There've been a wide array of screenplays bought, writers hired, and novels purchased for adaptation by studios. No matter the genre or style, if you're a writer you should most definitely keep writing. Who knows, someday you might be like the people below.

If you want to write screenplays, you have to read screenplays -- to see what they look like. But stay away from the "classics." Standard screenwriting styles have evolved over the decades.

Take a look at the Oscar-nominated screenplay for Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 masterpiece North by Northwest. Here's how Ernest Lehman described the iconic image of a cropduster bearing down on Cary Grant:

Fans of westerns will be happy to know that CBS is developing a “Rifleman” remake and has already hired writers for the series. Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier will write and executive produce the show about a Civil War hero who relocates to an unruly town in New Mexico and dispenses justice with his Winchester.

Last month I wrote that story trumps everything else when it comes to filmmaking. When you read a novel, you need a reason to keep turning the pages. You have to want to know what's going to happen next. Even though we're a captive audience while watching a movie, locked in a dark room with strangers for two hours, we need to be engaged in a story unfolding from scene to scene to keep us from playing with our smart phones or just getting up and leaving.