Are you looking for the secret decoder ring owned by all successful screenwriters? Or at least a map with a spot marked X? Sit down with Max Adams.
The New Screenwriter’s Survival Guide delivers 65 chapters ranging from “Don’t Write Batman” to “What You Really Get Paid.” Other topics include pitching, the screenwriter’s uniform, meetings, the etiquette of “getting read,” navigating social media, and the care and feeding of agents – along with lists of screenwriters’ directories and organizations, a generic release form, examples for cover pages and query letters, and other useful resources.
Adams’s authority is unmistakable. After scooping up the prizes at a number of prestigious screenwriting contests including the Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting and the Austin Film Festival, Adams launched her Hollywood career with a big spec script sale (Excess Baggage). The book shines with Adams’s streetwise attitude. She shares her worst Hollywood memories — the cold calls to producers, the credit arbitrations, and the meetings, meetings, meetings — as well as her victories. Max Adams has the inside story on the writer’s life in Hollywood. Now, you will too.
