Meet Screenwriter Paul Chitlik
Paul Chitlik is the author of Rewrite: A Step-by-Step Guide to Strengthen Structure, Characters, and Drama in your Screenplay. He has also written for such hit television shows as The Twilight Zone.Paul is a screenwriter, producer and director whose other credentials include Perfect Strangers, Brothers, The New Twilight Zone, Alien Abduction, Ringling Brothers Revealed and more.
He received a Writers Guild of America award nomination for his work on The Twilight Zone in the late 1980s, as well as a GLAAD Media Award nomination for a Telemundo show he wrote.
Ask Paul Anything
In the video below, Paul Chitlik answers questions from Reddit users as part of a series where you can ask various authors anything and everything:
Author Series Playlist
Check out the questions Reddit users asked below to more easily navigate through the first "Ask Paul Chitlik Anything" session:
What will writers take away from Rewrite: A Step-by-Step Guide to Strengthen Structure, Characters, and Drama in your Screenplay?- Why did you write Rewrite: A Step-by-Step Guide to Strengthen Structure, Characters, and Drama in your Screenplay?
- What was it like working with acting legend Bronson Pinchot?
- Which project that you've worked on are you most proud of to date?
- Did you feel a lot of pressure to live up to the original run of The Twilight Zone when you were writing for it?
- What was your favorite episode of The Twilight Zone?
- Would you suggest screenwriters write what they are interested in or passionate about as opposed to what will sell in the current market?
- What sells better nowadays, plot-driven or character-driven screenplays?
- How many screenplays do you write in a given year?
- Who is the most difficult actress to deal with and why?
- What is the best way to make it in this business coming out of film school?
- What's the best place to find work in film outside of LA?
- How many people read a script before it sees a real producer?
- What's the best way to stand out from the crowd as an aspiring filmmaker or screenwriter?
- Is film school worth it?
- What red flags get a script thrown out immediately?
- Do you have any tips for making a low-budget film that looks professional?
- Should writers focus more on finding a great property to adapt instead of writing their own script?
- What would you like to speak about at corporate events or conferences?
- Who are your writing role models?
- Did you always want to be a screenwriter?
- How did The Dime Novel Company come to be?
- What is Deviant Numbers about and how did you come up with the idea?
- What are some of the best parts about teaching?
- What are the differences teaching at UCLA v. Loyola Marymount?
- Which Twilight Zone episode did you earn a Writers Guild of America award nomination for and how did it feel?
- What are the differences writing for television v. film?
- What are you working on currently?
- What are your other passions in life?
- What are some "words of wisdom" you'd give to aspiring screenwriters today?
- Do you feel Rod Serling and his stories were ahead of their time?
- How do I go about getting an agent with an award-winning film?
- Do you think Twilight is good for the horror genre?
- Is the reboot culture the death of originality?
- What was the last great science fiction movie?
- Is it harder for sci-fi films or shows to attract an audience?
- Can you describe writing for Telemundo v. English language television?
- What's the value of YouTube in today's filmmaking world?
Additional Information
Paul Chitlik teaches screenwriting at Loyola Marymount University. He has also taught at UCLA, the film school at the University of Barcelona in Spain, and at EICTV in Havana, Cuba. A fluent Spanish speaker, Paul has consulted for Ibermedia, the Spanish language consortium, the Chilean development fund and production companies abroad.
Paul currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
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