Kent Rodricks: Screenwriter in San Diego, California.

You can post your loglines/scripts through your profile and ask for feedback from other writers here. Also, books helped me a LOT. Screenwriters bible, Story, Save the Cat are a few worth reading. And read scripts. You can download many for free and it is probably one of the best ways to learn what works. I am drawing a blank right now on what websites offer free script downloads but if you Google it, I'm sure it will pop up. Good luck!

Enter reputable screenwriting contests like Page Awards, Final Draft Big Break, Script Pipeline, Nichols Fellowship, Austin Film Festival, etc. It's a great way to gauge if your stuff is marketable. And if you don't make the quarter finals don't get all bummed out, just keep submitting!

fyi, I think Emi has the right solution. I'm literally reading a pilot script now with a beat about a vision problem, and I thought about your sound note. For example: INT. TRAIN STATION - MORNING A train rumbles loudly by. IN JOHN'S POV - Silence.

And please, no one say that a screenwriting book disdains the format I suggested. This script I'm reading as we speak was written by a writer on a TV show on one of the major broadcast networks, and she is repped by one of the top 3 talent agencies. No one in Hollywood would have lifted an eyebrow if they saw this format. But is it the only format that works? No. William Martell: "There are no rules, only tools."

Great thread! I learned something new. Thanks all. @Sandra... because you wrote it twice... it's scenes... not sceens. :-)) All the best to you.

Hi Kent. Just a get together of screenwriters. I live out in Santee and we have a clubhouse. I can reserve a time. 619-596-0926 give me a call.

That is a great story

Excellent! Good luck with the project!

Good seeing you @ AMPAS yesterday, E! Thanks for saying hello.

Hey Kent! All I can say is, outside of knowing your content inside and out, just infuse your personality into the pitch. Execs want to know there's a person behind the material, not a robot. Be yourself and knock em dead!

Allow me to clarify. What I meant by British English are alternate spellings that would be covered by the British dictionary in Microsoft Word (e.g. colour instead of color, realise instead of realize), grammar rules (e.g. the family are instead of the family is) or commonly known terms (e.g. boot instead of trunk), but I would avoid using highly region-specific "vernacular" that would require Googling to understand. Typically, you don't want to be misunderstood. However, in the script itself, yeah, you should give proper voice to your characters. Again, it depends on the situation and the audience who is reading your material.

With dialogue, I think you should write the dialogues as true to your characters and the way they speak as you can. I read The Hateful Eight and Straight Outta Compton this week, and the dialogues in both scripts have a lot of flavors that are unique to those characters. With regards to a logline and synopsis, if I was using terms that are unique to an area or people, I would put the unique word there, and the "proper English word" next to it in parentheses. Good luck!

Bill I agree with you. I think dialogues should have that feel of expression but then, Lee, those alterations in spelling between the two, plus sentence structure are a big deal for most writers who want their material understood. I tell you this, I've experienced such critiques more from Americans as it seems they virtually have an upper hand in the domain - just a supposition ;).

Be careful only writing what you find funny. Everybody has different sensibilities. I find I'm usually funny when I'm not trying to be. Oddity can be extremely funny. Let me know if I can help, Lauren! Congrats on the web series!!

I watch shows and films that resonate with my style and go to live comedy shows and stand-ups. Immerse yourself in comedy. I love a brit show, which names escapes me right now, where comedians are put on the spot, given a topic and take turns doing live jokes without any planning. It's brillaint to watch these guys and I like to take that topic and come up with my own jokes. Take forms of jokes and write about a topic in each form, like make jokes about romances using observational humour, black humour, absurd humour, puns (meh), ironic, overstated etc. Learn to make things funny. It takes work. Comedians don't often just walk up on stage, bar Billy Connelly, and make it up. They study comedy and plan. They work on it.

Hey Lauren - A writer here from Sunnyvale, CA. I would say that the comedy would come out of the situation that you are writing - the dialogue will be funny cause the characters reaction to the situation will be what makes it funny. There is the old adage that what you find funny, others may not. That is entirely true, but also if the situation that is happening isn't 100% niche, then I think you should be fine. Would to help out in any way, even if it just means sending positive vibes from a state below. Best of luck!

Thanks Joe!

You're welcome Kent. Glad you're here!

Thank you, Amanda!

Jorge - Jackie Collins made a great living writing thinly veiled characters based on the real ones she met and worked with in Hollywood. The old adage "write what you know" put to very successful results. I'm not so sure her characters controlled her - I'd bet that it was her attorneys - worried about her getting too close and getting sued.

Hi Stanley, Thanks for the add. You have a wealth of experience and knowledge which is just fabulous! As a newbie this gives me great hope and fills me with excitement at entering the industry. I started off my career in design and I'm heading into screenwriting. Again, thanks for the add, it's lovely to meet you. Sue-Kim

Michael: Great point, but she refer to the sex scenes, that they dictated to her when to have sex. Anyway. Food for thought.

Thanks RB!

You are most welcome, Kent. Great to have you in the community!