An author ought to consider himself not as a gentleman who gives a private treat, but rather as one who keeps a pub, at which all persons are welcome for their money.
March 14, 2012
Quote of the Day: Henry Fielding
March 13, 2012
How to Be a Writer: Do it Every Day
No, I’m not talking about sex. Though if you’re lucky enough to be getting that much sex, it probably won’t hurt your creative expression.
But no, I’m talking about writing — you have to write every day. Billy Mernit recently posted an article on this all important habit of professional writers. I’ll admit it’s not a habit I’ve acquired just yet, but I’m working toward it.
Mernit starts his article with a Woody Allen quote: “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” He continues:
How to become a writer? Someone who not only starts projects but finishes them? Someone who’s always learning the craft and getting better at it? A for-real, do-it-for-a-living, legitimately call-yourself-a-writer?
The answer’s so obvious, so hiding in plain sight, that I feel silly going on about it, so I’ll try to make this brief. I can give you the whole thing in four words:
Do it every day.
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March 13, 2012
Quote of the Day: Brian Aldiss
Writers must fortify themselves with pride and egotism as best they can. The process is analogous to using sandbags and loose timbers to protect a house against flood. Writers are vulnerable creatures like anyone else. For what do they have in reality? Not sandbags, not timbers. Just a flimsy reputation and a name.
March 12, 2012
Script: Kill Bill, Volumes I & II
Here are the scripts for Kill Bill, Volume I and Kill Bill, Volume II. These script were written by Quentin Tarantino.
March 12, 2012
Quote of the Day: George-Louis Leclerc
Writing well is at one and the same time good thinking, good feeling and good expression; it is having wit, soul and taste, all together.
March 9, 2012
Talentville: Taking Up Residence in the Virtual Screenwriter’s City
Writing is a lonely profession. Most writers come up with their ideas alone, write them alone, and rewrite them alone. If we’re lucky, we get some knowledgeable friends and family to read our stuff. If we’re really lucky, we get contacts in the industry to take a look.
Benjamin Cahan, co-founder and former CEO of Final Draft, has come up with a better way.
Over the last several years Ben has been building Talentville, the Screenwriter’s City. The site is a virtual community in which writers can read fellow writers’ scripts and give them feedback. In exchange, writers earn TalentDollars which they can then use to “buy” coverage for their own work.
I recently spoke with Ben to get an inside look at the City.
LA Screenwriter (LA): What have you been up to since leaving your post as CEO of Final Draft in 2001?
Benjamin Cahan (BC): When I initially left Final Draft, my intention was to take a break of a year or two and come back. Building a company from nothing but an idea was a huge responsibility that was both exciting and stressful. When the company was to the point of running itself to a large degree, my own gas tank was running close to empty. So I packed up and moved to Boulder, CO, to get reenergized in the great outdoors, then I moved to Miami. It was there that I decided to relinquish my stake in Final Draft and seek other ventures.
As you can see from my creation of Talentville and my return to Los Angeles, I have come full circle. But I hope I have returned a bit older and wiser, ready to once again roll up my sleeves and make a difference.
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March 9, 2012
Quote of the Day: Salman Rushdie
Books choose their authors; the act of creation is not entirely a rational and conscious one.
March 8, 2012
Quote of the Day: Julie Burchill
Writing is more than anything a compulsion, like some people wash their hands thirty times a day for fear of awful consequences if they do not. It pays a whole lot better than this type of compulsion, but it is no more heroic.
March 7, 2012
Quote of the Day: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
What a blessed thing it is, that Nature, when she invented, manufactured, and patented her authors, contrived to make critics out of the chips that were left!
March 6, 2012
How Professional Screenwriters Work
John Buchanan of Script Magazine recently laid out the work habits that writers need to have to be successful in the film industry:
Screenwriting is unlike any other professional endeavor. To survive its unique pressures and peculiarities and have a career, you’ll have to master a few fundamental disciplines.
It’s one thing to sell a spec script or complete a first paid assignment for a studio. It’s another thing entirely to establish a reputation as a reliable professional and enjoy a long career as an in-demand Hollywood screenwriter. After the glow of initial success fades out, new writers learn—often painfully—that the requisite capabilities for a working scribe reach far beyond the ability to write crackling dialogue or craft a nifty plot twist. Too often, it’s assumed that talent trumps disciplined, hard work.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
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