What We Can Learn from Hollywood Writer’s Rooms

I had the honor of meeting Josh Shelov, the founder of Written Out Loud, the other day on Zoom. Much like Your Bestselling Book, Written out Loud offers online courses designed to help people author and publish their books. 

The difference is: Written Out Loud is targeted at kids ages 8-17! And also: Novels, not nonfiction or memoir. 

The truly fascinating piece of the program, in my mind, is how Josh and his team go about their course. 

Josh was a screenwriter for years, and after his film Green Street Hooligans got made starring Elijah Wood, he was invited into the writer’s room for other Hollywood movies and shows. 

In the writer’s room, Josh learned the power of collaboration. At the studios, shows and movies are written out loud – by a bunch of writers shouting out their ideas, then fine-tuning a script.

So this is how Written Out Loud works. Six kids at a time come together once a week for 16 weeks (or for a 2-week intensive over the summer), to write a novel together. 

At Your Bestselling Book, we don’t write our books out loud in this way. But we sure do benefit from the Hollywood writer’s room energy. The magic in our weekly live Workshops, in cohort with just 10 exceptional aspiring authors and me, is palpable. It is obvious why this model works so well for producing great shows and films – we feed off each other. We inspire each other. We laugh and cry. The whole experience is joyful. 

Aloha,

MeiMei

P.S. If you have or know a kid ages 8-17 who, in Josh’s words, “Isn’t a jock, usually, or part of the in-crowd, loves Harry Potter and Star Wars and world building games,” then send them to Written Out Loud. 

Writing Tip of The Week: Collaborate

You don’t have to be part of either of these online courses to benefit from the Hollywood Writer’s Room method. 

• Invite a few of your friends over for a night of food, drink and brainstorming.
• Bust out the butcher paper! Tape it to the wall. 
• Scribble every idea you hear. You know the brainstorming rules: No idea is too dumb. (Josh says farting and beheading are frequent plotlines in the middle school groups).
• Have fun!

Quote of the Week:

Storytelling is beyond durable. It is indestructible. We humans need stories as much as we need food and water.

• Josh Shelov, Founder & CEO of Written Out Loud