I'm a professional television and feature writer. Before writing for a living, I worked as a development executive in movies. My books, Crafty Screenwriting: Writing Movies That Get Made and Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside the Box, grew out of two observations I made:

• As a development executive reading thousands of scripts, I noticed that most writers have no clue what producers are looking for. Their screenplays are doomed from the get-go.
• As a writer, I noticed that what people told me was wrong in my scripts was almost never what was actually wrong. I had to find and fix the underlying problem.

Crafty Screenwriting distills what I know about screenwriting; Crafty TV Writing, my experience as a TV writer and show creator. Each book is only ten bucks at Amazon, and fits in your coat pocket! Click the book covers to read excerpts from the books.

If you have a question about show business, please read my FAQ and blog before you email me; I've probably already answered it, and I'll just tell you, "Read my FAQ and blog." No, I will not help you get an agent, and if you want to find out who someone's agent is, read my FAQ. If you query me if I want to read your script, I will direct you to my screenplay evaluation service. On the other hand, if you have a nifty question I haven't answered before, I probably will answer it on my screenwriting blog. My eddress: craftyscreenwriting at gmail dot com.

This website is © Copyright 2005-2008 by Alex Epstein, all rights reserved. The book excerpts may be quoted up to 250 words; more than that requires written permission from Henry Holt or from me. Other materials may be freely quoted, provided I am properly cited, with this URL, and this copyright notice is not removed.

No animals were harmed in the making of this Web site. Contains no meat byproducts. Kosher (parve) for Passover. 100% recycled electrons. Percentage of calories from fat: 0%. Thought on location in Los Angeles, New York, Cape Town, Toronto and Montreal.