The title of this section—as I've stressed numerous times in these pages says it all. Appearances are everything! I kid you not on this.

No matter how great your writing may be, no matter how earthshaking the idea behind it, no matter how clever the action and dialog are, if it doesn't look right, they won't read it. ("They" being people like producers and agents who can cut those big checks to you.)

Celtx, our buddy, gives us a head start in turning out scripts that look right (that is, are correctly formatted for Hollywood and other markets). It's a big start, too.

Here's a dreadful secret: By far the majority of scripts churned out by would-be scriptwriters across the world have no chance of even being read by producers because they are improperly formatted.

As a judge in scriptwriting contests, I've seen many hundreds of these scripts that had wonderful concepts, riveting plots, fascinating characterization, but which also had a one-way ticket direct from envelope...