August - 2016

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 366: A Journey Ends, Yet Continues

It's Day 366, the final day of what began as a one-year odyssey to sell a screenplay. It is a bittersweet day. On the positive side, I completed the rewrites (more or less) on The Devil's Tramping Ground. It has been a massive rewriting effort with 60 new pages in three weeks. The page one rewrite of this script began several months ago, but as we all know, July was a bust in the writing department. Still, it was a major accomplishment to complete the script, and a year after

Day 363: A Completed Script Not Finished

It's Day 363 and I made my weekend deadline of completing The Devil's Tramping Ground. But to throw a little water on the celebration, it is by no means finished. Still, let's gloat just a little. After the terrible month that was July - only two pages written - and a really slow start to August, I kicked into high gear for the later half of the month and managed to make it through 60 pages of script material. Some of that material is completely new, some rewritten and some r

Day 360: Another 15 Pages Complete

So I over estimated what I could achieve in two days. Again. I had hoped to hit 30 pages by the time the next Rewrites workshop rolled around. I made 15. I actually did about 20 pages of work, but the final count when all was said and done was 15 completed pages. I'd like to take credit for the 20 and all that material that I cut because that would put me closer to the 30 I predicted, but it was really only 15. Of course, I could have made the full 30 if I had been more produ

Day 358: 15 Pages Closer

The long drought is over. I pulled off 15 pages today. That's not a full 15 of new material, but there is quite a bit of new and/or rewritten stuff and some major restructuring to get this section to work. The actual page count of the script only went up by one page to 117 (just another page that has to get trimmed eventually!), but enough work went into this section that I feel okay with calling it the 15 pages it is. That brings me up to about page 74 or 75 for the script.

Day 356: Back on Track

At long last, screenwriting! It wasn't much in terms of page count, only about 3 new pages, but there was a considerable amount of restructuring work on the first 60 pages of The Devil's Tramping Ground. However, after trying out some new structure, I ultimately returned to what I had. Some would say this was a wasted venture, but it actually was a great exercise in rewriting that seemed to indicate I was on the right path. And it is easier to restructure half a screenplay ra

Day 354: When Productivity Keeps You From Being Productive

Six weeks. That's how long it has been since my last post. That's a lot of time with which one could get a lot of writing done, and I can confidently say I have managed two (2) whole pages in that lengthy expanse. Two whole pages. Let me first explain that I can't believe it has been six weeks. It honestly only feels like a couple of days, but that is what happens when you become overloaded with work. Unfortunately, it wasn't work of the paying kind though some of it has pote