Charlie, the Kid and the Cop Best Lesson Ever in Hollywood Screenwriting If you want to write for Hollywood, study this picture. This faded lobby card from Charles Chaplin’s The Kid is the best lesson you’ll ever have in how
In this post, I want to give some advice to beginning screenwriters who are having difficulty finishing — or even starting — their first screenplay. I’ve been mulling over what to say for several weeks now, trying to come up
Bitter Gun-Clinger – and Hollywood Hero For nearly a century now, Hollywood has inspired generations of Americans with the central truth behind the American Dream: in this country, people are free to choose their own destiny. It’s the moral message
Jurassic Park – a family-friendly nature preserve featuring 7-ton prehistoric carnivores. What could possibly go wrong? If you’re a writer struggling to put together a screenplay, but it’s a big mess and you don’t know where to begin, this is
There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth writing about. I’m going to take the boss at his word that the modest objective of Big Hollywood is “to change the entertainment industry. To make Hollywood something we
This is the story of how I got kicked out of Hollywood…and how I hope to kick myself back in again. From the late 70’s to early 90s I made my living as a Hollywood screenwriter. I’m best known as
