Introduce Yourself : I just wrote my first screenplay. Does anybody have Spielberg's contact? by Andrew McGee

Haha. I just left Nashville for Pensacola after a 10-year stretch in Music City as an aspiring singer-songwriter. I imagine this industry is very similar — everybody's got that hit song; everybody's got that blockbuster screenplay.

My ambitions are tempered, I assure you, as I've had plenty Ralphie-esque moments of unshakable self-assurance when thinking that if only the right person could witness this masterpiece then surely they'd fund the bill to help see it reach the masses and all my self-doubt as an artist will be dispelled.

I have some published songs I'm proud of. I don't regret trying to get them heard. But it was tough getting them produced. I'm no Prince, so I rely on other musicians to help me achieve my vision. I expect the same from this industry, where as a writer, you wholly depend on others to help your dream be realized.

One day, I had an idea for a story. It all came out in a weekend. It was only about 3,300 words and a buddy of mine published it in his collection of short stories. Several of his readers liked it. I shared it with an online filmmaker and he suggested I turn it into a screenplay and submit it to festivals and so I did.

And that's how I fell in love with the act of writing a screenplay. I absolutely love this medium. I've tried to write novels but I tend to re-read and edit what I write a lot as I go so it takes me forever and it's exhausting.

Screenplays, however, rely on visual storytelling so much more and it's possible to say so much in a short space. I am hoping to turn some of my friend's short stories into screenplays now. It's a lot of fun.