Selling Scripts to Hollywood »

For Katherine Atwell Herbert, it was love at first sight from the time she was taken to see her first movie. Later, as a grade school student, she realized that the written word possessed another sort of magic. Decades later the two loves continue unabated.

Before she finished post-graduate classroom work in film at the University of Southern California and Arizona State University, she was writing newspaper film reviews, interviews, and features. It was inevitable that her path would lead to Hollywood.

After getting an agent with her very first script, she moved to Los Angeles and began working in the business. At DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group, she was a script analyst and the executive assistant to the vice president of production. Later she became the development director for a production company at MGM Television and has worked with Backroads Productions preparing films for production.

She has also analyzed scripts for Fox Broadcasting, IRS Films, Carolco, and other, including Multimedia, Viacom-Showtime and Lightstorm Jim Cameron's company. Her scriptwriting includes episodes for "Trial by Jury," "Murder She Wrote," and "Quantum Leap," among others, as well as feature screenplays and rewrite work. Her other writing includes national magazine articles in such publications as Young Miss, Teen, Dynamic Years, and others, as well as articles for various newspapers.

The writer-analyst has won several national and local awards for her work from the National Federation of Press Women and was nominated as an Outstanding Young Woman in America. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

This upbeat resource book is full of encouraging advice to budding screenwriters on just how to prepare, submit, and sell their movie scripts. From structuring the plot and formatting the script to finding an agent and negotiating the best deal, this insider's information covers all the bases. Tips are offered for developing characters and storylines; using scriptwriting computer programs; sending letters to prospective agents; working with directors; getting along in the business; tapping into Web sites and workshops; and other sources of support for writers.