myself
that there are other,
greater
pleasures
in this world
than just
"success."

-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've written a film treatment that I would like to submit to an actor in Hollywood, who I think would be ideal to play the lead role. I have his agent's name and address, however, I would like to know if it is possible to mail it directly to the actor and still be able to keep my copyrights to the idea.

"I suppose, if I mail it to the agency, there would be more legal protection for the idea. Is this true?

"The third thing I could do is get myself an agent/representative and have him/her submit it, which would probably be the best protection.

"Please let me know what approach would be the best."

Answer:
The proper protocol for offering an actor a role in a film is to contact the actor's agent. Period. Agents are deeply involved in their clients' careers and serve the important role of screening their clients from too much material, and from the niggling details of the 'business side' of things. So, unless you already have a personal friendship with the actor, don't try to go around the agent. It will hurt you, even if the actor does decide to do your film.

Does this approach afford you, the writer/filmmaker any greater protection than direct contact with the actor? Not really... but it helps you establish a reputation as a professional, with the knowledge and understanding of how the business works.

Do you, as a filmmaker, need an agent or representative to handle these dealings on your behalf? It depends. Unless you've been around the producing block a time or two, you will find yourself swimming with the sharks... so yes having an experienced representative of your own will serve you well. Note that I say a "representative," rather than "agent." A lawyer will likely be a better option in this situation, since you'll eventually be making the proposal in writing, in the form of a contract. Once you've done this a few times, you'll have a better sense of the deal points to discuss, and can contact the agent yourself with the initial offer... before bringing in the attorney to draw up the deal.


Have a legal question? Email them to: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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 attorney whose practice is devoted to the representation of artists, writers, producers and directors in the fields of theater, film, television,and music. He is also the publisher of Entertainment Law Update, a newsletter for artists and professionals in the entertainment industries. His practice also covers intellectual property, cyberspace, new media and business/corporate matters for clients in the entertainment industry.

Mr. Firemark serves on the Boards of Governors of The Los Angeles Stage Alliance (the organization responsible for the annual Ovation Awards for excellence in Theater), and The Academy for New Musical Theatre. In the past he has served on the Board of Governors of the Beverly Hills Bar Association, where he served as liason to the Association's Entertainment Law Section (of which he is a former chairman).

Mr. Firemark holds a B.A. in Radio, Television and Film from the University of Oregon, and earned his law degree at Southwestern University School of Law. Before opening The Law Offices of Gordon P. Firemark, Mr. Firemark was a partner with the Business Affairs Group, a boutique entertainment law firm in Los Angeles. He has also worked in the legal and business affairs departments at Hanna Barbera Productions and the MGM/UA Worldwide Television Group, and started his legal career as an associate at Neville L. Johnson & Associates, a West L.A. firm specializing in entertainment litigation.

For more about Mr. Firemark, visit http://firemark.com/.

No B.S. for Screenwriters - The Executive Perspective

The Age Old/Old Age Question

by Daniel Manus

I was recently asked by one of the writers in my seminar — "Am I too old to be writing screenplays and trying to break in to the business? Am I too old to get hired?" And my short quick answer was NO! However, the longer answer is a bit more involved and not quite as inspiring.

Of course you are never too old to write — even if you're too old to hold a pen, you can still write. And there is no age limit on creativity. A writer can be prolific at any age and if you've been writing for 30 years, you're probably a lot better than you were when you started. But writing isn't the same thing as breaking into the film industry. There is no question that Hollywood is an ageist industry. If you START writing screenplays when you're 60, you're going to have a harder time than those trying to break in at 22 or 25 years old. This business is run by billionaires over 60 and executives under 35. In most industries, the older you are, the wiser and more experienced people think you are. In Hollywood, the older you are, the more detached from the prime demographic you are thought to be.

There are a few reasons why being older makes it harder to break in (though definitely not impossible). First, as you get older, chances are your connection to what's "hip" and what can sell gets that much more removed. Do you know the hottest TV shows, movies, books, music, actors, internet sites, words, phrases, lingo, etc.? Probably not.

Writers write what they know or what they would like to go see themselves. The problem with this is that if you're over 50 or so, chances are what you like to see isn't the same as the prime 18-49 demographic. Most writers over 60 that pitch to me have either written a period piece, an autobiography or story about something that happened to them, or a family drama that suspiciously sounds like their own family. And these aren't what sell. You know how when you go over to Grandma's house, sometimes she wants to whip out the old home movies...well...if your grandkids don't want to watch them, why would kids all over the country? It's just about connecting with what sells (see my previous articles on the period piece and autobiography for more on this).

Second, because executives are usually 25-35 years old, sometimes it's hard for them to give notes to their grandparents. And speaking from experience, the older one is, often the more "stuck in their ways" they can become and to succeed in Hollywood, you have to be incredibly collaborative, malleable and willing to completely change everything. In other words, don't be that old curmudgeon on the porch who screams and rants about "those crazy kids."

Lastly, and this is going to sound harsh, but if you're first breaking in at age 65, then an agent or manager has to look at how many productive and creative years they have left to work with you. Most agents look for clients that they can have a long, productive and profitable relationship with. And five or ten years isn't that long if you're still working on only your second script.

Something I've discovered is that everyone wants to leave a legacy. Everyone wants to leave their stamp on the world in some way (other than just having children) and screenwriting is a great way to do that. I think this is why so many people, upon retiring from their different chosen profession, choose to start writing. The day job is over and now they can write and tell their story, express themselves, etc. It's the legacy they want to leave. If you get a movie made, your name is forever and always on that project in the history of Hollywood (for better or worse). And this is completely understandable and commendable. However, I will point out that Jay Leno had a chance to be remembered as one of the great late night personalities of all time, and now he will be remembered as the person who not only killed NBC, but perhaps killed primetime.

Now before all you AARP members throw your Final Draft CD away and come after me with pitchforks and torches, I want to give you the upside. Companies are so hungry for new, original, well-written material that they don't care who or where it comes from. A couple years ago, I was queried on virtualpitchfest.com and I asked to read the script. It was a young, female-skewed romantic comedy. I loved it, my boss loved it and we optioned the script. Six months later, the writer, who lived in the Midwest, made a trip to LA and we finally met — and he was a tall, older man — easily in his 60s with pants higher than my grandfather's. Ya know what? It didn't matter. His script was great. I connected him with a manager, who got him an agent and he has gone on to write numerous projects for Hallmark Channel and is now writing full time.

Screenwriting contests and query websites are completely anonymous. No one knows how old you are or where you're from. They only know if you can write and tell a good story. If you are a finalist in the Nicholls or Disney Fellowship or some other prestigious contest, you're going to get representation and meetings no matter how old you are. So, at the end of the day, while it is harder, you can absolutely still break in at an older age. You may just need to go about it a different way and you need to pay attention to the marketplace and pop culture even more than your younger competition so that no one can say that you're out of touch. Now let's go grab that early bird special and get to work!


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 Jessica Bendinger (writer of the smash hits "Bring It On" and "Stick It") — on her best business advice for screenwriters:

"My best business advice to screenwriters is to really know yourself and know what you love, because that light of enthusiasm and that light of somebody speaking passionately and genuinely about something they care about is absolute gold and absolutely irresistible. And if it's movies, try to harness it on the big screen. So if you are really cultivating that for yourself, it's going to be irresistible."

The Scoggins Report

Spec Market Roundup: November 2009

by Jason Scoggins

Here's the cliché you knew was coming: Not with a bang but a whimper.

As usual, the 2009 Spec Market effectively ended as of the week of Thanksgiving. (There will be a few intrepid souls who take scripts out between now and Sundance 2010 — as of this writing there are three in the marketplace for the week of November 30 — but conventional wisdom says all thoughts of buying have been banished by visions of sugar plums and the Wailea Four Seasons.) November's numbers were on par with what we've come to expect from this discouraging year:

• 17 new specs hit the market, 3 of which sold
• 14 of the 17 went out wide, none of which sold
• 2 scripts from the ancient past (in spec market terms) also sold

It's safe to say the fork has been well stuck in the tactic of taking a spec out wide. The ratio for the year to date is 18 sales out of 369 scripts (5%), but that's front-loaded by the numbers from January through April (15 sales out of 195 scripts, or 7.69%). Since May 1, just 3 out of the 174 scripts that went wide have sold (1.72%). I'll update the stat in my year-end reports and continue to track it in 2010, but I'll stop commenting until it becomes a "Man Bites Dog" story again.


Weekly Spec Script Breakdown:

Week of November 2:

• 3 scripts went wide, none of which have sold
• 3 additional sales were reported (1 recent, 1 from Feb 2009, 1 from July 2008)

Week of November 9:

• 8 scripts went wide, none of which have sold
• 1 script went direct to buyers and sold (to Summit, the week of Thanksgiving)

Week of November 16:

• 3 scripts went wide, none of which have sold
• 1 additional sale was reported

Week of November 23:

• No activity (week of Thanksgiving)

Genre Breakdown, Attachments

1 — Action
2 — Comedy
1 — Sci-Fi
1 — Thriller

Producers continued to be the common denominator among the month's sales — the three that came out and sold in November each had major producers attached, and one had an up-and-coming star on board (Isla Fisher, to "Desperados"). One of the two additional sales ("Dirty Old Men") had Morgan Freeman attached to star and produce, in addition to a director/producer team in Peter Segal and Michael Ewing.


Buyers and Sellers

Three of the month’s five purchases were made by the major studios this year:

• Lionsgate bought Andrew Knauer’s "Last Stand" from WME and Energy Entertainment for Lorenzo di Bonaventura to produce.
• Universal bought Ellen Rapoport's "Desperados" from CAA and Management 360 for Isla Fisher to star and Jason Blum and Mark Gordon to produce through Gordon's eponymous company.
• Warner Bros. bought Josh Cagan & Greg Coolidge's "Dirty Old Men" from CAA and H2F for Morgan Freeman to star and produce with Lori McCreary through his Revelations Entertainment banner, with Peter Segal in talks to direct and produce with his Callahan Filmworks partner Michael Ewing.

"Dirty Old Men" originally went out in February 2009, at which point Freeman was already on board. The sale was announced in The Hollywood Reporter on November 1, which means it actually sold in October, but for the sake of consistent methodology we'll count it in November.

The other two purchases in November were made by other Buyers (I'll probably bump Summit into the "major studio" category for 2010):

• Summit bought Ben Magid's "Invasion" from WME and Energy Entertainment for Eli Roth and Eric Newman to produce (presumably through their Arcade Films banner).
• Phoenix bought Brian McGreevy & Lee Shipman's 2008 Black Listed script "Once Upon A Time In Hell" from Paradigm and Mad Hatter Entertainment. The script originally went out in July 2008. This is Phoenix's first spec purchase in 2009.

You can see the agency and management company breakdown from the above, but to recap: On the agency side, CAA and WME had two sales each, and Paradigm finally got on the board for 2009 as well. On the management company side, Energy had its first two sales of the year, H2F and Management 360 each had their second sales of 2009, and Mad Hatter had its first.

Clearly, the Mike Esola (WME)/Brooklyn Weaver & Jake Wagner (Energy) combination is as strong as ever. Esola had a phenomenal month; in addition to being responsible for both of WME's two sales, he set up an Alan Cohen & Alan Friedland pitch at Universal, with Imagine producing. Separately, Brooklyn told me a few weeks ago that his company's focus on filling open writing assignments this year (as opposed to last year’s focus on specs) has worked out exceedingly well, too. Congratulations to all.


About The Scoggins Reports:
The Scoggins Reports (Jason Scoggins’ monthly Spec Market Roundups and Spec Market Scorecards) are terribly unscientific analyses of the feature film spec script market based on information culled from a variety of public and non-public sources. The numbers do not include pitch sales or the film rights to underlying material. 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 that Jason recently helped launch. 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:

John Ankwicz
Executive Vice President, Production, Telepictures Productions

David Guillod
Senior Talent Agent, Paradigm

Billy Lazarus
Partner, UTA

Shani Rosenzweig
Partner, UTA

David Tochterman
Agent, Television/Comedy and Co-Head, Digital Media, Innovative Artists

The Diary of a Studio Reader

Tid-bits of Value

by Liz Maccie

About two and a half years ago, I got the wonderful opportunity to become a "reader" for a studio, think mouse house. I continue to work for them under a freelance status and absolutely love my job.

Being a reader means you literally read materials such as scripts, novels, and teleplays. Then you write up "coverage," entailing a synopsis of the plot as well as an analysis of the story elements.

Finally, you either recommend the piece for further consideration or pass on the material. All in all, it is a fantastic fun job that has made me, hands down, a better writer, simply because absorbing stories on a daily basis has helped sharpen my tools for defining story.

After reading literally hundreds of scripts, here are some tid-bits that may be of value to you on your journey to becoming a produced writer.

Tid-bit #1: They can’t do it without you.

Know that studio executives want to find the next great thing. I feel writers often think they are the small man on the totem pole, but just realize now that they can’t do it without you.

Tid-bit #2: Create and maintain genuine friendships.

In general an agent, manager, or producer makes a submission. This is the most common route to a studio. However, I have seen many, many scripts submitted via a personal connection. That old saying, "It's not what you know, but who you know," holds a lot of value. Create and maintain genuine friendships which could foster opportunity. Someone's assistant today could be running a studio tomorrow.

Tid-bit #3: Know your market.

"You only get one chance." This sounds kind of harsh, but is true in most instances. Know who you are submitting to. In other words, make sure your script is appropriate and in line with the buyer's current needs. This might sound obvious to you, but trust me; a lot of writers don’t get it.

To this day, even though it was years ago, I remember reading a script for my studio that was about a rabid animal that brutally killed people! The sad thing was that the script was actually well written, but the submission was so off the mark that it left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth and that writer was never called into a meeting.

Now sometimes, an executive might request a sample which is not meant to fit their current needs, but rather as a writing sample. In this case, just hand over the best piece of material you have which makes you shine.

Also, along these same lines, research what types of films (budget wise) are being produced. For instance, you may have a script which is appropriate in content, but it would require a three hundred and fifty million dollar budget due to special effects.

Budget = Money. A studio's main concern is making money. "Budget" is a significant part of a coverage analysis, so be sure you're not shooting yourself in the foot by handing something in which could never conceivably be made.

Tid-bit #4: Treat your writing with respect.

This is going to sound so ridiculous and frankly, unbelievable, but I have come across it too many times to not mention it. Always check your spelling. You want your script to appear as polished as if it were being purchased for a million dollars. Treat your writing with respect and make sure to clean it up before sending it out.

Happy writing.


About Liz Maccie:
Beyond serving as freelance studio reader, Ms. Maccie's credit's include the soon to be published debut young adult novel, "Lessons I Never Learned at Meadowbrook Academy." Liz received the prestigious Editor's Choice Award and has been honored with the endorsement and the book's foreword by best selling author of "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", Stephen Chbosky.

"Liz Maccie's debut novel is as tough, optimistic, and beautiful as her heroine, Roberta Romano. Roberta's voice is heartfelt and funny. Her story is exceptionally moving and honest. I love this book and the hope it has for young women everywhere." Stephen Chbosky author, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"

Additionally, she has worked as a professional screenwriter. Her past produced films include, "The Thirst," (2006) starring Jeremy Sisto, Adam Baldwin, and Claire Kramer and "Black and Blue," starring award-winning singer/songwriter, Christine Evans (newscom.com).

Liz also produced the feature documentary, "Leaving Vogue Moran." The documentary is a coming-of-age story about a 43 year old man who transforms from self-loathing to self-love. Other notable credits include, writing for the teen talk show pilot entitled, "Danny Dish," starring American Idol's Danny Noriega.

Passionate about storytelling for young adults, Liz is an active volunteer for The Young Storytellers Foundation. Finally, Liz is currently working on her second YA novel entitled: "Scoops."

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