It’s hard at the to-- in the middle.

I wrote before about the WGAW Writer Access Project. It's a diversity program for writers with television staffing experience. The 2010 honorees have been posted. Again writer's spec scripts and original pilots have been uploaded.

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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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And now for something completely different

Here's a video I found a while back on that ever distracting YouTube that cracked me up.






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A Writer Lost

With the return of "Lost" for its final season in less than a month, now is the time to look back at its beginnings. Not the pilot script but the script that never made it to air.

Before "Lost" was "Lost" it was "Nowhere;" a realistic island survival pilot written by Jeffrey Lieber. Lieber was given the boot and the project was handed over to JJ Abrams and company and the rest is history. I never heard about any of this till my friend e-mailed me a link to the script. You can read about the story in this article.

"Lost" is one of my favorite shows but after reading "Nowhere" I can say I would have watched and enjoyed this show as well (given its ultimate execution.) Since it was a jumping off point for "Lost" there are a lot of similarities. Though they don't last long. "Lost" has many sci-fi and supernatural elements I personally enjoy. However, I also appreciate entertainment on the flip-side of this aesthetic. "Nowhere" has a very realistic tone. Lieber wrote the hell out of this script.

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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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Get A Job

Sha-na-na-na, sha-na-na-na-na
Ahh, yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip-yip
Mum-mum-mum-mum-mum-mum, get a job!

Get a foot in the door and a little closer to your screenwriting dreams with a job in the industry. Here are a few sites to get started:

Mandy
EntertainmentCareers
Media Bistro
Craig's List
CBS
NBC
FOX
ABC
HBO
Sony
Warner Bros.
Entertainment Jobs
Production Hub
Showbiz Jobs
4 Entertainment Jobs
Reality Staff
Reel Jobs NYC

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