As an aspiring screenwriter I try to read as much as possible, not just about film, but anything I can get my hands on.  You never know what you'll come across that will inspire or inform your writing.  I've done my share of reading about writing for film (Field, McKee, Goldman) and it's been incredibly helpful (especially since my BA and MFA are in prose writing).

Obviously there's overlap in the information and advice: write a good story, work hard, work often...write a good story.  In a recent issue of Script Magazine (the one with the inspiring gold statuette on the cover) there are a couple stories focusing on specific scripts (The King's Speech, Love and Other Drugs) and a few articles with advice on, well, the quality of the work.  

Certain adjectives appear repeatedly: unique, special, different.  Advising someone to work hard at their chosen endeavor is neither original, nor, frankly, is it particularly motivating (though it's helpful to be reminded once in a while).  Yes, there are specific techniques highlighted, like how to punch up dialog, or crafting unique (there it is again) plot twists, but overall the advice seems to be of the 'work hard, work often' variety.

As I was walking home the other night from the train (after my 12-hour day teaching underserved college students the finer points of grammar in English 101), I was thinking about the current projects I'm working on (a collaboration with a friend with who I've written five scripts, and a solo project that's an adaptation of a not-so-long-lost short story collection), asking myself: what's unique about my story, am I working hard enough, does anyone care?  I pondered craft in all its facets.

There's a video store on Clark Street I pass every night, the old-fashioned independent kind that must be a front for something because there's just no way this place has survived renting movies.  Posters of the latest releases hang in the window, enticing me to rent the latest action flick or animated spectacular; well-crafted and commercially successful films. One poster, however, stands out.  Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2.  Is this what they mean by “unique, special, different?”