Being Professional A Master Guide to the Do's and Don'ts of Screenwriting

Being Professional teaches the ABCs of screenwriting from a practical perspective, rather than theoretical or academic. The author highlights the many traps, mistakes, and pitfalls that frequently plague writers of all experience levels and shows them the difference between simply completing a script as an amateur, and taking an idea and executing the best version of it as a professional piece, worthy of industry attention.

Adam Coplan was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, and moved to Los Angeles shortly after graduating from George Washington University to pursue a career in film production. After his nearly two decades in the business, his resume is a distinctive blend of experience that makes him uniquely qualified to teach and discuss screenwriting. He has been a script reader at a major agency, story editor for one of the most prolific producers in film history, Vice President of Development for arguably the most script-conscious and literate producers of all time, and Vice President of Production for a third hugely successful producer. He has been a screenwriter, a producer, and a director, as well as a professor, and now adds the title of author to his varied background. In his various executive positions, just a select few of the films he has worked on include Executive Decision, The Matrix, The Truman Show, In & Out, A Simple Plan, Wonder Boys, I, Robot, and Behind Enemy Lines. He coproduced The Express with producer John Davis and wrote, produced, and directed the independent drama It’s Dark Here.