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Acknowledgments | |
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Introduction | |
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Elephant Bucks | |
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How Did I Get Elephant Bucks? | |
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How Do You Get Elephant Bucks? | |
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It Worked for Me! | |
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Something You've Always Dreamed of Doing | |
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Breaking In | |
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Staying Successful | |
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How Do I Know That You'll Be Successful? | |
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What You Need Right Now! | |
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My Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Solid Spec Script | |
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Those Amazing Spec Scripts! | |
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What's a Spec Script, Anyway? | |
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The Shortest Route to Your Lucky Break! | |
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The Joy of Knowing What You're Doing! | |
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One-Trick Pony | |
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"What Else Have You Got?" | |
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Ready to Roll | |
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Calling Cards That Keep on Calling! | |
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A Portfolio of Solid Spec Scripts | |
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Picking the Right Series to Spec | |
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The Show That You Know and Love! | |
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"Hear It in Your Head" | |
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Beyond Seinfeld | |
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Scripts That Producers Want to Read | |
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Too Soon to "Hear It in Your Head" | |
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Planet MegaMall | |
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The Web | |
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Picking the Right Story | |
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Story Is Everything | |
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The Right Story Is in Front of You | |
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Write to the Premise | |
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Write the Main Character | |
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Write the Formula | |
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The Paints Are Already in the Tray | |
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Don't Reinvent | |
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Don't Break New Ground | |
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No New Characters | |
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Use the Regular Sets | |
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Test the Premise | |
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Write It Real | |
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See How Easy That Was? | |
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Structuring Your Story | |
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Seven Plot Elements | |
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Using the Seven Plot Elements to Develop Your Story | |
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Two-Act Framework | |
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Six-Scene Template | |
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How We Did It on Coach | |
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Going to Work on Your Story | |
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Turning Plot Elements into Scenes | |
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Familiar Sets | |
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"B" Story | |
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Multiple Story Lines | |
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Runners | |
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Trust Your Instincts | |
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Outlining Your Story | |
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Why Bother with an Outline? | |
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The Whiteboard | |
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How I Write an Outline | |
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Writing Scenes | |
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Move the Story Forward | |
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Much of the Work Is Already Done | |
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A Different Way of Writing Scenes | |
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Write It as a Drama First | |
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Roughing Out a Scene as Drama First | |
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Now for the Jokes | |
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Making the Humor Easier to Find | |
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Page Count | |
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Getting Off to a Great Start as a Professional Sitcom Writer | |
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Your Finished Masterpiece Now What? | |
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Now What? | |
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"Who Cares What You Think?" | |
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Someone Who Is Actually Going to Read It | |
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"I Really Liked It Except for the Part Where..." | |
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"There Is Truth in Even the Dumbest Note" | |
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Three or Four People | |
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"What Else Have You Got?" | |
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May I Have the Address of That Show Biz Contact, Please? | |
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Your Friend in Show Business | |
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The Sitcom Universe | |
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Where to Go in the Sitcom Universe | |
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Fish Off the Company Pier | |
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Farmer's Market | |
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Your First Pitch Meeting | |
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Your Lucky Break Has Arrived | |
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They're Doing You the Favor! | |
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Preparing for the Meeting | |
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Six Stories, Six Notions | |
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How to Pitch a Story Idea | |
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You Don't Need Perfect Pitch! | |
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Pitch Meeting Supplies | |
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Keep It in Perspective | |
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Your First Assignment | |
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The Story Meeting | |
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Getting Home | |
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Day Two | |
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Day Three and Beyond | |
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Notes on Your Outline | |
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The Bad Story | |
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Your First Draft | |
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The Second Draft | |
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Cut Off | |
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They Rewrote Me!! | |
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Go Ahead and Have the Party! | |
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Getting That Second Assignment | |
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Working on Staff | |
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The Sitcom Writing Staff | |
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The Production Season | |
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The Production Week | |
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Single Camera Series | |
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Your Primary Job as a Staff Writer | |
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The Other Writers | |
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Actors | |
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The Producer's Chair | |
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Creating Your Own Series | |
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Your Personal Life | |
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Agents & Executives | |
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Agents | |
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Picking an Agent | |
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A Business Relationship | |
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Never the Biggest Fish | |
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Grow at Your Own Pace | |
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Not a Parent | |
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Again, Trust Your Instincts | |
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Chinatown | |
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Executives | |
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Be Nice | |
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Everything Can Be Fixed | |
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The Kernel of Truth | |
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"We Have a Huge Problem in Act Two" | |
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"We Have Just One Tiny Little Note" | |
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Why Make Enemies When You Don't Have To? | |
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Learn from the Best | |
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Where to Look | |
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Websites | |
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Speaking of Museums | |
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What to Watch | |
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The Current Hits | |
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Conclusions | |
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I Wish All of This for You | |
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About the Author | |