Skip Press Bio/Archives

A 20-year professional in fiction, film, journalism, television and Websites, award-winning writer Skip Press is equally proud of his teaching. His students and readers have won kudos that include the first Sundance Online short film contest and an Academy Award. His comprehensive book on writing, How to Write What You Want & Sell What You Write, from the first course he taught at UCLA Extension Writers Program, sold for almost a decade and the electronic version was a finalist in the first U.S. Epic Awards for ebooks. A new edition from Barnes & Noble Books debuts in November 2005. He wrote, sold, and ghosted almost 30 books and novels before writing the first of three editions of his Writer's Guide to Hollywood Producers, Directors and Screenwriting Agents, which became how-to bibles for aspiring screenwriters all over the world. His Complete Idiot's Guide to Screenwriting was reviewed as best of its kind by the Writers Guild of Canada, was published in Russian by Triumph Publishing of Moscow, and a second English edition was published in 2004. Skip's popular college course "Your Screenwriting Career" (details at www.screenwritingcourse.com) is available in almost 1000 schools on several continents. Just for fun, he runs the writing discussion group "Skip's Hollywood Hangout" on Yahoo! When he was able to return to his own screenwriting in 2002, the first script he finished was optioned by a top Hollywood executive. His Ultimate Guide to Selling to Hollywood was published by Barnes & Noble Books in November 2004.

West of Doheny: Why Hollywood Doesn't Get It

West of Doheny. Remember that phrase. If you're wondering why you can't find a movie you're glad you paid to see, blame the folks who mostly live west of Doheny Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California all the way to the Pacific Ocean and up to Malibu. Let me explain... I teach a class called Your Screenwriting Career that is available in over 1,000 schools and is accessible to the U.S. military. It's a fairly popular course because I tell them the truth about what goes into the writing of successful movies. I got this from a student this morning. After praising the course she said - "You've ruined me for movie watching. I've been looking at movies in light of all you've taught. My question is this: obviously, the principles you have shared are the basics of good screenwriting. If everyone is looking for good screenplays, why are so many really terrible ones produced? For example, if something doesn't "happen" in the first ten pages, why is it produced at all? It seems wasteful. I've seen more compelling Dora the Explorer episodes than many movies. Am I missing something? Is it possible to not realize a story is weak until it is actually on film?" I told her it was because executives often don't read scripts. They read a reader's description of the script, a few sheets of paper called "coverage." I didn't tell her about a project of mine at Disney now that was optioned once. An "option" is a down payment on a literary work. If it goes into production (don't count on those odds), the writer gets paid the rest of the money. I was asked to synopsize a novel of mine (the executive called it a "treatment" but that's actually a much longer document). I turned in a 7-page synopsis. Oooh, but that was too long for the exec to read, could I cut it down to two? I did. Disney's still thinking about it. Now, what these people are actually doing, who knows. Shopping for Jimmy Choo shoes? Negotiating for a better seat at their favorite restaurant? Dealing with the contractors doing the addition to the house? Buying a new house? I have no idea, but they're damn not sure not reading scripts in a lot of circumstances. And then there's the other factor, the most important factor. Mid-2005, I went to a signing of Gigi Levangerie's latest novel, The Starter Wife. If you didn't read it, it's about a Hollywood wife who gets dumped and suddenly finds that she's outside the social circle that stops at Doheny Drive in Beverly Hills. Just before the end of the year, I had a meeting with John Platten and Flint Dille. I'm doing a book about gaming with them. They were picked to be in the top dozen "power players" of that business by Variety during the 2005 Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. While waiting for Flint to arrive, John and I were talking about the big dip in Hollywood revenues this year. John opined before I did, and I was pleased to hear that he has the same opinion as I do. Namely, people cocooned in their own social bubble, with their own prejudices, who believe they are smarter, more clever, above the people they depend upon to make their living. Those people they depend upon would be you and me. What makes the most money? Good entertainment. If people want a message, what do they want? Something that parallels their values. (Hint: The Passion) Do they care about gay cowboys in Wyoming? Hell no, partner. The critics do, but the critics are like the west of Doheny folks, the deep Manhhattan folks, the people out of touch with the bulk of America. If you live in those places and disagree with me, fine. The numbers don't back you up, they back me up. Do you know why the Chronicles of Narnia got made? Only because Philip Anschutz has a certain belief system. What prompted an oil and communications billionaire to get into movies? Here's something from a speech he made: My friends think I'm a candidate for a lobotomy, and my competitors think I'm naive or stupid or both. But you know what? I don't care. If we can make some movies that have a positive effect on people's lives and on our culture, that's enough for me. Hello? Hollywood? Hope you're listening. There are seven Narnia books. Funny thing is, most people don't live west of Doheny. Wish I did - I generally love the real estate. When I'm writing my books and teaching my courses, though, I pay attention to my customers. Hollywood increasingly only does that when forced to do so. In 1999, I did a study about what makes the top films successful and was surprised to discover a unique package of characteristics I dubbed "Kids Love It" that cause some films to be mega-successful. I redid the study in 2003 and offer it to any of my readers if they only send me an email ask for it. It applies even with "Titanic" believe it or not, and that phrase applies to much more than "family friendly" movies or movies for the elementary school set. In the Thursday, December 29, 2005 issue of Variety, in an article called "B.O. plays slip 'n' slide" (B.O. meaning "box office"), writer Ben Fritz reported that 2005 admissions had dipped 11% from the previous year. "Even more bad news," he said. "527 new pics were released in 2005, compared with 507 in 2004. That means Hollywood did less business with more films." 11% down in any business is pretty bad. In Hollywood, it's a crisis. The Hollywood film business is a nine billion dollar a year industry. 11% of that is... gulp! So let's see. Shouldn't a business try to please its customers? One would think. Aren't the bulk of Hollywood's customer in the cineplexes in the malls all across America. Why, yes they are. So when's the last time you saw a Hollywood movie that didn't treat Middle Americans like something less than a tiny speck outside an airplane window in "flyover country"? When's the last time you saw a Christian minister represented in a Hollywood film as a decent person? Did you know that a TV show about a character like that, and his family, was the longest-running series on "the WB"? Maybe you did. A lot of people in Hollywood don't know that Seventh Heaven ran a full decade. In your own business, I hope you never become so comfortable in your circumstances you are "west of Doheny." If you do, you might feel like you're living the good life in a house in Malibu. In reality, that house might be built on the sand. And when that happens, expect the tide to turn, with a big storm to follow.

Posted by Baron of Burbank on December 30, 2005 at 10:48 PM in Customer Dialogue | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Life's Works

By Skip Press

Earlier this month I went on a road trip to Hannibal, Missouri to explore possibilities with a new lady in my life. These possibilities included finishing a novel long-in-progress and beginning a new screenplay. All in all I thought the results were spectacular. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, I was reminded of my trip this morning when I heard someone on a the Laura Ingraham radio show talking about the work he does - giving a home to orphans. See the Big Oak Ranch site and you'll see why I made a donation this morning before I even had my coffee. The guy's son is the quarterback of the undefeated Alabama U. football team and on the cover of this month's Sports Illustrated magazine. On the way to Hannibal we passed through Clarinda, Iowa where I saw Glenn Miller's birthplace. If you're not familiar with his music, his was the best of the big bands in my opinion and he died in World War II enroute to playing a concert for the military. Further on up the road we stopped at Marcelline, Missouri and toured the Walt Disney Museum. Marcelline is where Mickey Mouse's dad grew up and a place he loved to come back to - always traveling there by train because he loved trains so much. Out back of his family home was what he called the "Dreaming Tree" where he would think about his hopes for the future and things he wanted to create. I learned something there I didn't know - Walt Disney died of lung cancer; apparently he smoked a lot. Then in Hannibal it struck me one day how many people there are currently making a living off Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and Becky Thatcher and Injun Joe and Jim, a century-old legacy of good feelings and literary thrills. Hannibal is still a backwater town on the Mississippi; there's really not much to it. People visit places like these out of curiosity and some times, I think, to try to capture some of the magic that they think might be resident in places where great creators lived, or even were born. It's generally not there, in my experience, because the creators in question took normal circumstances and places as inspiration and made them special. I can just see it, 100 years from now, some place that is supposedly the inspiration for Hogwarts, or the apartment where J.K. Rowling was living as a single mother on welfare when she couldn't afford to make a photocopy of her first Harry Potter manuscript (the one that got turned down by the first publisher). So what do all these creators have in common? Inspired imagination and, I believe, a deep love of people. I don't see this enough in people in Hollywood. Recently I sold a book on the video game business, finally landing it with the third publisher I tried. Somewhere along the way of negotiation of contracts, someone (maybe the publisher, more likely the lawyer for the two game writers I brought in to write the book) tried to ace me completely out of any credit, with a flat fee for editing and not even an acknowledgment in the book. Nice, huh? I stood my ground and got that changed, but I know now that one of two things will happen: (1) the co-author probably responsible for this kind of cutthroat activity will get on his high horse and walk away in a huff (he's already started some of that); or (2) the book will get done despite somebody's lunacy and writers will benefit from the knowledge. I negotiated a decent royalty for myself and a cover credit (as editor) but it still amazes me how someone's hubris might kill the project altogether. In contrast, I've started a novel and a screenplay (two separate projects) that fit the kind of legacy creation that I know Glenn Miller, Walt Disney and Mark Twain left us. So if the video game book falls apart, maybe that's God's way of telling me to work on something with longer-lasting impact. Recently I've been very grateful for what I get to do in my life. I work at home, I get the bills paid, and I'm there when my kids need me. I help other writers all over the world and I teach people who repeatedly tell me how much I'm helping them. Oh sure, I still have big ambition. I still want to win the Oscar - to tell kids out there who are as dirt poor as I was they can do it, too. I still want several books and novels on the NY Times bestseller list. I'd love to buy a big house by the sea and play golf every other day with a lady I love. Meanwhile, via things I've created, I get to help people feel better about their lives and prospects on a daily basis - unless they send me a really crappy script, of course.  ;-) So hey, it's a wonderful life. Today I'll be at the Beverly Pavilion moderating TV agent & manager events for Sherwood Oaks. I get paid lunch and parking for doing this, and probably a lot of smiles. That's enough.

This is my first blog post. Let me know what you think of it, will you? Happy creating.

Posted by Baron of Burbank on October 21, 2005 at 11:33 AM in Business Transformation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack