Michael Hauge, author of the award-winning book Writing Screenplays That Sell, is a script consultant, story editor, writer and independent producer who has made his living in the Hollywood film and television industries since the mid-seventies.

Christopher Wehner: Can you give us a little background?

Michael Hauge: I've been working in Hollywood since the mid-seventies. I went to film school and then became a reader for a variety of producers and agencies. I became a story editor, and ever since my primary occupation until teaching was in the area of development--basically it was my job to find potential movie or television material for the production companies where I was on staff. This could include developing my own ideas, those of other writers, or finding novels or true stories for adaptation. I've been doing that on and off my entire career, although now I have my own company, occasionally developing projects to set up with other independent producers.

I always wanted to teach, so I started teaching screenwriting through the UCLA extension program. The focus of my early classes was to re-create this development process for my students.

Those classes eventually evolved into a weekend seminar on screenwriting, providing a complete "A to Z" approach to both the craft and business in two intensive days. I started out in the United States, but over the last fourteen years have offered the class throughout Canada and Europe as well. I now do about 20 seminars a year.

About the same time as I began teaching, I started consulting with writers and production companies, critiquing completed screenplays or helping them develop their projects for submission or production. This has now become my primary activity.

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