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First Person

Subtitling for screenwriters

Emmanuel Denizot works as a translator in Paris, subtitling US and UK films and TV series for release in France. Some of the films he’s worked on include Puccini for Beginners, Project Nim, Keep the Lights On, Queer as Folk and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Global Edition. Since subtitlers are often the final [...]

A Hollywood Christmas Story

Billy Ray shares a screenwriter-themed Christmas tale.

Moving past micro-budget

Director Michael Mohan writes about the process of making Save the Date, his bigger-budget follow-up to One Too Many Mornings.

Another look at junkets

On a recent podcast, Craig and I discussed press junkets from the screenwriter’s perspective. Tim from London wrote in to offer the view from the other side of the roundtable.

Amazon Studios at AFF

A reader shares his notes on a Amazon Studios panel at this year’s Austin Film Festival.

Writing screenplays with Scrivener and iA Writer

A reader named Gerry wrote in to share his screenwriting workflow using Fountain, which includes Scrivener, iA Writer, Dropbox and Highland.

Adam Davis, year five

Adam Davis wrote one of the original First Person posts for the site back in 2007, when he first moved to LA. Five years later, it’s time for an update.

Is screenwriting dead?

A working screenwriter shares his frustration with how difficult it has become to sustain a career.

Spending a year on Ringer

Jay Faeber writes in with an update on his earlier First Person post, this time detailing his first year on the writing staff of Ringer.

Confessions of a trust-fund screenwriter

In response to the discussion Craig and I recently had about the perceptions of nepotism and wealth in the film industry, a listener wrote in to share his experience of being quite literally a trust-fund screenwriter.

What does a reality producer do?

Matthew Watts, a producer on both The First 48 and Swamp People, discusses three kinds of producers in reality television.

From thesis script to feature film

Jamie Jensen recently wrote and co-directed her first feature with Nadia Munla. I asked her to talk about her experience taking a project from graduate school thesis script to finished film. In 2007, I moved from New York City to Los Angeles to pursue a screenwriting career. I did it by way of the Peter [...]

Missed opportunities and second chances

Melissa Rossi won a Student Academy Award for her university thesis film. That success prompted her to move to Los Angeles to begin a career as a writer/director. But she wasn’t ready.

From pixel-pusher to TV writer

Kiyong Kim sacrificed time and money to write before becoming a Nickelodeon Writing Fellow. Now, writing is a full-time job.

Newly arrived in Los Angeles

Matthew Hickman was born and raised in rural Georgia. After dropping out of law school, he started working an hourly-wage job at a UPS store, and saved money for a year in hopes of moving to Los Angeles to begin a screenwriting career.

Starting a career from Puerto Rico

Gabriel de Jesus is a screenwriter living in Puerto Rico. It’s hard enough to make it in this business living in Los Angeles, but trying to make it from thousands of miles away is even harder.

Get a manager

Justin Marks argues on behalf of literary managers.

Self-taught and self-doubting

By the time I entered college in my tiny Florida town, I’d already decided I wouldn’t be moving to Los Angeles.  While my friends shared fantasies of $2000 two-bedroom apartments and lives made of ramen noodles, I’d been infected by the Rodriguez disease, and I felt a furious, indignant independence.  I wanted to make my own path, outside of Los Angeles.

The 4-hour Staffing Season

Today’s First Person comes from Daniel Thomsen, a television writer who’s worked on staff at Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles and Melrose Place.

From Greenlight back to page one

Today’s First Person demonstrates an important point: you can’t pick the single moment at which you’ve “made it.”

Transitioning from comics to TV

Jay Faerber is trying to transition from writing comics to writing TV, and is doing so with the help of the Warner Bros TV Writers Workshop.

Juggling paid work and specs

Allison Schroeder works in both features and television. She exemplifies something I’ve seen again and again: a career is shaped by talent, luck and extraordinarily hard work

Young vs. new

“Young” is often used in Hollywood when “new,” “green” or “inexpensive” would be better choices.

Looking for more First People

To date, most of the First Person posts have come from white just-post-college guys. While that’s a huge chunk of the aspiring screenwriter demographic, we’re sorely lacking some diversity, not just in background but ambition.

Writing for Hollywood without living there

Bradley Jackson is trying to start a Hollywood screenwriting career while staying put in Austin. He writes in with his experience trying to work LA as a visiting screenwriter.

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