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Write For Hollywood! ? Blog Archive ? Writing for Hollywood …

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As I mentioned in my Expo Survival Guide, I would be making a list of? ?qualifiers? necessary to make it as a Hollywood screenwriter.? Some speakers said ?anyone can do it if I can?, while others were more inclined to believe that ?only the sane and dedicated have a shot?.? Honestly, not just anyone can make it in Hollywood.? I think we all know that.? Even some of the most talented screenwriters can fall short of their dream.

After speaking with various producers and agents, it?s clear that not everyone is cut out for this business.? Some can improve with practice, while others will just never get it.

20 qualities you should possess to succeed in Hollywood:

  1. Positive attitude.? This is a tough business, but what gets you work most of the time (after your script is read) is your personality.? If you?re fun to be around and you are grateful for what you get, you?ll work.? If you?re concerned with what you get, weighing it against what others get and constantly griping about it, see if you can change that.? If you?re someone who walks under a dark cloud, that might be a little tougher to overcome.
  2. Generosity & kindness.? The more you?re willing to help others, the more likely they are to help you.? If, however, that is the only reason you help someone else and you?re waiting for your payback, you?ll get your payback in the form of nothing.? People can see your behaviour isn?t genuine and will take your offer because it?s there, but you?ll be on their X list.
  3. Go the extra mile.? Deliver what is asked of you, and do it with passion.? Give them more than they asked in the sense that if they ask for an outline, make it the best damned outline they?ve ever seen.? But if they ask for three pages and you give them twenty, you?re not listening to instructions.? If you?re asked to pitch three episode ideas, prepare ten just in case.? You attend a meeting and know your host loves Starbucks, bring him one.? Send them a thank you note after meeting with them.
  4. Great listener.? You need to listen not only with your ears, but with your eyes.? Read execs? body language in pitches to determine if they?re engaged or bored or trying to interrupt you.? When they speak, listen, take note.? When someone gives you notes on your script, listen, don?t judge or talk back; they?re trying to help you.
  5. Open-minded & flexible.? There was a rumour flying around the Expo that a writer whose script was about to be optioned adamantly refused to change the title of his work, so they let it go.? It?s that simple.? This guy is impossible to work with.? You need to be open to changes.? Someone asked if I?d be willing to rewrite my script so that a major plot point, which appeared on page 55 would be moved to page 12.? I silently thought he was nuts, but if it means a deal, I?m willing to try it, even if it proves one of us wrong.
  6. Sanity.? You don?t need a certificate from your psychiatrist, but seriously, some writers are nuts.? They?re socially inept, awkward, introverted, and just generally don?t understand people.? I spoke with this lovely old woman from one of the fly-over states who had a religious script to pitch and the moment she said that, I didn?t want to talk to her.? She launched into her preachy religious facts and I felt like she was trying to convert me.
  7. Dedication.? You need to be serious about screenwriting.? It can?t be a hobby.? You can?t have taken ten years to write one script that?s still in first draft stage.? You need to write every day, see it as a business, and act professionally.? You need to know your craft and keep working on it every day.
  8. Determination.? This has to be the only thing you see yourself doing in life.? There can?t be a back-up plan or a safety net.? You have to be sure this is what you want to do and give it everything you have.? That isn?t to say you have to be foolish about it.? Keep a day job, you just might have to do something requiring less of a commitment while you write.? As much as you have to know this is what you are meant to do, you have to be willing to work to get it.? Nothing is just handed to you. (sorry, Secret lovers)
  9. Drive.? The burning need to write your next ten pages should be what gets you up in the morning.? If you have to drag yourself to your computer every day and you procrastinate, maybe you don?t really want to write as much as you like the idea of being a writer.? It?s not just writing that requires drive, it?s marketing.? You need to pedal your work to people you?ve never met and be charming about it.? You need to drag yourself to networking parties, sometimes on your own, when you don?t feel like it, and don?t know anyone and still be pleasant, charming and memorable.? And you have to be willing to do this constantly for the rest of your career.
  10. Social skills.? If you like to hide away in your room for weeks and your preferred method for human contact is via modem, you?re going to have a tough time in screenwriting.? Maybe try writing in a different format where socializing isn?t necessary.? In Hollywood, you need to pitch, network, work a room, work well with others, communicate effectively, think on your feet, and be fun to hang out with.? If you?re afraid to mingle or speak in public, maybe try improv, acting or public speaking to loosen you up.
  11. Strong work ethic.? If you write every day, this shouldn?t be a problem.? You need to write fast.? I heard a writing team once turned out this amazing feature script but it took them years to write and when asked to turn out an episode for an existing series, they took over a year to work on it and the producer fired them.
  12. Professionalism.? Dress appropriately.? You don?t need a three-piece suit, but look polished, clean and presentable.? Be on time ? always.? If you?re going to be late, call.? Admit when you?re wrong.? Never lie (except when you?re pulling an idea out of thin air).? Avoid gossip.? Be kind to colleagues no matter what they do.? Know your job, do it well, and deliver it on time.? Know too, how to write a professional letter.? Writing in ALL CAPS or using ?:)? or ?LOL? or ?IMHO? or saying, ?Hey there!? is not amusing or professional.
  13. Solid work.? You should have several scripts ready to go that showcase your writing style.? Know your craft.? Keep learning and improving.? Go back to old scripts you thought were finished, you might find they need work.? Never show someone a script that?s not polished.
  14. A niche.? What kind of writer are you?? Horror?? Comedy?? Drama?? What do you want to write?? Do your samples fit?? I once knew a writer who had everything from fantasy to western but she had no idea where she fit.? That?s a problem because no one knows how to market you.
  15. Industry knowledge.? You don?t need to read the trades every day, but you do need to know what shows and films came out this year.? You should also know your favourite writers, actors, directors, producers, TV shows and films.? Have some idea of what?s going on in the business especially if there?s a writers? strike or major change in the business.? If your script is similar to a show or film that flopped, you don?t want to pitch it for at least another few years.? So many screenwriters seem to think they know everything about the biz, but they don?t watch movies, don?t watch TV, haven?t read a trade magazine, a script, books on writing, or taken a course on screenwriting.? Watching TMZ doesn?t make you an expert on the film biz.
  16. Objectivity.? A successful writer needs to be able take criticism without taking it personally.? If you can distance yourself from the notes people give you about your work (after your secret temper tantrum), you?ll be able to see clearly what notes make sense and which ones don?t.? It?s about the work, after all, not you.
  17. Basic understanding of human condition.? I?ve mentioned this before.? A writer who doesn?t understand people isn?t going to be able to write intelligently about them.? Don?t think that someone else can write it into your script, because they won?t.? This is your job.? You need to know people and have compassion and empathy for them.
  18. Patience.? A lot of the time, you?re sitting around waiting for someone to get back to you.? They tell you ?we need it now? and you work your ass off to get them a script only to wait for what feels like forever.? Resist the urge to call or email them demanding a response or to yell at them for not getting back to you or tell them ?you?ll regret this? if they reject you.
  19. Marketable ideas.? You could have all of the above, but if your ideas are not marketable, forget it.? What makes a marketable idea?? First of all, is it a film/TV idea?? Who will want to watch it?? That woman I spoke to at the Expo with the religious movie didn?t have a marketable idea.? She couldn?t summarize it coherently in a logline and it wasn?t appealing to a larger audience.
  20. Understanding the various formats.? In addition to knowing whether or not you have a marketable idea, you need to know which medium it suits: feature, television (cable or network), documentary, MOW, mini-series, short film, web series, theatre, etc..? I read a feature script once about child sex slaves, but the story wasn?t suited to a feature primarily because the stakes weren?t high enough and audiences arguably don?t want to watch a movie on this subject.? It has to be handled delicately.? It might have worked better as a documentary, had the writer found a good story angle.

You could get by without possessing every single one of the above, but don?t think you can write for Hollywood with none of them.? Nobody?s perfect, so don?t go beating yourself up if you screw up once in a while or can?t behave the way you?re expected to.? If you?re really talented and you?re willing to put in the effort and you?re honest about who you are, there?s likely a spot for you somewhere; you just have to be willing to find it.

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Tags: Advice, breaking in, Feature Writing, improving, Networking, Pitching, Screenwriting, script marketing materials, self-promotion, TV industry, writer’s life

Source: http://www.writeforhollywood.com/writing-for-hollywood-anyone-can-do-it/

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A look at the Emotional Freedom Technique

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Gary Craig’s Emotional Freedom Technique describes as “a universal healing support.” I had the pleasure of him at a conference in Boulder, Colorado, in summer 2009.

Let’s start with Craig in the background.

“I was born 13 April 1940 and were very interested in personal improvement via psychology for 13 years. It was then that I realized that the quality of my thoughts was mirrored in the quality of my life. Since then I’ve self-taughtthis field, seeking only those procedures which, produced in my opinion, results. EFT is my latest discovery, the core, which I learned from Dr. Roger Callahan. For the average person, Callaghan stuff was too complex. ”

Since Craig at Stanford University studied as an engineer and what engineers apart things, how they work and try to make them work more efficiently, is that what he did with the work Callaghan, has concerns how EFT was born. Craig is also an ordainedMinister and a certified Master Practitioner of NLP.

What exactly is EFT? According to Craig, “EFT is a new discovery about the body’s subtle energies is based. In other words, is an emotional version of acupuncture except needles are not necessary. Instead, encourage you established energy meridians on your body by touching the fingertips. The process is easy to remember and is portable so it can be done anywhere. People who are persistent and frequently touchdramatic results. ”

Craig said:.. “We are in the United States conditioned to take a pill or surgery to take care to address problems when we grew up in China, there would be more conditioned to work with the energy meridians and chakras It Everything is, as we have been conditioned. It has nothing to do with the “woo-woo factor” only as it is compared to something else. ”

Craig adds: “The humor is very important.” And “therapeutic in itself. Humor helpstest how the work is so far. Craig with humor, because that’s his style. However, there is no need to have a sense of humor to do EFT.

EFT can be applied to many problems. During his workshop in Boulder, said Craig about some other situations in which he used EFT. He talked about Becky, a woman deathly afraid of rats. Even the thought of a mouse somewhere near hyperventilation. Craig has a person to find out and put a mouse in a cage sent. After a short session of EFT, has beenYou can put your finger in the cage and the house mouse. Then there was David who had a strong fear of the water. After a few “knock” (another name for EFT), David had no fear of water.

“I do not ‘get’ the connection between the physical self and emotional self-control, until I worked on people with severe physical problems,” said Craig mention MS. He showed a series of videos, and that a woman who had suffered from multiple sclerosis showed walked with crutches and has been disabled individually. Craigwith her work with EFT. By the end of the meeting was to go the lady in the situation, without crutches, and they have a few jumping jacks, something that had not been able to do for years.

Probably the most memorable videos of war veterans, traumatic stress disorder (TSD) suffered acquired. At his own expense, brought together these veterans Craig, so you can work on them with EFT. Their race depression symptoms, suicidal thoughts, hyper-vigilance of night terrors. AtAlleviation of the intense emotions he felt while working on these men, has some knock on to Craig. It was a very moving experience for all during the presentation. Craig has with each of the men showed a marked improvement work.

Source: http://fitness-emotional-freedom-technique.chailit.com/a-look-at-the-emotional-freedom-technique.html

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