This list is in no particular order for all the screenwriters here are extraordinary in their own right. As you read through each of their bio’s made up by Variety, you’ll discover what it took each writer to do to get the ball rolling in their direction. After reading about these ten screenwriters, you should definitely feel that “if they’re doing it, I can do it” spirit. 120 great pages and belief in yourself is all you need. If nothing else, the following ten screenwriter’s are very inspiring.
Geoffrey Fletcher: “I thought that writing was not only a good way into the industry, but probably a good way to stay there.”
Emma Forrest: She wrote “Liars (A-E)” this spring in just three days following the breakup of her yearlong relationship with actor Colin Farrell. A couple of weeks later, the script was sold to Scott Rudin and Miramax.
David Leslie Johnson: David Leslie Johnson decided on a more old-fashioned path: He apprenticed with a master, then diligently developed his craft until the boss felt it was time to help him transition.
Ian Helfer and Jay Reiss: Reiss says, “Sometimes I would do a draft, sometimes he would. I hear of teams writing every line of dialogue together, one person over the other’s shoulder, but this wasn’t that. We were facing each other, blipping the information back and forth, discussing it, trying to work it out. While it took longer than writing something myself, you end up with more of a finished product, even by the end of the first draft.”
Emily Halpern and Sarah Haskins: “Sarah and Emily create funny, smart, unself-consciously strong female characters,” says Portman. “When I read ‘Book Smart,’ it was as though the script we always talk about wanting to find for our company suddenly materialized.”
Phil Johnston: Phil Johnston worked for nine years as a regional TV news and weatherman in the northern Midwest. “I didn’t know a fucking thing about the weather,” he admits.
Mindy Kaling: “It comes from this impatience that I just wrote this and now I want to see it on its feet,” she says.
Liz Meriwether: “It kind of went like: I was working as a receptionist at a real estate investment management company, and then a week later I was in a golf cart, hiring a production designer,” she says, grinning through her geek-chic glasses and disheveled tawny blond hair. “I think I’m still recovering.”
Michelle Morgan: “I am still in the substitute teacher pool,” she admits. “I can’t take myself off that list yet. Hopefully, it’ll end up working out,” she says of her screenwriting career. “But you can’t take it all so seriously.”
Alan Yang: “I like the social nature of the TV writers’ room, but I think I’m more attuned to feature screenwriting because I can go to a park and sit on a bench and write for a few hours,” Yang says.
Popularity: 90% [?]
Ever experienced “Paranormal Activity”? You can right now at most theaters as “Paranormal” expands to nearly 2,000 engagements across the US. This weekend alone the little picture that could has taken in $22 million with a total cume of… are you ready for this? $62.5 million! That’s awesome! I’m sure first-time director Oren Peli feels the same way. How did all of this come about? Peli got together some friends and a couple of actors and hit the festival circuit as all good hopefuls do. Word has it, before the reels stopped turning, Stephen Spielberg snatched up the supernatural flick. With a distribution deal now in the works from Dreamworks and then later Paramount, Peli has hit the big-time. “Paranormal Activity” has opened to box officer records across the country. Se what you can do with a credit card, talent, and a little time on your hands. Now, get to work!
all within minutes of each other. For instance, you can be sitting at the 
Acclaimed writer-director Paul Haggis has been a fixture of television and film for over 25 years. In this wide-ranging interview, the Oscar®-winning co-screenwriter, director, and producer of Crash (Best Picture 2005) discusses a three-decade career that led from writing for sitcoms like Diff’rent Strokes and The Facts of Life to his breakthrough screenplay for Oscar®-winning director Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby (Best Picture 2004). Haggis’s matter-of-fact stories of navigating the entertainment industry are an indelible primer for how to manage the screenwriting life, make a successful transition from TV to film, develop a strong story and characters, pitch an idea, and surmount Hollywood’s more frustrating obstacles. 
James Cameron was born in Kapuskasing, Ontario, Canada, on August 16, 1954. He moved to the USA in 1971. The son of an engineer, he majored in physics at California State University but, after graduating, drove a truck to support his screen-writing ambition. He landed his first professional film job as art director, miniature-set builder, and process-projection supervisor on 
Robert Altman was born on February 20th, 1925 in Kansas City, Missouri, to B.C. (an insurance salesman) and Helen Altman. He entered St. Peters Catholic school at the age six, and spent a short time at a Catholic high school. From there, he went to Rockhurst High School. It was then that he started exploring the art of exploring sound with the cheap tape recorders available at the time. He was then sent to Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, Missouri where he attended through Junior College. In 1945, he enlisted in the Air Force and became a copilot of a B-24. After his discharge from the military, he became fascinated by movies and he and his first wife, LaVonne Elmer, moved to Hollywood, where Altman tried acting (appearing in the film 
Turner Classic Movies presents an in-depth documentary by acclaimed author, critic and documentarian Richard Schickel on director and producer Martin Scorsese, entitled Scorsese on Scorsese (2004).
