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Need advice about creative writing? Looking for fellow writers for feedback? Hunting for those educational resources your need to bring out the best in you and your work? Want somewhere to showcase your talent? Perhaps you’re just not sure of your publishing contract and you want to make sure you’re not signing your rights away?
Well, you’ve come to the right place.
Follow the links below to find just the resources and expertise you need*.
GUILDS & ASSOCIATIONS
Writers Guild of Great Britain: A Trade Union Congress (TUC) union representing all UK professional writers working in television, radio, film, theatre, books and multimedia. cgi.writersguild.force9.co.uk
Writers Guild of America: The sole collective bargaining representative in the US for writers in the motion picture, broadcast, cable, interactive and new media industries. www.wga.org
The Authors Guild: Professional organisation for published writers offering a number of services. www.authorsguild.org
Writers Guild of Canada: The representative for writers working in film, television, radio, and multimedia production in Canada. www.writersguildofcanada.com
Australian Writers Guild: The union for all performance writers, that is, writers for film, television, radio, theatre, video and new media in Australia. www.awg.com.au
New Zealand Writers Guild: A non-profit association for writers in the fields of film, television, radio, theatre, video and multi-media. www.nzwritersguild.org.nz
The Society of Authors: A non-profit making organisation, founded in 1884, “to protect the rights and further the interests of authors”. Such notables as Tennyson, Wells, Hardy and Shaw have passed through its doors in its time. Want to join them? www.societyofauthors.net
The Poetry Society of America: Offers resources, events, and contests for US poets. www.poetrysociety.org
The Poetry Society (UK): Exists to help poets and poetry thrive in Britain today, producing published works, and offering competitions, events, and advice. www.poetrysociety.org.uk
Poetry Ireland: Dedicated to developing, supporting and promoting poetry throughout Ireland. A resource and information point for anyone with an interest in poetry, creating opportunities for poets working or living in Ireland. www.poetryireland.ie
The Poetry Book Society: Founded by T S Eliot and friends in 1953, the Poetry Book Society is a unique book club; the biggest dedicated poetry bookseller in the UK, providing information, guidance and discounts on the best contemporary poetry. www.poetrybooks.co.uk
National Union of Journalists: One of the biggest and best-established journalists’ unions in the world, the NUJ protects the interests of writers and reporters, editors and sub-editors, photographers and illustrators, working in broadcasting, newspapers, magazines, books, on the internet and in public relations. www.nuj.org.uk
Association of Authors Representatives: A not-for-profit organization of independent literary and dramatic agents. (Also has a useful agents search facility.)
www.aar-online.org
RESOURCES
Arts Council of England: A development agency for the arts, with a vision is to promote the arts at the heart of national life, reflecting Englands rich and diverse cultural identity. www.artscouncil.org.uk
Scottish Arts Council: The lead body for the funding, development and advocacy of the arts in Scotland, promoting the arts within and for Scotlands cultural identity. www.scottisharts.org.uk
The Library of Congress: The USA’s oldest federal cultural institution, that also serves as the research arm of Congress. It’s also the largest library in the world. A researcher’s dream. www.loc.gov
Writers Market Online: Touted as “your key to publishing success”, this site provides the most comprehensive – and always up-to-date – market contact info available, with electronic tools you won’t find anywhere else. If you’re looking for editors, agents, and to get published, look no further. www.writersmarket.com
Bookblaster E-Query Service: Email you query to over 500 agents and publishers. Linked to www.scriptblaster.com
BBC Writers Room: The British Broadcasting Corporation’s own resource for professional and budding writers wanting to learn the craft and submit projects for consideration on the off-chance. Very handy indeed. www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom
High Beam Research: Another online research tool, offering you access to 34 millions documents from thousands of sources. They offer a free trial too. www.highbeam.com
AC Black Writing Books: The people who bring the world The Writers & Artists’ Yearbook (that we use). But they offer much more than that about writing. Take a look. www.acblack.com
Newspaper Licensing Agency: Everything printed in a newspaper belongs to someone; if you see an article you want to copy to someone else, you need the permission of the copyright owner. The NLA is the UK’s one-stop shop for a licence to copy, for internal management use, all of the UKs national newspapers and many regional and
foreign titles, too. www.nla.co.uk
Copyright Clearance Center: Like the NLA, the CCC is an intermediary between copyright holders and academics and businesses wishing to make use of their work; facilitating the exchange of reuse rights and royalties through a wide range of licensing services. www.copyright.com
Encyclopedia Brittanica: One of the most well-known research tools you can own, you can now subscribe to on the web. They offer a free trial too. www.britannica.com
POETRY
PoetryPoem: Publish at PoetryPoem.com. www.poetrypoem.com
The Poetry Kit: A poetry writers resource site with numerous listings including publishers, competitions, courses, funding, events, festivals and magazine listings. It also holds a Who’s Who in Poetry and a listing of blogs and poets on the internet. www.poetrykit.org
SCREENWRITING
Creative Screenwriting Magazine: Named “the best magazine about screenwriting” by the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. Sign up for CS Weekly for free. www.creativescreenwriting.com
Screenwriting Expo: The largest event in the world for screenwriters, Screenwriting Expo features hundreds of seminars on every aspect of writing imaginable as well as numerous A-list guests of honor. www.screenwritingexpo.com
Screenwriting Expo DVDs: Creative Screenwriting magazine brings you the best A-list speakers and seminars from the Expo on DVD. Beginning at only $14.95, these DVDs are huge value. www.expodvds.com
CS Web: This portal to the screenwriting world includes more than 1,000,000 words of advice to help you make the transition from aspiring to professional screenwriter. www.csweb.ws
Movie Scripts Online: A huge online database of film and TV scripts that features links to additional articles and interviews for every script included. www.moviescripts.name
Screenwriter Interviews: There is no better way to learn the craft and business of screenwriting than speaking with the best scriptwriters working today. Screenplay Writer offers more than 150 complete interviews from the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson, John August, William Broyles, Antwone Fisher, David Goyer, Brian Helgeland, Charlie Kaufman, Kenneth Lonergan, Christopher McQuarrie, Alexander Payne, Richard Price, Tim Robbins, Gary Ross, John Sayles, Ron Shelton, Andrew Stanton, Ted Tally, and Nia Vardalos. www.screenplaywriter.net
How to Write a Screenplay: Writer/director James P. Mercurio presents a step-by-step approach to writing your screenplay, whether it’s your first or fiftieth. www.howtowriteascreenplay.net
TV Screenwriting: Veteran TV writer and producer Catherine Clinch presents her method for writing a TV screenplay from concept to production, discusses how the networks and studios work, the rules of writing two, four, and seven-act scripts, and how to approach writing a spec for an existing show. www.screenwriting.tv
Script Sales: Use this free database of spec script and pitch sales dating back to 1995 to see what types of screenplays have sold in the genre you’re working in, or to the producers you’re interested in working with. www.literarysales.com/ls/index
Screenplay Contests: Offering ratings on every active screenplay contest, this site is a comprehensive guide for entering and winning contests and features interviews with contest coordinators and contest winners. www.screenplaycompetition.net
AAA Screenplay Contest: Sponsored by Creative Screenwriting magazine, the AAA Screenplay Contest is held twice a year (June and December) and offers big prizes and access to more than 350 production companies, agencies, and managers for its winners. www.csweb.ws/aaa/index
Entertainment Industry: Writer/producer Heather Hale presents a step-by-step guide on how the entertainment industry works and who has the real power in Hollywood. www.entertainmentindustry.name
Scriptwriting Business: Writer/producer Michael Lent presents his five-year plan for scriptwriting success and writer/producer Ron Suppa fills in the gaps in your knowledge base on becoming a working professional. www.scriptwriting.ws
Screenplay Format: You have to look professional to be considered in Hollywood, and this site presents the standard screenplay format and answers all your questions. www.screenplayformat.net
Screenplay Treatment: Writer/Producer Michael Halperin lays out an approach you can use to writing treatments for your feature and TV scripts. www.screenplaytreatment.com
Screenwriting Books: The number of books available on screenwriting is staggering and it can be difficult to decide which ones would be the most beneficial for your writing and career, but with detailed reviews of more than 200 books for screenwriters, you should check here before you buy. www.screenwritingbook.net
Screenwriting Resources: This great site lists the best products and services available to any writer including the biggest screenplay consultant reviews as well as a large database of production companies accepting unsolicited material. www.screenwritingresource.com
Screenwriting Message Boards: The best place on the net to seek advice from fellow writers or to check out the job board and build your career. www.messageboard.ws
ScriptScout: ScriptScout are leading talent scouts and script development and training providers for the film and TV industry. Its analysts and training providers work for companies such as Miramax, Pathe, The Film Council and Columbia Tri-Star. SciptScout offers script consultancy services, online screenwriting courses, and provide training for organisations such as the New Producers Alliance and Film London. www.scriptscout.co.uk
Drew’s Script-o-rama: A web library of downloadable screenplays of practically every movie and TV show you can think of. www.script-o-rama.com
Done Deal: Web-based news service and resource offering the latest news in screenplay sales. www.scriptsales.com
Bang2Write: Script consultancy service. Is your script ready to go? Find out, with low cost reports, development notes, trouble-shooting and tutoring. Contact Lucy at Bang2write@aol.com
Story Sense: Script analysis and doctoring service offered by one of Hollywood’s top rated script doctors. Impressive credits to his name, like Contact, Lethal Weapon, and Braveheart. www.storysense.com
The Script Factory: One of Europe’s leading development organisations, working to support new screenwriting talent, the people who work with them, and by presenting unique and unmissable screenwriting events with some of cinema’s top creative talent. A great resource for screenwriters. www.scriptfactory.co.uk
Screenwriters’ Workshop: Committed to developing outstanding scripts and producing great films and TV. www.screenwritersworkshop.co.uk
Screenplay Coverage: UK screenplay coverage and story notes from a professional reader. Improve your script with constructive quality notes. Fast turnaround and real price. www.screenplaycoverage.co.uk
firstwriter.com For hundreds of literary agents, book publishers, writing competitions, and magazines, visit firstwriter.com! Improve your chances of publication with daily email alerts of new and updated markets, and submit to the online magazine for free.
The Writers Workshop: The most complete editorial consultancy in the UK, with over 70 editors (all professional, published, authors). Run by writers for writers. www.writersworkshop.co.uk
*Please note that duly noted® is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
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