Essential Script Writing Tools, Techniques and Advice:

The Screenwriting Goldmine system is a simple, concise, focused, professional scriptwriting method that leads you step by step from the blank page all the way through to a finished first draft screenplay you will be proud of - and that other people will be desperate to read. Find out more.

If you've downloaded your copy of the Screenwriting Goldmine and you want a short cut to setting out the spreadsheet for the beat sheet and the character breakdowns you might be interested using my own spreadsheet as a story template.

Paul Ashton runs the team who act as the first line of defence for the BBC as they endure the constant seige of scripts from hopeful screenwriters. In their search for new talent they receive, consider, and respond to around 10,000 screenplays every year. Can there be many people in the world with such a wide experience of the pitfalls committed by new screenwriters? And Sally Brockway asks him all the questions you would ever want answering about that. If you've ever sent a script off anywhere, this 40 minutes+ downloadable interview is simply unmissable. Listen to the interview. 

Silvia Manning is an American actress who decided she was going to write her own sit com, and was going to get it on screen, and nothing was going to stop her. Listen to her in conversation with Sally Brockway as she describes the process, from those early days of having an idea and nothing else, all the way through to selling the thing to a network and getting it all in the can.

It’s not too surprising that many people start to write a screenplay without ever having read any. We’ve all seen thousands of hours of television and thousands of movies, so it’s easy to assume that has given us an instinctive understanding of the form. That is true for some lucky people – but even they can’t have an instinctive understanding of how a screenplay looks on the page – there are certain conventions you must follow if you don’t want to get your screenplay filed in the laugh-and-junk-pile. (And, you know, just reading free screenplays isn’t enough. You should be working on them too.) Here’s a guide to where you can get masses of free screenplays – and what you should be doing with them when you have them.

OK - so... imagine you've finished your first draft, and you've left it alone for a couple of weeks so that you can get some perspective on it. I know it's burning a hole through your desk and you are desperate to hear what people think, but the worst thing you could possibly do at this point is give it to anyone else to read.

This is a great downloadable interview with Vanessa Haynes, who at the time of interview was the Head of Development at Baby Cow. If you don't know of Baby Cow this is one of THE great UK comedy production companies. The company is owned by Steve Coogan (who is probably best known for creating and playing a character called Alan Partridge), and over the last decade has produced shows including Gavin & Stacey, The Mighty Boosh, Ideal, Human Remains, Nighty Night, Saxondale, Marion and Geoff - and many many more. In this interview Vanessa talks to Sally Brockway of Screenwriting Goldmine about the best way to get her attention as a writer!

Sally Brockway talks to Sharon Batten, the Script Producer of one of THE UK's most prestigious - and most popular soaps, Eastenders. Do you want to know what it's like to be a writer in such a high pressured environment? And how you can get to BE one of those writers? Listen up... (Downloadable audio interview.) 

"I finally got it together and managed to conquer all my demons and sent my screenplay out to an agency/production company/external reader. They said the story was weak/the dialogue was bland/ trashed it completely/ suggested I should give up writing. I'm really hurt by this. I'm not so crazy that I thought my very first submission would get bought, but I'm finding the negative criticism really hard to throw off. Now I'm even not sure I have it in me to be a writer. What do I do?"

Ever had a dream like this? You send in a few pages of your script to your favorite TV show. Within hours you get a call- they like it. No, they LOVE it! Within hours they fly you out there. Put you in a hotel. Hire you to start work on the show. You get to work on two series, hang out on set all the time, get to work with David Milch (Deadwood and NYPD Blue) on a daily basis - and suddenly the people who matter are queuing up to read your movie script. This interview is with Bryan McDonald. That screenwriting 'dream' was his reality. Listen as he tells you how he did it.

What can I say about this one?  Except that dreams really can come true - and listen out for the brilliantly unexpected way he got his first break! It just goes to prove my theory that you should make friends with everyone you meet. Basically, this is a terrific writer giving you the inside story on working on one of the top US TV shows of the decade. What's not to like?  Listen to the interview.