Do you have a strategy for your writing career? You should. Any complex action requires a well thought-out strategy for success. And screenwriting in the entertainment business is a very complex activity.

Conventional wisdom says writers write. Write enough scripts and one is bound to capture the fancy of some producer or executive. Maybe you read one of the books that 50,000 others read about 3-act structure to improve your chances.

This is not a strategy. This is playing the lottery. It leads to failure. The tragedy is that failure doesn't have to happen.

Truby's Writers Studio has a very different set of strategies:

Become a professional storyteller. You can't just write a lot screenplays and expect to succeed. You need coaching, and the coaching has to be focused on principles of great storytelling. We teach hundreds of specific techniques, and they go far beyond 3-act structure.

Be original. In a generic world, being original and creative makes you stand out. Use a genre but twist it, too.

Write from strength. No writer does everything well. Professionals are usually the writers who know their strengths and create stories that show off those strengths.

Specialize in one or two genres. Playing to your strengths is why you need to master a few genres. Mainstream movies are genre-based, so choosing the genres that best express your strengths makes you a hot property.

Create your unique world. The star writers, the true authors, are distinguished from the average professional by being known for creating their unique world on paper. Producers don't just want to buy and sell a story, they want to buy and sell an entire world.

Attack the television market. It's where most of the work is. It also has room for unique voices not found in film.

Use the latest technology to leverage your talent and speed up the writing process. The ball point pen and the 3x5 card were a significant improvement over the quilt pen. But they aren't very good at letting you see your story 3-dimensionally. You need to weave together the hundreds of elements needed for a great story. And you have to write a great script in a fraction of the normal time if you are going to write while working at a full time job. That requires software.