2010 Issue No.3

A Note From Derek: Welcome to our New Museletter

Training & Events: Bullet Proof Your Script Against Reader Rejection

Feature Article: Bullet Proof Your Script Against Reader Rejection

Derek Recommends: ENLIGHTENED ENTERTAINER website & Newsletter

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Welcome back to the Museletter!

It’s been quite a month. My proverbial plate has been piled high with various book and script projects, including a sequel to a cult favorite (that I can’t tell you about just yet, or somebody will kill me), a 4-script deal, and one of the most intense script rewrites for a director that I’ve ever been through. It’s one of those defining experiences that happen every once and a while and, when embraced, can take you to a new level. All I can say is I’m embracing it, baby! So we’ll see…

I’ve also been working on marketing my previous books, “I Could’ve Written a Better Movie than that!” and “There’s No Business Like Soul Business,” both of which will make an excellent addition to your library (if they’re not already there, wink, wink), helping you to take your inner and outer game to the next level, and master the art of in-depth script analysis – which you must understand if you want to evaluate your own scripts and take notes at the studio level.

As we move into the holiday season – and a writers strike – many of you may find yourself with more distractions from your writing than at other times of the year. If you truly need a break, let the holidays be a time of rejuvenation and recreation (re-creation.) But for the rest of you, this can be a time of taking your work to a deeper level, more refined level.

This has many benefits, not the least of which that you will emerge from the winter months a better, more disciplined writer. And if the writers strike lasts several months, you’ll be ready to enter or re-enter the marketplace with some of your best work under your arm, ready for sale. Not a bad way to kick the New Year off.

In this issue, and the next, I want to bring your attention back to some basics on one hand, and some refinement on the other, with my article on Bullet-Proofing Your Script. If you’ve already read this article elsewhere, read it again – and apply it to your current scripts (and previous ones if they haven’t sold yet!). If you’ve already taken the e-course, “Bullet Proof Your Script Against Reader Rejection,” you can consider this a refresher or pass it on to someone who it can benefit.

If you haven’t taken the multi-part E-course Bullet Proof Your Script Against Reader Rejection, I highly encourage you to invest in it. For less than the cost of dinner and a movie, you’ll learn the tools and techniques that will put YOUR movie on the fast track to becoming your meal ticket to success.

The information in this article and the e-course are not interesting ideas that may or may not be of benefit to your script – they are elements that you MUST apply if you hope to have a fighting chance in the reader’s stack, avoid rejection, and help your script rise above the competition.

Please email me and let me know what you’re learning. I look forward to your thoughts.

In the meantime, Stay Inspired – and Keep Writing!

Derek Rydall
Founder and President, ScriptwriterCentral.com

www.ScriptwriterCentral.com

derek@scriptwritercentral.com

www.EnlightenedEntertainer.com

derek@enlightenedentertainer.com

Please feel free to forward this issue to friends, family and associates!

Learn how to avoid all the reasons readers reject your script in this cutting-edge E-Course!

Imagine you’re a studio script reader. It’s Sunday night. You’re dog tired. Dreading work tomorrow where you’re stuck in your own version of ‘Swimming With Sharks’. Your girlfriend (or boyfriend) has just broken up with you – for the 5th time. Your rent is past due – for the 5th time. And you still have to face THE STACK. That monstrous pile of screenplays sent in by aspiring writers.

The truth is, your script is going to be in that stack, facing an overworked, underpaid reader – who is also a struggling writer himself (or herself), and they’re not going to give you a break – unless you earn it.

What I’ve discovered are a handful of key things that they look for when judging a script -- things other than overall storytelling -- things that get you rejected, or seriously discredited, before they even get into the heart of your script. Bottom line, you need to do whatever it takes to make your script look, feel, read, and smell professional.

Do just that much and you’ll put yourself in the top 10% of all scripts submitted.

For most people, having talent isn't enough.

You must also have a clear vision, connected to your core values -- and a plan that will get you to where you want to go.

Only 3-5% of the population ever get clear on what they want and why, then create a plan to achieve it.

And it's no accident that only 3-5% of society ever finds financial freedom or true fulfillment.

You can be in that top 3-5%. You can achieve more than you ever thought possible. You can take your talent -- and take it to the next level.

"The 7 Power Principles" will give you the map that will get your there.

Put yourself ahead of the competition today. Tap into your power by practicing the Power Principles of the most successful people!

Sign up for this powerful E-Course HERE.

Join Derek in December on the first (and free) live Enlightened Entertainer teleseminar, where he will answer your questions about his latest book, "There's No Business Like Soul Business" as well as offer powerful and practical solutions to your everday creative and career challenges.

In the teleseminar, he'll go into more detail than the book covers, including areas such as:

-- The 7 MYTHS OF SHOW BUSINESS and the 7 TRUTHS OF SOUL BUSINESS

-- How YOU are the only person you ever need to sell

-- How to sell yourself without selling your soul

-- How to get a piece of the action without losing your peace in the act

-- How to live on the Emerging Edge of your full potential in every area of your career and creativity

-- And a lot more!

If you really want to reclaim your power as an artist and entertainment professional, and be one of the cutting-edge creative forces in this business, YOU CAN'T MISS THIS CALL.

Sign up now and keep an eye on your email for the latest updates.

Take It To The Next Level!

CHECK YOUR EMAILS FOR INFORMATION
Live Enlightened Entertainer Teleseminar!

BULLET-PROOF YOUR SCRIPT AGAINST READER REJECTION

Imagine you’re a studio script reader. It’s Sunday night. You’re dog-tired. Dreading work tomorrow where you’re stuck in your own version of ‘Swimming With Sharks’. Your girlfriend (or boyfriend) has just broken up with you – for the 5th time. Your rent is past due – for the 5th time.

And you still have to face THE STACK.

What is ‘the stack’? It’s that monstrous pile of screenplays sent in by aspiring writers – and a few professionals – that you must do ‘coverage’ on (a 2-4 page document a reader creates for their boss -- a producer, agent, studio exec -- where they write a synopsis of the script, a couple pages of comments, and a grade of either ‘pass’, ‘consider’, or ‘recommend’).

Now how receptive do you think you, The Reader, are about now? How generous and willing are you to overlook the writer’s mistakes and sloppiness? How likely are you to be looking for a reason – any reason – to say “NO”? What are the odds you’re going to throw those scripts into the round file or across the room – whatever it takes -- to get through that stack and get to bed, get drunk, or watch Desperate Housewives?!

That, my friends, is what you, the writer – and your script – are up against.

I don’t say this to scare you (and, yes, I’m exaggerating a bit – only a bit), but if you are harboring any fantasy that the reader is looking forward to your script, that it’ll be greeted with open arms like some liberator -- that they’ll ‘overlook’ your spelling mistakes, poor formatting, weak premise, or one-dimensional characters, and just ‘fix it in development’ – you’ll be living in that fantasy for a long time.

SO SNAP OUT OF IT!

The truth is, your script is going to be in that stack, facing an overworked, underpaid reader – who is also a struggling writer himself (or herself), and they’re not going to give you a break – unless you earn it. The sooner you acknowledge that, without resentment, self-pity, or why-me-itis, the sooner you’ll begin approaching this business of writing more professionally and generate more success.

Yes, I did say “business of writing”, because that is exactly what it is, and what it needs to be for you to succeed. I know I’m being pretty in-your-face here, but I just see so many writers railing against the ‘system’, bemoaning their fate, and wanting to slit their wrists with script pages – all the while treating their screenwriting like a hobby or the lottery -- and not putting in that extra mile that makes them truly competitive.

So stop it already!

As a produced screenwriter, script consultant, and founder of ScriptwriterCentral.com, the fastest-growing online script consulting and screenwriting organization, I have had the privilege of interviewing and working with dozens of studio and production company script readers. And what I’ve discovered are a handful of key things that they look for when judging a script -- things other than overall storytelling -- things that get you rejected, or seriously discredited, before they even get into the heart of your script.

Obviously, we can’t go into all of them here, or the deeper story issues that can get your script rejected, but let’s dive into a few of the basics:

For the complete article Click HERE.

© 2010 Derek Rydall

If you missed previous issues of THE MUSELETTER,
I keep an archive of past issues you can always refer to.