Tuesday, August 4, 2015

A new book on screenwriting well worth a read...

There's a new book on screenwriting published this past January that I recommend you take a look at if you haven't already:  Notes to Screenwriters: Advancing Your Story, Screenplay, and Career with Whatever Hollywood Throws at You written by Vicki Peterson and Barbara Nicolosi.


The authors both live and work in Los Angeles and in addition to being screenwriters themselves run their own script consulting firm called Catharsis.

What's special about this book is its detailed focus on craft.  Not just the craft elements and mechanics involved in writing a viable script, but also on the craft of launching, building, and sustaining a successful career as a screenwriter.  This is a clear, practical manual written by folks who have been and are currently in the trenches of this oftentimes frustrating and seemingly impossible business.  And as the title points out, the book covers just about everything the biz can throw at you.

One of the special and unique aspects regarding this book is that co-author Vicki Peterson just graduated in June with her MFA degree from the Writing for Stage and Screen program I run out of the New Hampshire Institute of Art.  It's been wonderful having Vicki as a student in the program over the past two years. She was able to walk the line with ease between being a student and an established working professional and needless to say her contributions to the program were considerable.  We'll miss Vicki as a student but welcome her as an alum and as a permanent member of our growing network of working writers.  And, of course, her excellent book will remain on our reading list far into the future.

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I'm the Program Director of the low-residency MFA in Writing for Stage and Screen being offered by the New Hampshire Institute of Art.  Our next residency runs January 3-11, 2016 and we are now considering applications for starting the program in January.  I'm also a playwright and screenwriter, producing partner in my production company Either/Or Films (The Sensation of Sight and Only Daughter), and a professional script consultant.

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