Writing for the Green Light: How to Make Your Script the One Hollywood Notices 1st Edition

This is an excellent book, especially for a person who does not have an agent. This writer takes you through the process so you will be able to sit down with Hollywood power folks and be on an equal footing.This book coupled with my ability to understand contract law, gives me no doubts that when my editor finishes reviewing my screenplay I can embark on a trip to California to sell my work for top dollar.

If you have a dream about writing a Hollywood script in which your sublime vision enthralls all the script readers and agents and lands you a seat on set with a director followed by TMZ flunkies along with and all the money needed to realize your helicopters and explosions, or elongated pensive introversion by actors schooled in Strasberg, skip this book. Let it go. You don't need to read this book. Keep doing what you're doing. Continue to write and dream and hope. If you are addicted to story telling, and you think of perimeters the way painters think of a canvas, as a field on which they get to play, then this book is for you. Your dreams will die as you read this book, as they should. But your desire to tell stories, if that is truly your aim, will be ignited. There is fire here for story tellers if they are willing to re-frame their approach to being a screenwriter. If you want an award, if you want to be a chapter in a film school text book, good luck and God's speed. This book is not for you. I you want to tell stories and you don't care about some outdated screenwriter's dream that probably never really existed, read this book. If you think writing to the poster is a compromise you cannot make, keep reading the screenwriter's books about format. If you think writing to the poster is an exciting challenge, read this book.

The best part of this book is the section on the six types of scripts a new writer can actually sell. Worth buying just for that.

Scott Kirkpatrick absolutely blew me away with this book! I just wish I was younger and starting out on a career in movies/TV. It would have been so invaluable.He has written scripture here. This is the new tell-it-like-it-is bible on how to succeed in the movie/TV biz. I was enthralled especially with your personal, straight-from-the-heart advice, based on your own past and current experiences. Your references to actors, writers, producers, other authors are impeccable and right on target. Your recall of relevant movie/TV parts that carry the message better than anything to young, impressionable wanna-bes is uncanny. No posturing here from on high.......just good, old down-to-earth observations of a byzantine industry.I could go on and on with platitudes about how well you not only write but, more importantly, teach and guide. Cautionary tales, yes....but loads of practical points based not on theory but on everyday experience in the marketplace. Especially liked the stories inside your Mar-Vista production meetings.You've penned a piece that will not only do well now among practitioners (especially the novices in the business -- notice how I use parentheses, the way you like to do?) and future stars in this business. It should be a best-seller among them, to say nothing of studio and indy execs who could use a "gut-check" like this.Paul Rich

There are lots of good books on screenwriting, story development and the film business, but Kirkpatrick actually tells you what to write if you want to sell. He should know because selling film scripts and indie films is what he does for a living. The best part of this book is the detail he provides. It's a roadmap. Anyone who is willing to do what the industry needs can read this book and find the doorway in. Highly recommended.

I am completely blown away by this book. This is the book that I wish I could have read 30 years ago. David does an amazing job of keeping you motivated, focused, and provides you a tour of what's behind the curtains for writers who want to create a career in Hollywood.Add his talk on FilmCourage on YouTube and you seriously have everything you need to know to become a marketable writer in the business.A shout out to the Author: Thank you. The writing community owes you.

As a novice writer this read was definitely an eye opening journey into the processes of how Hollywood and Indie Hollywood select screenplays. Inside you'll find simple explanations and tons of gold nuggets as to what screenplay writers and writers in general should be doing to get noticed. I'm eager to try some of the methods outlined in the book. Worth the purchase!

Excellent book for serious ScreenWriters.Everything you need to know, that you didn't know about what Hollywood producers are looking for In unsolicited writers.

This book has been by far the most helpful and professionally inspiring i have read. Scott doesn't tell you how to format a script, nor how to be a the greatest in the world. He reminds you to limit your expectations to reality and how to approach the industry if you don't have any links to the industry. This book gives you the starting blocks to take your career seriously and teaches how to makes a move towards writing something that is actually marketable. The ground rules it lays out are fantastic and if you take the principles and apply them to your work you will feel like your eyes have been opened.Team this up with some other material on formatting and structure and you have a higher chance of your material been taken seriously.If you want to write films, be a writer/director, or just get that one idea made... you need to read this book.

Nearly everything I knew about the industry was proven to be wrong, out of date, ill-conceived and not nearly as well understood as I thought... until I read this little gem.Now I 'get it'.Thanks!

I learned things from this book that I've never read anywhere else, on how indie Hollywood works, how to break in, how to understand contracts, and so much more! I highly recommend this book.

Amazing book, changed the way I think about Writing for the industty. This is not a how to write book, more of an insight into modes of production and how to align your work with them. Found it inspirational, ;)@TreyUK