FREE WORKSHOP - Introduction

I'm going to do for you what NO ONE ANYWHERE would do for me: I'm giving you a free online screenwriting workshop!

You wanna write a script that sells?

Okay, let's do it together. I'm calling myself a first-time screenwriter because I have yet to write a script that sells, and have only written crap screenplays read by my friends or, on a couple of occasions, by screenplay competition readers. But I can say confidently and without fear of arguement that I have NEVER written a QUALITY feature-length screenplay. I've written a couple of good shorts, but not a feature.

So if I've never written a decent feature, then why do you want to follow my workshop?

Did you read the title? It's FREE. But more than that, I have been studying screenwriting -- THOROUGHLY, probably more thoroughly than you -- for 14 years. I've read all the greatest books on the subject, and most of the mediocre-to-poor books as well. I possess all the tools to be a GOOD professional screenwriter, I just haven't written that first great screenplay yet.

I believe I have just begun it now.

And, frustrated by the fact that the people I have paid to help me haven't gotten me there yet and therefore I have to do it on my own, I've decided to bring you along with me.

If you want to come.

I require a few things from you, though, and if you're not willing to conceed to them then stop reading now.

I need you to turn on your Bullshit Meter. YOU have to be THE BEST judge of your own material. If you think it's good but desire someone else's verification IT'S NOT GOOD YET. This is a lesson that took me YEARS to learn, and something professional screenwriters varified for me AFTER i figured it out for myself.

When your work is good enough, you KNOW it... You FEEL it. So if you're looking for critiques, you either know your work is sub-par and are hoping to hear that it's not, or you know your work is good and you're just looking for praise. Both are wastes of time. I'm not kidding you and I'm not being harsh. If you listen very, very closely you will "hear" within you whether or not your work is good enough. (This is our first feature, so "good enough" means "better than we've ever done so far". In other words, good enough to be GREAT to someone who can't, themselves, write a feature-length screenplay. We, sadly, will never be 100% satisfied with our own efforts. It's the nautre of being human.)

I will also require you to be your own hand-holder. I am not available to tutor you or offer you moral support beyound whatever I end up writing in this blog. I've got my own script to write, and a little bit of a life outside that, lol. Besides, you're the one who wanted to be a writer! You knew this was lonely work when you chose it... or, rather, when it chose you. We are in this together in a spiritual sense, not a practical one, lol.

Besides, where are you NOW, as I do my work by myself?

Finally, I need you to play Cacth-Up. I only have time to tell you what I'm doing as I do it. I don't have time to fill in any gaps in screenwriting theory that you have. I'll tell you what I'm doing and why, but if you don't fully understand it it's up to you to read the works I'm refering to.

It sucks, yes. Sorry about that. I believe that when I started this blog I listed some great resources to give you an exceedingly firm grasp of writing theory. Track that entry down and get ahold of whatever you haven't read yet. Trust me, even if you end up buying 20 books and reading them all to keep up with me, you will not have spent a tenth of the money or time I've spent learning to write like a pro.

If you don't believe me, don't read me. There's no reason for you to.

Okay, I think we're ready for the first step...