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Ask the Screenplay Doctor: New Year’s Resolutions

1 Jan , 2012  

Written by Susan Kouguell | Posted by:

Screenplay columnist Susan Kouguell gives you a few New Year's Resolutions to get your next screenplay headed in the right direction. E-mail screenwriter@newenglandfilm.com to have your screenwriting question answered in an upcoming issue.

I’ll let you in on a secret — I know what most of my Su-City Pictures East, LLC clients and students are hoping for in 2012:

“This is going to be the year I sell my screenplay!”

If you are among the many aspiring screenwriters who share this same hope and dream, then this is the time to make your screenwriting resolutions!

Resolutions

  1. I will take pride in my work: I am going to keep writing screenplays that I feel passionate about.
  2. I will be open to feedback: I will give my script to readers whom I trust will tell me the truth about my work and consider their opinions and suggestions.
  3. I will be patient: I will only submit my screenplay to a script competition, agent, manager, production company, or film executive, when I know it is absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt, ready to be reviewed by industry professionals.
  4. I will be professional: I will always submit a script that has been proofread and contains no formatting errors whatsoever, and that has been registered with the Writers Guild of America.
  5. I will have courage: I will not be afraid to ask for a contract and have a lawyer review it to make sure that I am protected.
  6. I will persevere: If I receive a rejection letter (once I have made sure I have been true to resolutions one through five), I am going to remain optimistic and send my script to the next person or company on my list that is an absolute match for my screenplay.

Good luck!

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2012 and success in all your New Year’s resolutions!

Susan Kouguell’s new book SAVVY CHARACTERS SELL SCREENPLAYS! A comprehensive guide to crafting winning characters with film analyses and screenwriting exercises is available at a discount price of $1.00 off by clicking on www.createspace.com/3558862 and using DISCOUNT CODE: G22GAZPD. To read an excerpt from the book, go to: https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1089452.

Susan is also the author of The Savvy Screenwriter: How to Sell Your Screenplay (and Yourself) Without Selling Out! and is an award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker. Susan teaches screenwriting and film at Tufts University, and is chairperson of Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a motion picture consulting company founded in 1990 where she works with over 1,000 writers, filmmakers, and film executives worldwide. ( www.su-city-pictures.com; su-city-pictures.blogspot.com).

You can follow my Su-City Pictures, LLC Facebook fan page and SKouguell Twitter page to receive more Savvy Tips about how to write, structure, and sell your screenplay.


Susan Kouguell’s new book SAVVY CHARACTERS SELL SCREENPLAYS! A comprehensive guide to crafting winning characters with film analyses and screenwriting exercises is available at a discount price of $1.00 off by clicking on www.createspace.com/3558862 and using DISCOUNT CODE: G22GAZPD. To read an excerpt from the book, go to: https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1089452. Susan is also the author of The Savvy Screenwriter: How to Sell Your Screenplay (and Yourself) Without Selling Out! and is an award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker. Susan teaches screenwriting and film at Tufts University, and is chairperson of Su-City Pictures East, LLC, a motion picture consulting company founded in 1990 where she works with over 1,000 writers, filmmakers, and film executives worldwide. ( www.su-city-pictures.com; su-city-pictures.blogspot.com). You can follow my Su-City Pictures, LLC Facebook fan page and SKouguell Twitter page to receive more Savvy Tips about how to write, structure, and sell your screenplay.

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