Just the Tip

Check out Screenwriting Tips... You Hack. I'd hate to liken the page to Twitter but it's short, quick advice on screenwriting with some bite to it. You can blast through a lot of these. A recent tip that I like:

Screenwriting Tip #305

Never settle for good enough. Not in your word choice, dialogue, emotional beats, anything. Don’t stop rewriting until you get it right.

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Recommended Reading 2

Here is the list of books that the CBS Writers Mentoring Program suggest to improve your writing.


Writing for Episodic Television From Freelance to Showrunner edited by John Wirth and Jeff Melvoin.

Writing the Television Drama Series by Pamela Douglas

Making a Good Script Great 2nd edition by Linda Seger

How to Make it In Hollywood 2nd edition by Linda Buzzell

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The Best Movie You Never Read Part 2

Continuing the list of screenplays that have been published.

(500) Days of Summer by Scott Neustadter Michael H. Weber
A Beautiful Mind by Akiva Goldsman
A Knight's Tale by Brian Helgeland
A Midwinter's Tale by Kenneth Branagh
About a Boy by Peter Hedges, Chris Weitz, Paul Weitz
Adaptation by Charlie Kaufman
Ararat by Atom Egoyan
Atonement by Christopher Hampton
Big Fish by John August
Black Hawk Down by Ken Nolan
Capote by Dan Futterman
Cast Away by William Broyles Jr.
Catch Me If You Can by Jeff Nathanson
Cinderella Man by Cliff Hollingsworth, Akiva Goldsman
Cold Mountain by Anthony Minghella
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon by Hui-Ling Wang, James Schamus, Kuo Jung Tsai
Dan in Real Life by Pierce Gardner, Peter Hedges
Dances With Wolves by Michael Blake
Erin Brockovich by Susannah Grant
Funny People by Judd Apatow
Good Night, and Good Luck by George Clooney, Grant Heslov
Human Nature by Charlie Kaufman
I Heart Huckabees by David O. Russell, Jeff Baena
Igby Goes Down by Burr Steers
Magnolia by Paul Thomas Anderson
Man on the Moon by Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski
Men in Black by Ed Solomon
Michael Clayton by Tony Gilroy
Punch-Drunk Love by Paul Thomas Anderson
Snatch by Guy Ritchie
Stranger Than Fiction by Zach Helm
Synecdoche, New York by Charlie KaufmanThank You for Smoking by Jason Reitman
The Good Shepherd by Eric Roth
Hulk by John Turman, Michael France, James Schamus
The Hurt Locker by Mark Boal
Titanic by James Cameron

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Pick A Side

'Sides' are sections of scripts used for casting. They usually run one or two scenes long.

When you spec a show you want to know it inside and out, especially that shows particular script format. It can be hard to find scripts for some shows. While the sides are only excerpts they can provide insight.

A selection from SpoilerTV:

Bones - Episode 5.11 - The X In The File - Casting Sides

Vampire Diaries - Episode 1.14 - Casting Sides

Grey's Anatomy - Episode 6.08 - Casting Sides

Legend of the Seeker - Episode 2.13 - Casting Sides

The Mentalist - Episode 2.02 - Scarlet Letter

90210 - Episode 2.17 - Casting Sides

CSI: Miami - Episode 8.14 - In the Wind - Casting Sides

How I Met Your Mother - Episode 5.11 - Last Cigarette Ever - Casting Sides

Psych - Episode 4.11 - A Very Juliet Episode - Casting Sides

CSI: NY - Episode 6.14 - Sanguine Love - Casting Sides

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The Best Movie You Never Read Part 1

You'd be surprised at the number of screenplays that are published in book form. Is the script to your favorite film on the list? If not, maybe in part 2.

A Serious Man by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
American Beauty by Alan Ball
Brokeback Mountain by Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana
Burn After Reading by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Casablanca by Howard Koch
Chinatown by Robert Towne
Clerks by Kevin Smith
Dead Man Walking by Tim Robbins
Double Indemnity by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by Charlie Kaufman
Four Weddings and a Funeral by Richard Curtis
Gods and Monsters by Bill Condon
Good Will Hunting by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck
Goodfellas by Nicholas Pileggi, Martin Scorsese
Gosford Park by Julian Fellowes
In Bruges by Martin McDonagh
Inglourious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino
Juno by Diablo Cody
Knocked Up by Judd Apatow
Little Miss Sunshine by Michael Arndt
Margot at the Wedding by Noah Baumbach
Milk by Dustin Lance Black
On the Waterfront by Budd Schulberg
Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino
Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino
Rushmore by Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson
Scarface by Oliver Stone
Shakespeare in Love by Marc Norman, Tom Stoppard
Sideways by Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor
Slumdog Millionaire by Simon Beaufoy
Sunday Bloody Sunday by Penelope Gilliatt
Sunset Boulevard by Billy Wilder
Taking Woodstock by James Schamus
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert by Stephan Elliott
The Birdcage by Elaine May
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by Eric Roth
The Hours by David Hare
The Reader by David Hare
The Royal Tenenbaums by Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson
The Shawshank Redemption by Frank Darabont
Traffic by Stephen Gaghan

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