Web tales

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Published: 12:00am, 2 Aug 2009

Everyone wants to break into Hollywood by writing a script - and now the internet can help. Script consultant and New York University screenwriting lecturer Marilyn Horowitz knows all about this approach. Horowitz not only has her own tuition site and blog, she hosts screenwriting Web seminars and is creating a collaborative scriptwriting project online using Twitter.

'The screenwriting business has become increasingly virtual,' says Horowitz in her Central Park West office. 'There are websites such as virtualpitchfest.com and inktip.com where you can pitch your scripts to producers. Agencies ... search these sites for interesting plot lines.

'If you can write a good tagline and synopsis for your script, the Web is an excellent place to market your work.'

Before writing a script, study earlier successful works, says Horowitz. 'You can go to Drew's Script-O-Rama [script-o-rama.com], for instance. That has a huge collection of scripts online.'

It's also useful to find out what kind of scripts are in fashion and who's producing them, she says. 'There are sites which tell you which pitches have been sold. Then there's the Hollywood Creative Directory [www.hcdonline.com], which will help you find out who the producers are, who is in what position and what they have produced recently. If you are writing a thriller, for instance, it's useful to know the production companies which specialise in thrillers.'

Horowitz is modest about her own online presence. 'My latest project is called The Four Magic Questions of Screenwriting [www.screenwritermagic.com]. It's the engine by which new screenwriters can get started.

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