Chances are, if you want to sell your screenplay to a major film producer, you’re going to have to write the kind of role that a movie star is dying to play. I accomplished this feat almost by accident when I chose Napoleon Bonaparte as the hero for my film project, Betsy and the Emperor. [...]

What do you call the guy from the 7th Cavalry regiment who, at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, said, “General Custer, reinforcements are on the way”? An optimist. I admit that when it comes to assessing another type of seemingly “hopeless” situation– a new writer’s chances of selling his script– I’m an optimist too. [...]

I’ve evaluated thousands of scripts for writers, film producers, and contests over the years.  Occasionally, after reading a screenplay, I say to myself, “Now, there’s a born screenwriter.”  The writer may be a little “green.” He might make some rookie mistakes, such as not knowing how to show the passage of time. He might make [...]

In any given year, I read so many screenplays as a professional “reader” that you could pave the Yellow Brick Road with them and still have enough left over to start a recycling program in the Emerald City. Okay, so most of the scripts I read are in digital form and aren’t on paper. But [...]

Meet the Reader’s Ray Morton provides some random musings on script coverage services, the death of the movie poster, the pay-per-view/VOD debate, and Doctor Who.