Hello. Welcome to my site. I have written seven full feature screenplays and I have Executive and Associate Producer credits on two movies. See Dark Wings and DEATH . I am also a published book author and composer. You can access my books and music on my site.

“Story is king” is an old adage that is true. Every screenwriter and producer knows that the story is the foundation for every film. If the screenplay is crap then the movie will be terrible and it won’t attract audiences when the movie is released. It is the main element that attracts a producer to finance a project. Hiring great stars, directors and cinematographers won’t save a poor script. That’s why your script has to be good or you won’t sell it. “If it ain’t on the page, it ain’t on the stage” I quote my old tutor Dov S-S Simens* of the Hollywood Film Institute when he said “nothing is written it’s rewritten”. In other words your script has got to be not just good enough but great, and that means endless rewrites until you get it right.

     In the old movie mogul days during the studio system, screenwriters were hired salaried writers, who had to write to order, but today things are different now. The emphasis on getting a good script has elevated screenwriters to a new status. Now they work for themselves and are freelancers who are either commissioned by, or sell (option) their scripts to the studios and producers.

      A script must be outstanding in every respect if it is to attract a director or a producer to buy it. Writing a successful Hollywood movie is not easy and it takes a lot of skill. I wish every screenwriter reading this essay, good luck and may you all be successful screenplay writers. Thank you for looking at my site and reading the log lines and synopses of my scripts.

                                                                                    James Mackie

* Book - “From Reel to Deal” by Dove S-S Simens