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Today John August, online dispenser of Delphic Oracle-quality feature-writing wisdom, tackles perhaps the toughest challenge ever posed to the Q&A section of his website. A humble reader is bedeviled by an issue that has flummoxed writers in Hollywood for centuries: screenwriter fashion. Unfazed, the Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle scribe disappears into his sanctuary, eviscerates an associate producer, and reads the steaming entrails to emerge with this nugget of sartorial insight:

[T]he writer should always be the worst-dressed person in the room. Not by much, mind you — you don't want to look homeless or sad.

But if the executive is wearing a suit, you want to wear a sweater. If he's wearing a button-down shirt, you wear a polo. Just going one step more casual puts everyone at ease.

Obviously, women's clothes are a little harder to gauge, so you're a bit on your own. I'd say, wear whatever the assistants there wear: professional, but probably not a suit. If you dress like you're working at a nice store, you probably won't go wrong.

As far as your hair, do whatever you like. You certainly don't need conservative hair to make it in the business.