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Throughout filmmaking history screenwriters have used many methods to achieve success in Hollywood. Nora Ephron (When Harry Met Sally, 1989) easily gained access to Hollywood as the daughter of stage and screenwriting team Henry and Phoebe Ephron. Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, 1999) juggled many jobs and wrote for the T.V. series, “Get a Life,” before catching the attention of producer Steve Golin. Alan Ball (American Beauty 1999) chose a different path; he first worked as a theater producer and writer. Producers Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner invited him to Hollywood because they both saw the debut of Ball’s hit play, “Five Women Wearing the Same Dress” at the Manhattan Class Company Theater.

While Hollywood screenwriters have their own success stories, they also share strong work ethics and know how to foster vital business connections. This article examines how current Hollywood screenwriters Dan Bucatinsky and Tim McCanlies learned from their predecessors’ habits and how they jumpstarted their writing careers.

Dan Bucatinsky is a talented and disciplined writer who broke into the Hollywood scene in 2001 with his romantic comedy, “All Over the Guy.” A 1987 graduate of Vassar College, Dan took advantage of his education and worked diligently to learn his craft and develop a unique style. His time spent writing countless papers, stories, and scripts in college attributed to his screenwriting excellence. When he returned to Vassar in 2004 to advise aspiring screenwriters Dan emphasized the importance of writing everyday.

“Even when I draw a blank, even when I don’t feel like working, even when nothing I put down on paper is any good…I force myself to write for at least a couple of hours everyday,” Dan revealed.

This discipline is a trademark of successful Hollywood screenwriters. According to Dan, a writer’s willingness to push himself can prove more significant than raw talent. There are many naturally gifted writers; what distinguishes a great writer from a good one is the technique they have gained through careful study and years of dedication.

Several helpful books exist for writers seeking guidance as they try to develop their skills, including, “Crafty Screenwriting” by Alex Epstein, “Adventures in the Screen Trade” by William Goldman, and “Secrets of Film Writing” by Tom Lazarus. Dan Bucatinsky and countless other screenwriters rely on these resources to craft innovative, creative screenplays. These resources can be bought at any bookstore or online at .StoryScribe.com (.storyscribe.com).

Like Dan Bucatinsky, Tim McCanlies (Iron Giant, Secondhand Lions, Dancer, Texas Pop. 81) gained attention for his artful writing. He nurtured his natural writing talent by practicing and revising scripts when he wasn’t working at odd jobs to support himself.

In 1979 he published his first novel, “Harlem,” and enrolled in the Sherwood Oaks Experimental College to further study writing techniques. While in school Tim simultaneously excelled in his classes and completed a screenplay based on his novel. His hard work paid off: college founder Gary Shusett noted Tim’s diligence, read the screenplay for Harlem, and helped to get the script optioned by Interscope.

In a recent interview Tim revealed that he still writes everyday and added that “the key to good writing is to focus on developing strong, interesting characters.” He stressed the importance of building up a writing resume, encouraging aspiring writers to embrace all learning opportunities including internships and jobs as assistant writers.

One of Tim’s early jobs was as an assistant writer for the 1987 film North Shore. An array of writing jobs and internships can be found online through websites like .mandy.com, .backstage.com, .hollywoodlitsales.com, .FreelanceWriting.com, and .CyberScreenwriter.com.

Tim urges beginning writers not to lose hope, saying that it took him more than six months to write and revise the screenplay for “Iron Giant” even with his strong educational background and years of professional writing experience.

As gifted, hard working writers, both Dan Bucatinsky and Tim McCanlies recognize the significance of contacts in Hollywood. Hollywood studios receive thousands of scripts each month. Of these thousands only a few hundred may make it from the mail room, past the intern’s desk, and into the executive’s office. In the rush to read and pass scripts through the hierarchy, Hollywood studios push many screenplays to the back burner or, worse yet, immediately discard screenplays without review. Some amazing screenplays end in the trashcan while many mediocre scripts are approved for production.

Why does this happen?

Because when a script arrives with a cover letter of recommendation from an executive’s old professor, friend, co-worker, etc… it goes straight to the top of the studio’s “Read Me Now” list regardless of quality. This is the reality of the Hollywood system, however unfair it may seem to newcomers.

The smart screenwriter will accept this reality and make the most of his/her connections to ensure that their script lands in the “Read Me Now” list. Although mixers through organizations like the American Screenwriters Association and the Writers Guild of America are good places to make contacts, the schmoozing element of the business often requires some luck as well as hard work.

For example, Dan Bucatinsky was close friends with a woman named Lisa Kudrow when he was studying to become a writer at Vassar College. When Lisa became famous for her role in the popular television sitcom, “Friends,” she helped Dan achieve his Hollywood dream. She ensured the production of “All Over the Guy” by signing onto the film as an actress and recommended Dan as a writer to many Hollywood producers and directors. Dan and Lisa continue to collaborate on film projects, and he writes parts for her into his screenplays. When Dan speaks to students, he stresses making valuable friendships in college and urges students to view writing as a business as well as an art.

Tim McCanlies also credits much of his success to luck and connections. Without the support of Gary Shusett, an associate producer on the 1988 film “Moon Over Parador,” it is unlikely that Interscope would have read Tim’s unsolicited screenplay “Harlem,” let alone optioned it. Once Gary Shusett helped him get his foot in the door, Tim had the opportunity to make films with rising Hollywood stars like Brad Bird (Iron Giant 1999, The Incredibles 2004) who appreciated his work ethic and creativity. Tim’s career as a Hollywood screenwriter thrives today because of the connections he made and fostered as a young writer.

The key to breaking into Hollywood as a screenwriter is twofold: a willingness to write, study, and practice with consistency; and a talent to develop relationships with people in positions of power. There is not one right way to be a screenwriter, but these elements are significant to achieve success in Hollywood.

An important question for any artist is: How can I built a career and simultaneously be true to myself? It’s an important question, and during the twenty years I’ve taught writing, hundreds of students have expressed the belief that success and personal integrity are mutually exclusive.

The Lifewriting

EVALUATING YOUR OWN WORK

By Derek Rydall

Founder, ScriptwriterCentral.com

“Words strain,

Crack and sometimes break, under the burden,

Under the tension, slip, slide, perish,

Decay with imprecision, will not stay in place,

Will not stay still.”

– T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

WRITING IS REWRITING

As a writer, you may use other script consultants to critique your material, but inevitably you’ll need to master the ability to analyze your own work. This can be a difficult task, somewhat akin to trying to look at your own face (without a mirror). If you are going to write at a level that sells, however, you will need to rewrite.

And rewrite.

And rewrite…

But do not despair, you’re in good company. Many screenwriters struggle over evaluating their own work. I still have bloodstains on my office walls where I pounded my head as I rewrote one script sixteen times before putting it in the market. I once spent so long looking at a single word that it lost its meaning and was reduced to its original, primordial symbolism. Talk about a head-trip! And it’s not just screenwriters that suffer with this. The French poet, Paul Verlaine, once said that a poet never finishes a poem, he abandons it. Marcel Proust continued to correct proofs for Remembrance of Things Past on his deathbed. Henry James rewrote some of his novels long after they were published. And Oscar Wilde once proclaimed that he spent all morning adding a comma and all afternoon deleting it. Boy, do I know that one!

So how do you analyze your own work without becoming an alcoholic or a guest at the Mad Hatter’s tea party? First, you have to accept the fact that you will never have a completely objective perspective. Second, you have to learn when to just grit your teeth and conclude that the work is finished — even if you have the uneasy feeling that more can be done. Honestly, I still feel that way about almost everything I’ve written. It goes with the territory.

There are certain things you can do, however, to gain some perspective:

ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW (LESS) FONDER

Writing is a love-hate relationship. We start out hating everything we’re writing, and end up blinded by love for every word we’ve put on paper (or the other way around). In order to gain objectivity, we must get distance. Putting your work away for a while &ndash sometimes weeks or months &ndash can allow you to come back not so enamored by it. (Falling in love with a new piece of material can also help.) It gives you a chance to read it almost as if it’s someone else’s. This is the first, and perhaps most important, step for evaluating your own work. If you find yourself getting hung up again, wanting to save all your babies, stick it back in the drawer and move on to something else &ndash or send it to a trusted friend or script consultant.

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD — OUTLINING AGAIN

Deconstructing your script back to an outline form can make the process more analytical again and give you some much-needed objectivity. It allows you to see the basic building blocks and recognize if this house will really stand. Then you can make the necessary changes in outline form before you go back to script.

HAVE A READING

Getting a group of actors together to read your script aloud can be an anxiety-producing experience — but almost always an illuminating one. Hearing the actors speak, and often stumble over, your dialogue, definitely gives you a fresh perspective on it. You begin to see that some of your words don’t fall trippingly over the tongue, but cause the tongue to trip and fall over the words.

After the reading is done, you can elicit feedback from the actors &ndash or the audience, if you have one. But I must issue a word of warning here. Having a group of actors give feedback on your script could be one of the most painful experiences of your creative life. The first time I did it, the group ganged up on me to proclaim just how bad the script was. It was downright ugly. AND THESE WERE MY FRIENDS! Even my mom was part of the lynch mob! It dealt a crushing blow to my fragile writer’s ego. I promptly threw the script away, indulged in the nearest libation, and curled up in a warm and cozy depression. A couple weeks later, however, I emerged from the near-suicidal encounter with a ton of insights and a much better script.

THE FAST “NO-BRAINER” READ

Your unconscious already knows what’s wrong with your script, it just can’t get through the filtering of your conscious monitoring mind. So sometimes, just riding over your script roughshod, writing every note that comes to you without considering the absurdity of it, can result in some pretty insightful and inspired comments. It might also result in some pretty brutal ones as well. But that’s okay. After the group therapy session you had with your script reading, you’re tough enough to take it.

THE HIERARCHY OF NOTES

One of the toughest parts about rewriting, once you’ve evaluated your script, is knowing where to start. You’re sitting there, staring at a big smelly pile of notes — scribblings and late-night ramblings on every page, legal pads covered in blood and coffee stains. There’s just no way to begin easily and painlessly with that mess. So don’t. Yet. Organize your notes from ‘easiest’ to ‘most difficult.’ In other words, at the top of the list will be the typos and grammatical errors, then descriptive polishes, dialogue polishes, moving on down to the more difficult character, plot, and theme notes.

I know that a major time-management proposition is to begin with the most important goal or task and stick with it until it’s finished. But this ain’t time management, folks. This is art. It’s not rational. So I believe it’s better to start with the easiest damn thing and get it done fast. Then move to the next easiest thing and whip it out quickly. Now, with a little more momentum, you might actually be willing to tackle the more difficult notes with a higher level of confidence and a lower level of antidepressants.

A FINAL NOTE ON GIVING YOURSELF NOTES

Some of you will be way too eager to get your script out to every producer in town &ndash even after the first draft. Your task is to develop patience. You’ve spent this long on the script, what’s another few weeks or months to make sure you’ve got it right.

Just take a breath.

Put the script away. Rewrite it. Whatever you do, don’t send it out there knowing it could be improved, thinking “they’ll just fix it in post.” NO THEY WON’T. The only ‘post’ that script will see is ‘compost,’ because that’s the pile it’ll end up on. So unless you want your work to become fertilizer for someone else’s lawn — chill out, dude.

Then there are those of you who will resist sending your script out into the seemingly cold, harsh world of Hollywood no matter how long you’ve been working on it. This is not only inefficient, it’s creatively debilitating. Think of your script like a plane that has landed and is still on the runway. If you don’t move it along, all those other planes (stories) can’t land. If you’ve done everything you can, had others give notes on it, rewritten it until the words have lost their meaning — it’s time to abandon your baby. Wrap the little babushka up in a blanket and set it on the doorstep of every production company you can.

With a little luck, someone will decide to make that child their own.

——————————————————————————————

As a screenwriter, Derek Rydall has sold, optioned, or been hired on assignment for over 20 film and TV projects. He has developed projects for the producer of Ghost, RKO, U/A, Miramax, Saturn (Nick Cage), and many indie producers, as well as worked as a staff writer for Fox, Disney, and Deepak Chopra. As a story consultant/script doctor, Derek has helped writers, producers, actors, and directors turn books into screenplays, secure millions in financing, make six-figure script deals, get hired to exec produce, direct, star in their movies, obtain major distribution, and win awards. And as an author, Derek’s book, I Could’ve Written a Better Movie than That!: How to Make Six Figures as a Script Consultant– Even if You’re Not a Screenwriter, is due out October by Michael Wiese Publishing. For more info, you can check out his site, .scriptwritercentral.com, email derekscriptwritercentral.com or call (661) 296-4991.”

A horror movie has certain rules. If you break too many the audience will be disappointed.

This is a very short, no fluff, blueprint of how to write a horror script.

1. The Hook. Start with a bang. Step right into a suspense scene. (”Scream” opens with a terrifying sequence with Drew Barrymore on the phone with a killer)

2. The Flaw. Introduce your hero. Give him a flaw. Before you can put your hero in jeopardy we must care for him. We must want our hero to succeed. So make him human. (In “Signs” Mel Gibson plays a priest who has lost his faith after his wife died)

3. The Fear. A variant of The Flaw. The hero has a fear. Maybe a fear of heights, or claustrophobia. (In “Jaws” Roy Scheider has a fear of water. At the end he has to conquer his fear by going out onto the ocean to kill the shark)

4. No Escape. Have your hero at an isolated location where he can’t escape the horror. (Like the hotel in “The Shining”)

5. Foreplay. Tease the audience. Make them jump at scenes that appear scary — but turn out to be completely normal. (Like the cat jumping out of the closet) Give them some more foreplay before bringing in the real monster.

6. Evil Attacks. A couple of times during the middle of the script show how evil the monster can be — as it attacks its victims.

7. Investigation. The hero investigates, and finds out the truth behind the horror.

8. Showdown. The final confrontation. The hero has to face both his fear and the monster. The hero uses his brain, rather than muscles, to outsmart the monster. (At the end of “The Village” the blind girl tricks the monster to fall into the hole in the ground)

9. Aftermath. Everything’s back to the way it was from the beginning — but the hero has changed for the better or for the worse. (At the end of “Signs” Mel Gibson puts on his clerical collar again — he got his faith back)

10. Evil Lurks. We see evidence that the monster may return somewhere..somehow..in the future..(Almost all “Friday The 13′th”-movies end with Jason showing signs of returning for another sequel)

Go for it. Good luck!