You can't learn to write dramatic fiction by analysing other people's stage and screenplays. iE You can't have a writing career unless you sell something. iE The best way to teach story-telling is to tell a story with a good plot and vibrant characters which others want to read. iE The best way to take showbiz seriously is to think of it as a knock-about comedy in which you play a part. These are the foundations of this book which contains practical advice on such topics as how to organize each working session, deal with the pressures of deadlines and how to react to requests for rewrites. These insights - all of them taken from real events - are illustrated by stories from Ron Hutchinson's own forty years as a professional writer, including thirty spent in Hollywood.