roof, it still won't hold water. Just finish, no matter what. Then go on to
the next thing. But finish! Get some produced scripts. Some scripts have
been published and are available in bookstores. I think you can even buy
scripts on eBay. Read them. Copy a format or a style you like. If you can't
think of anyone to copy at first, find a script by William Goldman.
Goldman is a screenwriter's screenwriter."
Professional Profile: Duke Sandefur, Writer
"When I was about five years old, I was watching Bonanza with my
father in the basement. He was a dentist at the time in Indiana. I can't
quote him, but he ventured that he could probably write that show. Next
thing I know, we're moving to Hollywood. And damned if he didn't
wind up writing a lot of Bonanza episodes (and decades of television
material since). He took a screenwriting class at Hollywood High School
and was off to the races."
The elder Sandefur's first gig was the result of persistence. "He wrote a
story for Bonanza and gave it to the story editor (I believe that was John
Hawkins's title at the time) at the Paramount gate. John was the first to
arrive every day and the last to leave some days. He considered my
father a nuisance at first, but read the material. After several exchanges in
the early morning hours--my dad handing in revised material and John
giving him notes--John finally invited my father inside and bought a
story. John taught my father a lot . . . and later, taught me a lot. He was
a great man.
"We eventually settled in Studio City, almost in the shadow of Universal
Studios. From the beginning, I read what my father wrote. I learned the
craft and conventions of screenplay from a man who was also learning. His
primary life advice for me at the time was: `Do whatever you want to do,
but I won't support you if you choose dentistry.'
"I went to a few colleges and majored in everything from physics
to `undeclared' before I settled on television and film. In hindsight, I
should have majored in anything else. Technologies such as nonlinear
digital editing have made much of my formal education mostly
obsolete.
"One of my early writing classes required writing a teleplay. I figured
that if I were going to write a teleplay, I was absolutely going to try to sell
[it]. So, I picked a target . . . There was a series getting underway called
Spider-Man and I had a passing acquaintance with two guys on the show:
Bob Janes and Ron Satlof. I wrote an episode in about five days and
handed it in to my instructor. I also got a copy to Bob Janes . . . I sold the
episode. I failed the class. Go figure."
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