Jeez. If this is the 'quick and clean' way, I shudder for those taking the 'slow and dirty' one... :)

Yeah, Jeff, don't let your mind go there. However I know exactly what David means. There is something unique about a writer who has learned the craft and writes a great spec script as that can translate into breaking into the business overnight. In fact, that's how I broke in and I didn't even really know the craft that well [and spent several years scrambling to do precisely that]. Of course, learning the craft, coming up with a killer story concept and writing that great spec script, that takes time, persistence, hard work and luck. And the competition is fierce. But it's as true now as it always has been: If you write a great script, it will find its way to Hollywood.