Dear Friend,

Screenwriting is a game of tiny victories that add up until you reach a tipping point.

It's the writers who understand that screenwriting is a marathon — not a sprint — who will achieve the success they desire.

Are you one of these writers?

That being said, having perseverance in the face of enormous doubt and uncertainty is of paramount importance to your career.

Here are a few quotes to get your perspective on the right track.

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."

- Calvin Coolidge

Inspiring, right? Here's another one...

"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained."

- Marie Curie

And for some reason, this quote seemed to sum up "The Screenwriter's Journey" pretty well:

"If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking."

- Buddhist Saying

With that in mind, keep moving, keep learning, and keep growing.

Your day in the sun awaits =)

And The BOSI is here to help you every step of the way!

Now, without further ado, here's what we've got for you in this week's action-packed Screenwriter's Success Newsletter!

A Key Screenwriter's Trait: is this week's article by yours truly. This piece focuses on the crucial ability to embrace fear as a screenwriter. So let me take you into a real studio pitch session with one of my writers. My hope is that you take a valuable lesson away from this experience.

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.

The Asshole Shield: 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.

Setting Yourself Up to Fail/Talking Yourself Out of a Yes: 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? Uber-screenwriter Allan Loeb!

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...

Not Everyone is Important: 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 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

A Key Screenwriter's Trait

by Marvin V. Acuna

This morning I was on a conference call to discuss notes for the 1 hour drama my partner (a professional screenwriter) and I are currently developing for a major network. Here are some of the moments that I experienced on the call:

First off, the call began late. You should note that my partner and I have yet to be on a conference call that began on time. Someone from the scheduled discussion is always late to the call.

I read an article sometime ago that stated being 30mins late to a meeting has become the norm. Apparently, this phenom is a direct result of the cell phone. Personally, I'm thinking cell phones have nothing to do with it.

During our wait time there was discussion about the type of hold music playing, the sounds of someone chomping away on pretzels, and then simply dead silence. Every so often an assistant would chime in and make some random announcement.

You should note that there were a total of 10 executives and an additional 5 assistants listening in to the details of the call. I find it amusing that all the calls begin with the simple...Hello.

Keep in mind everyone (less the assistants) goes around and says hello, but it's just voices. It feels like I'm simply yelling it out into the Grand Canyon and it's my own voice echoing back to me.

Silence then overwhelms the call. If we were sitting together it'd be awkward.

The call began and for the first time in over 10 years of working with my partner, I heard a hesitation, a nervous energy in his voice. He excused himself from the call for a beat. Silence. Then he announced that he was overcome with nervous energy. The top Network executive quickly stepped in and immediately reaffirmed that they were big fans of the project and of the work already done. He offered to cancel the call and set a face to face meeting for all of us. Another executive chimed in and offered further reassurances that it's not the first time and certainly it wouldn't be the last time a writer had experienced nervous energy at the top of the call. She further affirmed that the network understood the shift for a writer. Writers express themselves via the written word and are not accustomed to expressing thoughts verbally, especially over a phone to faceless voices.

He asked for another moment, took a deep breath and dove into his ideas. Within a second his nervous energy transformed to strength and confidence.

He took ownership of his feelings by acknowledging them, settled (he allowed the nervous energy to be present) and then moved onward.

In the end, we addressed all the Network notes and had a fruitful discussion. We were given the green-light to commence the new revisions.

Embracing fear is a KEY trait that I have recognized among all the successful screenwriters. Today I witnessed that essential characteristic flourish and rise to the occasion.

Back to my pretzels.

The Box Office Report

Lessons Learned: One Writer's Journey

The Asshole Shield

by mc foley

It's a summer day in Los Angeles. I'm at a busy lunch spot with a friend when a guy in a red shirt passes the table and stops. My friend drops his fork, jumps up to greet the buddy he hasn't seen in awhile and they compare quick notes on recent projects, what's up next, troublemakers/people to avoid working with, good actors and when they should get together.

The guy strolls away, my friend returns to his lunch, and comments on how much his buddy's changed. "Once he knocked the first film out of the ballpark," he tells me, "he put up the shield."

The asshole shield? ... I think to myself.

"The asshole shield," my friend says.

Suddenly, my brain zips to an image of Mr. Red Shirt (what we'll call him, to protect the innocent) standing next to the captain's chair in his own embattled star ship, shouting "Fire photon torpedoes! Shields up! Warp ten Mr. Sulu!"

According to my friend, the problem was that after the first big success and the numerous premiers and wire image photos that followed, Mr. Red Shirt started to get harassed. Even stalked — by the hordes of zombie assholes.

There he'd be — at a friend's barbecue, on the elliptical machine at the gym, talking to his girlfriend's cousin, nodding 'good morning' to a neighbor or grabbing a drink at a bar — and somehow, his name or his films would pop up in conversation and the hordes would ooze out of the woodwork moaning:

"Oh yeah?... Wanna read my script?"

"I've got this awesome movie idea - it's about a..."

"Soo... there's this project I've been trying to make for awhile..."

"Need any writers? Assistants? Crew? Hey, can you get me Taft-Hartley'd?"

"You know, my son would love to work in the industry..."

The situation got so bad, Mr. Red Shirt began to use an alias. "No, no," he'd say, "I'm not that guy — I just look like him."

My friend finishes the story, steps away to use the restroom and I start to recall my own zombie-mistakes. Sure, there were a few, initial LA encounters when I'd been one of the assholes. There was that night at an event when an acquaintance introduced me to his friend, a director of development at XYZ company, and within fifteen minutes from the initial handshake, I was pitching my 'hilarious will ferrell comedy.' There was that chance encounter with a rep from a well-known comic book label who I badgered with my idea about a foul-mouthed, alcoholic aardvark (wait, Cerebus fans, I'm kidding! — but I did have anthropomorphic animals in my storyline).

Luckily, I learned pretty quickly. Only a few people suffered from my momentary lapses into zombie-dom, and I still breathe a sigh of relief that, during those lapses, I never blasted too many half-realized scripts out at every industry email I could find.

However, when my friend returns from the restroom, I ask him — "So, did anyone manage to impress your buddy?" (ie: get hired).

"A few," my friend replies. "Especially some people he'd known for a long time. But only when it was organic."

Again, my mind floats back to that star ship...

I imagine it landing on a faraway planet for a rest-stop, and Captain/Mr. Red Shirt getting some much needed R&R amongst alien friends. He meets a cool, young alien who chats him up, debates recent sports events and the newest means of interplanetary travel. Red Shirt thinks the young guy's relaxed enough, so they exchange emails and keep in contact over the next few years, sometimes meeting up over a beer or a quick lunch.

Then, one day, in the midst of talk about writers and projects, the young guy slips in that he's been hammering away at scripts and has a pile of them next to his bedroom table. Red Shirt nonchalantly, or rather — organically — responds...

"...oh yeah? Tell me about your best one."


- 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. The Ice Hotel is now available at Amazon. Order your copy here.

A Legal Perspective for Screenwriters

by Gordon P. Firemark

Question:
"I've sent my script to an agency and have got response they wanna represent me. The CEO of agency advices to do grammar edit and to change the title of the script.

"I've registered my rights with original title in WGA and Copyright as well. The question is if I change the title or agree to change the title what happens with my rights?"

Answer:
Correcting grammar and changing the title of your script will not impact your ownership of the copyright in the work. It might be worthwhile to either register the copyright in the newly titled, corrected work, or file an amendment to your existing copyright registration to reflect the changed title, and just to make sure that the chain of title to your work is clear and easy to follow.

If you make major, material changes to the story line, dialogue, or other components of the script, you'd do well to register the copyright in that new work, as well.

Consulting a lawyer is always a good idea in these situations, and doesn't have to cost a great deal.


Thinking of producing it yourself? Subscribe to the FREE e-course "6 Ways to Finance a Feature Film" by visiting http://firemark.com/minicourse.


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

Setting Yourself Up to Fail/Talking Yourself Out of a Yes

by Daniel Manus

There are a million and one reasons for an executive to pass on your pitch, but one of the most often reasons a writer gets a pass, is because he or she asked for it. Literally.

I can't tell you how many people sit down to pitch and start out by telling me that I won't like their script. Seems crazy, right? Self-defeating? A waste of time, money, blood, sweat and tears? It is all of these. So, why do you keep doing it?

How many of you have said any of the following things in a pitch:

• "This may not be a good idea, but..."
• "I know you said you're not looking for this, but..."
• "This isn't totally written or ready, but..."
• "I know it needs a lot of work, but..."
• "I've never pitched and don't know what I'm doing, but..."
• "This is my first pitch ever, but..."
• "I don't love my third act, but..."
• "I'm not sure what the demographic is exactly, but..."
• "I know this isn't selling right now in the market, but..."
• "The last executive just told me this isn't worth pitching and needs work, but..."
• "I know it could be funnier because comedy isn't my specialty, but..."
• "I know the script only works if this ONE actor does it, but..."

Argg!! You are just setting yourself up for a pass. And I'm sure there is a psychological aspect to it. If you are unsure of your story or pitch and you are expecting a pass anyway, then it's easier to take if you set yourself up for one or force it yourself. It's somewhere between a self-fulfilling prophecy and a fear of success. And we've all gone through it — if my mother is reading this right now, she's having a good laugh at my expense. But when in a pitching situation, you need to psych yourself up instead of down.

It's fine to be a little self-deprecating and sometimes it's a way to ingratiate your way in a situation where you feel intimidated or nervous, but in a pitch, there is a fine line between self-deprecating and making yourself sound like someone who shouldn't be pitching. An executive can tell a confident writer before they ever sit down. And an agent and manager know if they want to work with a writer in 30 seconds, so if the only thing you say in that time is something negative, why would they ever want to work with you?

Imagine if every time a baseball player came up to bat, he told himself "I'm totally gonna strike out." Now imagine he went up to the pitcher before each pitch and said "You're totally gonna strike me out, I don't know why I'm trying." This is the literary equivalent.

I even had one writer sit down, tell me his title, and then tell me I'll hate it, it's not for me, the writing isn't ready and he didn't know what he was doing there. He was mere seconds away from bursting into tears and having a breakdown. I had to console him just to get him to continue with a pitch I was "going to hate." And, I did hate it. But I probably would have hated it less if HE liked it more. No one should need consoling during a pitch.

On the other hand, you also don't want to be OVERLY complimentary to your own work. You want to tell us it's funny and commercial and you really spent a great deal of time making sure it was exactly how you like it, but you should never say that your script is the funniest, scariest, most original or best script anyone is going to read all year — because it's probably not. And then if someone requests the script, and isn't falling off their chair in hysterics by page 2, you didn't live up to the hype and it gets passed on. So, be confident and positive but don't hype your script up to a place where you can't deliver on the promise.

I've said this before, but please don't start your quick pitch with a question. It doesn't pull an executive in or engage them, it just creates this really awkward moment where they aren't sure if it's rhetorical or if they should answer or not. And if the answer to that rhetorical question is "NO," it opens up so many opportunities for an exec to dismiss your whole premise before ever hearing your title. And at the end of the day, it just sounds not genuine. Do you ever go up to your friends and start a conversation with a random rhetorical question like, "What would you do if the world was reduced to nothing but zombie clowns?" If you do, your friends probably don't invite you out too much.

So, let's say you've gone through your pitch and you're nailing it — you've got this request in the bag! I can't tell you how many pitches I've heard where the story was intriguing, the hook and logline were solid and the writer seemed normal enough — and so I ask for the script – but then the writer just kept talking and said something, or revealed something, that made me change my mind. If you get a yes at the table, say thank you and leave. Quickly.

It's human nature to babble. It's human nature to share. You need to control the urge and stop while you're ahead. Now, if the executive is asking you questions, that's fine. But if they have said "sounds great, I'd love to take a read, here's my card, email me the script," — what else do you need to talk about? Get outta there before you self-destruct!

Don't talk yourself out of a yes. And that goes for if it's a 'maybe' as well. If the exec takes your one-sheet, says it's a good idea, and will go through it and let you know, he may just be saying that to appease you, but at least he isn't just shutting you down completely. So, don't go overboard trying to convince him by begging or promising he'll love it, or telling him how personal of a story it is, etc. Those tactics are not going to improve your chances and may have the opposite effect. Just stay professional and gracious and say, ‘it's a great, quick read, I appreciate your time and I hope to hear from you soon.'

A solid last impression is almost as important as your first impression and your pitch. So, don't set yourself up for a pass and don't talk yourself out of a yes, and you'll be on your way to a successful pitch!


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

Allan Loeb — writer of "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," "The Switch," and "21" — on his best business advice for screenwriters:

"Screenwriting has many facets and you got to have a lot of aspects to your game. Like in basketball, you got to play defense. You have to have an outside shot. In screenwriting, you obviously have to be a good writer and have to have a great voice.

"But what people don't realize is you need to have confidence and you need to be a bit of a salesman. You also need to be good with people. You need to be a people person. You have to leverage relationships, create relationships. So in the room, you definitely need to have salesman skills, which I think, the number one thing a salesman needs is confidence in his product, and your product is you."

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:

Brian Casentini
Vice President of Development and Production, Saban Brands

Howard Green
Manager, Authentic Talent & Literary

Tom Harrison
Manager, Kass & Stokes Management

Kate Schumaecker
Senior Vice President, Development, ISBE Productions

Shawn Simon
Manager, Gotham Group

Christina Wayne
President, Cineflix Studios (New York)

Insights and Screenwriting Wisdom from a Veteran Screenwriting Contest Judge

Not Everyone is Important

by Sean Hinchey

Screenplays are populated by people; characters that you've created to tell your story. There's always a protagonist, maybe more than one if it's an ensemble piece, and usually an antagonist; the enemy of your main character. But what about those other characters running around your story? What purpose do they serve? You may have too many of them, because not everyone in your story is important.

What you need to do is focus on the characters in your story that either help, or hinder the main character in their quest to achieve what they want. Two major problems will arise if you have written in too many characters.

First, the story will get very confusing, because there are simply too many people to keep track of. Keep in mind, the contest judge has never seen your script until the moment they begin reading it. It's up to you to help them see the images in their head. Keep it simple, keep it smooth.

If you need a cheat sheet to keep track of the characters as you're writing your story, then it's too dense. I'm not going to give you a guideline of how many characters are too many. The next point should help you make up your mind as to what will work best for your story.

The second reason for keeping your character list lean is that having too many characters will dilute the message. If you have a main character who is trying to win over the affections of another person, you will have some of the protagonist's friends or family members try to help them, or possibly hinder them. If there are eight or ten dedicated characters helping the protagonist out, the story comes across as too fragmented. Why not have two or three close friends be the voice of reason?

Look at your script in the same manner as you making a sauce or soup. You want to add spices to create some flavor. But if you add too many different spices, the flavoring gets chaotic. Certain spices don't meld with others. You never want a "busy" sauce, you do want something where all the spices bring out the best in each other.

I recently read a script where the writer spent a great deal of time establishing the protagonist plus six characters in great detail in a single scene. This forced me to expend an enormous amount of energy getting to know who these people were. A catastrophe happens and only one character plus the protagonist were left alive. All of this happened in the first act.

Instead of doing a great deal of development on their personalities, only to eradicate them, the writer could've moved the story along at a quicker pace. I felt as if the writer had wasted a great deal of screenplay time, in addition to my time, for something that never paid off. It was difficult for me to tune back into the story.

Keep your character list tight. It's OK to combine the characteristics of two different people into one. You're better off having fewer, well developed characters than many two-dimensional characters inhabiting your screenplay.


If your scenes are running a bit long, it's time to Trim the Fat. You'll find that not only will your script be more concise, your script will flow better and that'll grab that attention of the contest judges...in a good way!


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:

After mentoring dozens and dozens of successful screenwriters over the past 15 years, I can honestly say that you're probably just 1 good contact away from achieving the screenwriting success you desire.

Just one good contact who can introduce you to the right network of people, and finally help you penetrate the infamous Hollywood "Insider's Club"... even if you don't live in Los Angeles!

And if you let me, I'd like to be that contact for you.

HERE'S what this is all about...