Today I am proud to announce what I hope will be a regular column here on The Rouge Wave. (You guys know the blog is shortly to be moved and renamed, right? Don't freak out; there will be breadcrumbs. I drink your milkshake!) But before I introduce Libby Barnes, life coach to those who work in the entertainment industry - or aspire to - I must remind you all that you are weird. Well - so am I.

"Creatives," as those poor souls like us are known, who write, act, direct, sculpt, photograph and otherwise sing a song back to life, are gifted with abilities that the masses could only dream of having. But with those creative gifts comes a lot of doubt and yes, I'll say it - neuroses. I try to address that here on The Rouge Wave but I am not a qualified professional. I just get it because I am you. When I heard about Libby Barnes, who does life coaching and workshops specifically for creatives, I thought wow! I must get her to write for The Rouge Wave! And she was kind enough to do so.

In addition, Libby will be on an upcoming teleclass (details TBA) taking your questions about the peaks, valleys and swollen rivers you encounter as you carry the gift and the burden of dreams of being "a creative" like some crazy scene from FITZCARRALDO. Without further ramblings, here is Libby's inaugural post:

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As a life and career coach for the entertainment industry, I often work with writers on ways to increase their self motivation and productivity. For many of them, there are no 9 a.m. meetings, no bosses to please and no deadlines to meet. Bottom line: There’s no structure. And most writers thrive on structure, so they have to create it themselves. One of the most effective strategies I like to suggest is what John F. Kennedy once referred to as “throwing your hat over the fence.” If you throw your hat over the fence, you will HAVE to climb over the fence to get it. You’re committed. To metaphorically “throw your hat” means you announce what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it, preferably to people who matter to your career. This, in turn, propels you into action because there’s no going back and you don’t want to fail in front of them.

As a writer myself, I’m always looking for ways to create that accountability and commitment. Recently, I was working on the fourth draft of a screenplay that I felt had great marketability. But I kept putting it down and losing motivation. So, I decided to set a date to do a staged reading of it. I booked the theater, made the announcement and prayed that my creative juices would flow. And they did. Knowing that my work – good or bad – was going to be read out loud to an audience was productive pressure at its best. I completed the final draft and had a fantastic reading that opened a lot of doors for me.

How can you throw the proverbial hat? It may be as simple as signing up for a class or joining a writers' group where you have to share your pages. Better yet, start a group yourself. Being a leader and needing to set an example for others will inspire you to rise to the occasion. Or you could schedule a table reading in your home, book a meeting with your agent or tell an industry contact the date you’ll be sending him your script. The possibilities are endless.

Whatever you choose to do, you want it to be realistic so that you’re setting yourself up for success, but also challenging, so you’re compelled to get to work. And it can’t be easy to take back, like promising your mom you’ll finish your first draft by next month when you know that, even if you don’t, she’ll love you anyway. You want to announce your intentions to people who may NOT love you anyway if you don’t get it done. By making this commitment before your work is ready (and especially because your work isn’t ready), you’ll be creating that structure and accountability that can often be the key to a writer’s success.

One great outcome from my staged reading was that a producer liked my comedic style and wanted to collaborate on my next project. I emailed him a couple days ago asking if he’d like to meet on Thursday to go over the completed outline of my new script. Guess what? Right now, I don’t have a completed outline of my new script, but I can promise you that by Thursday I will. I have thrown my hat and now I must follow.

Libby Barnes is originally from Virginia, where she received a Master's degree in Counseling. She moved to L.A. in 1998 to pursue acting and writing. She is now a life and career coach for the entertainment industry and is working on her fourth script. To schedule a complimentary life coaching session with her or to find out about the next Passion Into Action workshop, visit her website or call 310-721-7028.

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So the other day I drove past the Hollywood Universalist Church on Franklin Blvd. in Hollywood and saw a sign describing upcoming sermons based on movies. I wish I could have slowed down to write down all the titles but we like me alive and with all limbs, right? The only one I remember is THE VISITOR. What a wonderful, appropriate idea.

I have read before that there are some therapists who use films as a form of therapy - an add-on if you will. A way for viewers/patients to connect with their deepest feelings through the emotionally and sensually immersive, transformative medium of film.

Recently, I (re)watched NORMA RAE and sure enough found myself reveling in the feeling that I was watching something important, something substantial, something that made me feel like a better person for having experienced it. I wanted to retroactively thank the DP, the writers and the director (Martin Ritt, who directed another favorite film of mine, THE FRONT, about the blacklist).

And Sally Field. I like her, I really like her. Jokes aside. It's a great performance. When the petite spitfire wrenches herself from the grasp of her burly escorts marching her out of the textile factory and instead climbs up on a machine and holds up the famous UNION sign, eyes round with determination, fear and an elegant sort of hopeful defeat...well...that's a movie moment you want to see, Wavers. It's transformative and beautiful and wrenching and glorious. And it makes you wish you had that much courage. And it reminds you that you do.

Not all movies hit that deep vein of emotion and catharsis for us and thank god, right? That would be a bit exhausting. Recently, I watched CLOVERFIELD and was thoroughly entertained (engrossed, really) and then promptly forgot about it until someone told me about the mysterious splash in the end. Movies are populist entertainment and the impact of film on a viewer can be anything from enormously cathartic to simple, gut-busting entertainment. But once in awhile, you see a movie that taps into that part of yourself that forgets anybody else is in the theater. Movies in which the main character is the person you wish you could be or someone you once were. Movies that tighten our throats with joy and appreciation and impact.

So I'm curious - what movies have you seen, Wavers, which left you flat on the seat, a puddle of cinemagasm and filmic adoration, wanting to write fan letters to every single name that flies by in the credits? What movie do you wish you had written that gave an audience member that same feeling?

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Hello, Wavers! You've by now noticed I've been posting less Wavy goodness lately. Mama has been very busy. Administrating and judging the Silver Screenwriting Competition, running The Script Department, working on my own writing and producing plans and projects, preparing for my class at the Great American Pitch Fest on June 13th and the panel I will be on at the Broad Comedy Film Festival in Venice the following day and (deep breath) writing a book based on The Rouge Wave and (deep breath) finding time to exercise, get enough sleep and eat well. Foof. It's a lot.

In addition, I feel as if I've said about everything I have to say on the topic of screenwriting here on The Rouge Wave so I'm posting less often and only when I really have something to say or a question to answer, rather than just warming over old topics just for the sake of posting. Hope that's okay with all of you wonderful, loyal Wavers. I love love love a good question or comment - that way I know I'm posting something that you wanted the answer to, not just postulating cutely on organic dialogue again.

Today I had to call 40 - 40 - agents, managers and production companies on behalf of a client with a script that I am in love with. Once in a blue moon, a script bubbles up to the surface that I just have to throw myself behind. And when I am a fan of a script, look out. My phone is smoking right now.

You know why calling a lot of people, some of which you know, some of which you don't is anxiety-inducing? Because some people are so short and rude on the phone. As I say, 40 calls, right? Of those 40, I would say I know or am acquainted with about 20 of those people. And those people are friendly. Hey Julie! Sure, what's the logline? Sure, send the script. Yay. Feels good. I know if the writer called on his own behalf, he'd be shut down just by dint of the We-Don't-Know-You Filter. So it's great to see those pay-it-forward/networking efforts cash out in getting reads when I want them.

Some of the companies I called - wow, dude. Take a coffee break. Breathe it out. Be nice. I can imagine being on the receiving end of query-type phone calls every single day must get really old and that the second you answer the phone, you're on defense but geezo, we're not curing cancer here, we're just talking about whether you'll read a story. Chillax.

Got some really, really interesting skinny from my old employer, Walden Media, about what's on the slate upcoming and what the new mandate is all about. Very different mandate, I'm surprised - moving closer to the Bristol Bay mandate of old. (Walden and Bristol are both owned by Anschutz. Well, they were. Til Bristol was shuttered a few years back). Cary Granat has formed his own prodco, continuing his interesting odyssey from Dimension to Walden to what amounts to Walden-II-Minus-Anschutz unless Anschutz is funding Granat which I seriously doubt. Phillip Anschutz is the man who signs the checks at Walden, incidentally, being the conservative Colorado billionaire who owns Narnia-land. I used to LOVE reading for Walden Media, let me tell you. That was a great gig. It's nice to continue to be in touch with creative executives there. Another reminder, Wavers - yesterday's assistant you were polite to is today's exec who gives you all the skinny.

It's very fun being just down the hall from Heroes and Villains; I just walked on down there all casual like with my coffee and leaned on the door frame and was all like, dudes, I have a rockin script that you need to read. Script in reading pile. YES.

All righty Wavers, more later, I will not abandon you, I'll just be posting a bit less and please, if you have suggestions or questions - send them my way and I'll be happy to answer them.

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Getting your thoughts and ideas out of your head and onto the page is the longest journey in the world. We can see the scene, we can feel the emotion, but we have to use keystrokes and words to get it onto that white sheet of paper. And it's not easy, right? Because now we are constrained by a certain way of expressing that on paper - the screenwriting way. Or the prose way. Or the poetry way. Contrary to the saying, we are not a bunch of monkeys in a room.

Being a writer doesn't simply mean you have a lot of neat ideas in your head. It's all in the name: w-r-i-t-e-r. You write it down. And it's more than wanting or needing to write down your ideas and stories, it's the ability to write it down in such a way that other people reading it are engaged, surprised, touched and entertained by the words you took out of your head and put on the page.

Think of someone you know who is very funny. Think of the way that they command the room with their joking, imitations or comments. They love it. They love to bask in the glow of the laughter they evoke. They might be naturally funny, they may have a unique, wry, cynical way of looking at the world. But they don't sit around by themselves and crack jokes.

Any Rouge Waver reading this knows the wonderful feeling when someone says, wow, what you wrote in my birthday card made me cry. Or wow, your short story really surprised me and made me see things in a new way. And maybe you haven't had this particular experience, but when an editor says, yes, your essay or short story will be published - WOW - it means it did its job and that now, thousands of people will also be able to read what you wrote and integrate it into their own lives and point of view. I get that WOW feeling from the Rouge Wave - if a Rouge Waver says, thanks, I learned from that, or that made me laugh - geez, that means using the characters of the alphabet and my keyboard, I took what was in my head and wrote it down in such a way that it made a difference to you. Because a writer not getting read is like one hand clapping.

That's what we all want ultimately, right? To entertain others? To have an impact on them? To change their thinking, crack them up, scare them to death or otherwise make them FEEL something? We don't write just for our own benefit. Or maybe we do. But that's called journaling. Nothing wrong with that - it's therapy, it's reflection - but it's not for public consumption.

Before your writing can possibly have an impact on a reader, you must be adept at using the language. Spelling, grammar but more than that - the lyricism of the language itself. Here is a bit from a TC Boyle short story: Fall settled in early that year, a succession of damp glistening days that took the leaves off the trees and fed on the breath of the wind. Fed on the breath of the wind. Ah, TC, how I love you so.

Can you write a sentence like that? No, it's not screenwriting, it's prose - a different beast altogether - but screenwriting can also be lyrical and beautiful. Believe it. It's not just a blueprint, it's a gorgeous blueprint/presentation and words are your only tools with which to create it.

Are you a good writer? I mean - are you really? I don't mean have you sold a script or have you published a novel or have you come up with the best idea in the universe, but what is your facility with the words on the page full stop? Can you look out the window right now and write 250 words about what you see in such a way that I would be entertained by it? Can you make me see the buildings, the streets, the flowers or the rail car going by?

Screenwriters should watch a lot of movies. If you haven't checked out the GASP list, please do so and begin checking movies off it. If you are a television writer, get those hours of TV in. But remember, before your words hit the screen, they hit the page. So read good writing. And read it a lot. Take pride in the way you wield the words on the page. At the end of the day it's unimportant whether it's screenwriting, prose, essay writing or anything else. You have a gift. Use it, expand upon it and spend time daily getting it out of your head and onto the page.

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Yeah, yeah, I know I'm eight seasons too late to be interested in AMERICAN IDOL. I avoided it for a long time. But I'm really struck by the parallels between this show and the journey of writers. Everything from the early auditions, when people think they can sing because their friends and parents told them so, to the current episodes in which singers are adept but not 100% unique.

In particular, there is one singer, Lil Rounds, who has a great voice. The girl can sing. But her choices so far have been homages to other artists but without her own touch - and that has held her back from greatness. She's imitating, not innovating. And that can be the death of many a talented screenwriter.

The same but different is something we've all heard before. It's supposedly what audiences want in a movie. Something that is a little familiar to them, and yet something that surprises and delights them too.

Last week, when Adam Lambert performed "Mad World," we had the perfect example of "the same but different." A familiar song, but he took it to another level of its potential. He put his own stamp on it. A performance like that makes you want to listen to the original again (or even the cover by Gary Jules, featured on the DONNIE DARKO soundtrack) AND to listen to Adam's rendition again and again.

There's no question that all of the finalists on AMERICAN IDOL can sing. They are all talented, no doubt about that. But, the question then becomes who can perform under pressure and pull it out time after time and who can stand out from the pack in terms of originality? Or, as we writers would say - who has a VOICE?

Every day, as I am wont to say, hundreds and hundreds of scripts arrive in Hollywood. The vast majority of them are not competitive. Think of this phase as those early AMERICAN IDOL auditions when you have thousands of screaming would-be competitors crowded into auditoriums, waiting for a chance to try out. Some are delusional, some are clowns - and some - a very few, can actually sing.

You're not worried about the delusional and the clowns. Your competition is the writers who can actually write. Now we come down to meaningful competition. But of those who can actually write - how many are also good in a room, able to handle pressure and able to write not one good script - but another one and another after that? Now the competition dwindles to just a handful.

The sorting process goes something like this:

Writers who can actually write
Writers who can write more than one good script
Writers who write consistently, with discipline
Writers who can handle feedback and take notes
Writers who can handle rejection, disappointment and setbacks
Writers who can generate fresh ideas
Writers who are good in a room and can pitch well
Writers who are fearless and confident

...and even then, Wavers, even when you reach the top tier of confidence, experience, professionalism and consistent writing, the odds are very much against you. But you have to go through the various auditions - the points along the way when other writers either drop out or get sorted out of the running.

There are troubling signs along the way that can sometimes indicate a writer doesn't have what it takes. New writers who get IRATE about notes or feedback - not a good sign. Writers who take rejection too much to heart. Writers who stay on the same level of doing great karaoke but who can't break through to find their own unique voice. But the good news is you can work to break through any of these levels. As they say, the difference between writers in this town who make it and those who don't is that those who made it never gave up trying.

But in order to evolve, you have to recognize where you are on the scale. You have to listen to the feedback you are receiving - sometimes it's silent feedback in the form of not getting read requests off of queries. Maybe it's pass after pass. Maybe you go postal when you get notes you don't like or agree with. Maybe you FREEZE in a room. Maybe you write well but your scripts are soft and derivative. It's okay - just be honest about where you are. That's the only way to reach the next level.

I wonder, when a contestant on AMERICAN IDOL goes home - what do they do next? Do they bitterly voodoo curse Simon Cowell and rage to the skies that they were unfairly treated? Or do they take what they learned and use it to become a better singer/performer? Well, I suppose either choice is a legitimate one. What would you do? Are you going to use your experiences to build a case that the world is not fair to you and that nobody gets your brilliance? Or are you going to make an honest assessment and use the information you gather to recharge yourself and your writing to keep evolving and improving?

Continuing to evolve, being open to feedback and continuing to put that behind in a chair is what separates the men from the mice. Yes, sometimes it's exhausting. Some writers just think you know what, I just don't have the passion, eight scripts in, to keep up with this. And that's okay, that's a legitimate life choice. But you out there, you writers who can see no other life for yourselves than to break into Hollywood and write a produced movie? You are on an Iron Man Triathlon. Others will fall away, the path may sometimes feel lonely and difficult, but nurture that core passion and get back up and keep writing. That's the only way through to the end game. And when you reach that end game, you'll find the most ironic thing of all - it's not the end, it's a new beginning. So you wrote a script that sold and was produced. Can you do it again? Can you stay relevant? Now that you made it onto Sold Writer Island, can you manage not to get voted off?

Writing, particularly writing for entertainment, is not for babies. It's only that weird, slightly obsessive part of yourself, the part that makes you NEED to write, that can be your sword and your shield on this strange journey. Don't be afraid to take stock of who you are and where you are. There's no shame in being like Lil Rounds - she's amazing - she's made it very far. She can sing better than 99% of the population. But in a competition, that's not good enough. If that thought makes you quail, you may not have what it takes. There's only one way to find out. Keep. Writing.

And yes, you will have very bad writing days. I had one just yesterday. Bad writing, not having fun, not feeling the love. Writing sucks, let's just be honest. But it's not going to stop me from sitting back down today and getting back to work. Being a writer is like marriage: for better or for worse, through sickness and health, for richer or poorer. Good writers have bad days. Bad writers have good days. For my money, the absolute worst stage you could be at is not the doubt, not the rejection, not the freezing in a room, but being a screaming contestant sure you can sing but the truth is - you can't. That is horrible. To not honestly know what your skills are.

I find that the intensity of writers is usually inversely proportionate to their talent. I have not done a scientific study but I have worked with hundreds of writers and I have found this to be a pattern. Good or even great writers are generally fairly mellow and humble. Bad writers are usually strident, defensive and insistent that they are great. I think when you're good and you know it, you don't have the need to insist or be validated. When you're not so good, a defense mechanism can kick in, making you need to insist that you are GOOD as a way of coping with the fact that in reality, the idea of being a writer is what you are in love with.

There are Wavers reading this right now who fall into every category I have listed or mentioned in this whole blog post. All up and down the scale. I can't know whether each and every one of you can or cannot write, will or will not succeed. It doesn't matter what I think. It just matters that you be honest with yourself. If your GPS is not set to the true starting point, you'll never get to your destination.

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So I was listening to NPR the other day, as I am wont to do, and I heard the very last installment of their This I Believe series. It was Muhammad Ali talking about what he believes about life. It was fascinating. And I thought - how interesting, making a statement about what you believe is like writing a mission statement, isn't it? And a mission statement is a bit like a great logline isn't it? It's a very core, fundamental statement about your script.

Long time Wavers know I tend to harp on the fact that screenwriting is only one kind of writing and that you should develop the muscles and the skills to write for other mediums. Short fiction, poetry, non-fiction, first person essays - well, how about we get a two-fer today?

How about Wavers write a 100-word This I Believe Statement and submit it to the comments section here? It's a way to think about and focus on your core values and beliefs but with a strict word limit. The word limit - just like in writing a great logline - forces you to distill your thoughts into the most powerful expression possible. And here's the two-fer part - as you do this, you'll revisit and reinforce what your core values and beliefs are. In a busy, busy world we don't check in with ourselves often enough and ground ourselves in what we really believe to be true of ourselves and this life. There's just so much noise and distraction. But if we don't check in with why we're here on this planet, then we're chucking the guidebook out the window.

Easter celebrates the resurrection of Christ, but as a metaphor, it celebrates the possibilities of rebirth and new paradigms. Passover celebrates freedom from adversity and new beginnings. So it seems appropriate on this Easter and Passover holiday to take a moment to do an uplifting writing exercise that reinforces who we really are and what we hold dear.

So here's my This I Believe:

I believe that happiness is not about stuff or achievements, but a feeling of well-being. I believe that knowing the universe is fundamentally good is the only thing you need to know for sure. I believe there are no mistakes, accidents or wrongs that won’t unfold into grace down the road. I believe that grace is where courage, wisdom and laughter meet. I believe in being nice to people. I believe in playing more and worrying less. I believe we are the writers, directors and producers of our lives and that we tell the story we want to be in.

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Flip through your most recent copy of Creative Screenwriting or Script Magazine and focus on the ads. Yeah - that's mine, very good, thank you. Nice artwork, I know.

Look, I'm a writer just like you. And I just saw an ad for a very cool looking writer's retreat - I've never been to one and they appeal to me mightily. I have a lifelong dream of going to Yaddo or enrolling in the Iowa Writers' Workshop. Maybe one day. A retreat strikes me as a great use of money and time. Because the rewards have legs. Teach a man to fish and all that.

But some of the other ads, the ones that promise to reveal some SECRET to success - those make me so uncomfortable. Because, Wavers, there is no big secret that someone can teach you that will magically make a sale for you. There. Just. Isn't. Believe it.

With the economy in a tailspin, we are all forced to make tough decisions and really look at our expenses and test each one for how much it is really needed. In times past, we all had more disposable income and it was easy and fun to go to Target and spend $200 on stuff and we didn't think twice. We need stuff, right? Take a look at your home - look at all your stuff. I bet you have a lot. I do.

And just like anyone else, I get the feeling that some new stuff will bring happiness, security, success - whatever. When I was married, I was a shopper. Because shopping alleviated boredom and stuff feathered my nest with - well, stuff. Looking back now I see that I had been the ideal consumer - stuff makes you happy! You NEED this Pottery Barn furniture because then you'll be just like the photograph of a stuff-filled home which connotes comfort, success and classiness! Oh, and relevancy and happiness! Oh, how ridiculous. Do you know that temporary high of getting something new? Your new car, new clothes, new iPhone - it's like a new toy and it provides entertainment - for awhile. Then it's just more stuff you have. And you're no happier. Or more successful. What a line of baloney we've all been fed.

We live in a consumer driven culture and yes, there is a lot of stuff that does enrich, educate and fulfill us. But you have to check in with yourself - am I getting this stuff because I'm bored? Am I getting this stuff because it promises me that I'll be happier? Or more successful? But - will it really? Honestly?

Don't get me wrong; I'm all about seeking out joy and fulfillment. But when particular products or services tell screenwriters that they will learn some huge SECRET that will OPEN THE DOORS TO HOLLYWOOD I get kind of uncomfortable.

Because, and I'll say it again - there is no big secret that everybody knows that you do not.

Wait - no - there is. I'm charging $53.99 per view of this big secret:

Ass in chair.

Okay, you can send payments to: bigsecret@thescriptdepartment.com. Go ahead. Operators are standing by.

As a service provider for aspiring screenwriters, I obviously believe that objective feedback is an important part of your development - otherwise you can write all you want and have no idea if you're improving. If I didn't truly believe that, if I hadn't benefited from it myself, if I didn't see the impact great feedback has on writers, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Because I was born with a very strong ethical-ometer [technical term --Ed.] and I can't earn my living providing a service that writers don't actually need and also live with myself. I'm just not built that way. From time to time the board of directors of my company considers, then scraps, ideas that would earn us money but not really benefit you demonstrably. We just don't roll that way.

There are consumer junkies of every stripe. The techno-gadget junkies. The home furnishings and lifestyle junkies. The cosmetics and beauty supplies junkies. The DVD-buying entertainment system junkies. You name it. And for each type there is a whole industry set up to exploit the junkie and give him or her that HIGH of hope and safety and security.

Most screenwriters are pretty astute, but there are junkies in that world too. I have seen them browsing the tradeshows, snatching up armloads of books and software. I have seen them attend not one but three and four pitch fests each year. I have seen them attend not one but EVERY class and seminar. In a weird way, it's a great way to avoid actually writing. If you keep buying STUFF about screenwriting - somehow, by accretion, magically, your writing will improve.

R-i-g-h-t.

Look, I'm as guilty as some of you are - talking about screenwriting is way more fun than doing it. We'll do anything to avoid the terrifying quiet of sitting in front of our computers sometimes. And I really do get that.

But don't get taken for a fool. Big secret = bullshit.

I mean, look - of course you need to spend money on your screenwriting career. You do need to attend events, go to classes, buy some books and get feedback. It's all part of that five a day for writers I've spoken of before:

Write
Promote
Network
Learn
Live well

Check in with yourself before spending money on seminars, books and products. Is there a feeling there for you of desperation? Of a quick fix? If so - do NOT press "pay now." Be careful of where you spend your money and your time when it comes to screenwriting. New, better, faster and more is a myth. Ass. In chair. That's the only big secret. And even then, folks, even then, the odds are against you. Are you okay with that? You have to be.

Someone asked me the other day why I write The Rouge Wave. I thought about it for a minute. Because writing is really hard and isolating and I try to motivate you with humor and understanding. Because you need a cheerleader, a friend and a strict schoolmarm. Because sometimes you need to get over yourselves. Because somebody needs to tell the truth once in awhile. Because I want you to believe in yourselves. Honestly, I am YOUR fan, Wavers. I thank YOU for reading every day. Because writing is hard. But you're doing it against crazy odds. Because you can't help it. Because you have a story to tell. And because you want to express yourselves and make some sense in this crazy world. That is heroism. You are the ones who inspire me.

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I wouldn't describe myself as a script reader these days. Readers read two to three scripts per day. Now that I run a company that hires readers, I might read one or two scripts a week. And when I do, I really look forward to it. Oh for a quiet hour or so to sit with your script, turning the pages and getting lost in the world that you created. I get all comfy with some coffee or tea, turn down the radio and open the script.

I read a few pages. The phone rings. I ignore it and keep reading. My email chimes. Three times. I glance up to see what's up but return to the reading. The phone rings again; it's the director of the Attic Theater about tonight's table read - I gotta take it. After a 10 minute conversation, I return to your script - which page was I on? Oh, page 17, okay. I continue reading. Email keeps chiming. Oh shoot, that email has to be responded to right NOW. I jot off a quick reply. Now. Back to your script. What was happening? Where was I? And so on and so forth. There is no such thing as totally quiet, dedicated script reading time. It will get interrupted. And I'm just me - imagine an agent or manager reading your script. Multiply the phone calls and emails and knocks on the door by 1000.

But something strange happens when your script is engrossing. Suddenly, everything else around me goes quiet - I can't tear myself away from the pages. Yeah, yeah, I'll return that phone call but I just gotta see what happens, I'm just so swept up in these pages. Yesterday in the late afternoon that happened. I had to GO, I had a table read to host. But the script was really engaging me and I had to finish it. I kept glancing at the clock - gotta go - gotta go - but just two more pages. Just five more pages. Gotta finish this, gotta see how it ends...

On the other hand, and I'm sorry to say, this is the majority of the time, if your script is executed poorly - if I'm just not getting into the characters, if there are errors on the pages, if the storytelling itself is pedantic and unexciting, then the email chimes, phone calls and lunch dates suddenly become more pressing than your pages.

So Wavers, this is what you're up against. Because my situation is pretty normal. Even a script reader who does this as a full time job gets hungry for lunch, gets emails, phone calls and roommates poking their head in the door asking whose turn it is to vacuum. Nobody reads your script in a 100% ideal situation - i.e. uninterrupted, blissful silence.

So how can you overcome that fact? You need cinematic writing that moves. You need unforgettable characters. You need a premise that is unique and exciting. Those are the scripts that make the phone calls and other interruptions fade into the background. You can have whatever opinion you want about BALLS OUT, the Robotard Mystery Script, but it is, if nothing else, very engaging. It MOVES. It surprises, it offends and it makes you laugh. It is, in a word, engaging.

Engaging the reader. That's your job.

The first thing to overcome for you, the writer, is the difference between what engages YOU and what will engage and involve someone else. If you asked 10 writers whether their script is engaging, all 10 would say yes it is. Nobody ever tries to write a script that isn't. Right?

But the relationship between a writer and his or her script is inherently incestuous. You're too close to the material to imagine that it may not be as great to someone else as it is to you. You've read it and worked on it ad infinitum, so you have no perspective anymore. Is it entertaining? Well, sure, to YOU it is.

But is it really? Is it interruption proof? Will it make a professional reading your script ignore the ringing phone and be late for lunch?

That would make a great rating on the rating grid - engaging/entertaining/compelling. Fair, Good or Excellent. Maybe we should think about including that at The Script Department. Mama shall think that one over. But do you really want to hear the answer?

The most heartbreaking instance is when a script is executed just fine - no typos, clean action lines, a good page length - but the story is just, well, dull. It's fine. It's okay. It's just not that interesting.

Many of you may read scripts from time to time and you're thinking - hey! I stick to it! I don't get interrupted, my attention is held the whole time. Well, there's a wide gulf between you and a professional reader. For one thing, you are probably reading a professionally written and/or produced script in which the writer has a very high skill set. Or barring that, you're reading a script as a favor to someone and you're all amped up to do it. And another thing - you might read two or three scripts a month. Try reading two or three scripts a DAY and imagine then, that of the minimally 15 scripts you read in a week, that 13 made your eyes bleed.

Reading can sometimes be a real grind. Believe it. And your script enters into that grind as a new, fresh hope for that reader. Maybe THIS one will be a quick read. Maybe THIS one will crack me up or scare me or make me cry. Maybe THIS one will remind me how much I love good writing.

That's why readers get SO excited when your script rocks. Wow! One stood out! This writer changed my perspective, just a little bit. This writer entertained me, moved me and delighted me. God I love that feeling. It's the best feeling in the world. Well, you know, in the top 10.

Imagine this: You pick up a book and read a few pages. Not turning you on. You give it another few pages. Still not doing anything for you. You flip ahead. Eh. You look at the cover again. Meh. You read the author's bio on the back. Hmm. And you make the painful decision to put the book down. If you're a reader, you don't have that latitude. You MUST read the whole damn thing. And then write up your thoughts about it. If it was slow, unoriginal, laborious and filled with typos and mistakes, your coverage is going to reflect that without mercy.

So remember, after you've read all of your Save the Cats and Storys and Writing Great Character Blah-Blah books, after you've read The Rouge Wave everyday, the onus is still on you to write pages that engage and entertain. Your job is to write pages and tell a story that engages the reader. Your pages have to make the world go away.

There's no book that can tell you how to do that. It's called talent. And it's making sure that your premise - before you write the bloody script - is an interesting, original, entertaining one. Feedback helps. Being honest with yourself helps. So often newer writers can be very self-indulgent. How can the thinly veiled autobiographical story of how hard it was for you to find love when you were a student at UC San Diego not be TOTALLY exciting to someone else? Hint: It won't be.

Readers are jaded. J-a-d-e-d. We have already read every script known to man. The same stories are told over and over. What you think is totally original, to us is a script we read last week. Believe it. I know it's a very harsh truth. Your totally original sci-fi script? Yeah,I've read it before and it was better.

Awful awful awful, right? Well, it's the truth.

Get honest feedback from someone who either doesn't know you or someone willing to be 100% honest. So that rules out your mom, spouse and friends. Work HARD on hammering out a premise that is the same - but different. Dig down deep into the particularity of the world you are creating. Take the time to develop characters that really are unique. Write pages that move quickly and that are cinematic, colorful and entertaining.

Because the entertainment factor is everything. It is simply everything. And the golden pathway to that ineffable quality of engaging and entertaining is paved by everything above and then the one, magical ingredient that rules them all: VOICE.

How do you develop your voice? By writing. A lot. By letting go some and having fun on the pages. By being a little playful. By being unafraid to be uniquely you.

Generally, new writers go through several phases:

The first, horrible, awful two to three scripts: You have read all the books, taken all the classes and your writing is pedantic, tight and unoriginal. You get shut down immediately when you try to query or enter a competition. People smile thinly at you and encourage you to "keep trying!"

The mediocre three to four scripts after that: You don't have to refer to your Trottier book 18 times a day anymore to check on how to deal with structure. But your premises are not unique or entertaining. Your scripts are o-k-a-y but dull. You get shut down wherever you query. Your writing group encourages you but nobody really believes you have that "it" factor. You're a statistic: one of millions of aspiring screenwriters all over the world trying to break in and failing.

The mediocre and derivative couple of scripts after that: Now you're getting mad. What the hell?! Why is this not coming together?! You get shut down again. But you aren't quitting. WHERE is the golden premise that will enable you to write a great script? You've learned all there is to learn (you think), you write every day, your pages are pretty good but success still eludes you.

Then it happens. You say okay you know what? Screw it. I'm going to write this crazy story and I don't care what anyone says. I'm sick of this shit. I LOVE this story and I'm going to go nuts on it and my skill set is high but my temper is higher and I'm having fun on these pages. And that, Wavers, is the script that will break you into Hollywood.

But here's the rub: You CANNOT fast forward and write that great break-in script without going through writing several bad scripts first. It doesn't happen. Because you have to get good and frustrated first. And you HAVE to learn all that screenwriting craft stuff first. Oh, there are many who bleat - But what about Diablo Cody! She did it! And so can I! I'm just so talented! I deserve this! I need the money! I want the fame! Do not listen to the siren call of the Entitled Diva. It will dash you against the rocks.

You can't go around it, you can't go over it, you have to learn this lesson through experience.

So this script was kinda crappy. Fine. Start over and write another one. So that one was derivative and boring. FINE. Start over and write another one. And another. And another. One day you'll get good and mad - and determined - and you'll let loose. And that is the best feeling in the world for me, selfishly, because your script just made me miss my lunch date and three phone calls - and I don't care. Victory on the page!

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Sorry Wavers, but you are weird. So am I. Creatives are just strange. The way we think, our emotionality, the way we are always observing other people. The way we are always thinking about our writing and our stories. You gotta have some empathy for our family and friends who don't get it. I mean, seriously, we must be tough to be around sometimes.

One of the weirdest things about us is how our brains work when we are in the zone. I've been working almost every single afternoon lately with my raconteur, Mr. Perri, on figuring out the loglines for several script ideas and the beats for a particular script. Particularly when you are brainstorming with another person, you notice the way the creative energy ebbs and flows. I've noticed, for Perri and me, that we can brainstorm for about three hours before suddenly, the creative plug gets pulled. The room feels too hot. Our conversation slows. We get stuck on one particular point. We start circling and circling the same point. We can't bust out. We suddenly feel overwhelmed and...tired of thinking. Which is when we pull the plug for that day. Enough. We look at what we DID accomplish and we call it a day. I am of the opinion and the experience that you just can't push it.

So what do we do? We have to make regular writing/brainstorming/outlining time in our day to day, we know that, right? But we also have to know when it's enough for that day. Because pushing it beyond the limits of having fun kills creativity. You'll start to generate bad ideas, you'll start to mess up what you had done with your story.

So make sure you quit when you're ahead, Wavers. For whatever reason, Creativity Fatigue kicks in at some point and you have to recognize it and be okay with walking away from it for that day. I'm always talking about balance in our lives, right? You don't have to crack your story or an aspect of it on a particular day. Don't forget that as much as we need Behind in the Chair time, we also need Subconscious Mulling Time.

Most of us creatives - and I include musicians, poets, writers and artists in that - get ideas and breakthroughs and inspirations when we aren't even trying. We have to be still to let it in sometimes.

Flannery O'Connor, who wrote my absolute, hands-down favorite short story of all time "Revelation" (seriously, please check it out) once said, and I am paraphrasing, that every day she'd put a blank piece of paper in her typewriter and just sit for four hours. That way if a good idea did come, she wouldn't miss it. Flannery did pretty well with that methodology.

So that's the Behind-in-Chair discipline, which is SO important. But we also need to honor the Wait-and-it-Will-Come method. Our brains are so endlessly complex and fascinating. Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink is a great read if you are interested in the topic. In fact, the rest of the title of that book is "The Power of Thinking Without Thinking."

So if you're writing and you suddenly feel the walls closing in, if your ideas are drying up, if you're not having fun anymore - walk away. Go do something else. Just put your behind in that chair again tomorrow and trust that in between, your brain really is still working out the problem. It will save you the awful feeling of Creative Fatigue, it could save your script from some really bad decisions and hey - how many other people in life get to walk away from the work and know the brain will still figure it out? It's pretty cool.

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So American Idol, the pop culture phenomenon, has been on television for how long now? I have no idea because I'd never seen even one episode. Shocking, right? I've been a real Luddite. Until this season. (No offense, Luds).

I don't know what made me do it. Curiosity? Luddite shame? Whatever the reason, I got hooked. And my embarrassment over that is matched only by my frustration because apparently everyone else is over it so I have nobody to commiserate with.

So - setting aside the uncomfortable feeling of getting hooked on a reality tv show judged by a singer/choreographer from the 80s who appears to be on painkillers, a constipated Brit with serious emotional issues, some new girl I do not recognize in any context and a black guy who used to be in Journey (is that right?) and who uses the word dog - or is it "dawg" so much that if I were King Herod I would have cut off his tongue by now - so setting that all aside, I have found some interesting parallels between American Idol and aspiring screenwriters.

The very early, cattle call rounds of American Idol, the ones that take place in cities all over the US, are the most obvious, painful comparison to aspiring screenwriters. Literally thousands of singers line up to audition. Thousands. I was amazed at how many people are just SURE they can sing - when they cannot. They get up there at that audition and they just sing their hearts out because they love it and they feel it and they want it but oh lord. Just oh lord. Not so much. Why, I thought to myself, does everybody think they can sing well enough to be a paid performer just because they love doing it? Why are Americans so deluded and entitled? I love singing. I sing fairly well. But not anywhere close by a country mile to the way I'd have to in order to make that a career. I also love sailboats. But I am not a sailor. People get into tragic accidents when they think they can do something that they really cannot. My uncle Malcolm enjoyed wine, thought he was a vintner and a tragic occurrence at the Owl Creek wine press came to pass.

How often have you heard people say - I love to write. I'd love to be a writer. I'm gonna write a novel one day. People love my writing. Whoops, there it goes again - entitlement and a disrespect for the craft of writing. I think that's what gets me. As if writing is just easy. You just write down words. As if singing is easy, you just sing stuff. As if making wine is easy, you just smash stuff.

Rest in peace, uncle Malcolm. But I digress.

A few episodes of American Idol later, after the absolute jokers have been weeded out, we get to the singers who can actually sing but they begin to be tested by stress and demands. Yes they can sing but can they sing country music? Or a Michael Jackson cover? What kind of range do they have? Can they perform on stage? Do they have an identifiable persona (in writing world: voice). And now we begin to weed out even more contestants. And then things just begin to get completely subjective. Is the hippy-baby-mama contestant with the long blonde hair and the full sleeve tattoo cute and inspiring - or annoying? Is the emo kid with the eyeliner fresh and relevant or a good singer leaning on a tired shtick?

So we return to writers. And you know, Wavers, I have a unique bird's eye view of this, being that my business is patronized by a very wide range of writers - everyone from the complete beginners to the repped and solds. Over the past few years, I have noticed definite types and trends when it comes to completely new, beginner writers. I see realism, humility and maturity - but more often, I see a complete disconnect between the reality and the dream. Bad, derivative ideas wrapped up in hubris and laziness. Get rich quick types, in other words, who figure because they liked HELLBOY or LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, they will just play a little Hollywood Powerball and get rich quick.

But just like American Idol, the writers who can't really write get sorted out rather quickly and rather brutally. I would say the average aspiring screenwriter goes about two years before he or she runs out of enthusiasm for screenwriting. After hundreds of dollars spent on software and books, after countless late night hours spent arguing on bitter, blind-leading-the-blind screenwriting message boards about whether an agent or manager is better or why this or that spec sold when THEIR spec is so much more brilliant, after three half-finished scripts, a pilot and 28 unanswered queries, they realize they just don't have the patience - or the talent - for it.

Because they got caught up in the entitled, Powerball thinking. Buy the software, buy all the books, eat, think, dream and love movies, and you will make tons of money in a couple or three years. No such, Wavers. Just no such. You need talent. And there's no way to candy-coat that fact.

It's not a sprint, it's a marathon. And absolutely not everybody trying to write and sell a script is going to actually make it. In fact, over 90% of you will never be repped or sold. Does that fact make you want to quit? Then you should quit. But what if you do have the patience? What if you are that person in line for an American Idol try-out in Baton Rouge or some far-flung place but what if you actually can chug along through every single challenge and what if you DO have a voice and a story to tell that America will love? That's the allure, isn't it? What if?

If you really do think so - slow it down a little. You don't have to buy every single book on the topic. Just a few select books will do. What you really must be doing is writing every day. And - and nobody wants to hear this one for some reason - you need to read. A lot. And no, I don't mean other scripts. That's a given - I mean, you need to be reading books (fiction and non-, new and old), the newspaper and periodicals. You need to be reading not only news but editorial content. You need to be reading good writing. What on earth does that have to do with screenwriting?

Look, for once and for all, screenwriting does not exist in a bubble. Screenwriting is only ONE kind of writing. If you don't spend time reading and appreciating - much less writing - other forms, you will be a 90-pound weakling out here in Hollywood. I cannot tell you how different the reality has been for me in the way Hollywood "types" are perceived and how they really are. To a one, every agent, manager and development exec I have ever met or talked to (and I will also include every writer I know who has either made it or is on the cusp of making it) is intelligent, articulate, omniverously curious and very, very well read. Are you?

My daughter enjoys watching America's Next Top Model and of course, when you have any excuse to spend time with your teenager, you do it because god knows when that door will be open again - so I watch it with her. And we have noticed a trend - in the early rounds, the girls who are very pretty in an obvious, easy way are always over-confident and they never make it far. Because they're pretty, they don't have to work all that hard. And they are consistently found bingeing on a big slice of humble pie.

Why do we Americans increasingly think that things should come to us easily? Why do we think that we can obtain talent in the same way we obtained our Pottery Barn leather furniture and credit card debt? Not everyone can do everything well. Writing might be your passion - but it might not be your true talent. I love to sing; it makes me happy. But I don't put myself on the same planet as those who do it for money.

So where do you fall in the scheme of things, Wavers? So you think you can write, huh? But can you? Can you really? Do you have what it takes to be on top? Can you handle the long journey? Can you adapt? Can you handle brutal rejection? Can you write more than one type of thing? Can you read, synthesize and discuss current thought, literature, history and opinion? In other words, do you see yourself as part of a tradition of writing or as a standout exception - the one thoroughbred on the track who is going to break all the rules, run one lap and win the roses with very little effort? Nobody would ever admit to harboring that delusion and yet many do.

Now get back to work.

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So yesterday I had a meeting with a client, let's call him, I don't know - Robert - to go over three scripts and to review his overall trajectory and game plan as a writer. He is 20 years old. He is crazy talented. He is focused as hell and he is your competition. In other words, Wavers - I have seen your enemy and his name is Ambition.

First scary fact about "Robert:" he has innate talent. I have read two feature scripts of his in the past few months and while they had room for improvement, the general level of execution was quite high. I asked him how many scripts he'd completed. Just those two and a tv pilot (which I also read and which I think is not far from being presentable to a rep). My jaw dropped. He can write like this after only two scripts?

But it gets better. We talk about branding oneself and what other ideas Robert has. He opened his laptop and showed me an excel spreadsheet. Filled out, top to bottom with ideas, by genre and with status update columns next to each. And here's the thing - several of those ideas were great. High concept, unique, fleshed out and - well - they sounded like movies.

I snapped the laptop shut and asked Robert to be very careful who he shares those ideas with. In fact, I counseled him, these ideas are valuable, please don't share them blithely with anyone unless you are in a meeting with a somebody who is speaking seriously with you about working with you as your rep.

I asked Robert if he is willing to move to LA (he's currently visiting from the East Coast). Yes, he is. He realizes he needs to be here in order to network, rub elbows and learn more about the business. How often do you write? Every day. How long have you been writing in one form or another? My whole life. How long does it take you to write a script? Two or three months. What about this particular idea? I have a treatment written.

We made a list of the top five projects Robert is most passionate about and that are the most realized and that serve to "brand" him as a writer. Robert will continue to add to and update his idea list but he's organizing that list by commercial potential versus very indie, and by genre and status. So that the newest idea he just had goes way on the bottom; it's not developed yet.

Look, 20 is very young. Robert has a lot of life to live and a lot of emotional depth and understanding to add to his skillset as writer and as a human being. Naturally. It's one of the glorious upsides to aging, isn't it? The marinating that results in wisdom, patience, empathy and humility? But sometimes I think that's what we older writers say to comfort ourselves when we see the 20-year-olds nipping at our heels with an iPhone in one hand and a soy latte in the other. What does that kid know about life? He knows what he wants and he knows what he's going to do to go get it. And he doesn't have a mortgage or two kids or a career. Hollywood is indeed a very young industry. To say otherwise would be to lie to your faces, Wavers.

It's a bitter pill, Wavers, but Robert is your competition. He's young, he's focused, he's talented, he's ambitious as hell and he's investing in his writing career now. One of the things that impressed me the most (beyond the undeniable natural talent) is that Robert is shrewd enough to seek a mentor, which is what our meeting yesterday was all about. He knows what he doesn't know and he sought trusted guidance.

So what are you gonna do about that, Wavers? Where's your slate of ideas? Do you write every day? Do you network? Do you seek learning opportunities and guidance? How seriously are you taking this screenwriting thing?

You know by now that I have firmly planted in the ground here at TRW and in my life that writing should be playful, joyous and fun. That said, if you really, seriously want to compete in Hollywood, you have to do the work and you have to compete with people like Robert because for every 100 screenwriting aspirants who try it but give up a couple of years later when they quail at the negativity and rejection, or the dilettantes who try it because it sounds glamorous but don't have the chops or the focus, there are 10 or 15 Roberts who do have the chops, who do have the focus and who also have the advantage of youth and the time to spend writing. That's the only competition that matters. The snarky masses on the message boards don't matter -they're not going anywhere. But Robert is.

I don't mean to be negative this morning - far from it - I mean to inspire you, Wavers, to take your competition seriously and to be inspired by it.

You know, about two years ago, the director of a very large script coverage company here in LA, upon learning that I had started my own company, sniffed haughtily - well, I don't consider you competition, Julie, so good luck. That was all she had to say. It has fueled me ever since to overtake her company and while I can't share confidential information, if I were her, I'd be looking in the rear view mirror about now. Objects are closer than they appear.

So here's to you, kid. Because I love that Robert is determined and talented. And I love that he can inspire us all to work a little harder and reach a little further. And because his success is our success because he shows us what ambition and focus looks like.

Now get back to work.

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So yesterday I spent the day at the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center in the pediatric ward. The Mini-W has a dear friend who has been gravely ill. I don't say gravely lightly, either. I'll be there again today and again later this week. Hospitals are weird places and with another full hospital day ahead of me, I can't help but slide into my observational writer self. Hospitals are veritable hotbeds of character and place observations, aren't they?

The way the doctors seem to stride rather than walk, with their white coats billowing just slightly. The way some visitors are upset and crying, and others seem relieved. The way the nurses become slightly goddess-like because they bring comfort, information and relief. I saw two helper dogs yesterday. One was a huge white Newfoundland-looking dog, the other a playful Jack Terrier. People gathered around both with delight. I saw a woman outside on her cell phone, sobbing. I saw a woman pull her IV tree outside to have a smoke.

Hospitals have a visceral impact; they make one instantly feel a bit wound up and emotional. The atmosphere reminds one how very delicate life and health really is. This particular facility is rather new and looks like it cost about a billion dollars. Until you go upstairs to visit and then it looks like any other hospital. The pediatric ward is particularly difficult. Our friend is a teenager but the other rooms had toddlers and infants in them. And bewildered six-year olds. Some rooms are highly decorated and personalized because that kid has been there for a long time.

My daughter's friend came out of her heavily sedated state to observe, sleepily - "It smells like...Canada in here." We can only ascribe this comment to the effects of some serious medication but it brought a much needed moment of levity. Another moment of levity came when I asked a striding, billowing doctor where to find a particular part of the hospital and he kept right on striding, saying he really didn't know. That's okay, I said. Have a great day and save some lives! He turned and smiled wryly. Is that what I do? He was probably a podiatrist. I was instructed by my daughter to not talk to doctors anymore.

I don't do very well in hospital settings. It upsets me. It brings every anxiety right to the surface. I don't like the smell, the beeping machines, the seriousness of it all. The feeling of being on the razor's edge of life itself. It reminds me that the sunny world outside of the hospital is in some ways ignorant of that razor's edge reality that life can be precarious. It brings up fears - will I be in the hospital someday? Will I live through it? What if this were MY daughter? Would I be able to keep it together?

Actually last year it was my daughter and I held it together with an iron will. When it's YOU or YOUR family you really have no choice. You can fall apart later but not at the hospital. You must listen to the doctors, you must pay attention to what's going on. You must conquer your fear of the blinking lights, beeping machines and abject seriousness of it all.

If you were to write a scene set in a hospital, could you capture the complexity of the sights, sounds and emotions of that place? We drive past hospitals every day in our day-to-day lives. But inside those walls a whole different world is going on. One with its own culture, social constructs and mores. It's not something we often think about - until it's us or someone we love.

As writers, we are blessed with the ability and desire to write about the details of life. We are also cursed because even when we don't want to be observing - we are. We can't help it. I wondered about the doctors with their confident strides - do they feel like rock stars? Do they feel like imposters? They are just people, after all. But in that setting, in that white coat, they are elevated to something almost god-like by those who observe them. Every hospital room has a story. What got that patient there? Who is this patient? What is the prognosis? How is the family coping?

Writers carry around an invisible tool box. Every experience we have, we take notes silently and throw the experience into the hopper. Hospitals, football games, office parties - our own relationships. Have you ever had a fight - or even a joyful moment - with your significant other and thought - ooohhhhh this would be a great scene? I recently had a moment that would make a great comedy scene - a moment of great emotional intimacy that I ruined by making a joke. Well, I mean, ruined it for the man involved but I thought it was very funny. Casualty: one male ego was slightly bruised. Upside: That went right straight into the hopper. A version of that moment will appear in something I write, mark my words.

Writers are liars and thieves. We observe what goes on around us and we drink it all in for future writing purposes. Even when it's happening to us. We embellish to make the story more entertaining. Is the life-saving podiatrist a comedy down the line? Or one small piece of a character? How does Canada smell?

Have a lovely Sunday, Wavers, and here's a fist-bump from one writer to all of you writers out there. Observe, embellish, see and feel what's going on all around you, whether it's at the hospital, the video store or the line at the bank. Life is a moveable feast and it's our job to record it so that later, an audience member somewhere can have a much-needed belly laugh or maybe a really good cry. Our job is important.

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So you're working on your script and you're just - stuck. Not feeling the love. Suddenly feeling adrift. Suddenly doubting it, disliking it and sliding into an existential spiral of yuckness. Something just isn't working. This is not how it's supposed to be! I am the only writer who is stuck! I suck! Other writers do not go through this! Wrong, wrong and wrong again.

To power through the yuckness and self-pity of feeling stuck, you might ask these questions:

What
What
Why
How
Who

WHAT is the premise? What am I writing here? In one sentence. Spit it out. This is a thriller about a woman being stalked by a potato farmer. Let's practice the power of intentionality here - write the WHAT down on a Post-It and stick it onto your computer monitor.

WHAT turns me on about this story? What tickles me about it? What interests me here? Write it down. Don't judge what you write, just brain dump.

WHY would audiences enjoy seeing this movie? How does it help them escape, reflect or connect with their own humanity? Write it down. Again, brain dump.

HOW can I tell this story in a way that is uniquely compelling? How can I find a way into this story that is different from other stories like it? Do some brainstorming. Do you tell the story in reverse? Is the story set in a different era or location?

WHO is the main character? Do you need to push the pause button on the pages and do some character exercises and backstory writing? Do you really get the flaw of this character? Do you actually know how your character prefers his or her coffee? When they graduated? What they drive, what music they like, how they feel about their parents? How much do you know about this main character? The key to writing a compelling character rather than a marionette is backstory and character work.

In other words, revisit your mission statement for this script. Why did you want to write this story in the first place? What is making you feel suddenly stuck? Are you becoming mired in the details and have you lost track of the big picture? Is your main character really three-dimensional?

Look, there's no two ways about it - writing is painfully difficult at times. That's why most people are incapable of doing it. The brain of a writer must be lit up like a Lite Brite when we are brainstorming or writing. Imagine what that must look like. Take a moment and appreciate how hard this is. This writing thing isn't for sissies.

So be kind to yourself. Don't judge the process. If you need to take a break, take a break. But if you need to open a new Word document and just free-flow brain dump about this script, why you're writing it, who your main character is or why audiences will enjoy this story, do so. What you write won't wind up in the script, per se, but it will go into your creative larder as fuel. I do think that allowing yourself to just type your thoughts freestyle, without judging, can unleash ideas and inspiration that have been hidden.

That's the rub with writing, isn't it? You can't force it. But you can feed it. You can get in the mood for it and mainly - you can give in to the experience of it. Because it just isn't pretty.

It's like camping - you show up at the camp site all outfitted with fancy REI gear and all neatly prepared and two days later you're wearing three layers of filthy clothes with soot on your face and eating something off a stick that dropped in the dirt a minute ago. And you just don't give a damn. There's something totally exhilarating about just not giving a damn anymore.

Why just yesterday, a dear friend, after receiving a summons for a meeting at ICM this Friday, told me how she got to this point. She'd written several comedies, nothing was taking off, and she decided to not give a damn and just write a crazy post-apocalyptic script and damn the goddamn torpedoes. That's the headspace she was in. And now...fast forward about nine months: manager, agent, meetings at prestigious production companies. How's that for just letting go of control and not giving a damn?

Whatever it takes. Nobody is going to judge your process. And being stuck is quite decidedly part of the process. Writing is not neat, it is not pretty, it is not one size fits all. It's okay to have days when you absolutely hate your script. Pick that dirty marshmallow right back up, blow off the filth, ram that stick through it and roast it on the fire. The sweet center will still be there, no matter how you cook it.

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So you've made the time to write which feels terrific except now...you have to write. And you stare at your computer screen. And you wonder...do they have wireless at this cafe? I should check. You check. They do. Your finger hovers over the "accept this sketchy wireless connection" message. You click it. You get wireless but it's pretty bad. You check your email and the weather and it takes forever to load so you give up and click back on your script. You tweak some dialogue and then scroll down to the next blank page where you need to write a new scene. You type EXT. and then start sweating. You open your outline. Where were you? Ahhhhh, right. Right, right, right. But - is this outline really working? You spend ten minutes going over it. A terrible feeling starts to overwhelm you. You put your chin in your hands and stare around the cafe at the other writers. They all seem so busy and immersed. But you - but - this script - this is terrible. The outline is terrible. The pages are terrible. You know what? Let's see if the weather page finally loaded. It didn't. Just write, you idiot, you think to yourself. Back to the blank page after the terrible page on page fourteen. EXT. - FBI BUILDING....oh man is this scene DAY or NIGHT? You know what? Your coffee is getting cold. You go get another latte. And as you stand at the counter waiting for it, you look around at the cozy scene inside the cafe and you feel suddenly quite writerly. Look at all these writers click-clicking away. This is the life! I am part of a community! A silent one, but still! We are all here creating. You get slightly high from that feeling mixed with the sound of the espresso machine and clink of coffee cups and the sharp scent of coffee.

But every step back to your seat is like walking the green mile. There's the blank page again. But this time, fueled even momentarily by your this-is-the-life thoughts, you sit back down and start writing. Click-clicking away, you write a scene. And it's beyond bad. It's awful. But you don't care. Two terrible pages flow out of you when suddenly you are gripped with the realization that now you have to go back to page two and explain something. God writing is awful! You fix the thing on page two. Huh. This is starting to feel okay. These pages are not bad. The outline is carrying you forth like the yellow brick road. You get in the groove. You feel like you can't stop. You look at the time - oooohhh man, gotta wrap up. In just a few minutes. Just a few....INT....more....OPERATING ROOM....minutes....NIGHT.

Two hours later and you pack up your computer. You've written five whole new pages and worked on previously existing pages too. You've run the gamut from self-loathing to self-congratulatory pretension and back. You've had two lattes and then bought a water because you feel guilty about how the cafe owner is possibly making enough money with all these writers perched like trolls, occupying tables for hours. You think, if this cafe owner charged ten bucks for table rental, you'd pay it. You hope this doesn't occur to the cafe owner. As you walk home you think to yourself, what Woody Allen said is true: 80% of success is showing up. Even if showing up for your script is a hero's journey filled with doubt, pitfalls, horror and highs.

And you know what you've just had? A great writing day. Because this IS what writing looks like. If you have some sort of fantasy in your mind that other writers experience anything much different than this, you're laboring under an illusion.

Like the 7 circles of hell, the wireless checking, the going to get more coffee ploy, the loathing of your pages, the checking and re-checking of the outline - this is all normal. It's what we have to do in order to get to the good part.

Here's the biggest secret to writing. Ready? Ass + chair + time. That's it.

Now get back to work.

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Okay Wavers - here's our weekend challenge. Can you find two hours to write this weekend? In between the laundry, grocery shopping, Academy Awards and doing-of-things-with-your-significant-other-if-you-have-one? Doesn't have to be two consecutive hours, although that is ideal. Maybe you can write for 45 minutes this morning and an hour and 15 minutes tomorrow morning. Maybe you can write in increments of 20 minutes. Maybe you can duck out of your usual weekend obligations and just crank out two solid hours. Is this too much to ask of us? Are we taking our screenwriting careers seriously? Do our families understand how important this is to us? No, yes and of course.

Remember: this is like exercise. You will have 32 excuses why you don't have time, all seemingly quite legitimate. And yet - if you manage to squeeze some writing time in, you'll feel like a million bucks afterward.

So try to carve two measly hours out of this weekend someway, somehow and get some writing done. I'll be right there with ya. Who's in?

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Hello, Wavers - and Happy Friday-Before-the-Oscars. Sorry for posting so late today; had to make a run to the airport this morning. And all that jazz. I don't know how many of you are lucky enough to work at home but if you count yourself as a work-at-homer you know that it is a sublime blessing - and sometimes quite a curse. I myself work at home and I love that I can stop and do laundry, walk the dogs or do the dishes. On the other hand - I work at home. So I am surrounded by work. I can always work. Early morning, late at night - it's always there. When The Script Department decides to get a fancy office on Rodeo Drive, I'm gonna be one happy camper. Because then when you leave - you're DONE for the day. I miss that feeling of DONENESS. I have recently decided, however, in my inventive way, to start working at cafes at least two or three times a week. On TSD stuff and on my writing.

For me, there's something motivating about packing up and working somewhere else. I live in LA and so most coffee shops and cafes are packed to the GILLS with writers tap-tapping away. Something about that conveys a sense of camaraderie. Plus, for me, the white noise of a cafe - the espresso machine, the low murmur of voices, the cars swishing by outside - lends a feeling of being in a sort of bubble within which I can be more productive. I'm not sure why that is but I know I'm not alone because again, the cafes around here are always crowded.

Whether you work at home or work outside the house, consider going to your local cafe to do your writing. I find I can get more writing done in 90 minutes at a cafe than in three hours at home. So give it a whirl - you don't need to spend more time writing, necessarily, you need to spend good time writing.

So off I go - there's a great coffee shop about three blocks from where I live and starting today you can find me there several days a week. Look out, whoever has the table that's gonna be my new favorite spot. Or - maybe this is going to be a journey of finding the perfect cafe to write in. Hmmmmm...is this a story idea?

Wherever you are - get back to work.

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Good morning, Wavers. I have spoken before about the importance of networking in building and growing your writing career. It's part of the Five-a-Day (Write, Promote, Network, Learn, Live Well). But sometimes networking can give writers an anxiety attack. When do you network and when do you not network? Network all the time at any opportunity. But say you are going to an event specifically designed for networking. How can you handle the anxiety, shyness or overwhelm-ment that can be attendant to such things?

Today we have a guest blog written by Keith Tutera, the newly hired Creative Director for The Script Department. If you've seen our new website and marveled at the look and the catchy copy, you have Keith to thank. He's young, he's hip, he's hilarious and he can network like nobody's bidness. Indeed, part of his job description is making connections and growing relationships. And we couldn't have hired anybody more skilled at doing just that. So today Keith has a few words for Wavers who know they should be networking but may need some tips and motivation:

***

So you’ve managed to gussy yourself up, find parking, and make an entrance without face-planting. Now what? For those of us who weren’t endowed with networking chops from birth (i.e. most writers), attending a networking event can be intimidating, even downright scary. EEK!

Fear not, Wavers, with a little bit of courage and a lot of common sense you’ll have them eating out of your hand. But like any good scout you must come prepared. And that doesn’t just mean having stacks of freshly printed cards on impressive card stock a la American Psycho. You’ve got to be mentally prepared.

Begin your night with some simple visualization exercises. Envision yourself meeting lots of people, having a great time, and exchanging lots of cards. Concentrate on your breathing as you do this, and as you begin to feel the excitement and confidence build — hold onto that feeling, and (here’s the tricky part) EXPECT to feel it again when you arrive. Your successful night will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

For those of you who are reading this thinking that sounds like some California flim-flam hocus-pocus (ok, I am writing this from Venice Beach), allow me to offer an alternate suggestion — laughter. It can defuse tension in pretty much any situation.

Consider the following:

Last night my friend Linda and I attended a networking event for the Ivy Plus Society as guests of our friend, Adam. Being that neither of us are Ivy Leaguers (I myself went to UT, a “Public Ivy” and Linda went to UA, a fine institution, but nonetheless, no Ivy) we were both mildly intimidated. Especially since we were all arriving separately. Would they smell our non-Ivyness a mile away and pin us with The Scarlet Letter? Would we be tarred, feathered, and ridden out on a rail?

So what did we do about it? Did we fret, lament, and pull our hair out in neurotic anticipation? No, we made jokes. Linda told me that if anyone asked where I went to school, I should look them straight in the face and tell them that I just got my Associates degree from El Camino Community College. I laughed about that the entire drive to Hollywood. And if anyone asked where she was from, I told her to tell them that she grew up on a pile of dirt and was a 100% self-made woman. She got a kick out of that one.

And do you know what happened? We got to the insanely crowded venue in such good moods that we were relaxed and good to go. And we ended up meeting a bunch of really, really nice, interesting people. And we never even had to use our lines. In fact, I think one person asked me where I went to school the entire night and when I told her she was complimentary and kind.

Now, on to some networking tips:

Establish rapport first
Play it cool. Make sure there’s a vibe. When there isn’t - and someone thinks there is - you feel like you’re, well, being networked. It’s kinda hard to describe if you’ve never experienced it, but to suffice it to say it feels like an invasive procedure.

Once you’ve established a rapport, use it to network
About 99% of the people I met last night were lawyers, and I wanted to meet entertainment industry folk. So you know what I did? I asked some of the lawyers I got chummy with if they knew anyone there in the industry. Genius, right? Guess what — it worked. Introductions were made and it went very smoothly. But you gotta go with your gut — if I’d asked someone who wasn’t feeling it, I could have received a very awkward, “uhm...well...uh...”

Don’t be afraid to be bold - push yourself out of your comfort zone
At another event last week I walked by a group of people, one of whom I overheard saying that he had just posted an ad on Craigslist for a script doctor. I took a big swig of my beer, steeled myself, and went over and handed him a Script Department card and introduced myself in front of the whole group. He was super cool - as was the whole group - and before I knew it the rest of the group was asking me for cards, too. But this isn’t for everybody - it’s important to know your limitations. Whatever you do, do it with confidence, or don’t do it at all.

Should you drink? How much?
Ahh...the ubiquitous alcohol — a blessing and a curse. I recommend drinking enough to grease the wheels in the beginning, and then enough throughout to keep them greased, but not so much that they fall off the car. This is business, remember? The last thing you want to be is the guy that got sloshed and started getting handsy with the wrong girl. You know, that guy.

Above all else, DON’T BE PUSHY. And READ THE SIGNALS. They’re there
I met a guy at an event a few months ago who wanted me to teach an online course on his website. Faintly interested, I asked him to send me the link to his site, and told him that I would follow up with him if it seemed like a good fit, but [hint, hint] that I had a lot going on. No sooner did I get the words out of my mouth then he asked if it would be ok to follow up with me in a week or so. No, it’s not ok. I just told you I would follow up with you IF I were interested.

So get out there, Wavers. You have something to offer - remember that.

Position yourself as a center of influence - the one who knows the movers and shakers. People will respond to that, and you'll soon become what you project.
~Bob Burg

Originally from Washington, DC, Keith Tutera is a proud Public Ivy Graduate of the University of Texas at Austin where he earned a Master's Degree in Advertising. Having worked at illustrious ad agencies like DDB, McCann Erickson and Deutsch, Keith is an award-winning copywriter and master networker. The Script Department couldn't be prouder or happier to have him on board.

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So, you know, I can tell who you are. You know that, right? I can see where you come from when you read The Rouge Wave. Forums (and which thread), whether someone emailed you about TRW, whether you checked in from the US or from Spain. You click on my Facebook a lot. You click on my Twitter. I can see whether your internet carrier is from Fox or Disney or pacbell.net. I can see which other blogs you were reading first. I can see which blogs you read next. I can see that my ex-boyfriend occasionally reads the Rouge Wave. Unless there's somebody else who works at his exact company at that exact location. Hi sucky ex. You know who you are.

I watch with great curiosity how Wavers get here. Or my assistant does and she tells me every day who you are.

The more people Google TRW, the higher page ranking I get. So in the interest of doing some self-SEO-ing here are a tiny fraction of the searches just TODAY that led people to The Rouge Wave. If you're the Gretchen Mol nipple guy let me just say for the love of god why do you search for that so often?! And to that other guy - if you have to ask - probably not.

Burmese movies
Gretchen Mol's nipple
Julie Gray
Do I have talent?
How do I write a movie?
Rogue waves
Sex scenes
Hot sex
Logline how do I
Rouge Wave blog
ROUGE WAVE BLOG
Gretchen Mol's nipple (yeah. we get that a lot)
Juno dialogue sucks
Black List
television staffing
successful web series
write script
Mat Nix
how to write a tv script in 10 minutes

I am not making this stuff up, Wavers. We actually get some pretty awful and disturbing searches as well. Won't print those here. Yeccch.

So there's your Friday entertainment. No get out and do something nice for yourself this weekend. And make mama proud. Do some writing.

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We all know the importance of having goals in life. It motivates us, it gives us direction and fuels our efforts. It gives us milestones when the path is dark and bumpy. I've talked a lot about goals in the past couple of months - the new year is a great (if false) marker and measure for looking forward and backward at the same time.

You know that annoying question that is sometimes asked at job interviews - where do you see yourself in five years? Well - where DO you see yourself in five years? In your professional and your personal life? It's actually a pretty helpful question to answer.

So here's some really fun, uplifting homework for Wavers today: Write a free-flowing paragraph or two about where you see yourself in five years. Write it only in the positive - as if you HAVE achieved your goals - personal and professional. Write it with feeling - how great it feels to have achieved what you have achieved. How hopeful you are about even more achievement and success. Where are you living? What kind of house? What is your relationship status? How's your health? What have you written? Has it been sold or published? What's your peer group like? How's your family? Don't think - just write. This will become your personal mission statement. Keep it somewhere safe and reread it from time to time.

Now: there's one caveat. You have to believe that your goals are achievable. So if you write down: I have sold nine scripts, won three Academy Awards and live in the Taj Mahal where dancing girls wearing nothing but coconuts entertain me - you're defeating the purpose of this exercise. Unless you really, truly, madly, deeply believe that is in fact in your future. In which case, I have a great psychiatrist I can turn you on to. You can make anything happen if you honestly believe, down deep, that it is possible. So write down goals that you KNOW you COULD possibly achieve and then watch them begin to show up for you. Oh and you have to do the work. There's that.

Just the act of articulating and writing down your goals is a powerful way to set them into motion. Go ahead - give it a try. I did it the other day and I feel like one meeellion dollars!

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