Sheldon Turner is the prototype for the smart, brash, ambitious young screenwriter – only he’s also got a law degree from NYU and has had his fiction published in the New Yorker. Turner recently broke through with his script for the 2005 remake of The Longest Yard, starring Chris Rock and Adam Sandler, and he has half a dozen other scripts in development. He’s got insane discipline, writes longhand, and boycotts email. He figured out how to work the system, and he’s got more witty axioms for how to play the Hollywood game than a Tropicana craps dealer at 3 am. But you’ll just have to hear Turner talk to get it – what being the biggest guy in the room can do for you, how to read an audience, what to say in pitch meetings, and why you should let everyone know that you think Lost in Translation sucks.
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22 comments
Screenplay12 says:
January 6, 2012 at 4:08 am (UTC 8 )
Ever wonder how a script becomes a film? Visit my blog on my Youtube channel page to find out!
deutschland08fn says:
September 18, 2011 at 10:45 am (UTC 8 )
This dude is a breath of fresh air.
proverbs97 says:
August 13, 2011 at 9:16 am (UTC 8 )
“every cliche in the human lexicon” ……that’s funny
mep41376 says:
July 18, 2011 at 1:47 am (UTC 8 )
This guy is honest and direct.
Byrle6781 says:
July 16, 2011 at 6:14 am (UTC 8 )
Hey Leute! Cooles Vid! Doch möchtet ihr erfahren wie ich Tag für Tag bis zu 220 Euros verdienen mit einer ganz einfachen Tätigkeit? Das ist ganz einfach – ich habe eine wissenschaftlich bewiesene Setzmethode mir angeignet, mit der ich auf Dauer im Casino gewinne und das Kasino schlage. Klingt unglaublich – ist es aber nicht. Wie ich das mache erfährt ihr auf dieser Internetsite hier roulettegeld* DE! Ich wünsche euch Erfolg bei dieser Mission!
MarsenPaerson says:
June 30, 2011 at 3:06 pm (UTC 8 )
He´s motivated by guilt, fear and anger. Sad. I highly doubt he has anything meaningful to say with his stories.
jsosaite says:
June 26, 2011 at 7:14 am (UTC 8 )
well make 2 lines of turbo coke…….lmao
Torcika says:
June 26, 2011 at 4:17 am (UTC 8 )
26204 people want to be screenwriters
garrettmyreel says:
June 14, 2011 at 3:35 pm (UTC 8 )
Telling it like it is.
ncrb73 says:
June 12, 2011 at 2:39 am (UTC 8 )
I disagree with the people who don’t find this guy very informative. This guy is bright, quick and speaks very openly.
shabirdxoxo says:
June 8, 2011 at 8:37 am (UTC 8 )
Nice. Who is he? Check your stats! He’s setting up projects all over town!! The guy is insanely talented!!!!
knutsensen says:
May 25, 2011 at 9:29 pm (UTC 8 )
What,a douche.
viper516 says:
February 17, 2011 at 4:30 pm (UTC 8 )
Five newspapers, a script, and two hours of working out each day, plus a book a week, and daily business affairs, and he still churns out quality scripts? This guy must be brilliant.
skydark says:
January 12, 2011 at 8:40 am (UTC 8 )
@roninfilmer Or maybe you’ll get a really good feel on what works to elicits a vivid image to the mind of the reader and the transfer between what’s on the page and what happens on screen.
As for structural narrative devices, you can see(and identify) those just as easily in a movie as you can in a screenplay: it may even be easier.
Too much rigidity in what you learn, and what you perceive to be “the correct way of writing”, can only lead to weak, confined writing.
shaunachmad says:
December 3, 2010 at 11:06 am (UTC 8 )
@smell0my0nipples he didn’t he said he read one that was sold to sony for $3mill
Octavia0308 says:
November 20, 2010 at 3:01 am (UTC 8 )
Grüß euch Liebe Zuseher! Ich mache pro Tag deutlich über 260 Euro durch eine einfache Internetstrategie! Wie das geht? mck-team c0m.
roninfilmer says:
November 16, 2010 at 2:56 am (UTC 8 )
Reading a bunch of screenplays is only useful if you are aware of the concepts and structural devices before you scan the words on the screenplay , so you can know what tools are being used and then rate how good they are being used. Without knowing the concepts before hand , the exercises of reading screenplays collapses into a false learning practice that yields at max a familiarity with the emotional effects of the devices (causes) being used in the script. Then you at best (emulate)
BUDDY6414724297 says:
November 7, 2010 at 11:36 pm (UTC 8 )
We have rewarded people of average abilities while destroying those who are brilliant and moral(Socrates). And as a result we have people of average abilities getting plays produced while brilliant writers find themselves outcasts and blacklisted. We’ve lost values like reading the classics and hard work. So as a result the number of great writers out their you could fit onto a short bus.
smell0my0nipples says:
November 3, 2010 at 6:13 am (UTC 8 )
what script did he sell for 3 million to sony?
simplyshama says:
October 26, 2010 at 1:42 am (UTC 8 )
From what he has said I think that I’m born to be a writer YAYY
DrMBA28 says:
September 23, 2010 at 10:42 pm (UTC 8 )
Is the pos $3M script he’s referring to “Basic Instincts”?
sraptv says:
September 13, 2010 at 6:41 am (UTC 8 )
I love teachers who talk ‘fast & smart’ it’s most helpful!