Practise Makes Perfect | Scriptangel's Blog

September 10, 2012 ? 4:52 pm

Watching the extraordinary achievements of the Olympic and Paralympic athletes this summer made me appreciate more than ever that if you want to be successful at something, you?ve got to knuckle down and practise.

For screenwriters of course that means practising your writing by simply writing ? LOTS!?But it also means studying your craft; analysing successful screenplays, reading books on screenwriting or attending seminars and talks by?others who?ve analysed thousands of movies and screenplays. It means identifying areas of your craft that you?re not?as strong on (story structure or character or dialogue) and finding techniques to help you get better at those elements.

But?great writing alone rarely enables you to?succeed and there are other aspects to being a successful?writer that you?ll need to master. Perhaps you?re lousy at networking or pitching. If you hate pitching (and I know a LOT of writers who do) then practising is vital if you?re to get good at it ? at the very least you want to be comfortable enough doing it?that you?don?t turn into a?blubbering wreck when an Executive asks you about your new movie idea.? And who knows, you might discover you?ve got a real knack for it and find yourself desperate to go to a huge pitch festival and get on that stage to pitch with the best of them.

In an industry built so heavily on personal recommendation, networking is another aspect of the job that lots of writers dread. As with pitching, it requires practice so my advice is to get out there and get doing it!

The forthcoming London Screenwriters? Festival is a great place to learn tips on your craft, practise your pitching and your networking.? I?ll be speaking there and, of course, networking too so come and say hello.? Don?t forget that if you use Discount Code ?SCRIPTANGEL2012? you can save ?22 off the ticket price.? Let me know if you?re going and I hope to see you there.

Be honest with yourself, identify those areas that you?re really not so great at, and put the work in to get better at them. With hard graft in the right areas you?ve got a great chance of making it as a successful screenwriter.? Good luck!

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Filed under screenwriting, Scriptwriting advice

Tagged as advice, craft, london screenwriters' festival, networking, new writers, pitch fests, pitching, practise, screenwriting, scriptwriting

Source: http://scriptangel.wordpress.com/2012/09/10/practise-makes-perfect/

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