Blog
5 Screenwriting Tips
5 Screenwriting Tips You Need to Know… To Be Successful! Let’s get right down to it. You’re staring at your computer screen with one of two emotions—you’re so excited by your new idea you can barely keep your fingers off the keys, or your terrified and feel like it’s a ridiculous premise, and you already […]
Is Your Treatment…
Is Your Treatment Less of a Treat? (How to Make it Sell for You) The function of a treatment is to sell your screenplay. There are no right or wrong ways to write a treatment—just more effective ways. For the record, I’ve only been asked for a treatment a handful of times, although, along with […]
Show Me Your Goods.
(Don’t Tell Me How Sexy They Are) You know I’m not talking about what’s below the belt, don’t you? If you’ve seen my Twitter handle @nakedhollywood it’s possible that’s where your mind wandered—and you probably don’t get the metaphor. If you’re a writer, you’ll understand that I’m referring to what you’ve put down on paper, […]
The Single Sentence…
That will SELL Your Script If you’ve already written your movie script, you might want to scroll back up to the very beginning and start re-reading that masterpiece. (Go ahead, I’ll wait while you weep and cut open another vein. I’ve been there, too.) If you haven’t written anything yet, good! Now you can start […]
Readers Listen Up
Great writers have always intrigued their readers. As a kid, I adored fantasy and science fiction books. Piers Anthony was, in my adolescent heart, a superstar. After reading A Spell for Chameleon, I remember trying to find out anything about him—where he lived, what he ate for breakfast. I would have gobbled up anything I […]
Interview not Conversation
On Get Published, you can hear me talk about screenwriting, novels and Hollywood tagline writing. During my career, I’ve been interviewed hundreds of times on practically every media outlet: radio, podcasts, TV programs, magazines and newspapers. I’m an extrovert who writes, so I rather like being interviewed. (I know this is a strange combination: prolific writer […]
Hollywood & the Lit World
A Love Story. Last night, I gave a very lengthy pod cast interview. The questions were thought-provoking, and that got me all tingly, so I drank a double espresso, turned on Skype, and babbled my way through a fun one-hour conversation about books and movies. Later, after the coffee buzz wore off, I realized I […]
Publishing Perspectives
An interview I gave with Publishing Perspectives about the importance of book covers and how to get it right. Now, more than ever, you should judge a book by its cover. It tells you more about the author (and the story) than you think! How Authors Get Their Book Covers Right
The Noodles & The Tanks
Pitching Hollywood Can you smell it? That’s fear. It’s not coming from me, though. I wear a good deodorant. I spent the summer in Los Angeles—specifically North Hollywood, right down the street from Universal Pictures. As I do every several weeks, I meet with film companies, pitch stories and leave my material—scripts and film treatments—to be reviewed. […]
The Supernatural on 9/11
Coming Events Cast Their Shadow Before Them This is a true story I was pulling into my mother’s house on the south shore of Boston, Mass., when my cousin called my cell phone. She was highly agitated, almost frantic. “What’s the matter?” I asked. I don’t know,” she said. “I’m scared.” “Scared of what? What’s going on?” “I […]
