Welcome to my new column.

More and more screenwriters of all ages are seriously considering becoming filmmakers as a way of breaking into the movie business. I define this to be someone who wants to write and direct his or her own scripts.  There are no better calling cards in the industry than a short reel and a full-length screenplay.

Learning to shoot a film requires certain important skills.  In an ideal world Film School should always be your first choice when it comes to learning how to write, direct and produce a film, whether it's a four-year undergraduate program, two-or-three-year graduate program or two-day weekend intensive. 

Another option is to check out this column in which I'll be offering tips and suggestions I've learned over the years as a screenwriting teacher, filmmaker and script consultant.

D.B. Gilles is the author of The Portable Film School: Everything You'd Learn In Film School (Without Ever Going To Class) and The Screenwriter Within: How To Turn The Movie In Your Head Into A Salable Screenplay. He is co-author of the George W. Bush parody W. The First 100 Days: A White House Journal. He did the screen adaptation of Spinning Into Butter starring Sarah Jessica Parker.  He has created two pilots for CBS and written or co-written four screenplays which have been in various stages of development and production including Burn Rate and Dead Is Even.  Four of his plays are published by Dramatists Play Service, most notably Men's Singles. He is featured in the book Ask The Pros:  Screenwriting. 101 Questions Answered By Industry Professionals. He is on the
faculty of the Undergraduate Film & Television Department at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where he teaches Screenwriting, Comedy Writing and Writing For Television both sitcom and hour-long drama. He has been published in The New York Times and is a member of The Writers Guild of America.