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Screenwriter is holding workshop in Sunnyvale
By Danek S. Kaus
Madeline DiMaggio, author of the book How to Write for Television, had not planned on being a screenwriter. She wanted to be an actress. So she moved to New York hoping to work on the stage, but nothing happened for her. She became homesick for Los Angeles and returned, but couldn't find work in Hollywood.
One day a friend showed her a script for an episode of Hawaii Five-0 in which he was appearing. In time he showed her more scripts, and she began to see patterns in how they were done.
Thinking she could create a part for herself, she began writing television scripts. "I just went with it," DiMaggio said. "Every time I wrote dialogue, I was the actress. Every time I pitched a story, I was the actor."
Her first sale was to Kojak, though the script was not produced, something that is not uncommon in Hollywood. "That got me in," DiMaggio said. Even so, the next couple of years were lean. She and her then-writing partner shopped scripts, but with little success. Then they sold one to Starsky and Hutch. The producers liked it so much that they wanted the writing team to do more, but by then, several other assignments had come in and they had to decline the offer.
"You can't judge where you are at the moment, because you're planting seeds," DiMaggio said. "It can look like nothing is going on, then suddenly everything is happening at once."
That's just one piece of advice the veteran screenwriter gave to her students at a screenwriting workshop she recently conducted at the Wyndham Garden Hotel, in Sunnyvale.
Although she is still an active screenwriter, having recently sold a script to Showtime with her current writing partner, DiMaggio is also known for helping aspiring writers to hone their craft and break into the business.
One of the people she taught is former Stanford Shopping Center store clerk Kevin Falls, who has won three Emmys for The West Wing. Falls is an example of the tenacity it takes to become a screenwriter. He wrote seven scripts before making a sale, according to DiMaggio.
Because it is so difficult to break in, DiMaggio offered several suggestions for opening closed doors.
She said the first tactic is to enter screenwriting contests, not with the intention of winning necessarily, but to have your script read by people in the industry. A lot of unknown writers have gotten agents or sold a script outright because a judge liked their material, DiMaggio said.
She added that another strategy is to aim low. The studios and big production companies won't even look at a script from an unrepresented writer. But many independent production companies will. Writers can learn the identities of these companies by reading the credits of feature films and buying books such as The Hollywood Creative Directory.
Even when success is elusive, DiMaggio believes it's important to keep writing because the process itself can be immensely fulfilling.
"I've never met anybody who has written a screenplay who has regretted it," DiMaggio said.
Madeline DiMaggio will teach a screenwriting workshop at UC-Santa Cruz, Cupertino Extension, on Feb. 9 and 10. For registration, call 800.660.8639.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
