I love that they're productively competitive! I had a chance to crash a screenwriting class at my alma mater last month, and someone asked me how I was motivated to write post-college. I said, "Discipline. Not mine but the other guy's. Because someday I'm going to be up for an assignment against him or our two scripts are going to be in the same slush pile, and I don't want to miss out on my career because I didn't work as hard as he did." I love hanging around creative people. It's inspiring to talk with them, they understand when you can't hang out because you have to write, and they push you when they push themselves. These interviews are fantastic!

It's official, I'm addicted to GITS. I probably checked the site for updates at least 25-times today. I don't have anything more to say except to "The Knights of the Round Table" (You truly are, and I think I speak for all of the GITS readers, our Hero's) You people are amazing, and from the bottom of my heart - Thank you for sharing your wisdom to the rest of us.

Thanks so much to the writers (and to Nate and Scott) for this round table. It's been one of my favourite reads on GITS in a long time.

This roundtable goes from strength to strength. I find myself fascinated by the business side of screenwriting at the moment. I’m not sure if Scott (Frazier) and Justin are still answering questions, but if so I was wondering: what was it like taking your first few meetings in the business? Any tips for us in that regard?

Scott, I've read before that you wrote the first draft of Autobahn in 10 hours. That's just ridiculous! My question for you is, how much prep did you have already done for that? There's no way you just had a rough idea in your head, with no outline, and wrote that much, that quickly, is there? Any tips for working like that? Obviously it's just something you have in you, but is there something us normal writers can do to work like that?

Hey Sean, it's Chris... RE: Tips for meetings - Meetings are usually either a "general" which means the exec liked your writing but has no specific project to hand you or one that is specific to a project they are working on, and hopefully looking for a writer. No matter what, you should have SOME idea what the company has produced but plan on finding out more as you sit down = what they are looking for right now, the exec's tastes, etc. Leave the more impolite questions you may have for your reps = do they self finance or have a development fund, etc. The only other prep you should do, what you should be doing anyway, is have a few ideas ready if the conversation turns to what you want to do next, etc. I would say don't overthink these meetings, some are close useless - just an exec filling out their schedule or hoping to stumble on the Holy Grail of an idea - but others are worth it. Lastly, many of these meets seem like a waste of time but in my experience, when "Sad Jack" went out in December, nearly all the producers that fought for territories were people I had met with in the last year or two. So there is a kind of lagging benefit to going on them.

Thanks for that, Chris. Some priceless info there for someone at the beginning of their screenwriting career. I especially like the advice re. impolite questions. Thanks for the heads-up on that. It seems to me like these meetings are more like job interviews, all be it interviews in which you find out if you get the job years later. Thanks once again for getting back to me, Chris. Your comments have relieved a lot of the concerns I had with regards to meetings. In fact, I’m looking forward to them!