Comebacks, second acts and redemption. It’s what character arcs are all about – but it’s also what life in the entertainment industry is all about. This business is 97% NO and 3% YES. You will fail 9 out of 10 times in this industry, but I truly believe that every disappointment gets you closer to success.

Characters that fall from grace that must fight their way back are people that audiences root for. And it’s the same in real life. And the themes that cause our real-life comebacks, obstacles and redemptions are universal and can be worked into stories to make your character more relatable and your story more sellable.

Motivational Speaker Gary Ryan Blair has laid out seven steps to staging a comeback, and I’ve related them back to what your characters should be doing in your story and what YOU should be doing personally in this biz.

1.  Refuse to Die – This is the attitude your characters must have, that inner motivation that no matter what happens - they will not die. It’s what makes them a hero. They accept disaster and go from there.

2.  Decide to Fight – It’s the character’s acceptance of their adventure and managing of their fears through the adventure. Regroup and plot and plot again. This is also what you need to do every time you get a rejection letter.

3.  Get Mad – Use the emotion as fuel for your story and character, and for getting your own creative juices out.

4.  Get Creative - Don’t JUST have your character do what’s expected – get creative.

5.  Focus on Results – Know the character’s motivation and what the ultimate physical and emotional result for your character is. But also for you writers yourselves – know what your end goal is. Is it to sell your script, is it to break in, is it to get hired for other work, is it just to finish a script and say you did it? Know your goal and focus on your results. If you focus on your process, it’s probably going to be very hard to succeed.

6.  Take a Chance; Take a Risk – You and your characters may both be taking paths that are foreign to you, but don’t be afraid of taking calculated risks.

7.  Enjoy the Ride - Not only should your character and the audience enjoy the journey, but you should as well. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Look at every obstacle, setback, rejection, and constraint as an opportunity to show your character’s true colors, make a connection between them and the audience, show emotion, flesh out their arc, and really make a compelling character and story. And then do the exact same thing in your own personal life.

Look at all the setbacks and rejections you get and wear them as badges of honor, because you can’t get rejected unless you’re in the game. So as long as you’re getting rejections, you’re still IN it. Maybe not in the way or to the degree that you’d like yet – but much like your characters and their goals, you’re working towards it.

If it takes 100 No’s for every Yes, then every rejection letter you get, every bad pitch you give, every pass you receive, means it’s one less you have to get before you hear YES.

Instead of jumping down an exec’s throat or blaming a consultant for not “getting” your writing, you should look at your writing and ask yourself WHY they don’t get it.  If an exec says they don’t think your project is commercial, then that is your chance to look at what’s selling and see WHY it’s not commercial so you don’t make that mistake again.

This town is full of people who have made careers of FAILING UPWARDS – and that quite frankly is a great way to succeed in this town. At least you’re failing in the right direction. If you fail downwards, there’s nowhere to go. If you fail upwards, the sky’s the limit.

But you can’t fail at something unless you’re actively doing it, so you’re already on your way just by failing.  So, don’t give up NOW. You’ve already gone through the failure, you’ve already progressed, you’ve already gotten further than 90% of the other writers trying to do what you’re doing – so just keep your head down and keep progressing towards success.  Create your own comeback.

**February 10^th starts my 90-Day Teleseminar Program “90 DAYS TO A SCREENWORTHY SCRIPT.” In weekly interactive 60-minute Teleseminars, I will personally guide you through the writing process and cover everything you need to know to write and finish a more cinematic script! You’ll also get worksheets, exercises, weekly motivational tips, some great prizes. And we have lots of GREAT Industry Guest Speakers joining us!  Learn. Write. Succeed. For more information and to sign up TODAY, please click on http://90dayscript.eventbrite.com.

You’ve written your script, you’ve rewritten, edited, polished, gotten professional feedback, and have your pitch down. You’re officially ready to submit it to Hollywood…

But when is the perfect time?

Hollywood, much like the seasons (which are ironically lacking in Los Angeles), is cyclical. While producers and agents are always looking for great new material and great new voices, there are certain times throughout the year where they are just a bit hungrier than others. And knowing when to strike can sometimes make all the difference.

From mid-November until the end of Sundance in mid-January, this town is dead. No one is looking for or reading anything new. This is the time in Hollywood where the spec market is non-existent and companies basically work on whatever they already have and then take a vacation. This should be your writing time.

From the beginning of February until the beginning of June, this is usually a big selling time.  Especially in the first half of that time period, companies are hungry and actively looking for new material. Once June hits, things usually slow down in film just a bit. People start planning and taking vacations and wait to see if their tentpole projects have paid off at the box office. And while Hollywood is always looking, there are usually slightly less sales and activity over the summer.

Then, by the end of August/Labor Day time, it heats up again for two months of bloodthirsty searching for material and new clients.

In the studio television world, pitch season is usually every fall, from the end of August(ish) until Thanksgiving. Then, TV takes a holiday too. When they return in January, agents are searching for new clients but only until staffing season begins on all those pilots that were pitched and sold in the fall. Staffing season is usually late February-late April, with some pilots shooting in April and going through May until the upfronts.

If you’re not rep’d when staffing season begins – chances are, you’re not getting staffed. Over the summer is when TV agents and reps usually look for new clients – until September when pitching seasons starts all over again. It should be stated that cable TV is year round – they are always looking, always pitching, always buying. And network TV is slowly but surely working its way into that model as well – so there is hope.

And knowing what’s working at the box office and what isn’t will also tell you if it’s a good time to send your project to producers. If your story is JUST like something that just bombed horribly, then you need to wait 4-6 months to send it out.

So, now that you’ve finished your great commercial script, it’s just a matter of time. But pay attention, because timing…is (almost) everything.

A lot of amateur or first-time screenwriters carry a burden of fear of theft, and it’s unnecessary. I know a guy, a famous guy, who went to a major studio with a pitch for a film comedy that was about the Tiger Woods of bass fishing. The pitch was rejected. A few days later, that writer read in the trades that that very studio had put into development a feature film project about the Tiger Woods of bass fishing. Certainly he felt as if theft had taken place.  But upon investigation, found that this project predated his pitch. It was his idea, but apparently it was someone else’s also. The studio lost a bet not going with my friend’s version (an excellent writer). As far as I know, the film never got made, for God-knows-what reason. The point is that anybody can have an idea.  Only a writer can bring an idea to life.

Ideas are overrated by the movie-biz amateur. As a writer, you don’t really sell your idea, whether it’s a development deal or a script purchase. You sell your ability to write it. How many times have you heard someone say “I’ve got a great idea for a movie, if only I had time to write it”? You need more than time to write it, you need craft. Talent helps, but craft is essential.

Here’s a great idea for a movie. A real studly guy goes up against some real ugly, evil killers and as a result wins the affection of a to-die-for beautiful woman. How can it miss? It’s a great idea that could lead to a really great movie. But what studio is going to buy what it’s already got? Only if I can write the thing, deliver a unique screen story that is compelling and character-driven can I do this great idea any justice. It’s an idea anybody can have.

Development money has dried up. Why?  Because too much of it was spent on can’t-miss ideas that missed. In the ‘90s, the days of the bidding wars, my then agent made the papers by selling a spec script to a major studio for seven figures.  I asked her what made it sell so quickly and she told me that it had a one-line idea that couldn’t miss: a murder investigation in the middle of a hurricane, something with built-in jeopardy and pace. Years later I asked her when that movie might come out, and she insisted that it will never be made because who wants to try to film a hurricane? A great idea equals no movie, millions wasted, over and over, and that’s what happened to all the development money.

Take your worst idea, and write a solid with great characters, and you’re writing what no one can steal. Screenwriting is not about ideas, it’s about craft and hard work - darn it.

Of course, these options aren’t for everyone. Some people are screenwriters, and that’s that. But in a world where the studios are cutting back and that’s becoming increasingly multi-media, they may be ways not only to keep your creative juices flowing, but also to invent–or reinvent–your screen career as well.

I can’t say that 2010 was a great year for movies. In fact, I found it a struggle just to come up with my top 5. That being said, below are ones I truly thought were outstanding works.

#1. “Animal Kingdom” - By far, my favorite film of 2010. I thought this coming-of-age/underworld crime story set in Australia was both captivating and haunting.

#2. “Winter’s Bone” - This crime tale set in backwoods USA was both beautifully bleak and surprisingly fulfilling.

#3. “Please Give” - An honest and entertaining look at a couple long past the “love haze” and their relationship with sex and family.

#4. “Greenberg” - I loved this film’s quiet, quirky humor and fresh characters.

#5. “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” – An engaging and edgy who-done-it with very interesting heroes and villains.

Have a great Holiday everyone!              

Sometimes what feels like writing really isn’t. It’s simply repetition of clichés for the purpose of making a point. By that, I mean it is simply typing. Other times you may be throwing out something that actually is writing for the misguided purpose of making your script look more like other movies. Both of these extremes need to be avoided. At all costs.

Below are five commonly used word combinations that seem like writing but really aren’t. Any time you find yourself “writing” any of the following word combinations into a screenplay, don’t. Replace them with actual writing, and your script will automatically improve.

1.  MONTAGE – We don’t need your montage. A montage is easy to write, but hard to film. Ask any Production Manager what he or she thinks of montages. So to the budget we have to add money to cover shooting in eight different locations, locations like the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, Niagra Falls, the Grand Canyon, each in order to cover one line on one page of a script. Instead of giving us a montage of lovers running toward each other in a field, making angels in the snow, or shopping together for furniture, show us how they feel about each other through actual behavior in a scene. Make them individuals, not clichés.

2.  THEY LOCK EYES – I don’t know how this one got started, but I see it everywhere. It has no meaning. Locking eyes is not actual behavior. It is very difficult to film two people locking eyes, and for what? What does it really mean? That they are looking in each other’s eyes? Just say that instead. If these two people are so focused on one another, show us that by writing actual behavior.

3.  SUNSET – Do you have any idea how difficult and costly it is to film only at sunset? Sunset goes by quickly, and if you don’t get it, you have to add a day to the schedule. Sunsets are beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but writing one is very easy and hard to pull off. Scene headings should end in either DAY or NIGHT.

4.  ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE – I stole this one from Elmore Leonard’s “Ten Rules for Writers.”  Once again, it’s easier said than produced. It is not as descriptive as its user might think. It only stresses a memory of a cliché. Replace this phrase with something that is actually produce-able, and you will improve your script.

5.  BIKERS – Unless you have some special insights into bikers that is driving your desire to write a screenplay, stay away from them. Bikers in films are a cliché and really, in spite of the poetry in motion of “Easy Rider” and Steve McQueen in “The Great Escape,” bikers walking into a diner and kicking ass (or threatening to) is just plain corny and unconvincing. Some bikers are just really nice people who love bikes.

Replace these items with actual creative writing, and you will not only improve your script, but you will help to keep the craft of screenwriting from slipping into a general state of decay.

As a producer, writer, and busy script consultant, what I have come to believe is that for a screenplay to be successful, the script reader must be able to answer “yes” to the following seven questions:

Is the premise commercial and believable?
Can you “see” the poster? 
Is the genre clear?
Is there a clear protagonist?
Is the protagonist likable?
Does the protagonist have a clear goal and is it defined early enough?
Are the stakes for the protagonist high enough?

We call these the “ScriptCoach Seven,” and provide feedback for each of these questions to our writer clients on every script we work on together. I would love to hear your thoughts on these!

With all the big sequels, remakes, adaptations, video games, comic books and book series being turned into movies these days, I find it fantastic that one of the biggest summer blockbusters is going to the be the truly original “Inception,” written and directed by Christopher Nolan.  And I think it’s going to help change what studios are looking for.

But here’s the thing: could YOU have sold a script like “Inception” in this market? No, probably not. It’s a huge movie, a very cerebral movie, and an original idea, much like “The Matrix,” was years ago, where it needs to be guided by an experienced hand with a proven track record and have great attachments. Studios would never green light a movie like this unless it was written by, directed by or starred someone that promised little risk and had a strong fan base.  But I respect the picture because it’s one of the few times where a writer/director actually used his clout in the studio world to make a movie that isn’t exactly like everything else.

Christopher Nolan has made a name for himself by creating original ideas, telling them in an original way, creating original visuals to match, and bringing that out on film. From “Momento,” to “Batman Begins” to “Inception,” Nolan has shown that he is not just an A-list studio writer and director, but he’s also an artist. And that’s severely lacking in today’s cinema. This isn’t meant to be a PR piece for Nolan, but with all the crap getting made, it’s nice to see a project that might just live up to the hype.

I like my popcorn movies and my tent pole blockbusters – I don’t want to watch artsy experimental shit all day long – it’s depressing. But what I love most is when a filmmaker (especially one who also writes the material) is able to make both sides of my brain happy. A smart, cool, and original  popcorn movie. Not many know how to do that.  Sure, there are plenty of directors that can bring a smart popcorn movie to life – Spielberg, Fincher, Ron Howard, Ang Lee, etc. But how many writer/directors are out there other than Chris Nolan, that know how to achieve that kind of balance?

Let’s see…Peter Jackson, James Cameron, Michael Mann, Cameron Crowe, the Coen Brothers perhaps, and maybe the newest entrant to this category – J.J. Abrams. I know there are others you can probably think of, but there aren’t many. It’s these talents that studios will write a blank check for. Directors always say that they couldn’t find a great project, so they wrote one themselves. That’s how Nolan got started. And if you can write, then it’s a great way to go.

Just as interesting as how Nolan got “Inception” made, is why. People want to be in business with him, and because he’s in that enviable position, he gets carte blanche at the highest of levels. But he didn’t start out that way. If he didn’t have the reputation he has, the deals he has, the representation he has – and of course the talent - he never would have been able to make a movie like this.

So, the lesson for writers out there is that power breeds choice. Write that fantastic original big budget project. But more than likely, you’re going to need to build your name and reputation and contacts and resume first before you’ll be able  to sell it. But when you’ve made it, and you finally get to make the project the way you want to, it will have been worth the wait. Just ask Mr. Nolan.

One of the greatest screenwriters of all time is Academy Award winner William Goldman. His credits read like the list of AFI’s Best Movies of All-Time. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “All the President’s Men,” “The Princess Bride,” “Misery,” “Maverick,” “Chaplin,” “Absolute Power,” etc.  And his book, “Adventures in the Screen Trade” is still one of the Industry’s most popular.

I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Goldman speak on a few occasions at different conferences, and his stories are still fascinating, engaging and oftentimes mind-boggling. But the biggest advice he always gives is that “nobody knows anything” and that “there are no rules.” And while this may be true for a man of Mr. Goldman’s stature…it’s not true for you.

Mr. Goldman and other A-List writers can make their own rules. They can demand not to be re-written, or demand that only certain level executives give them notes, or that their agent demand a million dollar payday. For them, there are no rules. Because not only have they already broken in, but they’ve made it to the top.

But you can’t buck the system until you’re a part of it – a successful part of it.

When you’re a struggling screenwriter just starting out and trying to get read for the first time, you gotta play the odds…and you gotta stick to the rules. The basic rules of format and structure, the rules of what sells and what doesn’t (which you can pick up by reading the trades and reading what’s selling), the rules of what to pitch at a conference and what not to (don’t pitch period dramas, Hollywood insider stories, sci-fi epics, or your own true story), the rules of how to contact a producer or agent, the rules of following up with those contacts (don’t call or email incessantly or nag), etc.

If you believe that “nobody knows anything,” then you are basically saying that a trillion dollar business is run by luck. And that YOU, the first time screenwriter, know better than everyone else. And that is an attitude that will ensure that you’ll be looking in from the outside for a long time to come.

Studios, agents, producers, and even media analysts know what works. Are they wrong sometimes? Of course! Are there projects that sell even though they should be unsellable? Absolutely. Are there projects that bomb when they should be no-brainer hits? You bet! But you have to play the odds when you’re starting out. You have to write something that reads as professional and you need to write something that could generally be sellable – horror, thriller, action or comedy.

Now I’m not saying you should play it safe, creatively. Or that you should mask your own voice as a writer. And yes, when it comes to breaking into the business, everyone has a different story to tell. However, I would say that the majority of the “breaking in” stories I hear sound eerily familiar. Usually something like this…”I wrote my screenplay and I knew one of my old college roommates worked for a production company (or agency/manager/studio) and so I asked him to give it a read. He loved it, shot it up the flagpole, his boss loved it, and I landed my first agent (or option).”

That’s how it happens MOST of the time…one referral, one connection to the business, one friend on the inside that they trust. Mixed with some good timing and some luck (yes, it does play a part), and BAM – you’re in. This might make it seem like there are no rules, but indeed that referral connection is rule number one – it’s all about who you know. It’s about networking and knowing the right people in the right places at the right time.

Are the rules changing? Yes, they are. In the land of YouTube, the content creator is King. Nowadays, it’s much more common for Hollywood to reach out to new talent instead of them reaching out to Hollywood. But you need to do something worth reaching out for. And it has to be something that tells executives that not only do you have an original voice, but that you understand what can sell and what can connect with a broad group of people. So if 200 people have viewed your video, that’s not good enough - if 2 MILLION have, you’re getting warmer.

With the internet, many of the old rules have been modified, but that doesn’t mean the rules are non-existent.   So, with all due respect to Mr. Goldman - and he is due a great deal of it - I believe that his quotes should be amended to “nobody knows EVERYTHING” and “there are some rules.”

And understanding them could be your key to Hollywood.