On February 15th, in a quiet voice, Jason Delaney took us, the North Shore Writers Association into his world, that of the screenwriter. And he didn't pull any punches, leaving us in little doubt that choosing to be a career screenwriter is nothing if not a financial challenge. As he put it, "Show Business is 10% Show and 90% Business."

Jason pointed out the major difference between fictional prose and writing scripts as the latter being a form of compound writing with few adjectives and adverbs but at the same time producing a body of work that can be magical for the right director/producer. Looking patient yet amused by the process, Jason admitted that breaking into the business is very frustrating. In the past, he has been contracted to write several treatments for Keystone, a film production company where he learned about the control that such a business has over the writer's work. His last effort - Chestnut, the Hero of Central Park - is currently under negotiations with Miramax. For any of us thinking about approaching a production company with a book/script, Jason was careful to point out that we have all rights tied up before we do. He also spoke of good resources including available software and dedicated web sights.

I know the audience who listened to his presentation joins me in wishing him all manner of luck and good fortune with his recently completed feature length film script, The Coast Watchers, a WWII drama. We'll be watching for it at the box office.