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10 Common Mistakes People Make Marketing Their Book You Should Avoid

Book Marketing is TOUGH I don’t care what anyone says: the hardest part of the process is book marketing! Knowing where to start is difficult, which is why knowing what NOT to do can really help. So when Jenny got in touch asking about writing a post on this topic, I bit her hand off! Here’s some gold dust tips for you Bangers … over to you, Jenny! All About Book Marketing You don’t need me to tell you that writing a book is hard work. The process of taking it from the initial idea into a fully-fledged novel you… Read More »10 Common Mistakes People Make Marketing Their Book You Should Avoid

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VENOM and SAVING MR BANK’s Kelly Marcel: ‘So much of writing is luck’

All About Kelly Marcel Kelly Marcel is a British screenwriter and producer. She co-wrote one of my favourite dramas Saving Mr Banks (eagle-eyed Bangers will remember it is a case study in my Writing & Selling Drama Screenplays book!). She also received a BAFTA nomination for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for it. In addition, Kelly is the screenwriter of Fifty Shades of Grey, Venom, Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage, plus she created and was exec producer on TV series Terra Nova. A fabulously eclectic mix there! But how does a writer who started her working life in a video… Read More »VENOM and SAVING MR BANK’s Kelly Marcel: ‘So much of writing is luck’

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Top 10 Tips On How To Break In As A Screenwriter This Year

How To Break In As A Screenwriter If you want to break in as a screenwriter, you’re not alone. ‘How to break in’ is probably one of the top Google searches that leads to this blog, in fact. Whilst it’s true B2W believes we need to build our careers over a sustained period (rather than the break in being just ONE act), we all have to start somewhere. I was joined in a B2W livestream recently by comedy writer Amanda Graham (@AGComedy). Amanda specialises in rebellious, irreverent, female leads going against nonsensical power structures. She has various projects in development (including with… Read More »Top 10 Tips On How To Break In As A Screenwriter This Year

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5 Uncomfortable Facts You Must Face If You Want Your Scripts Made

OR: Why There’s NOT ‘Loads’ Of Great Spec Scripts Waiting To Be Made If you want to get your scripts made, you’re not alone. It seems everyone is working on a spec screenplay! I love to see it too … Nothing makes me happier than hearing about the stories Bang2writers are working on. Whenever people talk about screenwriting though, it doesn’t take long before someone drops this claim … ‘There’s LOADS of great spec scripts just waiting to be made.’  They usually say this when a new movie reboot is announced, or a favourite TV series has jumped the shark.… Read More »5 Uncomfortable Facts You Must Face If You Want Your Scripts Made

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Javier Grillo-Marxuach: ‘Lost Was NOT Purgatory’ (And Other Tales)

About Javier Grillo-Marxuach Javier Grillo-Marxuach is a screenwriter and producer. He has the kind of resumé most Bang2writers would kill for, including iconic shows like Charmed and Lost. He’s continued with fantastic modern TV such as The Witcher, The 100 and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance as well. Wow! I was delighted to Zoom with Javier recently. I love high concept, dystopian and post-apocalyptic story worlds. He’s literally worked on some of my favourite shows that have influenced my own writing! Javier also wrote the AMAZING 11 Laws of show running, an online essay/memo which really requires its own post.… Read More »Javier Grillo-Marxuach: ‘Lost Was NOT Purgatory’ (And Other Tales)

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How To Become A Writer Without An Expensive University Course

Expensive University Courses If you want to become a writer but worry about how expensive university courses are, save your money. Learn what they teach you on a Creative Writing degree, without the expensive debt. Here are the top 5 things they teach on a Creative Writing BA … Ready? Let’s go! 1) Think like a writer It might sound strange but the first thing they teach you on a Creative Writing BA is how to “think like a writer”. That should go without saying you might think, but here are some handy tips they taught us … Make sure… Read More »How To Become A Writer Without An Expensive University Course

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5 Lies Writers Torture Themselves With About Their Careers

Lies, Lies, Lies Following my previous post about the lies writers tell themselves, I thought it would be good to do a follow up. This time I’m concentrating on the lies writers tell themselves about their CAREERS. Ready? Then let’s go … 1) ‘I’m running out of time’ Lots of Bang2writers fret about this very obvious lie. Now, if you’re on a deadline, that’s obviously different … But if you’re writing a spec screenplay or uncontracted novel? You have all the time in the world. Seriously! Don’t worry about what other writers are doing or how many birthdays you’ve had. Just… Read More »5 Lies Writers Torture Themselves With About Their Careers

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10 Tips On Getting An Agent (Or Doing Without One!)

How To Get An Agent Want an agent? Most writers do.  Julian Friedmann has been an agent for nearly 40 years, handling books and scripts. His TEDx talk on the mystery of storytelling has been viewed over 900,000 times. His new book MAKE MONEY SCREENWRITING: Creative Strategies, has just been published by Amazon. With all this in mind, B2W asked Julian’s advice on getting an agent … or doing without one. So without further ado, here’s his top 10 tips … pass them on! Julian’s Top Tips 1) Choose a saleable idea and format Killing Eve was huge, but it… Read More »10 Tips On Getting An Agent (Or Doing Without One!)

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6 Ways To Make Your Writing Stand Out From The Crowd

How To Stand Out You need to stand out from the crowd – clichéd, but true.  Decision makers are bombarded with scripts, ideas and formats.  And they’re often out of depth when it comes to choosing which ones to select. Believe it or not, they want your script to be the best thing they’ve ever read. They want to wake up at 3am thinking about how it could change their share of global audiences and win them copious industry awards. So how exactly do you make your writing stand out? How do you make it easier for them to appreciate… Read More »6 Ways To Make Your Writing Stand Out From The Crowd

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Emilia di Girolamo: ‘It’s still really tough as a woman to get original work greenlit.’

All About Emilia Emilia di Girolamo is a British showrunner, screenwriter and executive producer of Anglo-Indian and Italian heritage. Bang2writers may know Emilia best for Law & Order UK, though she’s also worked on Eastenders, Medici: Masters of Florence and was Showrunner on The Tunnel. Her latest work is My Name Is Lizzie, which is out in 2021. It is a true story about the police officer (codename ‘Lizzie James’) who was asked to act as sexual ‘bait’ to trap a suspected murderer. In addition to being a screenwriter, Emilia has worked as a playwright and a novelist. She’s also worked… Read More »Emilia di Girolamo: ‘It’s still really tough as a woman to get original work greenlit.’

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Writers, Here’s How You Make Money Online

Making Money Online As A Writer Lots of Bang2writers ask me how they can make money as a writer. The good news is, this is easy nowadays. The bad news – you may have to write stuff you don’t actually want to! I started as a content writer waaaaaay back when I was still a teen single mum. This was before social media and even before blogs because virtually no one was online … I actually got my start writing ‘advertorials’ for newspapers! I’ve written about everything under the sun … Incontinence pads, dog breeds, arguing with your teen, how… Read More »Writers, Here’s How You Make Money Online

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B2W FAQs – Legal Edition

Questions on Copyright & Other Legal Issues Should I copyright my writing? In the UK, copyright of your writing is automatically yours. You don’t need to do anything specific beyond this. MORE ON THIS. However, copyrighting work by sending it to an outside agency is pretty much mandatory in the USA. If you want to send your work to America, you will have to do this. Bang2writers have reported good user experiences copyrighting work with The Writer’s Guild of America and The Script Vault. If you want to copyright your writing and it gives you peace of mind, then fine… Read More »B2W FAQs – Legal Edition

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