Old timey screenwriter secret for getting clients

A book I recently finished reading is: “Backstory 2” It’s a big collection of interviews with various old school (1950’s and 1960’s) Hollywood screenwriters. Back room conversation-type info. A lot of the book is kinda boring. But there are some extremely valuable & useful parts for the discerning writer, copywriter, freelancer. One of them is with screenwriter Stewart Stern. Specifically, when telling the story about how he got his first screenwriting gig. He had never even written a script. But his approach got him hired. From the book: === QUESTION: How did you get your break as a screenwriter? STEWART STERN: Arthur Loew had commissioned a script by Alfred Hayes called Teresa. Arthur, before he became president of MGM, gave it to me and asked me to look at it, make comments, tell him what was wrong. I took it away to a farm in Delaware. I wrote a list of about fifty questions, all of which were motivational. ‘Why this?’ ‘Why did this happen?’ ‘Why did this person react this way?’ I gave it to him and said, ‘This is not going to help anything. It’s just really questions which let you know what I think is not fulfilled about the script.’ I’d never written a script, but my uncle took me seriously. He sent it to his co-producer in Switzerland, who wrote back and advised him to hire me to write the screenplay. So he did. === The short version of what he did is simply diagnosis. Diagnosis can sometimes do more to sell than all the fancy pitching in the world. Something I talk about in my Email Client Horde book. Which, incidentally, is only on sale for another couple hours. Discount sale ends tonight, Sunday 4/16 at midnight EDT. Here’s the link: [https∶//www.EmailPlayers.com/clienthorde]( Use this code at the checkout to get the discount: RAWGER Make sure the price changes before entering any info. Ben Settle This email was sent by Ben Settle as owner of Settle, LLC. Copyright © 2023 Settle, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No part of this email may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from Settle, LLC. Click here to [unsubscribe]( Settle, LLC PO Box 1056 Gold Beach Oregon 97444 USA