Alejandro Ontiveros: Screenwriter in Los Angeles, California.

Maybe it's not social media but you could put a script on Blacklist. However, this is if you're ready to sell.

Beth must be talkin' to some legal types – but what she says is pretty much spot-on. When you write it, it's automatically yours. The best way to prevent theft of your marvelous story is to not share it with others – but isn't that a basic idea behind screenwriting - to put your story up on a screen to share with others?

Doug, I find your comments so wise.

My grandfather-in-law wrote a novel in longhand and had it typed up by his wife later. I respect it... and I'll write the first act or so in longhand so I can "let the juices flow" as it were... but after awhile I just get onto Highland or WriterDuet and bust it out.

I'm back in the habit of always writing a full first draft by hand. Typing it out gives me (as Ana said) access to the evil "Backspace" button, and I wind up writing the first four pages over and over again. I go through phases when it comes to what I write with/on - sometimes it's gotta be a yellow legal pad, other times a spiral notebook or a journal...whatever feels right for the project I'm working on.

My handwritten manuscripts end up half college ruled half legal pad. I prefer zebra pens with the metal casing.. mine is a Zebra F-701. I have some Copic liners I have as backup just in case, but I'll settle for any old black pen eventually tbh. Felt tip pens are always a joyous welcome.

Dan MaxXx: You are a Godsend! I'll take it, with the hopes that someone will still help make my Arricam LT (or ST) Christmas wish come true! PS: Dan, are you documenting the final days of The Carnegie Deli's New York existence? Man....eighty years of gastronomy in those walls. RIP, The Carnegie Deli, New York. :(

Holy shit, I agree with Dan on something! 12/8/2016 11:59AM PST

RB and Dan: oh, the old double-team, eh? I'm starting to feel like a piece of swiss cheese between pastrami and corned beef. Oy vey! P.S.: Katz is pretty awesome.

Exercise, Change scenery, reevaluate outlines.To me, writer's block is my brain's way of saying 'you messed up in the outline/development phase- go back and try again'. By the time I get to actually writing the dialogue, the story should flow fairly well.

We had a good blog about this: https://www.stage32.com/blog/The-7-Step-Process-for-Busting-the-Myth-of-...

Saw a video recently how Hemmingway stood apart from this affliction. When he wrote he always left off with an idea for the next step in his bank. That’s is he never wrote mercilessly until his ideas were exhausted. Then when he picked upo his writing the next day he always had something to write and a place to go. I’ve used that and it does work.

Flashbacks and dreams are 2 very diff things and cant be used interchangeably. best way to format a FB is just by saying FLASHBACK TO: INT. SCENE HEADING and then at the end of the FB, you should say either END FLASHBACK or BACK TO SCENE. The issues i see often are that fb's go on too long - more than 5 pages, theres probably a problem; it doesnt reveal anything in a way that couldn't be revealed in present day; it has no POV - flashbacks are usually a characters recollection if an event and shoukd be seen/told from their POV and we need a transition into and out of that FB.

A beautiful setting for a podcast.

Your next move, after recording some material, would be to make that available online. Audio dramas are making a comeback - "Wolf 359", "Limetown" and "Night Vale" are just a few examples of fiction-based pod-casts. Good luck with your new studio!

I thought about doing one for the western I was planning on writing.

-G.R.B.

Offense taken sir - this is supposed to be a conversation not one of the "missed connection" or "casual encounters" adds to must be used to browsing on Craigslist. Kindly go browse the "pretentious asshole" forums to find people and conversation you will surely relate to.

Lol. Savage af. Honestly this is as close to that kind of forum that I've found so far, but I just joined this community today so I have yet to peruse the casual encounters feature here.

@Beth gave user friendly tips and pointers. Also we have here CJ Walley who has his free scripts for option page and the relatively new innovative Script Revolution Site where artists can interact and view scripts. (Some also for sale). He has a bold style i enjoy reading, and there is usually some sort of switch/sting/character self realisation. The only thing stopping me from directing a couple of his micro shorts is that I'm too busy with my own stuff. Hope you eventually find the material that does it for you, and the project takes off.