"I’m not saying this is a good state of affairs. Nor am I saying it’s necessarily a bad state of affairs. I’m just saying it is the state of affairs." Stuff like this should be Lesson #1a (or at least #1b) of professional screenwriting. Many thanks -- looking forward to your "Similar But Different" post.

I am really loving this new series, Scott (as I do most of your others). You touch on an interesting note though, to play the game or not to play the game: "Do I remain ever vigilant in my creative vision and tell the stories I want to, or do I eat dinner next month...?" And you're right, even if you take on one of these 'similar but different' projects, you probably won't have much room to put your own creative stamp on it, especially if you're still considered a baby writer. I can't wait for the next post!

Thanks for the kind words, David. Just trying to provide whatever semblance of the truth I can about the business of screenwriting. Tomorrow and the next day, I switch the point of attack from their [studio] side of the field to our [writing] side.

Two more posts to come: Thursday and Friday which put an interesting spin on the subject.

"simular but different" is , for me , the most important thing in screenwriting . Unfortunately , it took me a very long time to undestand it . Thank you Scott

Similar but different I can live with. What is truly depressing is how one bad rendition of a concept can 'kill' any further iterations of that idea for years to come.