A: Howdy, Mate!

Now, on to your question: Yes, definitely get an agent! Or a good entertainment lawyer. Either will be able to 1) Advise you on exactly what you're worth (which is usually always more than you think you are; 2) Negotiate better for you than you can; and 3) Watch out for pitfalls and "omissions" in the contract that might later come back to bite you in the butt. As the saying goes, a man who represents himself has a fool for a client...

I should know (yeah, yeah -- I should also know BETTER!). My agent's on vacation and a situation just came up where a signed deal memo had to be on a certain producer's desk in Munich by start of business this morning. My lawyer, unfortunately, was also busy, so the US producer and I ended up doing the deal ourselves late last night.

This morning my lawyer found at least five points that might inadvertantly void or seriously hamper me getting paid from the Europeans if the deal goes through.Yig!

Luckily, the US producer's an honorable guy and he and my lawyer are working to correct the gray areas; but in someone's hand who was less scrupulous...

A word to the wise.
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Q: I was told by one producer that agents get in the way....they stop the writer and the producer from "getting together" and making the most out of the story.

A: Crap! Agents stop producers from taking advantage of writers in any number of ways, least of which is free work (drafts and rewrites) which a new writer is often all too willing to give up in return for that all-elusive credit.
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Q: But I've also read that if the writer doesn't have an agent then no one will want to work with you?????

A: Also untrue (witness the producer above...). Over all else, an agent is a cachet...an instant sign of credibility...a fillip that says "I'm good enough to GET an agent, therefore I'm good enough to be taken seriously."

Agents come in all shapes and forms, from strict 10-percenters to people who become lifelong friends and Godparents to your children. A good agent knows all the rules (in your case, both WGA AND WGC would be useful...), has heard all the producers' lies and excuses, knows who's buying what, for how much and why, and is often your first and best critic and critiquer. S/he's usually the first objective person to read your masterpiece (forget your mum) and make suggestions, your biggest fan and your best cheerleader. An agent's a "good thing" (tm)
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Q: I have recently registered my screenplay with the writer's guild and was wondering if I should I put the registration number on the cover page.

A: The question of putting a WGA registration number on one's script rages daily. My opinion is -- DON'T.

At this point your job is to appear as professional and 'seasoned' as you can to any potential Reader, and pros don't put numbers on their scripts. It's just a given we register our scripts and have a number.

The simpler the cover sheet, the better. I use script name (centered, both vertically & horizontally, and underlined). Double-spaced under I put "written by" and single-spaced under that my name.

In the lower (about even with the bottom hole) left I put "Represented by,"  one-space below that my agent's name and a space below that her phone number. All left-justified. In the lower right, right-justified, directly across from 'Represented by' I put: "®1999/WGAw." One space below that, still right-justified, just to belabor the obvious I add: "All Rights Reserved." (NOTE: In case the symbol before the 1999 didn't translate thru your carrier, that's an 'R' with a circle around it: The universal mark for 'registered.'

Anything else is NOT gravy, it's detrimental to a Reader's frame-of-mind when he opens the script. He MUST constantly believe he's readingsomething by a professional writer who knows and understands how Hollywood likes its product delivered.
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Q: I’m writing because I would love to become a published writer. However I don’t know the first thing and was wondering if you could help. Thank you so much for your time. 

A: A published writer writes books, a produced writer writes plays or screenplays. Which is it you want?

If you want to become a screenwriter the first thing I'd suggest is you read every script you can get your hands on. There is nothing better for you than reading other's successes and mistakes. There are many websites, books and magazines that offer scripts. Your local library or university might have some, also. Another good source is the site of an E-script workshop attendee Leslie Odell, Screenwriter, Los Angeles. She has many great links to industry and script sites.

Contiguously, learn big, obscure words like "contiguously." Okay, I promise to behave -- must be the start of autumn that brings this facetiousness out in me.

But, at the same time you're reading, begin learning WHAT you're looking at in those scripts. Buy a good scriptwriting 'how-to' book. I like Syd Fields. His books can be found anywhere and, though his 3-Act structure has gone out 
of favor the past couple years, it's still the best I've found for basic s'writing. From it learn about structure, then compare what you're learning to what you're reading in others' scripts.

Finally, when you're fed up with reading other people's work, begin your own. But not the script -- no, no, no! First you have to find out whether you have a story...

In my E-script class I start with a sentence -- called a logline, like you'd find in the TV Guide -- then several sentences, then a paragraph, then a page, then a fleshed-out 10-15 pages of description and sample dialogue. When you finally believe you have a great story that's properly structured, with all the 'beats' hitting at just the right points...begin the script.

Try to write 5 pages a day. The next day go back and edit that down to one good page. Condense ... condense ... condense. If you end up with one good page a day, one good scene a week, one good act a month, you're doing great for a beginner!

At the same time, continue reading others' scripts, continue reading Syd Fields or whomever you chose to be your guru and continue thinking about YOUR script all the time. Mold it in your head; shape it; refine it; and when you get back on the computer, make those changes and then move on.

Try to get Act One (25-35 pages of good, tight dialogue & action) in the first month, then move on to Act Two, and finally the finale.

Easy, huh? <g>
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Q: If you could recommend one piece of Play/Screenwriting software, which would it be?  I'm getting tired of designing macros and editing margins.  I just want to flow and not think about the format requirements.

A: Hands down, the best scriptwriting software on the market is Final Draft. It's pretty much the "industry standard" here for scriptwriting apps. Either get version 4.1 or 5.02. The earlier versions of 5.0 had some bugs they subsequently worked out.
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Q: Can anybody write a script?

A: It used to be easier to be a writer -- back when there were only typewriters. It was a labor of love then, and the field was relatively clear. Now, with the advent and ease of computers, anyone with a keyboard and half a mind (and believe me, that's giving some writers a LOT more credit they don't deserve!) can churn out a script and call themselves writers.

Feh!!

The trick is to write scripts well. Only a few can do that (and not always the ones who get their stuff sold). The trouble is, the field's so littered with instant wannabes today it's hard to discern the serious players.

The question is not who CAN write scripts, but who SHOULD. If you can't do, or imagine doing, anything else with the rest of your life than write, then you'll probably make a pretty good screenwriter. If you're just in it for fame and/or money stop making it harder for the rest of us -- become a producer.
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Q: I am not in the business but am an avid movie lover. I have a burning idea for a movie script and want to write a movie. What made you decide to become a screenwriter? What was the first thing you did to get started and what was the first thing that you wrote?

A: I've always written. I don't know what "made me decide to become a screenwriter" ...what makes anyone become anything? I've always loved words. How they're formed, where they come from, how they're used. You'll hear my 
mantra quite a lot here: If you cannot NOT write, you're probably destined to be a writer.

I started out in high school on the school newspaper. I majored in Journalism in college, with a minor in a lot of creative writing. That's where all the really cute girls hang out, y'know? I also have another degree in Communications & Film. One of my professors at SDSU was Bob McKee, who went on to found his own scriptwriting empire up here. Another was Norman Corwin, the "Dean of American Radio Drama." That was a great class -- when you write for radio you really have to know and love words! I was married to a British stage actress then, and seeing and reading a lot of plays -- especially the classics -- helped also.

I've also written magazine articles, poetry (one of which was even turned into a full symphony -- with chorale!), songs, what-have-you. Everything but short stories and novels. Novels are just not my "thing."

I got into screenwriting on a fluke (and not the slimy kind you find in tide pools, either!). One semester I wanted to take a creative writing course but it was full. Somone suggested a scriptwriting class instead. It was taught by the head writer/producer for the old "Route 66" TV series (a show probably WAY before your time...). I found I liked the structure of screenwriting and that I was good at "seeing" scenes and acts play out in my head.

I guess the first thing I wrote was a "M*A*S*H" spec script (at the time, I was strictly interested in TV). It never got bought, but it opened doors for me. Spec scripts are always useful in selling yourself. My first paid assignment was a "Hart To Hart" episode, mentioned somewhere else in this Q&A.

It wasn't till much later I switched to films.

In your case, if you have a burning idea for a script by all means have a kick at the cat, as my Canadian friends say. Buy Syd Fields' screenwriting book and read it. It'll show you all the basics and get your juices flowing. Write the idea in one sentence, then a paragraph, then a page, and finally a "step outline" with one or more (short!) paragraphs defining each scene. (See question above.)

If you're not burned out by this time, and you objectively feel you have a good story, start writing! "See" each scene in your head and try to write so your reader(s) can envision the same thing up on the big screen. Go see as many films, or rent as many videos, as you can, in your genre (romcom, a/a, horror, western, comedy, erotic thriller, drama, etc.). Dissect them as you watch, trying to pick out where the "beats" are, the turning points, climaxes & mini-climaxes (pretty easy in erotic thrillers...<g>), denouement, payoffs, etc. Feel the flow of a film. Go see bad movies -- often you'll learn more than from good (seamless) ones.

Read as many scripts as you can. There are tons of script services on the 'net. Reading others' work will do more than anything else to solidify your own style. I owe my semi-colon usage to some poor writer 10 or 15 years ago... He wrote a bad script, but wrote it well. Again, it's often more instructive to wade thorugh bad scripts than good ones -- you can really see what doesn't work and why.

Write! Write a little each day. Don't be discouraged. Don't quit. Don't let it be one more thing you started and then dropped, like that Tai Bo class. Write five pages a day, then go back and edit three of them out. Plan on taking a month or so for your first draft -- later it'll be much easier, like any exercise.

That's my style. Others like to plow on through a rough draft, never going back and never correcting anything till they're all done. That way they can see the thing as a whole. YMMV... As with style, HOW your write is a personal thing. As long as you DO IT!

Hope that helps. Good luck!
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Q: How'd you end up directing your own screenplays?

A: The first had nothing to do with writing UNTIL I started directing, unfortunately. And by then it was too late to save it anyway. <g>

Let me begin by telling you "Paradiso" (originally titled "Escape From Paradiso" and now known as "Caged In Paradiso") was a very low-budget, B-minus movie and never had aspirations to be anything else. The company was originally going to shoot in Hawaii but our sleazy producer pissed off one of the more vociferous unions there and they put a contract out on him. So the production moved to the Virgin Islands.

Now don't ask me why a low-budget company would think they could shoot a movie on very little money in the most expensive islands in the world...! That's always been a mystery to me, though I have my suspicions there was more going on I didn't know about than shooting a movie.

Anyway, when the producer fled from Hawaii that's when I came on board. A line producer friend I'd worked with before as First AD called and asked if I'd like to ramrod the production for him (because of my background in post-production, production and writing I'm hired a lot to work with first-time directors). Well, it's easier to shoot a bad movie in the Virgin Islands than the Mojave Desert, so I said yes (actually, I think I said "Hell yes! You bet!! and then hung up did cartwheels. Hey -- 8 weeks paid work in the Virgin Islands...?!!).

The director was a really esoteric woman who didn't have a clue. She'd done a no-budget art film the year before that had been reviewed favorably, which was enough for our producer to drag money out of some investors. But the director had taken almost a year to shoot her little art film -- making some 
money and shooting a scene or two, then going back to work to make some more money, etc. -- and didn't have a clue how to organize herself to film 6-8 pages a day on a tight, almost TV, shooting schedule.

Consequently, despite the producer's, my friend the line producer's and my best efforts, after 4 days we were 3 days behind! If the picture'd been bonded they would've canned us all, but as the producer had private investors we all kept our jobs. So on the 4th night the producer and line producer came to me and asked if I'd take over (the producer would've directed it himself but by this time the actors all hated him, too, and he wasn't allowed on the set). I'd been "massaging" the script a lot, and on top of breaking it down and all had a very firm grasp of the story line. So I said yes.

We won't talk about the director coming to my room, drunk, demanding to know what she'd done so wrong ...  then trying to turn the actors against me.

So -- I directed it; brought it in on time and pretty close to on budget, though there were desertions and insurrection among the crew and cast the whole time. In the end Irene Cara was doing her own makeup and helping out with wardrobe because the crew had quit (they were pretty sure the producer was going to stiff them their last week's pay, so they just took off one night to hang out on another island).

Doesn't this all sound like Bowfinger or The Big Picture or one of those "mockumentaries" on low-budget film making? Believe me, it happens just like this all the time...!

There were opening scenes we didn't shoot that we were supposed to pick up back in Los Angeles, but when the time came I was never informed. It turned out the producer did them himself so he wouldn't have to pay me anymore money 
(tho I continued to get my AD pay he stiffed me $20,000 for my directing fee). Live and learn. Unfortunately, the stuff he shot for the opening and his editing were so bad I couldn't even use the film as a sample of my work to get another job. Not that the stuff I DID shoot was all that great...

That's Paradiso. Fun, huh? Now "Savage Land" was a completely different experience...

I'd just written, Line Produced and AD'd a low-budget erotic thriller for and with a really nice Canadian guy. I also shot a lot of the 2nd unit action as we were moving so fast with so little money we had to keep two units working the last week to make it.

In the e/t script there was a female cop who's character I liked, so I wrote a sequel for her. We were hoping to interest a bigger actress and get a little better budget to shoot it. The Exec. Producer we took it to wasn't interested, but asked us how we felt about family films...

Well, I'd been wanting to write something my kids could be proud of for a long time, so we said "Sure! I can write one and my friend can direct it" The EP had a basic idea about 2 kids on a stagecoach that gets ambushed. There's also a girl on it...the EP's wife. By the time I got done there were TWO girls -- my friend the Canadian director wanted to put HIS g'friend in it, too.

What's that Rob't DiNiro movie...? The Girlfriend? Believe me, it's all true.

But, I was very proud of the script regardless. I think it still holds up, budget or no budget. Another friend, Russ Gray, did a hell of a great job casting it, considering we had little money. We ended up with Graham Greene, Corbin Bernsen, Brion James, Marty Kove, Charles Napier, et al. Great cast and all a lot of fun to work with. Especially Graham, you Canadians will be happy to hear. He's a great raconteur and very pleasant to have dinner with.

About this time my director friend decided we should film in Canada because of tax breaks, so we moved everything to Calgary. In fact, I think that was one of the pluses in casting Graham. He's Canadian and we needed the content credit...

I went up several weeks early to scout locations. It comes in handy wearing a lot of different hats in low-budget filmmaking. Besides, my wife at the time was a big location manager and I'd picked up a lot from her). One day I met a billionaire who was interested in the movie business. He offered us his executive retreat in the Canadian Rockies in return for I-don't-know-what -- that was between my friend, our Calgarian line producer and him. Whatever, we got the run of his fantastic lodge and "guest" cabins (each with sunken whirlpool tubs, etc. Yeow!) And this was all in the middle of a pristine valley where you could turn 10 degrees and be shooting an entirely different set. Woods is woods, as we used to say...

But we were still under money constraints and my friend and I were so used to working the way we did I took over the 2nd unit work again, filming action stuff and even scenes with principals. We made it on time and, despite the low-budget aura to it, I'm very proud of what we did. What's even better -- my kids like it to this day, which was what I'd set out to do in the first place.