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by John Jarrell (Author)
Tough Love Screenwriting is NOT another dreaded "how to write" book.
It's also not the extremely popular Save The Cat. Or How To Write a Screenplay in Twelve Seconds. Or Ten Easy Steps to Becoming a Hollywood Script Zen Master. Or any other mass-marketed screenwriting hustle based on shortcuts, gimmicks, getting rich quick, smarmy "plug in your story" paradigms or the "what Hollywood wants" approach.
So exactly what is Tough Love? A brass-knuckles, boots on the ground guide to building a paid, professional screenwriting career -- written by a veteran who's made a good living doing it for over two decades.
There's a critical mass of street knowledge essential to any screenwriter's survival, and that's in addition to the ball-shattering task of writing well -- yet precious few sources outside the Business seem interested in sharing the 411 or giving the fresh meat a fair warning heads-up. This books seeks to remedy that.
And unlike 99% of the cottage industry books, classes and webinars out there -- 99% created by people who haven't made a dime in the real-life Film Industry -- these pages come from the direct, firsthand experience of a produced professional who's sold scripts, had a hit movie, been hired on numerous writing assignments, dealt with sadistic studio deadlines and handled crazy producers, directors and actors at their most extreme.
Massive Bonus -- it also includes THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO WRITERS GUILD CREDIT ARBITRATION by anyone, anywhere -- written by a WGA Screen Credits Committee member with vast personal experience on all sides of the Arbitration aisle.
Ultimately, Tough Love Screenwriting is aimed at the dedicated writer, the pragmatic dreamer who has pledged themselves to their craft, regardless of results, come Hell or high water, win lose or draw. The straight-shooting individual who understands the odds of becoming a successful screen or television writer are long, but certainly not impossible; and that superb storytelling and stellar writing are your best tools when scaling Hollywood's unforgiving granite walls.
Bottom line, there is nothing else like Tough Love out there. It's a wicked fun read guaranteed to get you laughing in some pretty twisted ways.
But beware -- this book is not gluten-free. It doesn't nurture your heart chakra and not everybody gets a trophy. Tough Love prides itself on presenting the brutal truth without pulling punches, whether you dig it or not. You may not like some of what this book has to say -- which is proof-positive that it's working.
Tough Love Screenwriting is essentially the book I wish someone had given me when I first came to Hollywood. It's as much combat field manual as practical navigational guide and memoir. One shrewd dose would have saved me years of blind, unsuccessful struggle. Hopefully reading it will keep you from enduring the same.
Author Biography
An Honors Graduate of the NYU Film Program, I sold my first screenplay at 24 and have been a professional screenwriter ever since. The film I wrote most people are familiar with is "Romeo Must Die" -- the hip-hop/kung-fu actioner starring Aaliyah and Jet Li. During my career I've written many films and TV pilots for major studios Warner Bros., Universal, Fox, Sony and Dreamworks, and have been fortunate enough to work with some of the best producers and directors in Hollywood. These include -- Jeffrey Katzenberg, Neil Moritz, Joel Silver, Terence Chang and John Woo, Mike Medavoy, James Foley, Carl Beverly, Sarah Timberman and Warren Littlefield. Among other projects, I wrote "Hard-Boiled II" for John Woo, scripted the animated family film "Outlaws" for Dreamworks, and most recently co-wrote "The Man With The Iron Fists II" for NBC/Universal which will be released first quarter 2015. A member of the Writers' Guild of America since 1991, I currently serve on the WGA Screen Credits Committee. I am repped by WME and managed by Ensemble Entertainment.
