Yale University educated writer, Adam Kosloff, offers an unflinching and useful analysis of the first ten years of his career in Los Angeles. Despite modest successes, like optioning a screenplay and getting to write for Mel Brooks on the short-lived show, Spaceballs: The Animated Series, Kosloff endured diverse setbacks, many of which were self-inflicted (and will be familiar to anyone who’s taken a stab at trying to write for TV or film). Unlike other books in the how-to-write-screenplay genre — must reads like “Save the Cat” for instance — this isn’t a “how to” as much as it is a “how not to do.” After all, in addition to churning out spec scripts, networking and learning the ropes of the business, you also need to develop traits like resilience and courage and to learn from your mistakes, so you don’t repeat them.
Kosloff’s candid assessments are designed to teach fundamental skills that absolutely must be in your toolbox if you want to sustain a career in Los Angeles (or anywhere, for that matter). Whether you’re a newbie considering taking the bus to California to wait tables while you spec out and hope for the best, or you’re already a modestly successful working writer, you should gain useable insights from this book (and hopefully relate and be amused from time to time). The book’s central theme — that we don’t have to duck from our failures but rather should embrace them as stepping stones — should resonate with those who’ve been on a similar journey.
As an aspiring screenwriter, you're taught a paradox about how to succeed.
On the one hand, you're told to follow your "creative vision" and write with discipline, passion and courage.
On the other hand, you're also told that successful screenwriting is all about collaboration. You need dozens of stakeholders to bring your vision to life, and that means that you need to be a "team player" and write with egoless flexibility.
How are you supposed to do both? How can you collaborate without selling out your core vision or brand... and without going crazy or burning professional bridges in the process?
Ex-screenwriter Adam Kosloff tackles this question in depth in his new book, How to FAIL at Screenwriting Lesson 2: Go Against Your Creative Instincts, Like I Did With 'Even Steven', the latest installation of his critically acclaimed, poignant and funny "How to FAIL at Screenwriting" series.
Using his experience working on the spec feature, Even Steven, as an object lesson (logline: a billionaire nerd gets revenge on his high school bully), Kosloff exposes and addresses the hidden obstacles that poison all too many Hollywood collaborations.
Drawing on wisdom he picked up from other screenwriters (failed and successful alike) as well as insight from business management gurus like Seth Godin and Jim Collins, Kosloff probes:
* 3 Relationship Issues Poised to Sink Your Script
* How Your Script Might Get Destroyed in a Clusterf*ck
* Why Your Lack of Project Management Skills Could Crush You
* Why You Might Crash and Burn After Missing the Forest for the Trees
Most screenwriting books promise quick and easy answers. Kosloff recoils from that destructive oversimplification, and he will open your eyes to complex, counterintuitive realities about the writing process that they don't teach you in film school.
Before you sign with that agent or agree to let a producer or actor get attached to your creative work, do yourself a favor and read this book. Inoculate youself against the mistakes that Kosloff made, and increase your chances of long term screenwriting success!
Kosloff’s candid assessments are designed to teach fundamental skills that absolutely must be in your toolbox if you want to sustain a career in Los Angeles (or anywhere, for that matter). Whether you’re a newbie considering taking the bus to California to wait tables while you spec out and hope for the best, or you’re already a modestly successful working writer, you should gain useable insights from this book (and hopefully relate and be amused from time to time). The book’s central theme — that we don’t have to duck from our failures but rather should embrace them as stepping stones — should resonate with those who’ve been on a similar journey.
As an aspiring screenwriter, you're taught a paradox about how to succeed.
On the one hand, you're told to follow your "creative vision" and write with discipline, passion and courage.
On the other hand, you're also told that successful screenwriting is all about collaboration. You need dozens of stakeholders to bring your vision to life, and that means that you need to be a "team player" and write with egoless flexibility.
How are you supposed to do both? How can you collaborate without selling out your core vision or brand... and without going crazy or burning professional bridges in the process?
Ex-screenwriter Adam Kosloff tackles this question in depth in his new book, How to FAIL at Screenwriting Lesson 2: Go Against Your Creative Instincts, Like I Did With 'Even Steven', the latest installation of his critically acclaimed, poignant and funny "How to FAIL at Screenwriting" series.
Using his experience working on the spec feature, Even Steven, as an object lesson (logline: a billionaire nerd gets revenge on his high school bully), Kosloff exposes and addresses the hidden obstacles that poison all too many Hollywood collaborations.
Drawing on wisdom he picked up from other screenwriters (failed and successful alike) as well as insight from business management gurus like Seth Godin and Jim Collins, Kosloff probes:
* 3 Relationship Issues Poised to Sink Your Script
* How Your Script Might Get Destroyed in a Clusterf*ck
* Why Your Lack of Project Management Skills Could Crush You
* Why You Might Crash and Burn After Missing the Forest for the Trees
Most screenwriting books promise quick and easy answers. Kosloff recoils from that destructive oversimplification, and he will open your eyes to complex, counterintuitive realities about the writing process that they don't teach you in film school.
Before you sign with that agent or agree to let a producer or actor get attached to your creative work, do yourself a favor and read this book. Inoculate youself against the mistakes that Kosloff made, and increase your chances of long term screenwriting success!
