Skip to content

options

Top 10 Authors Who Pivoted To A Screenwriting Career

Pivoting From Novel Writing To A Screenwriting Career If you want to pivot from novel writing to a screenwriting career, you’re not alone. Of course, you may just want to be a screenwriter full stop (and that’s okay too! Or maybe you want to write a novel of your script??). LOTS of novelists have tried their hand at a screenwriting career. Some have had more success than others! Here’s just 10 of them. Let’s go … 1) Roald Dahl Frequently left off lists like these, Roald Dahl boasts an impressive screenwriting career. As well as adapting his own classic book… Read More »Top 10 Authors Who Pivoted To A Screenwriting Career

Share this:

Top 5 Reasons Producers Don’t Like Your Pitches

Your Next Step: Finding Producers You’ve got the script. You’re ready to get it made. Finding producers is your next step. But nobody seems to want to work on it with you. In fact, a lot of producers aren’t even replying to you!  So let’s see where you might be going wrong … Ready? Let’s go!  5) You didn’t make it personal Quite simply, you’re contacting a producer with no personal connection or interest in what you’re pitching. A producer will likely spend 6 months – 3 years devoted to a short film, and much longer for anything else. They’re… Read More »Top 5 Reasons Producers Don’t Like Your Pitches

Share this:

5 Things Writers Can Expect When Your Screenplay Starts Filming

Congratulations! So … your project has been greenlit and the first day of principal photography (aka filming) is set. Yay! However, a lot of writers are unaware of what happens AFTER you’ve hit *send* on your “final-final-final” draft. It’s time to shed light on the production stages of your script and what happens during the filming stages … Right up to post-production! Here’s 5 things writers can expect once their project starts filming… ready? Let’s go! 1) Yet More Drafts Oh, you thought you were finished?? NOPE! Once your project is greenlit and you’re working towards the first day of… Read More »5 Things Writers Can Expect When Your Screenplay Starts Filming

Share this:

6 Top Tips On Selling Your Screenplay

Selling Your Screenplay You have your finished (and edited!) screenplay in hand, so now it’s time to think about selling it. That’s the good news. The bad news: there’s a TON of other people thinking the same thing as you! While pitching a screenplay is as tough as writing a script, it’s not impossible. With the right tactics, it definitely can be achieved. However, most writers don’t know how to use these tactics. And they don’t know how to start selling their script … But that’s what this article is for! Check out my top 6 tips on selling your… Read More »6 Top Tips On Selling Your Screenplay

Share this:

Top 10 Legal Questions For Writers

Legal Eagles I’ve had loads of legal questions lately from the Bang2writers, so I thought it would be a good idea to round them all up here for everyone. So if you have a burning legal question, check out the below! Before I begin though, a quick disclaimer … DO remember B2W is not a lawyer or legal expert!! The below is based only my own experiences and the various deals and situations I’ve seen going round the writing block. If you require legal advice, then speak to a real expert ASAP. Let’s go … 1) What is an option… Read More »Top 10 Legal Questions For Writers

Share this:

How To Beat The Gatekeepers

Read Phil’s previous guest post on B2W, Is Your Screenplay Ready? AKA 12 Qs To Ask Of Your Writing, HERE. Many thanks to Phil Gladwin, head of Screenwriting Goldmine, for getting in touch with this eye-opening graphic on how to beat “the gatekeepers”, such as script readers, not to mention the MANY other people up the chain! Yikes! Over to you, Phil: “I get a lot of questions about the UK TV industry, and how it all works … So, after a few of those arriving all in one day, I sat back, just mostly for my own amusement, to draw… Read More »How To Beat The Gatekeepers

Share this:

6 Ways To Make Hollywood Fall In Love With Your Pitch

Pitching is just like being the nervous suitor asking for a date. Is she or he going to like you? Do you have an exciting or intriguing personality? Do you have passion? This is where initial appearances do matter. Here are 6 ways to make sure you go home with them at the end of the evening. 1. Google, Facebook and IMDB them. i.e. Do your research. How promiscuous are they? How many projects have they done and what genres do they like? Pitching horror to someone who does comedy is a sure way to go home alone. 2. Don’t… Read More »6 Ways To Make Hollywood Fall In Love With Your Pitch

Share this:

9 Wake Up Calls For The New Screenwriter

Wake Up Calls Here are 9 wake up calls I would like to have given myself years ago when I decided to pursue a career in screenwriting. Thankfully, life was around to deliver them for me. Do you need these wake calls too?? Then read on … 1) There is this thing called the audience   I remember waiting for a film outside the cinema. A thought occurred to me as I was mulling over the ultra-personal script I was working on. I looked carefully at the other people gathering, tickets in hand, and thought … ‘How many of them would… Read More »9 Wake Up Calls For The New Screenwriter

Share this:

2 Laws Every Screenwriter Should Know

Laws You Should Know There is a lot of legal groundwork to cover before writing a script – anything you create which goes into the public eye will come under scrutiny from a number of organisations, and any breaches could land you with serious legal and financial troubles. Of course, these kinds of issues may also prevent your work from ever being produced or may even inhibit screenings once a film has been made. Understanding the legal implications of screenwriting before proceeding is the best way to prevent any future issues. We know this sounds pretty daunting, but the pieces… Read More »2 Laws Every Screenwriter Should Know

Share this:

3 Reasons To Write A Low Budget Marketable Screenplay

Many thanks to Simon Meacock, who asks: “Is it best to concentrate on writing a KICK ASS screenplay and use it as a calling card for other work as well as it having a (slim) chance of getting optioned? And should the screenplay be a very marketable low budget feature or should I go for broke and just write a screenplay from the heart with no regard of budgets?” First up, two things: Naturally, you should always aim for KICK ASS when writing *anything* – the writing world has enough vanilla spec screenplays. The only way forward is by writing… Read More »3 Reasons To Write A Low Budget Marketable Screenplay

Share this:

12 Top Tips For Taking Writing Meetings

All About Meetings I’m delighted to say the hardcore contingent of the Bang2writers are taking meetings more and more often now. These writers getting meetings are most often those with … A specific writing strategy (more on these, HERE) Know ‘where’ they are in creating their own careers Stick to their writing goals, but also review and re-evaluate them too However, this also means these writers are asking me more and more often what is the “right” way to take meetings! With this in mind, I thought it was time for a post on the subject. First things first, it… Read More »12 Top Tips For Taking Writing Meetings

Share this:

The 7 Deadly Writing Sins

Many thanks to the marvellous Gill Kirk who suggested “The 7 Deadly Sins of Writing” as a blog topic! (If you have an idea for a topic or a writing question, then tweet me or leave a message in the B2W Facebook group.) 7) Lust No, I’m not talking about sleeping your way to the top … though whatever floats your boat! Under its old meaning, “lust” referred to the notion of DESIRE – and desire to succeed can cloud writers’ judgement in all kinds of surprising (and potentially career-kicking) ways. Obviously a healthy desire to succeed is good. But then… Read More »The 7 Deadly Writing Sins

Share this: