Matt Misetich, Executive Director of Pipeline Media Group, talks with screenwriter Crosby Selander about the state of the screenwriting industry. Included in the discussion is a live Q&A with the attendees.

Crosby Selander is a Los Angeles based screenwriter and filmmaker. He received a double BA from New York University, and his MFA from Carnegie Mellon University where he was the recipient of a Shubert Fellowship. After placing as a finalist in the Script Pipeline Screenwriting Contest, his screenplay BRING ME BACK (currently set up at Legendary) went on to become the biggest spec sale of 2020, and one of the biggest all-time from an unproduced writer.

Crosby went on to develop the Hugo-winning novel THE FOREVER WAR for TV alongside director Francis Lawrence for Village Roadshow, and served in the feature writing room for the MATCHBOX movie for Skydance.

He has projects in active development at Lab Brew, 193, and Weed Road. His short films have played at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Hollyshorts, and dozens of other film festivals around the world. He’s been featured in Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, and China Daily, among others.

He's repped for film/tv at UTA and Kaplan Perrone Entertainment.

• Watch Recording on YouTube
• Crosby on X: @CrosbySelander

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Pipeline Executive Director Matthew Misetich talked with Michael Peterson, Vice President of Development for Phoenix Pictures, to discuss the art of screenwriting and filmmaking through the lens of a producer.

As always, our Symposium one-on-one conversations are a community event, welcoming the audience's questions, too.

Resources:

Recording on YouTube

Michael Peterson’s Bio

Relevant Symposiums Sessions:

• “Writing to Budget” by Bob Saenz
• “Creative Strategies for the Changing Screenwriting Landscape” with Lee Jessup
• Wednesday, August 6th: “Logline Workshop” with Merridith Allen (offered multiple times a year)

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Kate McKean is a literary agent at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency in Brooklyn, but she's also an author and the creator of the popular Agents & Books newsletter. Get ready for the ultimate agent AMA.

Pipeline exec Jeanne Veillette Bowerman conducts an intimate one-on-one dialogue with Kate, diving into the life of an agent, and also her new book, Write Through It: An Insider’s Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life, coming out in June. If that's not enough, she also has a picture book set to publish by Sourcebooks in 2026.

As always, our Symposium one-on-one conversations are a community event. While Jeanne and Kate converse, your questions will be addressed, too.

Pour a beverage, sit back and relax. Enjoy the dialogue.

Resources:

Kate’s Website
Agents + Books Newsletter
Kate on IG
Kate on X
Kate on BlueSky
Kate on Goodreads

Order Kate’s new book, Write Through It: An Insider’s Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life

Free Symposiums Mentioned:

Hard Truths: Book Writing Competitions
One-on-One with Victoria Strauss

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J.T. Ellison is not only a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 30 novels, she's also an EMMY® award winning co-host of the literary TV show A WORD ON WORDS, and one of the most generous professional writers in the industry.

As always, our Symposium one-on-one conversations are a community event. While Jeanne Veillette Bowerman and J.T. converse, your questions will be addressed, too!

Pour a beverage, sit back and relax. Join the dialogue.

Resources from this session:
J.T. Ellison's Website
J.T.'s Substack
J.T.'s Newsletter
Reckless Creatives Podcast with John Truby
Symposium: "Self-Publishing: The Fundamentals and Beyond"

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Writing contests provide an opportunity for writers to get recognition for their work, win monetary prizes, and even have their work pitched to literary agents.

Understanding how contests actually work and what types of projects typically resonate is essential to any writer looking to compete—the story idea, the quality of the writing sample, the voice of the author, etc.

Our Book Pipeline execs, Matthew J. Misetich, Ciara Duggan and Jeanne Veillette Bowerman, join contest-winning writer Laura Picklesimer to offer insider tips on writing competitions.

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Reckless Creatives podcast co-hosts, Jeanne Veillette Bowerman and Sadie Dean, had a live conversation with the legendary Scott Myers about screenwriting, the life of an artist, his new book, The Protagonist's Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling, and so much more. This episode was recorded on May 16, 2023, during the WGA strike.

Our regular Reckless Creatives listeners and Symposium attendees participated and asked Scott questions, too!

Scott has more thoughts on the WGA strike, too. Check his blog for updates.

[Note: For the MovieMaker article on dos and don'ts for pre-WGA writers during the WGA strike, read here.]

Resources discussed:

The Protagonist's Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling
Scott's site: Go Into the Story
Scott's WGA strike updates
Scott's Facebook group: Zero Draft Thirty
MovieMaker article "Dos and Don'ts for Pre-WGA Writers"
Follow Scott: @gointothestory
Follow Sadie: @SadieKDean
Follow Jeanne: @jeannevb

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Pipeline Executives Roni Brown and Spike Scarberry join Thomas Krajewski—the co-creator of Primer (DC), a really rad graphic novel series, and a former Script Pipeline TV Winner (2014)—to discuss the intricacies of the comic world.

You might even leave wanting to adapt your screenplay into a graphic novel!

Watch the video of this session on Symposium site.

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Nothing compares to the opportunity of doing a face-to-face pitch of your manuscript to a literary agent at a writing conference. While most writers are terrified of the pitching process, it's often the best experience an author can have in understanding not only how the publishing industry works but also the critical dynamics of the author/agent relationship.

But the trick is—you only get about five minutes to make a great first impression and (hopefully) receive a request to submit your work for consideration.

Jeanne Veillette Bowerman, Executive at Pipeline Media Group and former Senior Editor at Writer's Digest, has a decade of experience speed pitching both literary agents and Hollywood producers. She'll share tips on how to hone your pitch to get a decision-maker excited about reading your work.

This event will cover:

• Setting realistic goals
• How a speed-pitching event works
• Creating an effective quick pitch for fiction and nonfiction
• Logline tips
• Dos and Don'ts of pitching an executive
• Post pitching event action items

Download the slideshow PDF.

[Recorded July 6, 2022]

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Doug Richardson has spent decades writing for the film industry. You might have heard of Die Hard 2, Hostage, and the OG Bad Boys. He's that Doug.

But he's also a novelist, scotch aficionado, and producer ... and a hell of a lot of fun.

Pipeline exec Jeanne Veillette Bowerman sits down with Doug to chat about all things writing, and also asks Doug your questions, live, in our Q&A.

Doug's bio:

Doug Richardson, born in Arcadia, California, grew up on a ranch near Sacramento and developed a passion for cinema after discovering Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels. He studied at USC’s School for Cinematic Arts, initially aspiring to direct, but shifted his focus to screenwriting, which led to a contract with Warner Brothers and the opportunity to write for major studios. His breakthrough came with the screenplay for Die Hard 2, followed by successes like Bad Boys, Money Train, and Hostage. In addition to his screenwriting career, Doug authored novels, including the Lucky Dey Thriller series, known for their dark and gripping storytelling. Living in Southern California with his wife, Karen, Doug balances his Hollywood projects with writing novels, enjoying golf, scotch, and cooking for loved ones.

Resources from this session:

Jeanne's Script Magazine article about lessons learned from Doug
How Doug got the Die Hard 2 gig
7-Figure Sale Story: A Million-Dollar View
One-on-One with Lane Shefter-Bishop
Hard Truths: What Film and TV Reps Actually Want
Logline Workshop (Quarterly)
Doug on X: @byDougRich
Doug's Linktree
Doug's Books

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If you've ever wondered about the comic industry, or considered how to adapt your screenplay into a graphic novel, we've brought together a stellar writing team to answer your questions: Jimmy Palmiotti (Harley Quinn, Painkiller Jane, Jonah Hex) and Craig Weeden (Killing Time in America).

Some of the topics we'll cover:

• Realistic expectations of the industry
• Writing in multiple mediums
• Cost of creating comics
• Adaptation to film and TV
• Optioning process
• Crowdsourcing

Resources from this session:

• Jimmy Palmiotti's PaperFilms
• "Gutter Talk: Graphic Novel Technique for Screenwriters" by Craig Weeden
• Fantasima Kickstarter
• Craig Weeden's Pipeline Artist Articles
• Spike Scarberry's Pipeline Artist Articles
• Book Pipeline's Unpublished Contest (NEW Comic & Graphic Novel category)
• Brene Brown Empathy Videos
• Jimmy on X: @jpalmiotti
• Jimmy on IG: @jimmypalmiotti
• Craig on X: @craig_weeden

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Pipeline Artists
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