Introduce Yourself : I'm new to the creative side by Danielle Olson

Hi, Danielle Olson. Nice to meet you. Here are two great blogs for up-and-coming screenwriters:

www.stage32.com/blog/the-questions-up-and-coming-screenwriters-need-to-a...

www.stage32.com/blog/script-analysis-101-understanding-the-key-elements-...

Stage 32 has a lot of other great screenwriting resources:

Screenwriting Lounge: www.stage32.com/lounge/screenwriting

Screenwriting Blogs: www.stage32.com/blog/tags/screenwriting-25

Screenwriting Education: www.stage32.com/education?search=screenwriting

Script Services: www.stage32.com/scriptservices

I'll trade a read with you. I added you.

Welcome to the other side, Danielle! Best of luck on your creative endeavors!

How do you get into that? I've been in life insurance for 20 years plus and that sounds awesome to do.

Hats off to you Danielle Olson! As a producer i can tell you that insurance is a necessary element to any production, so thank you for what you do. That being said, welcome to the creative side of it, which is of course also pretty cool! : )

Great to have you here Danielle! Did you see our short film contest with Palm Springs Women in Film? we are giving away $10,000 to a short film script winner: https://www.stage32.com/happy-writers/contests/2nd-Annual-Palm-Springs-Women-in-Film-and-Television-%20-Stage-32-Short-Script-Competition?affid=hp I’d consider it for MARBLES!

Maurice Vaughan - thank you so much for the blog posts and screenwriting resources. Very helpful and excited to jump into them.

Thank you for the info Amanda! I will definitely check it out.

You're welcome, Danielle Olson. Glad they're helpful.

Thank you Nick Phillips !

Scott Sawitz - I kind of fell into it. In 2012 I was looking for a job out of college and my friend's dad new a few people in insurance. I interviewed for several positions and finally landed in entry level multinational insurance. Then I made my way to Motorsports insurance and finally entertainment. Now I specialize in Film and TV insurance which is probably the most fun to be in. It's definitely a very niche part of the insurance industry. I love getting to go through scripts and budgets. I review and approve stunts, pryo, and animal use. Also review and approve cast medicals for cast coverage.

Thank you Brian Smith ! :)

Danielle Olson welcome, Danielle!

Geoff Hall - thank you so much! :)

Tremendous to have you and all your talents here in the community, Danielle Olson. Very much looking forward to your insights.

Richard "RB" Botto - thanks so much! Happy to be here. :)

Glad you are taking the leap to explore the creative side and so nice of you to offer to be a resource for others!

Jill Godley - thanks so much!

You're welcome Danielle Olson!

Hello:

Fabulous career and thankful that your imaginative creative paths awakened through all that time reading scripts.

And this - The Lisa Michelle Memorial Fund - what a gift to honor your mum with this beauty of a gesture for other's who could use a helping hand.

Beautiful beyond measure your passionate love welcomes.

Thank you for the roads your life unwraps.

God Bless,

John German

Hey Danielle Olson nice to meet you! What's the craziest thing you've had to insure during your work?

Hi Danielle.

I have found that writing a screenplay isn't necessarily a 'start of story to finish' process. Example, i had seven poems, each with thier own strong story telling narrative. The poems were not connected, separate stories and written in different styles, tho they shared a simular essence. One I wrote in 2013, another in the late nineties.

I ended up building a screenplay around them, the poems now lyrical voice over narration for eight ( I wrote one project specific poem) of the action sequences. The first draft was a complete story, though short, and I expanded it from there.

The sequel to script I wrote by expanding a short film script I had entered in a comp.

So, think of writing as also 'building' a story, putting the pieces together like a puzzle in sometimes a random sequence. If you have trouble starting your first page, just write your main ideas for the story, then it will be easier to work out how to start the story.

Once you have a flow, and then hit a glitch, eg, unable to think of how to describe some action, etc, don't let it stop you. Just continue to write the main narrative. Amend the glitch later, which is often easier once you've developed the story past that point chronologically. Stay with the flow.

Regarding characterisation; having each character speak in thier unique way, remember you don't have to necessarily get that right first draft. Just ( help) tell the story through the dialogue while you have the flow, and polish the dialogue later.

Being a visual medium, tell your story through the action as much as possible.

I hope this is helpful,

Regards,

Gary.

So nice to meet you, Danielle Olson!

Hi Danielle - it's great to meet you here in the community. I can only imagine all that you learned while helping movies get insured. Do you think that work will inform your screenwriting in any way? Excited to see where your creativity takes you.

Thank you John Michael German !

Sam Sokolow - Nice to meet you here too! Definitely have learned a lot on the insurance side and I think it does inform my screenwriting, but not so much in the stories I want to tell. I think it informs the more technical aspect of script writing for me. Like how to write out the dialogue or action. I also think it gives me an idea of what it would take to get my script produced and insured.

Dustin Richardson - Nice to meet you too! :)

Gary McLean - thanks so much. I love you idea of thinking of it like a puzzle because I feel like I do it that way. I'll have something in my mind and just want to get it down. Then eventually I'll have another piece later and then another until it's something worth sharing.

Pat Alexander - Oh gosh. That is such a hard question because I run into so many interesting/crazy things. I'd say anything with exotic animals is always interesting. I not only need to think of the cast/crew getting injured, but the animals as well. I've reviewed filming with bears, monkeys, rats, scorpions, wolves, and so much more.

Then anything involving stunts or pyro typically comes with crazy scenarios. I worked on a project that had so many stunts I had to come up with a new way to keep track of where each stunt was at in the approval process.

Great to meet you Danielle Olson wishing you all the best :)

Haha that's really great, you never think about the exotic animals needing insurance but they do!

Morne Patterson - great to meet you too! :)