Caroline Hoover

Caroline Hoover is a screenwriter, mother, and feminist. She has a Master’s in Writing for Film and Television from the University of Southern California, and has worked for HBO Films in development, as well as for a variety of independent film producers. She has twice been a Nicholl Quarterfinalist, has made the LaunchPad Top 10 twice, and won the Virginia Film Festival Screenwriting Competition two years in a row. She and her husband and children live in Los Angeles.

Caroline joined Sundance Co//ab during the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic in hopes of connecting with other writers and filmmakers. A strong community is a vital asset for filmmaking, and the people at Sundance Co//ab have been incredibly supportive during this crazy time. She hopes to continue to give back to her fellow Co//ab members by providing constructive criticism on their projects, and to keep learning and growing as a filmmaker.

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES 

Podcasts and web series:

Scriptnotes podcast with John August and Craig Mazin - the undisputed classic of the craft and business of screenwriting

Lessons From The Screenplay YouTube channel with Michael Tucker (and Beyond The Screenplay podcast) - Great YouTube series that explores a different aspect of screenwriting with each episode and includes multiple examples from a different film each time. The podcast is also good, but the YouTube channel episodes I can watch over and over, especially when I’m struggling with a certain part of a project; often watching a LFTS episode will jog something loose that helps me overcome the roadblock.

Children of Tendu podcast with Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Jose Molina - a great general intro to the world of writing for television from two friends and veteran TV scribes.

Hollywood 101 with Gloria Calderón-Kellett - in-depth look at writing for television from the creator/showrunner of the One Day At A Time reboot.

Books:

How To Write A Movie in 21 Days by Viki King 

My first drafts often tend toward the overwritten, overstuffed, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink end of the spectrum, and this well-worn little book helps me rein it in and keep to a speedier approach.

Screenwriting: The Sequence Approach by Paul Joseph Gulino 

For people who, like me, have trouble breaking the process of writing a script down into more manageable pieces. You can use the sequence approach for reading, writing, and critiquing screenplays.

Story Maps: TV Drama by Daniel P. Calvisi 

A good beginner-level primer on conceiving and writing your one-hour drama pilot

Creating Character Arcs by K.M. Weiland 

Very helpful guide to finding the emotional center of your story and your characters so you’re not left wondering what they would do when you hit a story roadblock.

The Screenwriter’s Bible by Dave Trottier

For all your formatting questions. “How do I write it when two characters speak at once?” “What are my options for how to format a montage or sequence of shots?” “What exactly goes in the slug line?” This isn’t the place for in-depth explorations of the writing process, but it’s a fantastic reference when you have a nagging questions like those above that you have to KNOW the answer to before you can keep writing.