Why another blog on scriptwriting...?

I decided to start this blog to share some of what I have learned about scriptwriting over the past three plus decades.  My career runs the gamut from independent film producer to playwright to screenwriter to artistic director of a professional theatre, to author of a popular book on playwriting, to scriptwriting workshop leader, to university professor of playwriting, to script consulting.


Through these various facets of my career (most running simultaneously) I’ve learned a few things about how to put a play or screenplay together and how a writer in the entertainment business can best maneuver the often turbulent and tricky waters of creating a brilliant script and then see it get produced in a beautiful and professional way.  So now I figure, as Neil Young hints at in one of my favorite songs ("Tell Me Why"), I’ve reached a point when I’m “old enough to repay” but still “young enough to sell.”  

The blog will draw on my experience of working with hundreds of established and emerging writers over the years and what I’ve garnered about the process of developing a story idea into a workable and wonderful play or screenplay.  I’ll share the words of wisdom spoken to me by many of the greatest writers for  the stage and screen of the past half century drawing from a multi-year, in-depth interview series I held at the Dramatists Guild in New York City.  In short, I’ll be pulling a lot of stuff out of this accumulated pile of experiences and sharing the insights gained in the process. 

So I hope you find the blog useful.  And feel free to comment and start a dialog with me at any time as we move along.