Latest Blogs

Don't ever give up... That's it... Blog done. Okay, so you want to know where that comes from... Well, I started writing my screenplay a few years ago. It's called The Postcard and it is based on the true story of my Great Grandparents. I have wanted to tell this story since my Father told me all about it when I was 11 years old. I've written poems and songs about it, I've tried writing it as a novel over the years, but for some reason, I just could not keep it going and totally gave up....

I had contributed articles for TVWriter.com for several years from 2015-2017. I had written a television script called Turbulence project in 2013. I entered it into Larry Brody’s People’s Pilot. It did well the first time winding up somewhere in the middle of the scripts submissions. The second time, it received Semi-Finalist status based on the very readers favorable ratings. At one point, Larry suggested that I turn it into a novel. I discounted the idea at first. After all, I was a screenwri...

So you made a movie. You even have an offer from a sales agent to sell it worldwide. You are excited.Your film is selling in Cannes!It’s selling at the American Film Market!It’s screening at Berlinale!You're having viewing parties with friends and family, showing off the brochure or the listing of your movie in the Trades. You dream about the new movie you will make or the house you'll buy with the profits from the first one, and you're sure there will be so many dollars coming your way from the...

What started it all was the 2016 election. I was at the Napa Valley Film Festival showing my documentary The Lost City of Cecil B DeMille and I remember sitting in my hotel room watching the results come in and being devastated. While in Napa, it dawned on me that I had worked on many other people’s films and it was almost two decades since I had made a film of my own. I’d spent much of this time trying to get one particular project made and was not successful. It felt like I was running out...

Hello Screenwriters. My name is Shaun. I am a Stage 32 Exec, Gotham Award-winning independent film producer, member of the Producers Guild of America, Repped Screenwriter, Script Consultant and educator. I've been in the film and television industry for 28 years and producing for 14 of those years. In that time I have been privileged to work with and learn from some of the greatest filmmakers and performers in our industry - from James Cameron, Steven Spielberg and Judd Apatow to Joe Wright...

DON'T STOP BELIEVING "I've written a play. Can you direct it?" AN OFFER! It was 2013. Two friends of mine recommended to playwright, Robin Pond, that he approach me to direct his play, 'The Retirement Plan', which had been selected to appear at The Toronto Fringe Festival. I had directed plays before, but all of them had been from scripts I had written. However, I was intrigued, and asked Robin to send me his script. I read 'The Retirement Plan', a dark comedy that dealt with a retiring...

Happy Sunday Creative Army! Have you had a creative weekend so far? I have some content here for you that is sure to get the creative juices flowing, so grab your coffee and let's dive in. First up, IGN shares a fascinating behind the scenes look at the adrenaline-pumping fighter jet shots captured in Top Gun: Maverick. In this video, Director Joe Kosinski talks about the 15 month process he and his crew went through working with the Navy to perfect the real in air shots captured for the fil...

I know a lot of people who live very small lives in very small places. The one I actually know the best is me. I’m the woman who was scared to not only leave her home state but also her town until I hit my 40’s. I was scared to fail at everything, including getting from A to B in a car. So I sat, safe, in Penn Valley, Pennsylvania. A divorce thrust me into a new life and I realized if I didn’t take risks that led to failure I was going to disappear off the radar, broke and alone. My first st...

Many times, when writing a script or a novel, you might consider the task of creating strong secondary characters for granted. That is, you have created a unique and interesting Sci-Fi world or main character that drives the action in your novel or screenplay. This drives the main character to overcome major obstacles and emotional challenges in order to achieve their goal by the end of the movie or novel. Their “Need” or “Desire” to achieve their goal is paramount to achieving a satisfactory...

How Do You Interact on a Social Media group? It is not an easy task these days. Whether it’s Facebook, Clubhouse, Twitter Threads, Zoom- it has become easier to connect with other like minded people across races, genders, time zones, and nations. The Covid-19 pandemic has grown this way of communication even more. You may not know how or what to contribute to the conversation. Everyone’s reason for joining a social media group is different: networking, community, finding information, lead m...