The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters: Insider Secrets from Hollywood's Top Writers

_ As it’s that time of year I thought I’d get myself a book on screenwriting.  I didn’t want any old book written by someone claiming to know the ins and outs of the business when in fact they know nothing.  You get a lot of these how to books on the subject written by people who actually have done nothing themselves in the way of produced credits.  There’s quite a lot of self professed gurus out there.

I’d seen this book and had wanted to get it for quite a while so decided to purchase it.

The book in question is

The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters: Insider Secrets from Hollywood’s Top Writers.

This is the Tenth Anniversary Edition.  Karl Iglesias (Author)

What you get is twenty-two working writers giving their own personal views on the industry.

The content is divided into 6 Parts.

PART 1 PASSION:
The Urge to Screenwrite

Portrait of a Screenwriter
Desire
Belief
Passion
Commitment

PART 2 CREATIVITY:
Summoning the Muse

The Creative Process
Creating a Writing Environment

PART 3 DISCIPLINE:
Applying the Seat of Your Pants to the Seat of the Chair

The Writing Habit
Time Management
Writer’s Block
Rewriting

PART 4 STORYCRAFT:
Weaving a Great Tale

What Makes A Great Script
Screenwriting Basics
The Most Important Audience

PART 5 MARKETING:
It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Your Writing

The Hollywood System
Networking
Getting An Agent
Pitching
Acting Like A Professional

PART 6 THE FOUR PS:
Patience, Perseverance, Passion and Practice

Each of the above parts contain the writer’s insights into that particular area.
I’ve picked three examples of what they have to say.  If you’ve been writing a long time, these thoughts should be second nature to you.

Ron Bass

“My advice is to read screenplays, good ones and bad ones, so you can learn what you don’t want to do, but more importantly, write a lot of stuff.  You only learn to write by writing. Write every day. If it’s a burden, you shouldn’t be doing it.”

Nicholas Kazan

“People’s time would be much better spent trying to write screenplays than going to seminars.  Make some labors of love. Write others quickly.  Have the idea.  Be inspired.  Write it.  Learn as you go.  Watch movies.  Read screenplays and write some more.”

Aline Brosh McKenna

“I also learned from getting feedback, people around you telling you what works, what doesn’t work, or how it affects an audience.”

The above are just snippets.  But it gives you an idea of what to expect.

Definitely worth the money, it’s also very inspirational to see how professional writers broke into the industry.  There’s no one way of doing this, everyone’s situation is different.

Definitely worth a read.

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