Introduce Yourself : Working Screenwriter (in Los Angeles), Books On Writing. by William Martell

Today is my birthday! And just over a week ago I sold another screenplay! Hoping that script makes it all the way to the screen, because I've been stuck on only 19 produced scripts since 2009... lots of script assignments since then, but none made it all of the way to the screen (average for this biz is only 1 in 10 sold scripts or assignments makes it to the screen). Got paid, films did not get made. One had movie stars attached for a while. In addition to writing screenplays, way back in 1991 I started writing a column for what would become Script Magazine, and had at least one article in every issue until they went from print to online a couple of years ago. Now those articles, and tons of new material, are being used to update my old Blue Book series on screenwriting (Amazon), which is kind of my side job. Working on one of those now (though not today, because I'm trying to overdose on movies.) Back in 1998 I wrote a book on writing Action Films (but really any genre), SECRETS OF ACTION SCREENWRITING (http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Action-Screenwriting-fully-revised-ebook/d...) which is frequently recommended by famous screenwriters. There's a nice cover quote from the 3rd biggest Box Office screenwriter in the world, plus a quote from some Oscar Winning Screenwriter inside. I keep meeting screenwriters much more famous than I, who read it and loved it and recommend it. Weird. Because I wrote a series of screenwriting articles for Independent Film Channel Magazine (when it existed) and some for Movie Maker, I'm also working on a book for DIY filmmakers that mostly looks at the writing part but also has interviews with filmmakers I've met at festivals. Oh, yeah, I am also a sometimes Film Fest juror, and was on the jury at Raindance in London last year with Julian Assange (though never met him, he doesn't get out much). I've been on film fest juries several times... and do a little globe trotting due to that. Because my job consists of sitting on my butt all day, I got fat a few years back (fatter, actually) and decided to seal my car keys in an envelope (metaphorically) and ride my bicycle everywhere. Which makes me a freak in Los Angeles, and a problem when I go on studio lots for a meeting. Warner Bros has a strict policy that lot passes must be taped to the lower left corner of a car's windshield... and no one in security knows what to do if you show up on a bicycle. They have to call their superior. Taped to the handlebars is the answer. Because Clint Eastwood once took a golf club to a car parked in his spot at Warner Bros about a decade ago, when I had a meeting with a producer at the office next door a while back I purposely locked my bike in Clint's spot, hoping to make the news when he destroyed my bicycle with his golf club... but he was away shooting something that day! That's who I am, and now I must get my free breakfast at Denny's and see as many movies as possible for the rest of the day. (I love movies.)