It's Summertime!! Which in LA just means even more construction and slightly less traffic for a few weeks. But for screenwriters, it's one of the busiest times of the year. Are you taking advantage of it?

Below you will find a number of new classes, events, and opportunities to take advantage of this summer and improve your craft, story and career.

First, however, I want to give you some details on a very exciting announcement I've been teasing about before anyone else hears it...

I am joining forces with SIMPLY SCRIPTS, one of the leading resources for writers and one of the best places on the web to find free, downloadable scripts! I will be doing exclusive FREE coverage notes on their Featured Script of the Month, which is chosen from all scripts submitted to SS each month after being evaluated by their readership. That coverage and a link to the script will be posted on the Simply Scripts Website.

Simply Scripts gets over 10,000 unique visitors a day and this new featured column will gain chosen writers (and No BullScript) some great exposure - plus some pretty great notes for free. The featured scripts chosen that get a RECOMMEND from me will also be listed in my newsletter and social media and may be included in the No Bull Hollywood Connection! Much like with ScriptShadow or SpecScout, this is a whole new way for new projects and writers to garner attention.

If you haven't checked out Simply Scripts yet, check it out at www.simplyscripts.com.

The official press release with all the details will be out shortly, but I wanted to give you the scoop first!

Moving on....
This past weekend, I saw the romantic young adult drama The Fault in Our Stars based on the bestselling book. Written by Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber (500 Days of Summer, Spectacular Now), this movie has become the massive sleeper hit of the summer.  And yes, it made me cry like a baby.

Not only was it the number one romance film ever on Fandango, but it opened to almost $50M in its first weekend on a $12M budget. That's unheard of for these types of movies. And it's on its way to clearing $100M. So what made this film so successful?

Before you get too excited that it might be time to brush off that small romantic drama story, keep this in mind -

It had a major established following from the NYT bestselling book, it made a huge splash on social media, it was released against a poorly-tracking sci-fi epic with Tom Cruise, the dialogue strikes the perfect blend of sweet, funny and heartbreaking, and most of all....the writers adapted the story the right way.

Adapting is a different skill from writing an original script. And since half of the movies Hollywood seems to be making are adaptations or remakes, it seems to be a skill worth learning. Here is my latest ScriptMag column on Adapting Your Story to Script, complete with tips and a checklist to make sure you're on the right track.

Here is a wonderful article from Neustadter & Weber themselves on what their keys to adapting this wonderful story were and how they decided what to keep and what to cut - http://www.studiosystemnews.com/from-start-to-finish-screenwriters-scott-neustadter-michael-weber-talk-adapting-the-much-loved-novel-the-fault-in-our-stars/

Of course the first step is writing the book. But that's a whole other article.

For you writers out there who ARE interested in doing books AND film...Next weekend, June 27-29 is the Greater LA Writers Conference at LA Valley College and given by West Coast Writers.  While not as big as some other events this month, the conference hosts a number of panels, classes, workshops and keynote speakers for book writers, screenwriters and more!

I will be teaching my class "Make Your First 10 Pages Shine" on Saturday June 28th at 2pm. I will also be on the Pitching Panel on Sunday the 29th at 11am-1230pm. If you're in the LA/SFV area and want to come for a day or the whole weekend, you can find out info & register here -
http://www.wcwriters.com/glawc/program.html

Please keep reading below for some important new events and information!