September - 2015

The Daily Blog

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Welcome to the Blog! This is the heart of our journey into selling a screenplay. Here you will find daily postings about the projects I am currently writing, rewriting and rewriting again. I'll explain my process and and the mechanics of screenwriting, incorporating all revisions into the samples located on the Projects page. But in addition to the writing, we'll delve into the business side of screenwriting and unravel the mysteries of writing query letters and developing pitches. Then when it's all put together, we'll set our marketing plan into action and see what kind of response we get. Hopefully, it won't necessitate a trip back to the drawing board.

But the blog isn't all work and no play. I'll be taking you to film festivals, workshops and pitch fests for an insider's looks at all the action behind the scenes. If you haven't attended one of these events in the past, this will be a good opportunity for you to understand how they work and what to expect when you get there. And you are going to attend, right? You're on a journey, after all.

The blog will also feature interviews with fellow screenwriters, actors, directors and producers, giving you valuable insight into what they've experienced and what they expect when working with writers. The blog will be an indispensible font of information for you as you begin the journey to sell your own screenplay. You can begin that journey right now by subscribing to the blog using the form below.

You can also follow The Screenwriter's Journey on Twitter (William Gilmore #ScriptJourney), Facebook (The Screenwriter's Journey) and YouTube (The Screenwriter's Journey) using the links at the bottom of this page.

So check out a blogcast and then get back to writing. Remember, the journey to a successful screenplay begins with a single keystroke.

Watch the thumbnail versions of the blogcasts by clicking the images below, or to view a larger version and comment on the blog, click the title or the 'Read More' button.

Day 30: 1st Month Down

30 Days down. 1 month gone. Only 11 months or 335 days to go. I don't think I've ever seen 30 days go by so fast. It's actually a little frightening that there are only 11 months left. One year seemed like plenty of time to get a lot accomplished in, but with one month of hindsight experience under the belt, 11 months is suddenly looking to be rather challenging. The thing that concerns me most going forward is my ability to maintain the pace I've established in this first mo

Day 29: Writer Matt Hoverman

I attended another session of Tuesdays@9: LA, a writer's workshop sponsored by the Naked Angels Theatre group. I was not presenting tonight, but award-winning playwright, screenwriter and TV writer Matt Hoverman brought in some fresh pages of his new stage play, Thrillsville. It's a very funny piece about a man dealing with the trials and tribulations of finding housing for his disabled sister after their parent's pass away. Following tonight's reading Matt was kind enough to

Day 28: Editing ScriptTalk™ Interview with Brooks Campbell

To watch the interview with Brooks Campbell, click the ScriptTalk™ button in the header menu or simply click here. #BrooksCampbell #LadyBug #ScriptTalk #IndieFilmMaking

Day 27: Webinar with Corey Mandell

Sunday was mostly a quiet, relaxing sort of day. I spent some time at the gym engaged in the on-going battle of the bulge and did some channel surfing between NFL games. By early evening I was starting to feel guilty for not having done anything on the writing front. I tried to rationalize my inactivity by telling myself it was okay to take a day off once in a while. But then I recalled my pledge from Day 1 when I said I would do something every day for the next 365 days to f

Day 26: Everyday Clowns Cold Reading

Despite my rather unenthusiastic vlog above, today's reading went rather well. Certainly it went better than I had any right to expect given the short amount of time I spent in actually writing the episode. As I indicated in the vlog, I didn't start writing until about 9 PM the night before it was due. It's not something I would recommend, but I did have the episode pretty well plotted in my head so that made it a little easier. If you're not yet familiar with the concept Eve

Days 24 & 25: Clowning Around, Seriously

#EverydayClowns #IAWTV #WritingWorkshops

Day 23: The Dreaded Logline

Ask a screenwriter what the worst part of screenwriting is and you will invariably get the answer ‘loglines.’ There is nothing worse than taking your meticulously plotted, 120-page screenplay with all the intricate details you sweated over and distilling it down to a single sentence. The thought of having to craft a good logline that will captivate a potential reader is enough to make any one of us quit the business. I know; I’ve quit several times now. Eventually, after mopi

Day 22: Come Ups Cold Reading

Come Ups Cold Reading Pt. 1: Pre-Reading Vlog Come Ups Cold Reading Pt. 2: Post-Reading/Feedback Vlog Over the past several weeks I have done extensive rewriting on my screenplay Come Ups by applying the Save the Cat Paradigm to a completed draft of the script. I have given a rather lengthy analysis of that process here on the Daily Blog and how it has changed the script. Well, tonight the rubber met the road in a mostly successful test of the first 10 pages at a cold reading

Day 21: Online Etiquette

Three weeks down and only 49 left on this crazy Journey we've started. After a semi-relaxed weekend of running, photography and working on the Journey, I'm back in full swing. One of the things I wanted to learn to day was how much time was I spending online brand building. It seems like it takes about 2 hours out of my day. This includes updating the website with new articles and resources plus finding new articles and resources. In addition I have to post to FaceBook, Googl

Day 20: Still Lazy

The laziness continues this weekend, although it may just be exhaustion. I've been hitting the road hard the last couple of weeks. It's not just writing scripts, but content for the website, reading articles and trying to make a name for myself on various forums. It has been a supremely concentrated effort. I held off on working on Come Ups again. I just didn't have the motivation. I still got my page-a-day in though with some more work on the "Secret Project." While I'm exci

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