Dave Fugett: Filmmaker in Carlsbad, California.

Hi John. Karma that I just saw your post. I have a few scripts I'm working on but nothing close to being ready to shoot. Thought I'd come on here and post something...looking for writers. Feel free to check out my film's FB page while I look at your Amazon page. Let's find something to work on! www.facebook.com/neverhikealone

Sounds like a plan! Let's discuss this, I'm at spoiler2010@aol.com.

I could give you so many good answers, but too much is too much. A good aide is to buy the program called "Contour," which will teach you the basics of what makes stories work, and fill in your story in its step outliner before you actually write it, because once you know your story through and through, the writing becomes a pleasure. Another strong way to get started in the right way as a screenwriter would be to buy a copy of Vicki King's book, "How to Write a Movie in 21 Days" and follow her regimen as laid out there. Another inexpensive program that's great for studying/ applying dialogue techniques is called "Great Dialogue." And a very accessible book on mulling over and constructing marketable stories Hollywood might possibly buy is called "Save the Cat" by Blake Snyder. If you "just dive in," you'll probably flounder in indecision by mid-script and take years to finish, if you ever do, while pros need to be able to turn around an idea into a completed draft in just a few weeks. Make notes all the time as things occur to you about your story or stories, but if you just start writing in a script-formatting program, thinking you'll write a salable script, the already bad odds against you (against us all, nothing personal intended) become much worse.

I totally agree on reading Stephen King's book on writing. It's a classic. I tend to spend way more time reading books on writing than I ought to. A good friend who is a skilled writer told me, "Pick your favorite and keep it handy. Reread it when you need to. Write daily. Put the rest of the books away." In my heart, I know he's right. Reading too much about writing is one of the ways our inner critic sabotages us, paralyzing us before we begin.

@Virginia... excellent post! That's one reason I switched from writing screenplays to publishing books... now with 32 books out there on Amazon. I stopped worrying about script structure, script readers, and coverage... and just wrote about what I wanted to write. The hard part now is when people ask "What kind of books do you write?" since I've written what I've lived (and tried to share my lessons learned), my best response is "Good ones." Then they kind of look at me funny (like, "OK, Mr. Smartass...")... but it's true, I don't really have a genre. For instance, my last book I published is my first fictional piece titled Attack of the Electronic Dust Bunnies... so amongst the 32 I've written, all the rest have either been screenplays or non-fiction... with no consistent genre. Yet, I haven't let the inner critic detour me from what I feel most passionate about writing at that particular stage of my life... and that, I feel, is Crucial.

Dave, do you have a way for me to get a hold of here? Link on here, LinkedIn?

Brian, when I get settles in a week or two, lets meet somewhere half way and see what we can come up with to talk about.

Rodney, you won't need her until you're in pre-production. When that time comes, simply Google the Charlotte Film Commission. Easy breezy.

Hi Danielle! I have a friend who is an actor based in the ATL. He's been in tons of films and national commercials. I don't want to put his contact info out for everyone. Hit me up - Dave@thehikemovie.net and I can put you in touch with him.

Welcome Danielle.

Dear Queen of Hoopla, We should talk. Interested in hearing about your track record negotiating the gauntlet.

Hi Sherry - I have a 14 page script titled "Bringing Pussy Riot To America". Does that sound like something that might be able to get produced?

Hi Sherry, I am just beginning to research hiring a publicist for my film. We should talk....

Welcome Vanessa, So happy to meet you here. I am wishing you the very best in all your endeavors.

To answer to Lonie Nichols, yes one of the plans is to do a French + English version, of the interviews as well as the reviews. Right now we are working on the french website and the translation of what we had written so far. In the future, everything that will be written on the english website will also have a french version.

Hey Vanessa... maybe you can read my Bio and see if you want to interview me as well... I also just found out a week ago that I placed in the PAGE Awards as a finalist in the Quarter-finals... there's more to come but I'm thrilled because there were 6,200 entries... so I'm extremely proud... even if it doesn't go any further. I still win!!!