Screenwriting From Iowa

“Write something unique that showcases your voice. Readers read so much – at times four or five scripts a day. So many of those scripts become one blob in your head – a singular voice. It’s the scripts that really strive to do something unique, whether it works or whether it doesn’t, that stick with [...]

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“Once I fell in love with screenwriting, I became a huge screenwriting nerd, so when a new spec was sold, I’d be dying to read it and get my hands on it.” Screenwriter Justin Kremer Since I spent a few days last week pulling quotes from Oscar-wining screenwriter Chris Terrio—with a dip into questioning the [...]

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“It makes me sick, watching [my student loans] increase…..There’s also the stress of how am I going to save for retirement when I have this bear to payoff.” 30-Year-Old Haley Schafer on her $312,000 student loans growing due to interest New York Times article The Vet Debt Trap by David Segal The elephant in the [...]

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“I have more complicated feelings about film school in general. I can’t speak for every film school, and obviously USC is a great program and one of the best, but it’s tough to take whatever nugget you have that makes you want to be a writer or filmmaker and try to sort of give it [...]

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“I knew that I wanted to make movies but I kinda didn’t know what you do.” Chris Terrio (Talking about after graduating from college) Screenwriter Chris Terrio is now Oscar-winning screenwriter Chris Terrio. His script for Argo was not only a winner for him but the movie also took home the Oscar for best film. His [...]

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“It’s a little cliche, but I’ve learned that you can’t make a movie that even works, much less that’s good, without really good writing and really good acting.  That lesson has led me to not be distracted, so much, by the other stuff going on in filmmaking and to focus on the essence of a [...]

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“I was nobody auditioning, and then I was seen as this young, emerging talent, writer, Oscar winner (Good Will Hunting screenplay) — and then I was seen as this blockbuster actor, and then I was seen as this kind of train-wreck actor (RAZZIE Award winner, Worst Actor—Daredevil. Gigli, Paycheck) and then I was seen as this resurgent [...]

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I decided to round out the week with another Sidney Sheldon quote. Along with his best-selling novels, his Tony award, and his Oscar award, he was also the producer and creator of I Dream Of Jeannie. While it may not be the pinnacle of TV production, it’s still is a fan favorite more than forty years [...]

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“In 1967, during the second season of [I Dream of] Jeannie, I was nominated for an Emmy. At the awards ceremony, I met Charles Schulz, who was also nominated for writing Charlie Brown. I was a big fan of his and his friend, Charlie Brown. Charles and I started talking, and he turned out to be a [...]

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“I got a job as a [script] reader at $17 a week. I would get up at 4 o’clock every morning and work on original stories. I started selling them, and I became established as a screenwriter…Any talent is a gift, I think we’re obligated to work as hard as we can at whatever talent [...]

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