Monday Morning Editor Picks: Makings of a Marketable Screenplay

There's no question, writing is rewriting. Quitting too early is the death of a script's potential sale.

Here are some tools I use to help me get my scripts to a polish as close to perfect as my imperfect self can accomplish:

1. Rewrite by Paul Chitlik

If you're writing a spec, you don't want to show it to anyone until it's in the best condition it could possibly be. The good news is that here, for the first time, is a practical, step-by-step guide to the most efficient and economical way to rewrite. From neophyte dabbler to award-winning scribe, anyone can use this book to help bring their screenplays to the next level.

2. Making a Good Script Great by Linda Seger

Making a good script great is not just a matter of having a good idea. Nor is it a matter of just putting that good idea down on paper. In scriptwriting, it's not just the writing but also the rewriting that counts. Making a Good Script Great focuses on the rewriting process and offers specific methods to help you craft tighter, stronger, and more workable scripts.

3. The Dreaded Rewrite On Demand Webinar... by me.

When screenwriters finish a first draft, the desire to get their baby "out there" is tremendous. But putting a script into the market prematurely is an immediate death sentence, not only for the script, but also potentially for a writer's career. You have one shot at a first impression. I give you all my rewrite tips, including ones I "borrowed" from my fellow screenwriters. Step-by-step guide on how I handle feedback and the stages I take a script through during rewrites.

Now get that script polished!

Jeanne Veillette Bowerman is the Editor and Online Community Manager of Script Magazine and a webinar instructor for The Writers Store. She is Co-Founder and moderator of the weekly Twitter screenwriters’ chat, #Scriptchat, and wrote the narrative adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Slavery by Another Name, with its author, Douglas A. Blackmon, former senior national correspondent of The Wall Street Journal. Jeanne also is President of Implicit Productions and consults with writerson how to build and strengthen their online and offline networks as well as face their fears in order to succeed in writing and in personal peace - a screenwriter's therapist. More information can be found on her blog, ramblings of a recovered insecureaholic. Follow@jeannevb on Twitter.