I’m sure many of you know Julie Gray, who ran the screenwriting blog The Rouge Wave for several years. Some of you may not know that Julie recently changed her blog to Just F*ing Entertain Me. So I figured it was a good chance to catch up with Julie and find how what the f*ck is going on! Fresh from a trip to Egypt, Julie was kind enough to do this Q&A:

You were one of the earliest people to start blogging about screenwriting with your website The Rouge Wave. Exactly when did you start and what specific drugs were you taking when you decided to become a blogger?

Here’s the hilarious part – I didn’t really know what a blog WAS when I started blogging. A friend suggested it and he had to spell it for me: b-l-o-g. I still don’t know what it stands for, if anything. This was in December 2006. I think that was when blogs were still a little bit new and not as commonplace as they are now. I had no idea what a passion it would become for me or what it would lead to in terms of meeting some great people and of course, winding up with a book!

Unlike some screenwriting blogs, you have actual street cred. Tell us about your background as a story analyst, writer, and all around spec script seer.

I have been a writer all my life. In fact, my fourth grade teacher, Mr. White, who was a total hippy who lived in a teepee, gave me a stupendously heavy copy of the 1973 Writer’s Market. In high school, my best friend and I wrote, directed, edited, produced and distributed a number of quality short films that we shot on Super 8. We could only DO one take; can you imagine how expensive developing our footage was?! Later on, I went to photography school and honed my love of imagery and story telling.

When my two kids were babies, I started writing and publishing first-person essays for national and online publications. Then I began to write short fiction and had some short stories published in literary journals. But my real passion had always been movies. So I bought a book (The Hero’s Journey) and wrote a script. That feels like a long time ago. See the thing is, every single mistake I counsel writers not to make? I have made. So I speak from experience. Anyway, fast-forward and I moved to Los Angeles and just for a giggle, I got a job reading scripts at a few small production companies. I liked it and I was pretty good at it, I found. Then I read for the BlueCat Screenwriting Competition – boy was that a baptism by FIRE of what writers were NOT doing right. At the same time, I signed up for the Writers Boot Camp two-year professional program and really began an immersion in the art and craft of screenwriting. My reputation as a good reader began to precede me and I ultimately wound up working through referrals at Red Wagon Pictures (Sony), Walden Media, Seed Productions (Hugh Jackman) and Bedford Falls (Marshall Herskovitz). Working at such great companies and rubbing elbows with some pretty influential creative execs gave me insights that I began to share with other writers. I founded The Script Department and began reading for the private sector, as it were. Pretty soon I had way too much work and had to hire other readers. I found myself giving the same notes over and over again, and that’s when I started writing The Rouge Wave – I thought maybe if I could share some of what I was seeing and my thoughts on screenwriting and what NOT to do, maybe I could save some writers some time.

Using your experience as a story analyst and script reader, please give an estimate of how many aspiring screenwriters you think are currently busting out a spec script entitled BALLOON BOY: CONFESSIONS OF A NUTTY FATHER, and why that is a stupid idea in so many different ways.

LOL! My estimate would be that a HUGE number of aspiring screenwriters who are not plugged in or savvy just yet are writing that script as we speak. It’s not that it’s stupid, necessarily, it’s that writers have to look at that news story (or any news story) and really ask themselves if it is a truly uniquely entertaining, compelling and original story or whether it’s just a mildly entertaining situation. I mean, it’s definitely true that every story has already been told, but no two writers will tell a story the same way. I just did an exercise at a workshop I teach at Warner Bros., where writers have to pluck ideas from the headlines and come up with a logline for that. Three sets of writers used the same headline and each set had a totally, totally different take, ranging from a quiet drama to a Bollywood musical. It’s amazing.

The Rouge Wave was notable because you provided advice re: screenwriting not weekly or irregularly, but every single day. What was your inspiration in committing to the daily post approach – and is the rumor true that you managed to pull it off because Trader Joe’s cut you a special weekly deal on six-packs of advice columns?

Well, the more you blog and engage your readership, the bigger your readership grows and the more comments and ultimately validation you receive. Plus, I just honestly have a lot to say. On pretty much any topic. And mind you, because I was, particularly at that time, reading boatloads of scripts on a daily basis, fresh material just kept presenting itself to me. And as I grew to realize that A LOT of people were reading my blog, I began to feel an obligation to keep them entertained. What can I say, I’m a pleaser!

That whole cupcake thing at TRW: Deeply symbolic or just kooky fun?

Kooky fun. And now people send them to me all the time. One “fan” who did that now works for me in my office! My favorite cupcake place is Crumbs in Larchmont. Mmmm mmmm good. Especially if you freeze the cupcake, then later warm it up in the micro so the frosting center melts. YUM!

Now after a lengthy Rouge Wave run, you’ve recently changed your blog to Just F*ing Entertain Me: Screenwriting Gems for the Enlightened Mind [http://www.justeffing.com]. A couple of questions. First, why the change in blogs? Second, what are the initials of the producer or studio exec who you first heard scream at a screenwriter, “Just f*ing entertain me!” And third, are you planning another blog with “Screenwriting Gems for the Un-Enlightened Mind?”

I realized that in writing The Rouge Wave practically daily for almost three years, I had essentially written an entire book. And I had to think of a title for the book. The Rouge Wave (based on a hilarious malapropism) was funny and we’d all gotten used to it, but I knew a wider audience, new to it, simply wouldn’t get it. So I ran a competition to see what cool titles we could come up with and someone suggested Just F*ing Entertain Me since it had been a mainstay blog post and really captured what to me is the most fundamental rule of any type of writing. Ahhh the initials of the JFEME screamer? JG. The same as mine. But I swear, it wasn’t me. I still feel really bad for the writer he screamed that at. But god, it was called for, believe me.

As if you’re not busy enough with daily posts, analyzing stories, trying to find screenplays that are f*ing entertaining, and cupcakes, you’ve got this other operation called The Script Department [http://www.thescriptdepartment.com]. Could you describe for us what The Script Department is about? And what is your next step toward total Hollywood domination?

The Script Department is really an extension of me. It’s a coverage/story analysis service that gives notes and feedback to writers but with a spoonful of sugar along with the honesty so that writers can feel empowered to do a better job, rather than patronized or put down. I really wanted to make sure every client comes away with notes that not only point the way to a better script but that leave the writer with tools and inspiration, almost as if they’d had a mini-screenwriting class. I think we’ve managed to do just that. Our clientele is SO loyal; writers come back to us over and over again. I still find that so thrilling.

What are my next steps toward Hollywood domination? Well, I have been teaching workshops at Warner Bros., which is a pretty amazing honor. And I’m teaching a screenwriting workshop at the University of San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador next week! In January I will be teaching a two-day screenwriting workshop here in LA, then later that month in either Minneapolis or Miami, and then I have tentative plans to teach a workshop in Tel Aviv and Dubai in February and March. So I’ll be pretty busy teaching! And of course the Just F*ing book continues to come together. Hopefully that’ll be on bookshelves in late 2010 or early 2011. The publishing world moves much more slowly! I also have a producing partner and we’re busy putting together a slate of projects for a TBA development company, which I’m very excited about, as you can imagine! So, you know, not much going on, just a whole lot of consulting, teaching and empire building.

Okay, a few questions for aspiring screenwriters. First, when you read a script, what narrative elements are you looking for that get you excited about the material? Second, how many pages into the script does it take for you to form an opinion about the material? Third, what exactly goes through your mind when you flip to the back of a script and see that it is 158 pages long?

Narrative elements that get me excited about the material? ORIGINALITY and playfulness. I love pages that just hum along and are delightful and full of voice. A narrative that MOVES makes me really happy. I can always tell when a writer is having fun on the page. I can form an opinion about the material almost immediately, but sometimes it takes the whole first act to know whether the writer really has the chops (or the story) to pull off an entire script. If I see 158 pages in a script I know one thing for sure: This writer does not have control of the story and has not been disciplined and judicious.

Re: the current state of the spec script market, how depressed are you: a little depressed, really depressed, or please-leave-me-lying-here-on-the-cool-tile-floor-of-my-bathroom-I-just-want-to-be-left-alone depressed?

I’m excited! The death of the spec market means a new beginning for something else. That’s always the case in life; when a door closes, a window opens. The old paradigm is dying, but what that means is that writers will no longer need a spec sale to matter since spec sales are nigh impossible. It means that in a way, democratization is afoot – a great script in the hands of an independent producer with the ability to package has the potential to launch a career and put a writer on the map. What used to be a work-around long shot (independent producer) is going to be given more credence. Look, in any event, yes, the economy and the market and all of that – it is hard to keep one’s chin up at times. But that said, one, I do believe a new paradigm is going to shape up before our eyes and two, it’s still true that the way to establish a career in Hollywood is to write a great script. Simple as that.

In fact, I just did a great teleclass with the amazing Jason Scoggins, of Life on the Bubble and It’s On the Grid.com, which was SO enlightening. If your readers are interested, they can email my assistant Chaia, mention your blog, and request a free copy. Because I’m that nice

In light of Hollywood‘s obsession with remakes, sequels, and movies based on pre-branded products (e.g., Legos, Monopoly, View-Master 3D), what’s the best advice you could give to screenwriters to make their spec script stand out?

Voice and originality. It’s that maddeningly simple. I wish I had some logical or magical or predictive answer than that but it really is the bottom line.

Which is most important: a strong story concept, great story structure, or compelling characters? Or maybe we should just say, “I’ve got Miley Cyrus attached,” and leave it at that?

Well – a GREAT concept with bad characters is hard to care about, and compelling characters without a great concept can be dull so I don’t think you can pick and choose; you really need to nail all three elements, concept, characters, tight structure.

Last question: You’re stranded on a desert island. Who would you rather have as a companion: Diablo Cody or Balloon Boy?

Oh, Diablo! I’m a fan.

Julie mentions a teleclass above. Here’s more information on that:

Announcing: Just Effing DO IT!, a new Tele-class Series by The Script Department’s own Julie Gray!

Plan for 2010 and get what you want out of your career in order to achieve and meet all your goals next year! It’s a five part series coming live over tele-conference in November and December 2009.

Julie Gray (founder of The Script Department & the Rouge Wave, and author of the upcoming book “Just effing Entertain Me”) will be speaking about how to plan for 2010 and what to expect in the industry with working writers, producers and industry experts in the world of Film, TV, New Media and Reality TV.

Classes begin at 6pm PSTS and are approximately one hour with a live Q & A Session.

Prices are $25 per class or $100 for all 5! Join for all 5 and get entered in a spectacular holiday prize drawing as well as receive supplemental info including “Top Ten Things Readers Hate”, “Goal Planning Guide” and a mp3 of Jason Scoggins as he reviews the current state of the spec market.

Click here and we’ll send you the info on payments and next steps.

Nov 19th – “Jumpstart your plan to write an original TV Show and/or Spec Script”: A chat with WB Fellow and TV Writer Margaux Froley about how to plan for 2010 and what makes a TV Spec Script standout… Class code: N019

Dec 1st – “TV & Film Script Contests: What it takes to win and get noticed in 2010″ – Kevin Miller and Margaux Froley talk about what they’ve learned through their recent Wins in the world of Contests and Fellowships…Class code: D001

Dec 3rd – “Webisodes: Write it – then SHOOT IT” – Testing your ideas for TV or Film by shooting them as a series for the web. Get noticed and get repped… The world of Webisodes by Mike Perri – Class Code: D003

Dec 8 – “The Story within Reality TV” – Seasoned Reality Producer and Writer, Rebecca Winston, talks about her life “writing” for reality TV and the importance of STORY! Class Code: D008

Dec 10 – “How to plan and meet your goals for 2010″ – Life Coach (Life in Production’s) Libby Barnes talks about how she helps writers, producers, actors and directors focus to meet their goals every year and how you can too… Class Code: D0010