June 13, 2025

Write And Sell Your Screenplay Like A Pro Screenwriter - Mike Thompson

1 hour 31 minutes

Want to watch the video version of this podcast? Check it out on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkLXkS6rfns

Our two new books... STORY QUESTIONS: How To Unlock Your Story One Question At A Time - https://payhip.com/b/ZTvq9 and 17 Steps To Writing A Great Main Character - https://payhip.com/b/kCZGd

0:00 - True Story Behind One Of The Biggest Screenplay Sales In History

15:37 - This Is The Story I Tell New Screenwriters

26:32 - What I Finally Understand About The Screenwriting Business 20 Years Later

36:44 - Why The Logline Is The Most Important Part Of The Screenwriting Process

47:37 - Difference Between A Hollywood Movie Idea And One That Isn't Good Enough

58:42 - If You Don't Cry While Writing A Screenplay... Throw It Away

1:10:06 - Truth About The First 10 Pages Of A Screenplay

1:19:57 - How A Screenplay Sale Actually Works

Mike Thompson is a veteran Hollywood writer/producer, perhaps best known for his feature films, Dragonfly, starring Academy Award-winner, Kevin Costner, and Love Happens, featuring Emmy-winner Jennifer Aniston. He also co-created and was a showrunner of the FOX television series, John Doe, starring Dominic Purcell, and co-wrote and produced the indie horror film, Choose, starring Academy Award-nominee, Bruce Dern. In the documentary realm, he executive produced the multi-award-winning feature, A Lawyer Walks Into a Bar, and appears as himself in the cult classic award-winner, The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. In addition to his produced credits, he is uniquely distinguished for having written and sold dozens of high-profile spec scripts, pitches and teleplays to nearly every major Hollywood studio, including multiple seven-figure deals and at one point, the “highest-paying scripter deal ever" ~ Variety. He has collaborated on projects involving the likes of Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, Johnny Depp, George Clooney, Will Smith, Edie Falco, Chris Pine, Michael Keaton, Richard Gere, Academy Award-winning director Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump), and presently, blockbuster producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun: Maverick). Upon graduation from film school at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Mike began his career at Paramount Pictures, where he worked as an assistant to Academy Award-winning producer, Scott Rudin (No Country for Old Men), and subsequently for legendary producer, Larry Gordon (Field of Dreams), who set up Mike’s very first spec script sale at Walt Disney Studios. Mike lives and works in the mountains outside of his hometown of Seattle.