When you're starting out in Hollywood you have to learn the ropes quick. Manny Fonseca explains that sometimes, it's the person you trust that turns out to be a "scam artist."
Tips for Meetings with Executives
ALTERNATE ROUTES: Screenwriting Lessons from the Writer’s Guild Negotiations
Marty Lang explains how the recent Writer's Guild negotiations garnered screenwriting lessons for beginning screenwriters and filmmakers. If you studied the way this negotiation played out, there are some undeniable truths that can help you in your work.
Critical Screenwriting Lessons from Twenty Years in a Writers Lab
T. Jay O'Brien shares invaluable screenwriting lessons to aide your writing career, gained by working with writers and actors for a couple decades in a Writing Lab environment.
10 Ingredients for Successful Screenwriting: Learn to Pitch a Screenplay
“Pitching” is a key ingredient to becoming a professional screenwriter. In short, it means telling someone—say, a prospective agent or producer—what your script is about in a simple, entertaining way.
NAVIGATING HOLLYWOOD: How I Got Banned From a Pitchfest
After years of going to pitchfests, talking about pitchfests and live Tweeting from pitchfests, Manny Fonseca's sarcastic tone finally gets him banned.
YOUR TV GUIDE to Finding the RIGHT Representation for You
Tawnya Bhattacharya gives insights on how to ask the right questions at agent and manager meetings to make sure you find the right representation for your career.
BEHIND THE LINES WITH DR: Surviving as a Female Writer – Is That a Script In Your Pocket?
Doug Richardson ponders the challenges of surviving as a female writer navigating pitch meetings. How do you push past the good-ol-boy practices?
NAVIGATING HOLLYWOOD: Working in Development – Tales From The Assistant Desk
Life as an assistant in Hollywood can be long and thankless, luckily it can also be comical. This week, Manny Fonseca tells some of his funnier stories.
LEGALLY SPEAKING, IT DEPENDS: Where’s My Money? Part 2
Christopher Schiller gives details of how to properly get that payment out of the ones who owe us money and what to do when they give us resistance.
LEGALLY SPEAKING, IT DEPENDS: Where’s My Money? Part 1
This first of a two-part series of columns focus is all about the details of getting paid, what to expect and when, how to specify your needs and realize the requirements for meeting them and how to recognize when what you are due isn't forthcoming.