Interview with Sterling Anderson about Screenwriting in Hollywood ...

Jaden: What shows do you think are currently putting out the best TV writing?

Sterling Anderson: I love Touch, plus my friend writes for the show. The Good Wife has brilliant writing and Shameless is great. For comedy, Modern Family and The Office and Family Guy are still setting the standard for excellence. Big Bang Theory is coming up?!

Jaden: Have you learned anything new about screenwriting that surprised you because you thought you knew it all?

Sterling Anderson:? Every day I?m surprised by what shows get picked up and?every day a show gets on the air that I applaud.?So my new surprise is a network executive?s wife gave the ?green light? to a new show because she wanted to see the American version.

Jaden: What is different about being a screenwriter today versus twenty years ago?

Sterling Anderson: It is much harder to get in and stay in the business today. Feature film writers can write the next great screenplay but they don?t receive much until all the ?A? list directors, actors, and camera operators are on board.?Also it use to be considered the low rent district to be a television writer. Now it?s the high rent district.

Jaden: If there was one thing you could redo on your screenwriter path, what would it be?

Sterling Anderson: I would have defended my writing and re-writes much harder. I have taken so many notes from producers that they started to dislike their own ideas.

Jaden: What is the best way to stay the in the game?

Sterling Anderson: The best way to stay in the game is to remember film is the ?director?s medium? and television is the ?screenwriter?s medium.? Screenwriters fail upward in television.

Jaden: What is the best way to make sure you never work again?

Sterling Anderson: The best way to make sure you never work again is to offend someone, or also becoming too accommodating. Nice is considered weak at times.

Jaden: What is your habit, the thing you do, must do, every time you sit down to write?

Sterling Anderson: Always, always, always? ?write to think.? Do not ?think to write? or you will never become a professional writer. You will only think about it.

Jaden: Thank you Sterling for taking the time to share your insight with Screenwriting for Hollywood.

Sterling Anderson:?Thank you Jaden.

Click title here to read Jaden?s review of Beyond Screenwriting the Book by Sterling Anderson. You may visit his website at?SterlingAndersonWriter.com.

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