"Young Adult" and "Juno" writer Diablo Cody tells those aspiring to comedy to "always be working on your own material. Write specs [non-commissioned, unsolicited screenplays]! Though I've been hired to write studio projects, everything I've ever gotten produced has been an original spec script that I just wanted to write on my own. I wasn't being paid for them. Other people's ideas are never as important as yours.... We're lucky enough to live in an era where you can write, produce, publish, and distribute your own writing through the magic of the Internet, so there's no excuse not to be creating."
Doane Gregory/Fox Searchlight/AP
