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News: Intro to TV Writing

As a Screenwriting Student, I can never get enough basic tips on how to do something. Even something as simple as TV writing, which is what I learned first can be so tedious and difficult. I found this while surfin the web.

News: Los Angeles writer teaches screenwriting in Sacramento

. "Screenwriting: An Eight Week Intensive" will begin with the basic elements of narrative, and then move to story structure, screenplay and teleplay formatting. Weinberg, a SAG actor, will elucidate his talents for constructing great dialogue and strong, nuanced characters. As a writer who's accomplished the rare feat of selling screenplays in the entertainment industry, Weinberg will be sharing tips on the business of screenwriting, too.

How To: Screenplay Format Guide (PDF)

Everyone wants to be a writer, but selling a screenplay is a tough job in Hollywood, especially if you know nothing of the industry standard screenplay format. Believe it or not, making your script stand out is actually counterintuitive— anything other than the traditional format will brand you as amateurish. Even those doing script coverage will neglect your script. To ensure your script gets a fair read, follow these formatting guidelines from Story Sense.

News: Do you have a problem with your colon?

In this article, Conor J. Dillon notes a fascinating uptick in the use of the colon in the media. Everyone, from the New York Times to well, the entire Internet, seems to be using the colon a lot. I don't know that I ever noticed it, but now I'll be looking out for it everywhere. The colon does give you the sense that you're saying something important.

Story Fix: TV Shows

Here is a list from story fix of television shows that can help writers. "Novelists are loath to admit they watch television. It’s like a chef admitting they enjoy a dripping hot Whopper every now and then. With extra cheese.

News: "Writing for Television" Class

I took a class in the fall entitled Writing for Television at Bentley University in Boston. Much of what I learned has helped me through my first year of creative writing. One of the keys to writing television that we learned in the class was that a television show follows the traditional three act structure that any story follows, except for the fact that in a television episode, many questions are allowed to go unanswered.

How To: Write a Treatment

The following is a how to piece about writing a treatment and the skills involved. As a noobie writer, I find these things very helpful, but at the same time I am careful not to take everything said as cut and dry. That is a tactic used by modern day intellectuals (not a god thing to be in most people's eyes). Read some of this and decide for yourself if it is or is not useful to you.

News: BBC Writer's Room

Writers room is great for the new young writer who is just looking for some good feedback and guidance. Go to the BBC writers room. They can read your scripts and pieces for you to help you out and give you good feedback. Take a look.

News: Dont Talk to Strangers

I have been writing since I was a little boy. I remember watching South Park at age 9 and writing my own episodes. Aside from some curse words and sexual humor that you don't expect from a nine year old, there really was not much there. In middle school I used to write short stories, usually about myself and some of the things that had happened to me. To this day no one knows that a lot of the events I have written about are true. This is something that people have always asked about. I remem...

How To: Write the Action/Adventure Screenplay

Well, we have had a pretty basic story structure in the previous couple of blogs. However, for the third act there is considerable leeway on how this story can play out. You can turn a story like this into a tragedy or comedy. Remember the line from the film Stranger Than Fiction "Tragedy, you die. Comedy you get hitched." Well in the Action/Adventure story, almost anything goes. For instance, GUY does not have to die, but CHICK could perish tragically. However, avoid cliches like someone jum...

News: The Benefits of Failure

This is a great video from J.K. Rowling. This really struck me because, before I was a writer, I suffered from severe depression and Paranoia, for which I refused medication. However, experiencing that deep down in the gutter moment was really helpful for me in gaining some perspective on life as well as motivated me to put some of my thoughts down to paper. Here, an incredible author shares her story with us. Enjoy!!

News: The Title is Within

This is a great story about the title of a story. It can be really useful for any of you trying to think of a title for a story you have already written and it is also great when you are trying to write a story from a title you already know. Hope you enjoy!

News: Editing

This article is really hilarious. For you writers out there. Just remember that it is not your job to worry about things like these. Grammar is not your job, but it is this guy's job so I thought it was a funny example of how editors can get flustered by the most minute details, while the writer is almost certainly wrapped up in the big picture. As writers, we all have common mistakes we make, this is one man who cannot stand it.

News: Fiction Writers

Here is a great resource for writing traditional fiction. I like to read these things, but remember a few things. Each writer is different so it is perfectly okay if you do something that you are told not to, but still you like it. If you like it, write it, but this can be very helpful for those question mark areas.

News: Free Writing Tool

Here is a great tool to work on free writing. Get one word and let the others flow out of you. Free writing is an important skill because it opens up the way for creativity and innovativeness. Just let your fingers do the typing!!!

News: Writing Tips

Here are 50 tools for helping writers at any level. Reading this can give some background to the creative writer as well as specific tips to becoming the best writer possible. I just mused around on "Writing Tool #2: Use Strong Verbs" and "Writing Tool #45: Foreshadow" Which is great if you are reading the blog posts for "How to Write the Action/Adventure Screenplay."

News: The Best Films from Miramax

Miramax was started a few decades ago as an independent film studio, however today, Miramax is a huge company. The great thing about this studio is that they always choose a beautifully crafted script to make their movies. I love to watch these films while reading the scripts on my laptop. You should definitely watch these films, and look for story structure and plot points that bring the story together

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