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Agent's Hot Sheet E-Book coming soon

2012-01-23T17:34:00.000-08:00

For ten years, I had the pleasure of writing the Agent's Hot Sheet column for Creative Screenwriting magazine. As most of you know by now, sadly, CS is no longer being published. But those 60 columns represent an awful lot of crucial intelligence for writers. The top agents and managers in the biz, telling you directly how to get their attention -- that's priceless, and believe me, as a writer myself, no one appreciated it more than me. It's not an exaggeration to say that in a way, I graduated a decade-long master's program in the biz. I am honored to have been able to bring Agent's Hot Sheet to you all.

So what to do with all that knowledge? Why, put a bow on it and put it back out there, of course. Agent's Hot Sheet: Ten Years of Screenwriting Wisdom from Hollywood's Top Reps is coming to Kindle, iTunes, Nook, as well as available as a direct download from CI as a PDF. We'll let you know as soon as its available.

--Jim C.

Jason Reitman Makes The Same Movie Twice In a Row

2012-01-16T02:12:00.000-08:00

(Or, Character Arc, Shmaracter Arc.)

Warning - Spoiler Alert!

Charlize Theron as Mavis Gary in "Young Adult"

I had the chance to check out Young Adult the other night, and I was mostly pleased. The movie was solidly entertaining, with a strong performance from Charlize Theron as a 37-year-old teen fiction ghost writer (think Sweet Valley High -- no coincidence that Young Adult scribe Diablo Cody is adapting that series into a feature) who drunkenly, blithely, coasts through life on looks and bullshit. Those who pegged Cody a one-trick pony after Juno, well, this movie more or less puts that to rest. She can write.

Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens) delivers an equally solid turn as a crippled nerd who uses a brutal hate crime beat-down (his high school mates mistakenly believed he was gay) decades earlier as an excuse to isolate from the world. Though his character and Charlize's never spoke in high school (despite her locker being right next to his,) they bond over booze, and he becomes the mentor/voice of reason to the resolutely self-destructive Theron. It's good chemistry. Thus when Theron returns to her hometown delusionally looking to hook up with her high school boyfriend (Patrick Wilson), despite his being happily married with a new baby, sparks, naturally, fly.

But something felt amiss. I felt like I'd recently seen this movie. I thought back on other films that were thematically similar. I recalled another film I saw not too long ago that covered similar ground. And that's when it dawned on me. Oh, yeah. Up In The Air. The director? Well, Jason Reitman. Again.

So just what do Up In The Air and Young Adult have in common?

Both feature a quasi-successful attractive professional whose career is on the skids.
Charlize Theron's and George Clooney's characters are both loners who skate by on charm and good looks, who treat those they view as lesser as, well, lesser, and who cope with the emptiness inside by having a string of meaningless affairs.
Having done this for years now, both are dissatisfied with their lives and desperate for change.
Both Clooney and Theron's characters fixate on someone whom they erroneously believe can "fix" them and give them a normal life, and they put it all at risk to try to start a relationship with that person.
But in both cases, that person is in a committed relationship and is not interested.
Both of them show up at the would-be love interest`s home, unwelcome, and are asked to leave.
And most importantly (for this article anyway,) now devastated, both revert right back to their old ways again, leaving the characters driving/flying off into the sunset right smack dab where they were at the beginning of the movie, their coping mechanisms reinforced.

Up In The Air was the superior film. The key here is that Clooney's character was more sympathetic, while Theron's was inherently unlikeable. We really hoped that Clooney could get something going with Vera Farmiga and finally settle down, and our heart kind of broke a little bit when his did. Theron, on the other hand, is kind of nuts throughout and so we're never really rooting for her; plus we can see from a million miles away that she's never going to get with the object of her affection. For my money, the way to make Young Adult work better would have been to do someone no one would have seen coming -- to have Theron's high school sweetheart abandon his happy marriage and baby and pounce at the chance to hook up again with Charlize (hell, this isn't really that much of a stretch.) Boy, the drama that would have created!

The inevitable "Charlize makes a scene" scene we see coming 27 miles away.

But the point of all this to me is, something about these types of projects speaks to director Jason Reitman. And in my opinion, it's got to be the anti-character arc of both movies. As writers, we're taught in film school and all the screenwriting books that you have to have character arc--your protagonist should undergo some sort of positive change during the course of the movie. This generally means that your hero starts out with some sort of personality flaw or problem... for example, risk-averse (Ben Stiller in Along Came Polly), chauvinistic (Mel Gibson in What Women Want), overprotective (Marlin in Finding Nemo), and of course neurotic/homophobic/supercilious/obnoxious (Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets). But during the course of the story, they interact with others who cause them to finally overcome their dramatic flaws and thus move from extreme to more well-rounded. Or as Nicholson would say, "You make me want to be a better man."

But in real life, people seldom arc. Obnoxious asses tend to stay obnoxious asses. Neurotic shut-ins five years later? Yep, still sitting there with the blinds drawn counting their soap bars. Of course, this is exactly why people respond so well to character arcs, because like happy endings, it's just not something we get frequently enough in reality. So along comes filmmaker Jason Reitman, who seems to be saying, "Screw character arc. It's a bullshit artifice and Homey don't play that." And you know what? Good for him. I'm glad someone is out there making successful, mainstream (indie-ish) movies that give us characters like these. Let's see movie protagonists who actually behave like real people, with all their foibles and obsessions and manias. And as writers, let's be bold and write those fascinating, dimensional and realistic fucked-up douchebags.

That said, Mr. Reitman, I think we kinda get it now, so maybe on your next film, you could kind of change up the paradigm just a wee bit.

--Jim Cirile

Happy Holidays, Everyone

2011-12-24T16:06:00.000-08:00

Lotsa good news/bad news this year. The good: the spec market came back with a vengeance, thereby creating vitality in the industry and making people want to read and discover new writing voices again. The bad: we lost both screenwriting magazines--Script and Creative Screenwriting--not to mention the CS Weekly, The Screenwriting Expo, the AAA and Expo contests and the Cyberspace Open. All of which kind of blows.

As we head into 2012, I'm scratching my head because my Magic 8-Ball is coming up hazy. The brave new world we're entering (or "New World Order," to quote George H.W. Bush) has no room for print magazines and newspapers; and while more people can make movies now than ever thanks to cheap filmmaking tech, meaningful distribution is harder to land than ever. On the other hand, the internet means people around the world can view your short film instantly and if enough people see it, it can create a buzz which gets you meetings and could eventually result in you getting hired. In fact, there's more opportunity out there for writers and filmmakers than ever before.

So it should be an interesting year. Hopefully the ride will be a little less bumpy, assuming we don't start any more wars. Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Awesome Eid, Quirky Kwanzaa, and of course, a festive Festivus to all.

Jim C.

PS: Best example yet of why you need to use direct address commas: BIG difference between these two sentences: "Don't blow this, dude" and "Don't blow this dude." What a difference punctuation makes! Direct address commas--USE 'EM.

"SCRIPT" Magazine to Cease Hard Copy Publication (UPDATED!)

2011-12-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

Well, this came as no surprise--Script has been for sale for over a year now, according to my source. The word is that while Script was in the black, it was not quite profitable enough for Final Draft, who wanted bigger margins. While that may seem a bit odd (since the magazine helps drive sales of their software, a modest return seems like a fair trade-off), what's done is done, and thus they sent this mail:

Dear Writers,

Final Draft, Inc. has decided to sell the publishing rights of Script Magazine to F+W Media, Inc. This has been a very difficult decision, but our focus at Final Draft, Inc. has always been and is more than ever today on developing technology and software for scriptwriters. We are focusing all of our talent on creating the best tools possible to serve our customers.

Starting today, please direct any inquiries you may have about your Script Magazine subscription to Writers Digest.

For 6 years we have enjoyed sharing Script Magazine with you. We thank you for your continued support and wish you success with your writing.

Sincerely,
Final Draft, Inc.

So what does this all mean, exactly? Is Script going to continue publishing, only now put out by the Writers Digest people (who also this year purchased the Writers Store)? As soon as I find out, I will post an update. Needless to say, after the fall of Creative Screenwriting magazine earlier this year, it would be quite a blow to the screenwriting community if we were to lose BOTH our print publications within two months of each other. While a lot of info can be found of websites, of course, there is nothing quite like being able to hold a glossy print magazine in your hands. More news as it develops.

UPDATE 12/12: We just heard from Script editor Shelly Mellott, and she said the following:

They are taking the magazine online so far as I know. Andrew (J. Schneider), the managing editor, will be moving on with them. I am staying at FD.

The translation:

Script magazine will most likely no longer be published in print.

Obviously, this is a massive double whammy to screenwriters. Only a few months ago, Creative Screenwriting magazine announced they were ceasing publication due to financial difficulties. And now, Script appears to be going online-only. In one fell swoop, we've lost the two big screenplay magazines.

Now I know many of you are probably thinking, so what? Who reads paper magazines anymore anyway? Well, I do. And while the economics have obviously made it a tough go in print, the fact is I like reading magazines. Sure, scriptmag.com is great, but online, it's just another screenwriting website, of which there are MANY (including this one right here.) Magazines are different. We save them in stacks. We look through them months or years later to find articles or ads we recall. We can read them on the john or on the subway. You cannot read a website on the subway. And while Kindles and Nooks and iPads are all wonderful gadgets, they ain't paper.

So once again, the earth has shifted under us. Certainly many of you have already stopped reading and subscribing to Creative Screenwriting and Script. The numbers clearly show it. But for the rest of us, it represents an unpleasant sea change. I'm reminded of a handwritten sign posted in the window of a Borders bookstore shortly after they went out of business. The sign read, "No public bathrooms. Try amazon.com."

--Jim C.

UPDATE #2 12/12: Just head from my pal Dana Hahn, Sales and Marketing Coordinator from Writers Store/F+W Media, and this is what she had to say:

Yes, we are discontinuing the print version, but it's in an effort to increase the amount of content we're able to put out through the website, and to offer new content in the form of live events and webinars.

The unfortunate truth is that with the loss of Borders, and Barnes and Noble cutting back on their magazine offerings, there's not many vendors to sell magazines through any more. I'm personally bummed as well, but I'm glad that we were the ones who were able to take Script on, as I worry another company may have just bought the mag for the mailing list and let it just wither and die.

We're going to stay true to the content offerings that Script has always provided, just sadly in another format.

Welcome to the future, my friends. And it appears that future holds a new twice-yearly event to replace the now departed Screenwriting Expo: F+W Media's Screenwriting World Conference. Read the official press release from F+W Media right here: http://www.fwmedia.com/press-room/scriptmagazine

Coverage Ink/Writers on the Storm Newsletter 12-11

2011-12-01T17:55:00.000-08:00

SPECIAL HOLIDAYS AND WINNERS EDITION!

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SOMEONE NAMED DEBBIE who alleges I know who she is (it's possible, I know a half-dozen Debbies) posted a very interesting comment on our blog recently:

Wondering how does the winning script stand compared to killer scripts on Producers' desks. I read some winning scripts, mostly trash.

She brings up a real point, and I believe deserves a real answer. For contests in general, that answer is: usually not very well. This is one of those things we call "truth" that can be somewhat uncomfortable, but it is what it is. What I mean is, contests are generally designed to seek out and discover new talent. All well and good, of course. And so the average contest (and there are freaking hundreds of them out there now) probably gets anywhere from 200 to 1,000 submissions (Writers on the Storm had just over 1,000 this year. Only a handful of the big guns do much better.) So what are the odds that out of, say, 500 scripts from unknown writers, you're going to find one that's just radiant? Alas, not as good as one might hope, and certainly not consistently. The reason is, many folks who are on the come are quickly weeded out of contest contention because they get signed, or they get internships/staffed on a TV show, or they develop relationships and start writing stuff on assignment, on spec or even (gasp) for money. The cream is frequently skimmed off the top. This may be hard to believe for many of us who slave away in the trenches for years, hoping to get somewhere with our writing yet hearing only crickets chirping instead of cash registers dinging. But it's the truth -- more often than not, if you're not breaking in, it's because your craft is not quite as good as you think/hope it is (yet.)

And so to quote one of my least favorite people, unindicted war criminal Donald Rumsfeld, "You go to war with the army you got." A few years back, I asked a buddy of mine -- a key judge for a very prestigious contest -- if I could read that year's winner. Afterwards, I commented to my pal something to the effect of, "Dude, what the eff?" He sighed, knowing full well the script was not exactly the bee's knees, and said, "Believe it or not, that was the best from what we had to work with."

Of course, "killer scripts on producers' desks" is tricky metric to judge by. You all know as well as I that there are plenty of crap scripts sent out by agents and managers. The reason is, if a client insists that his or her new spec go out, then in many cases, even if though the rep may signal his concern that the script ain't ready yet, it will usually go out. It's a dice roll; they might get lucky. When I was repped at WMA back in the day, my agent at the time explained to me the concept of "good enough," which is exactly what you think it is. In other words, not every script problem needs to be licked before it hits the town (of course, this was the '90s, and standards have gotten much higher since.) It just needs to be... good enough. And even recently, I have read scripts from major agencies that sold, which honestly did not impress me all that much. On the other hand, I have read a few that just blew me the hell away and renewed my faith and love for the screenwriting craft.

Which brings us to this year's winner. I am ecstatic to report that I LOVE this year's winning script. It truly is that needle in the haystack. The winning writers exhibit smarts and voice and craft. The read is a joy. Big things are ahead for these dudes. So I would definitely put this script right up there at major agency quality. And I cannot tell you how happy I am to be able to say that. Now that's zero guarantee that the town will respond; heck, it's a damn period piece. But I'm going to do what I can to make something happen for these writers. And THAT is why we enter contests -- in the hope of finding that passionate advocate, someone to finally help us. And to everyone else, keep writing and keep learning. I'm still seeing lots of basic, basic mistakes being made out there. It is up to all of you to up your game.

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Speaking of upping your game, the Coverage Ink Spec Format & Style Guide 2012 is now available! Updated and expanded, this is the best Guide yet -- 89 pages of screenwriting expertise and snarky asides you can ingest in an hour. It's a 50,000-volt blast right to the ol' batteries. Even if you think you know all about format, this e-book may just shock you with how much you didn't know -- as well as drastically improve your craft. And if you think $3.95 is an absurdly low price to pay for such an infusion of goodness, well, you would be correct. But there it is. Order yours by emailing us at info@coverageink.com and say, "I want my Spec Format Guide 2012!" Makes a great (CHEAP) holiday gift!

And for those of you who want the ultimate holiday gift for the screenwriter in your life, get yourself a Coverage Ink gift certificate! Available in any amount from $10 up. Just imagine the look on your significant other's face when they open up a 1-hr CI telephone consultation ($45) or a fully-blown CI standard analysis ($129,) now featuring our newly expanded feedback grid. Hit us up at info@coverageink.com and get your merry on!

But enough of this jolly banter. It's newsletter time! In addition to the Writers on the Storm winners, we've got an interview with Ben Cahan from Talentville.com, an awesome new screenwriting community you should all check out (free!) Director Adam Pertofsky and writer Marjory Kaptanoglu give us the scoop on their amazing, must-see short film Dead in the Room, and firebrand screenwriter Jen Senko tells us about her experiences in the thick of it at Occupy Wall Street.

Wishing success and health to you all in this next year. Let's dial it up a notch, everyone!

Jim Cirile
founder, Coverage Ink
Writers on the Storm Screenplay Competition

Like us on Facebook!

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WRITERS ON THE STORM 2011 WINNERS

2011-12-01T17:53:00.000-08:00

Over 1,000 submissions, and it all comes down to this. The best of the best! The Writers on the Storm top ten. And boy, what an interesting batch it is... a creepy-cool zombie script, a hard-boiled '40s detective story with an African-American protagonist, a WWII sea battle epic, a cave collapse horror movie, a Western, a movie about a young wheelman, and even a comedy about the Wright Bros. first flight (seriously.) Talk about apples and oranges.

And yet through it all, one script clearly shone through. Our winning script is what all of us aspire to in a spec script -- a cool concept, tight execution, screenwriting "voice" clearly on display. But most of all, it's a page-turner. You're enjoying the read so much, you're compelled to keep reading. That's the sign of a winner -- a script that grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go. Doesn't matter what the genre is.

And thus it is with enormous pleasure that we annouce the WINNER of Writers on the Storm 2011:

Elms + Sanders are in the "Wright"

WINNER: WRIGHT OR WRONG by Glenn Sanders + Brooks Elms. What a fun script! These writers have pulled off something insanely difficult -- they've written a period-piece comedy that will turn heads. This nutty, goofball script stars none other than Orville and Wilbur Wright, reimagining them as stubborn, contentious, charming dopes. The writers brilliantly set the tone on the very first page with this intro: "THE FOLLOWING FILM, WHILE BASED ON REAL EVENTS, IS A RABID PACK OF LIES." What follows is 109 pages of character-driven hilarity. When the feuding brothers finally set aside their differences and make that famous flight, your heart soars right along with them. We're very excited to be working with Glenn and Brooks. Big things are ahead for these guys. As the brothers themselves oft say in the script, Excelsior!

SECOND PLACE: A SHIP THROUGH FIRE by John Winn Miller. A crackerjack, old-school swashbuckling adventure epic about a smuggler trying to deliver his precious cargo safely while chased by a vengeful Nazi U-Boat captain. The cargo: Jews. A thrilling read and again, a page-turner, peppered with terrific, layered characterizations and literary references. The sea-going action is dynamic and the twists -- such as the beleaguered crew mutinying -- keep every page tense. The writing, too, is crisp and lean. Mr. Miller put a lot of work into this one through many drafts (we know because he's been developing this one using CI for coverage for some time!) and it has paid off big-time.

THIRD PLACE: THE BENEATH by T.J. Cimfel. What could be worse than a mine accident and realizing your husband is trapped inside? How about realizing that there may be something else down there with him? Cimfel's script is a marvel -- that rare horror/thriller where the characters are fully developed, the dialogue crackerjack. Protagonist Abby has high personal stakes and we love her go-getter attitude as she relentlessly drives the rescue mission, unaware of the horrors that await.

And while not everyone can make it to the top three, let's hear it once more for the rest of our top ten: Alison McMahan, Louise Ransil, Andy Maycock, Charles Mitri, Josh Flanagan, Alexis Lane and Travis Heerman + Jim Pinto.

We'll be contacting all of our top ten about setting up the consultations and delivering the prizes. Now begins the development phase! What, you thought you were getting off easy? All of these scripts have coverage and consultations as part of the prize. Whether or not anyone in the industry responds to these scripts is up to how much you bring it over the next couple months. Are you going to coast on the current draft, or are you going to dig in and freaking bulletproof your material so that it hits like an atom bomb?

Thanks again to everyone who participated in Writers on the Storm this year. Needless to say, we will be back...

Jim C.

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WELCOME TO TALENTVILLE

2011-12-01T17:49:00.000-08:00

INTERVIEW WITH BEN CAHAN

Ben Cahan has been part of the entertainment industry for years, but not in any of the typical roles we've come to associate with show business. Ben is the pioneering computer programmer who created and co-founded Final Draft screenwriting software. After leaving Final Draft, Ben decided to put on his pioneer hat yet again. His latest venture is the new online screenwriting community called Talentville, which is sort of like Trigger Street, InkTip, Zoetrope and Project: Greenlight all mashed together and topped with a shimmering bow of screenwritery goodness. We got a chance to talk to him about his ambitious plans.

Interview by Jim Cirile

Jim Cirile (JC): Thanks for chatting with us, Ben. What was the genesis of Final Draft? Did you look at what was out there and say, eh, we can do better?

Ben Cahan (BC): Before Final Draft, I wrote production software -- budgeting and scheduling software. People came to me and said, “We’re not happy with the screenwriting software out there.” Everybody wanted something better, and the tools [were] just becoming available to really integrate a word processor, and then add the intelligence to do screenwriting, all in one package. The genesis was customers.

JC: And it did become the predominant screenwriting software.

BC: It did. There was Scriptware, there was Script Thing, which I think turned into Movie Magic Screenwriter. There were a number of other products, and we squished them all. And I’m happy about that. There’s no reason, as a businessman, to not want to be number one.

JC: You are no longer part of the company, correct? You and [co-founder] Marc [Madnick] parted ways amiably?

Talentville founder Ben Cahan

BC: Absolutely, we’re still very good friends. Friends and business partners are a strange combination – the mix is not as easy as one might think. We started as friends. I sold out to him in 2003/2004, so it’s been a while now. After that, I did some traveling, some outdoor adventuring, and ultimately, when I decided I wanted to actually do something again, I started reading screenplays. Many will laugh at that – the idea that I thought I could be a production executive and producer, being a software creator. Creating software for writing screenplays is not the same as producing movies. Over a six-month period, four to five years ago, maybe a little bit longer, I read about 2,000 scripts. But even though I found a few good scripts, it was too much time – it was six months to read 2,000 scripts, to find ten I liked. I realized that needed work.

JC: Sure, you need a filter.

BC: I said, there has to be a better way. I did some investigation of what resources are out there – how can this process be done better. Having interns, sitting downstairs reading, that’s still one opinion. But you can automate the process to create a system that really can find, through crowd-sourcing -- a word I’ve come to love -- stuff that at least makes it to a certain point. The goal is not necessarily for the open community to pick the next movie that’s going to be made. Even [at] Project Greenlight, which was a great idea but a failed experiment, the real producer got involved and read the top scripts to decide. But if you have a thousand scripts, six hundred of those, from totally amateur writers, are going to have grammatical problems, they’re going to have no structure, no story, no plot, poor characterizations, bad dialogue – and that’s just because writing does take some skill. So, start with a thousand. Six hundred can go away right away by anybody reading them -- anybody that even understands anything about screenwriting. (Then) you have to have a multi-level review system where people that are more experienced get involved, and that’s the kind of thing that I wanted to create.

Talentville's Main Street

And that was sort of the whole idea -- how do you get the thousand down to a hundred? I’m willing to read a hundred. If I have a producer, for example, such as Marty Katz, one of our site advisors -- he’s got four interns downstairs reading scripts all weekend. People sign the release, they send their script, and the interns read them. The problem is you’ve got four people downstairs reading scripts all week. Now how about if every month I gave him a stack of ten scripts and said, these are the best. Already been vetted. It doesn’t mean he’s going to want to get involved with any of them, but the odds of all of them being pretty good are probably pretty high if we have an active site.

JC: Yeah, it would be great if there were a site that does what the Hollywood system does, without being the Hollywood system.

BC: There are enough scripts out there that no company could hire enough readers to read all of them. So the idea is - get the public involved. That’s the secret. And I will tell you why it works, by the way. It works for the same reason that Amazon.com’s book reviews work. If a book has a hundred reviews on Amazon and three stars, I will almost guarantee you it’s a three-star book. If a book has a hundred reviews and it’s five stars, I guarantee you, they’ll love it. It just works, because people aren’t stupid, because people know what a good story is.

Being altruistic is not a business, so my goal was to get people in the industry involved -- getting managers, agents, producers, to be looking at these top scripts. The only site, or the only company that actually does send out active things to producers is InkTip. My issue with InkTip is that they don’t have any quality control. I don’t want to cut down Jerrol LeBaron and InkTip, but the point is that if you can have that access, and you can also tell people that it’s good, how much more valuable would that be to an agent or manager or producer whose time is valuable?

JC: Sounds good to me. So Talentville is trying to offer the best elements of other sites and then some.

BC: I want to do everything. Yeah, there [are] elements of InkTip, there [are] elements of Trigger Street, there [are] elements of Zoetrope, there [are] even elements of Amazon Studios. But Zoetrope and Trigger Street and Amazon, they don’t invite the industry. They don’t say, listen, you’re a producer, we’ll give you a protected membership. InkTip does, but InkTip doesn’t have the quality control, which is key. Trigger Street has the quality control, but no industry people looking. Maybe some people do, but they have to use an alias, because otherwise – can you imagine if (a big-shot producer) logs on (under his own name), guess how many queries he’s going to get? My industry people, I want them invited, I want them there, I want them looking, but they are completely protected. You have a way for writers to get some rewards, get noticed, see where they stand, and you give the industry people the quality control so they don’t waste their time.

JC: How does the cream rise? What is the process?

BC: You have to get in the (on-site script) Library and then you have to do some work. You’ve got to do some reviews of other people’s work. You earn "Talent Dollars," and then you spend those to buy reviews for your script. And when you get a certain number of reviews coming in, then you get a site score based upon a number of categories -- character, dialogue, overall concept, that kind of thing. So you get to see what areas you’re strong in. And if your script is strong enough, you can make one of our weekly Top Ten charts, or be a finalist in our script of the month competition. The current prize for that is simple – free coverage from Scriptapalooza. But ultimately, as time goes along and we sign up more agents and managers and producers, the idea is that these charts [will] be the Billboard Top 100 or the Black List of the common script. Then, even if industry people only log on just to check the chart this week, people are getting looked at. And if people get looked at, then people get contacted.

JC: And it's free to sign up?

BC: For the moment the site is completely free, both for industry people and for writers. There are going to be limitations to the memberships when we get everything finished, that we want to get.

JC: Wow, sounds like a great opportunity.

BC: Especially now – when there ten thousand scripts it will be much harder to win, just like when Amazon first launched their studios it was relatively easy to qualify for one of their prizes. But as sites mature and as more product is there – yes, now is the time, we are just starting our competitions and we have about five hundred scripts in the library total. When there are five thousand, the competition will be stiffer than it is now.

JC: So are you still planning on producing?

BC: I don’t want to compete with the people in the industry that I’m trying to attract. However, I would like to find management companies or agencies who are willing to give a contract or representation for a certain period of time to our top people. And that would be a great prize because one of the toughest things is getting in the door of these companies. Everyone loves cash, but people want to see their story on the screen or on TV. That’s the goal. The cash will come. We’re hoping to get Coverage Ink involved in this process.

JC: You bet, Ben. We've already posted a few articles in Talentville University.

BC: I’d like to thank you, Jim, for taking the time out to have a chat about Talentville.

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THE PEOPLE'S MIC

2011-12-01T17:45:00.001-08:00

A SCREENWRITER'S EXPERIENCE WITH OCCUPY WALL STREET

The Occupy Movement has been both ignored by and largely vilified by the corporate US media, who wish to paint this group of law-abiding, concerned citizens as a bunch of freaks and loons -- while they ignore the crimes committed by the banksters, who ripped off the world and walked away scot-free. But the truth is simple: the banks got bailed out; the people got sold out. Until there is accountability, this movement is only going to grow. We say, kick ass, Occupy. New York screenwriter Jen Senko has been on the ground since day one. Here's her perspective from the field.

Jen Senko showing us How it's Done.

By Jen Senko

My background is documentary filmmaking, and I’ve been following the rising income inequality in America for years. Recently I co-produced a film (with Fiore DeRosa and Erika Hampson), THE VANISHING CITY, illustrating the devastation the war of the Haves against the Have-Lesses has wrought upon New York.

In early September, I saw something on an alternative online rag about a protest being organized by the group Anonymous. They planned for 20,000 people to occupy Wall Street with tents and soup kitchens and media centers. The group said they wanted to bring attention to the crimes committed against America and the world by Wall Street with its irresponsible, reckless and malicious actions and criminal behavior, aided and abetted by its servants in Washington.

I’d been furious for years at a system rigged in favor of the corporations and the already-privileged. Our democracy was well down the road of becoming a corporate kleptocracy. Then when the activist so-called "Justices" on the Supreme Court handed down the Citizens United decision, I believed our democracy had more than just one foot in the grave. Many friends felt the same, as we saw our jobs shipped overseas, our quality of life disappear, unnecessary wars being waged, our voices marginalized by a corporate media, shady new computer voting and campaigns funded by big money.

After this outrageous ruling came down, a pervasive feeling of helplessness was inescapable.

A small portion of the crowd at Occupy Los Angeles Sunday 11/27.

When I enthusiastically informed my friends about Occupy Wall Street, I was surprised and disappointed when they dismissed the endeavor.

“It won’t take off,” they said.

Thus, on September 27 (the day Occupy Wall Street began), I was by myself when I went to the park at the corner of Liberty and Greenwich Streets. The park was originally named Liberty Park, but when Brookfield Properties purchased it (assisted by massive taxpayer rebates), they renamed it Zucotti Park. Nowadays, we always refer to the park by its original name. It was an extremely cold day, and I guessed there were approximately 100 people who had been pushed out of the Wall Street area. Most seemed to be in their 20s, a few in their 30s, a few in their 40s and a several people with gray hair. Many had sleeping bags. Two rickety card tables had been set up with bagels, cream cheese, butter and in a tin pan, a mostly vegetarian potato dish (which was quite tasty!).

A General Assembly meeting was held to decide whether or not to take down the signs on the park trees, which the owners of the park had requested. People sat on the cold cement and used a unique sign language, wriggling their fingers upward if they approved of the motion. They did this to minimize the noise, as they felt they were also more likely to be arrested if they used the bullhorn. The GA was time-consuming because anyone and everyone’s opinion was welcome. There was no hierarchy; no single person was in charge. Several people took turns hosting the meeting. Even after a vote by what appeared to be 80% in favor of taking down the signs, the option remained for anyone to block the motion. After several hours, people decided that the trees and the park owners should be respected. The signs were taken down.

I shot some video, and after a few more hours, feeling thoroughly chilled, I went back to my overheated New York City apartment.

Where I felt terribly guilty.

I called my friends to try to get bodies down there, but no one was interested. No one... until they saw YouTube video of the white-shirted policeman pepper-spraying two women they had trapped like cattle in their net fence.

Suddenly, my friends (and the world) took notice.

The next major event was in Washington Square Park, with hundreds of people. The police were standing peacefully outside, so everything went smoothly. The new people were introduced to the General Assembly idea, the People’s Mic, Mic Check and the sign language. The crowd was so huge that the mic checked about three layers of voices deep. (Mic Check is where one person's speech is repeated and amplified by a group in order to spread the word.)

Now, the tents at Liberty Park have been torn down, but the movement has grown and keeps growing. As we all know, Occupy is now a global shorthand for the 99%’s resistance to the extortionate rule of the 1%.

A few weeks ago, on the two-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, approximately 33,000 of us marched from Foley Square over the Brooklyn Bridge and into Brooklyn. It was totally peaceful, in contrast to that morning on Wall Street of November 17, which had been charged with tension and often violence. Every age, every race, every class of people participated -- rich old white people, poor young students, unions, suit-and-tied professionals, baby boomers, grandmas. The grandmas elected to sit on the bridge and get arrested. Still, the protest was peaceful and orderly, even though we were funneled in and out longer detours to and from the bridge.

At the top of the bridge we were met with a beautiful sight. The Verizon skyscraper, with no other buildings around it, had the image “99%” projected on its side. I felt like I had run a marathon or won the lottery. Cars on the bridge were beeping and waving to us, cheering us on. The march felt charged with the excitement and optimism of New Year's Eve.

It was one of the best nights of my entire life, and when I sat down to begin the revisions to my screenplay, I was recharged with a newfound exuberance and hope for the future of us all. The Occupation has only just begun.

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Get involved! Watch the Academy Award-winning best Documentary Inside Job. That will give you a clear understanding of who screwed us and how. Then find a local Occupy group and make your feelings known. Don't count on the Obama administration to fix anything--despite Obama's populist rhetoric, they're as mobbed up with banksters and Wall Street elites as the Bushies before them. Real change will only come from pressure from the people. It's up to US.

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THE SCREENWRITER STRIKES BACK: Dead in the Room

2011-12-01T17:43:00.000-08:00

by Jim Cirile

Quick: name five things you dread. Paying taxes? Impacted wisdom tooth removal? Accidentally stumbling into a month-long Uwe Boll film festival and realizing you’re locked in? Sure, those are all pretty mortifying, but if you’re a screenwriter, you may well have included pitch fests on that list.

You pay a heap of money to meet with industry reps -- five measly minutes to convince someone you’ve never met that your story, and by extension you, has merit. That’s pretty daunting in and of itself. But when the execs seem bored, aloof or jaded, the experience can become downright humiliating.

Andrew Borba and Patrick J. Adams are "Dead in the Room."

Like many of us, screenwriter Marjory Kaptanoglu has experienced this particular type of hell. And she decided to do something about it. Welcome to Dead in the Room, the Slamdance-winning short film script, which was later made into a film by director Adam Pertofsky. It is a sharp piece of storytelling and a tense, taut little thriller with a twist. But mostly, it’s one hell of a piece of writer empowerment. In it, a fed-up writer turns the tables on a contentious executive by demanding he pitch him a compelling story in five minutes – at gunpoint.

“I’ve been to several pitch events. For the most part, it’s a civil undertaking,” says Kaptanoglu, a former Apple software engineer who has been writing screenplays for about eight years. “Most studio execs are professional. But every now and then you get that bad seed, and he’s (texting) under the table or is maybe disrespectful.” Kaptanoglu used that within that "bad seed" exec was story potential. "And same thing with writers," she continues. "Most of them are professional and normal and all that. But now and then, you see some who just look like looney tunes. I just thought it was a situation that was right for some kind of drama. I also like to do the ticking clock, and it seems like (the 5-minute time limit) was perfect for the tension in a short film. My first thought was to turn it around -- instead of the writer pitching, he makes the other guy do it."

Marjory Kaptanoglu

Kaptanoglu has optioned a few features over the years and was lucky enough to have had three shorts independently produced. But her script for Dead in the Room grabbed the attention of Slamdance cofounder Peter Baxter, who called Kaptanoglu to tell her she'd won. The prize: they were going to produce her script.

Enter director/editor Pertofsky. "I've been working in the biz for about 20 years," he says. "I’m one of the partners at a company called Rock Paper Scissors. Last year my partner cut The Social Network. He won an Academy Award (for that.) Over the last ten years I’ve directed here and there, PSAs and commercials. In 2006 I wrote Black Crescent Moon with a buddy of mine (Dexton Deboree), and we raised about 300 grand and made it. I knew Peter Baxter from when he started Slamdance, because I edited a movie that he was producing. He was one of the producers on it. We got some distribution for it and it was a great learning experience." Pertofsky also made a documentary which screens several times a day at the National Civil Rights Museum called The Witness of the Balcony from Room 306, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

"(Baxter) called me and asked me if I’d be interested in making Dead in the Room," he continues. "I’m usually very hesitant to get involved in anything that’s about the industry. But the script’s so well-written, and it’s got such a great twist at the end. So I was like, Alright, how much money do you have to make this for? And he goes, ‘You’ve got 99 bucks.’"

Adam Pertofsky

Undaunted, Pertofsky says he "raced down to (a pitch festival) in LA and scouted. It blew my mind, actually, to see that. It was crazy. It really got to me. I remember there was this heavy-set guy wearing a yellow shirt and a beret. So I guess that’s what he thinks a writer looks like, and he’s standing next to two bodybuilders. That really got me going. I was like, This is gonna be fun."

Pertofsky says making the film on a non-existent budget was a big challenge (why the extremely successful Slamdance couldn't pony up a budget to make the film, we'll leave up to speculation.) "You’re trying to get everything for favors," says Pertofsky. "Finding the location was one of the biggest challenges. We shot that in a temple. It was in an extra room they use off the Synagogue, and they let us use it for a day, on a Sunday when it’s never used."

A tight script and solid direction contribute to the film's punch, but what really ices the cake are the performances. "It definitely doesn’t hurt to have an Academy Award nomination to get actors involved," says Pertofsky. "(Our) casting director sent me a link of different people, and when I saw Patrick J. Adams, who played the exec, there was an edge to him that I thought would work really well for this. As far as (the Writer) Andrew Borba goes, he’s been on so many TV shows as a character actor, I just knew immediately he’d be great. Patrick’s on a USA Network show called Suits now."

Despite the non-budget, they were able to authentically create the look of a real pitch festival. "We got a bunch of extras to show up for free, which was incredible," says Pertofsky. "You could definitely see our numbers were dwindling as the day went on." Watch for Kaptanoglu herself in the film -- she's pitching at the table right behind the two leads throughout.

Dead in the Room is a compelling piece of screenwriters' wish fulfillment, but will it appeal to anyone else? "I was a little concerned that it might be too insider," says Kaptanoglu. "But interestingly, I’ve been going around to some of the film festivals where it’s been showing, and sometimes it’s an industry crowd and they really get excited about it. But I’ve also been with some groups that are not industry crowds at all, and you’d be surprised how well they relate to it. Everyone gets the idea of rejection and being frustrated and people acting crazy. I was just up at the Port Townsend Film Festival near Seattle, and that was mostly not industry people, and the audience was just gripped. I’ve been amazed. It plays really well to all types of audiences." And in fact, the film has gathered quite a film laurels, including winning Best Short at Big Bear Lake Film Festival and best Short Drama at Breckenridge.

"It’s been wonderful for me to see my script being made into such a fantastic film," says Kaptanoglu. "Adam and everybody involved did an amazing job. I couldn’t be happier with the results. Also Adam added some stuff in the beginning. I didn’t have so much of an introduction, and I thought the way Adam handled that was just perfect." She notes that while she loves writing short scripts, "there’s no money in it. My goal is to get a feature produced. That’s what I hope comes next."

Pertofsky says that Dead in the Room was a great experience, and he's optimistic that everyone will be able to see it soon when the festival run is over. "It’s playing Red Rock Film Festival in Utah, and it just played in the San Diego Film Festival a couple of weeks ago," he says, noting that they got a standing "O" in San Diego. "We’re still waiting to hear from a couple, and then our run’s coming to an end. We started the run at Slamdance in 2011 at the end of January." After that, they're hoping that Baxter will release the film one way or another. "Making films is the most important thing for me, he says. "That’s the only way you get better at it. You have to practice a craft to get better. I’m a strong believer in there are no bad mistakes, because you can learn from everything you do. Anyone out there who wants to write or make a film, with today’s technology, you can just go out there and start doing it. That’s where you’ll start learning skills and find your way."

"Like" Dead in the Room on Facebook and get updates on upcoming screenings and more!

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Writers on the Storm winners TBA: DEC 1, 2011

2011-11-20T15:44:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update here. I have to push the announcement of the WOTS winners back a week, to Dec 1. The reason is because of a family health crisis that has affected me personally. So the amount of time that I have been able to devote to reading the top ten has been limited. I already have the recommendations from our team, but ultimately it's me who makes the call. So I apologize for the delay and hope everyone understands. However, that big $10K check will still arrive to the winner by year's end, meaning someone's definitely gonna get their merry on.

After that, the development phase begins--several months of rewrites and coaching as we try to bulletproof these scripts before sending them out.

Regards to all,

Jim C.

WRITERS ON THE STORM 2011 FINALISTS

2011-11-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

We proudly present our 2011 top ten. In alphabetical order:

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A Ship Through Fire by John Miller
An American smuggler must outrun a vengeful U-Boat captain in hot pursuit and outwit the mutinous crew of his own cargo ship to rescue a Jewish friend's family.

The Beneath by T.J. Cimfel
After her husband goes missing in a tragic mining accident, a distraught woman joins the rescue crew only to discover a demonic presence hellbent on reaching the surface.

Bring Me Back by Alexis Lane
After tragedy strikes on her graduation day, a sheltered young woman must find a way to escape her grief, even if it means escaping her life.

Dead Walker by Josh Flanagan
In an undead apocalypse, a half-zombie man, gifted with the ability to walk among the ghouls without threat fights to save his daughter and regauin his humanity.

Death Wind by Travis Heermann + Jim Pinto
When a pioneer doctor uncovers a series of bizarre murders near an Indian reservation and army post, he must confront a mysterious tribe of sub-human cannibals to save his small prairie town from the cannibals' dark god, a bloodthirsty sentient tornado.

Getaway, Inc. by Andy Maycock
After his driving skills get him recruited into a criminal organization, a teenager draws the approval of the company's mastermind until he questions the company's schemes and strays off course.

Imprinted by Alison McMahan
14-year-old Vivien has to spend eight years in space alone, except for the minds of three brilliant astronauts imprinted on her brain…and the imprint of a psychopath.Sci-Fi actioner by Alison McMahan, based on short story "Rub-a-Dub" by Daniel Galouye. McMahan has rights to the story.

Male Order Bride by Charles Mitri
When a divorced father of two marries a mail-order bride he quickly discovers that his new "woman" is actually a man, but must pretend to be happily married in order to retain custody of his two kids from his ex-wife.

Marlowe by Louise Ransil
African-American P.I., Sam Marlowe juggles gangsters, movie stars and corrupt politicians while introducing naive author, Raymond Chandler to the realities of detective work in 1930's Los Angeles. Based on a true story.

Wright or Wrong by Glenn Sanders + Brooks Elms
A comedic spin on the Wright Brothers, who fall for the same girl, exploding their sibling rivalry and pitting them against each other in love and flight.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Lulu by Samuel Bernstein
Muffled Screams by David Kaneen
Murdered by Dennis Luu
The Nativity Knockoff by Jason Hellerman
Paige & Hadley's Prom From Hell by Devi Snively & Circus-Szalewski
Private Storage by Jared Kennedy
Shed by Dennis Widmeyer + Kevin Kolsch
Silence by John Edward Flynt

WINNERS will be announced 11/26! Thanks again, everyone!

Writers on the Storm Finalists to be announced 6PM today

2011-11-04T13:01:00.000-07:00

And that's all we're going to say about that right now!

Seriously, How Do I Get a Damn Agent? Or Manager?

2011-10-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, the question we are asked several times a day. No, it's not impossible. You CAN get representation. You just have to go about it the right way. And you have to make sure that your material is absolutely fricking bulletproof before you waste anyone's time. That's the hardest lesson, because all of us, myself included, are impatient. We finish a draft and, excited from the rush, assume it's great. So fire off a blast of queries and we send out our new masterpiece to all our industry connex... and only THEN do we find out what's wrong with them (after the door hits us on the ass on the way out. Pass!)

That's one of the reasons I started CI, to try to prevent this from happening to you guys and me, too. Still, it is insanely hard to resist the urge to simply send something out right away. Getting feedback and doing notes is HARD, it's time-consuming and a general pain in the ass. far better to be blissfully ignorant and just assume the script is great!

Anyway, we've posted two of our most popular articles: SERIOUSLY, HOW DO I GET A DAMN AGENT? and SERIOUSLY, HOW DO I GET A DAMN MANAGER on Talentville.com. Check 'em out! The top agents and managers in the biz tell you how to get their attention. Listen up, brothers and sisters! And if you haven't checked out Talentville yet, you should. It's a new screenwriting community from Final Draft creator Ben Cahan. We'll be interviewing Ben soon to find out all about Talentville, which looks to be sort of a combo of Trigger Street, Zoetrope and InkTip but with a few extra dollops of coolness. In the meantime, browse around and see for yourself. It hasn't officially launched yet (still in Beta,) but it looks pretty good, and the concept is interesting indeed.

--Jim C.

2011 SPEC SALES KICKING BODACIOUS BOOTY

2011-10-21T01:15:00.000-07:00

NWE manager Mike Goldberg

Well, damn if it ain't good times in Hollywood for writers once again. According to It's On The Grid, the crap spec marketplace of the last few years is, at long last, gone. It's downright vibrant out there once again! After what amounted to a 5-year break, the buyers are at long last gobbling up original material.

This is not only great news for writers but frankly for the state of movies, which could use an injection of freshness to be sure. WME leads the pack with 13 sales (so far) this year. But the others are not far behind, with CAA racking up 12, UTA with 11 and ICM 10. Just today, Fox gobbled up THE MOUNTAIN by Helen Childress, a sophisticated horror spec; Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld are producing.

On the management company side, New Wave Entertainment is throwing heat with a staggering 7 sales so far for 2011. This is especially gratifying to me, because I am a client. It's on the Grid's Jason Scoggins calls NWE lit managers Mike Goldberg and Josh Adler "the manager equivalent of (WME power agent) Mike Esola." Hot damn, boys! My hat is doffed.

Best part: the year isn't over yet. So get those scripts shined up and spiffy, because now is the time! An up market means people are going to be more receptive to spec material and to launching new writers. Do the hard work and then go for it!

Jim C.

PAUL MOXHAM WINS PAGE AWARDS GOLD PRIZE

2011-10-16T02:27:00.000-07:00

It is with enormous pride that we announce that our client Paul Moxham, hailing from lovely Monbulk, Victoria, Australia, has won the Gold Prize in the Action/Adventure category of the 2011 Page Awards!

Almost two years ago, Paul came to us with this concept, and we loved it. We gave him notes over a period of a year and many drafts, and he hung in there doing more drafts than anyone should ever have to do. But the last draft pushed it over the top, taking him from a semi-finalist in last year's Page Awards to a Gold Award in this year's.

"I just found out and I couldn't be happier," says Paul. "I want to thank you and AP for helping me with the script and thank you for the hard work. I couldn't have made the script as good as it is if it weren't for him." You're welcome, Paul, and it couldn't happen to a nice guy! We knew this one was a winner when we first set eyes on it (it was a Writers on the Storm honorable mention last year as well.) But a little elbow grease makes all the difference, huh? Paul could have rested on his laurels, but he knew that it could be better. So he knuckled down and did it.

CONGRATULATIONS!

New Column, New Magazine

2011-10-14T02:12:00.000-07:00

Boy, when one door closes, another one (or three) really does open. As you all know by now, our beloved Creative Screenwriting magazine may not be with us any longer (at least in print format... we'll see what happens), but you can be damn sure I will continue to bring you the inside skinny from the top literary reps in the biz.

To that end, I am happy to announce that beginning next month, Jim Cirile's Rep Report will begin in the new online magazine Hollywood & Vine. H&V is a slick, fun and breezy new magazine all about breaking in and the Hollywood lifestyle. I'll be talking with agents and managers about what they're looking for (and what they're not.)

And there are more things coming soon, which I'll fill you all in on when they're a little closer to prime-time. So for all you guys who've written saying you're going to miss Agent's Hot Sheet... yeah, trust me, we're good :) Oh, and you guys have noticed to dozens of Agent's Hot Sheet columns right here on this blog, right? Dig a bit and you will find a treasure trove of intel.

Now stop procrastinating and get back to writing.

Jim C.

WRITERS ON THE STORM SEMIFINALISTS

2011-10-10T15:15:00.000-07:00

Without further ado, we proudly present our Top 50 (semifinalists.) You guys are the elites, the best of the best. At least until we name our top ten, that is! Which will be right around Halloween. Nice work, all!

If you're not on this list, we sympathize, but just keep in mind there were many scripts on the cusp. We had to draw the line somewhere. Please note that these numbers are not rankings; the list below is in alphabetical order. And if you're wondering where your feedback form is, they started going out last week and will continue all this week (it takes us a while to get them all out -- we have to send each one individually.)

Thanks again to everyone who participated, and remember, we are here to help.

Jim Cirile

33 Yarrows Way by Christopher Morrison
A Ship Through Fire by John Miller
Am by C.N. Bean
Atom & Eve by Hank Isaac
Blesse (Wounded) by Bob Canning
Bring Me Back by Alexis Lane
Bush League by Steven Shank
Caprivi by Peter Dewhirst
Captive by John Burch
Crusade by Kristen M. Mozaffari
Dead by Thursday by Anthony DellaFlora
Dead Walker by Josh Flanagan
Death Wind by Travis Heermann
Erin’s Voice by Greg Sullivan
Faithful by Dennis Luu
False Sense by Craig Cambria
Getaway, Inc. by Andy Maycock
Happy Trails by Michael Rhodes
Heart of the Family by Sharon Duncan
Hill of Souls by Jennifer Hahn
Hold the Reins by Tracee Beebe
Imprinted by Alison McMahan
Insatiable by Michael D. Morra
Invasive Species by Patricia Semler & J. Russell Prine
Lulu by Samuel Bernstein
Male Order Bride by Charles Mitri
Marlowe by Louise Ransil
Messenger by Tim Tyler
Muffled Screams by David Kaneen
Murdered by Dennis Luu
Night Watch by David Taylor
O Golden Boy by John Bain
Paige & Hadley’s Prom From Hell by Devi Snively & Circus-Szalewski
Paladin by Jared Kennedy
Private Storage by Jared Kennedy
Rage by Mike Davidson
Roachtown by Cillian Daly
Second Glance by Sue Morris
Shed by Dennis Widmeyer and Kevin Kolsch
Silence by John Edward Flynt
Spoiled Rotten by Cynthia Sieber
Student Council by Tony Cohen
The Beneath by T.J. Cimfel
The Book of Malachy by Colin Elves
The Boy on the Cover by Elizabeth Savage Sullivan
The Heckler by Jery B. Rowan
The Nativity Knockoff by Jason Hellerman
The Spider’s Web by Valerie Nordstrom
The Ticking Jury by Mike Donald
The Touch by Naomi Lamont
The Warriors of Westgate by Michael R. Harriel
Third by Sean McKee
Wright or Wrong by Glenn Sanders & Brook Elms

See our newsletter right below!

Coverage Ink/Writers on the Storm Newsletter 10-11

2011-10-08T18:13:00.000-07:00

1) Intro Letter and Shorties
2) Agent's Hot Sheet - Back in Black
3) Test Your Screenwriting IQ with Steve Kaire
4) On Creative Screenwriting

Hi folks,

My screenwriting brethren,

We've got a pretty jam-packed newsletter here full of good news -- and one big piece of kind of sucky news. By now many of you have heard about Creative Screenwriting. We broke the news earlier in the week that the magazine is ceasing publication and the enterprise may be on the ropes (read the full story right here.)

This is a blow to the screenwriting community, and it may be a while before we know the full ramifications. Regardless of anything, Creative Screenwriting has been a damn good magazine for over a decade, rich with content and assembled by people who actually gave a crap, and their Expos and contests, while perhaps flawed, challenged and engaged and launched careers. Let's hope they somehow pull this one out of the fire and continue on in some way, shape or form.

It was my privilege to write the Agent's Hot Sheet column for CS for the last decade; one way or another, I'll find a way to keep bringing all of you the inside skinny direct from the top lit representatives in town. And certainly new media will step up to fill the void. Former Script magazine West Coast editor Josh Stecker is launching a new online writing magazine/community which will also feature a free screening series. It's called The Script Reporter, and Coverage Ink is pleased to be a part of this new enterprise. We'll let you know as soon as it's ready for lift-off.

Oh, and I did mention good news. Our CI team and clients have had a crazy amount of success lately. You'll see we really do back up our "The Industry Experts" slogan. On top of that, the spec market is back with a vengeance, so we're launching a huge-ass sale so all of you can get out there and make it happen. All this plus the latest in Steve Kaire's excellent Test Your Screenwriting IQ series, Agent's Hot Sheet explains how the Black List works, and way more, all hurtling at you right about now-ish.

Jim Cirile
Coverage Ink
Writers on the Storm

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P.S. See the Writers on the Storm quarterfinalists right here. Semifinalists dropping imminently! Feedback forms are being sent out now (this will take about a week or so to get them all out). If you do not receive your feedback by 10/15, please email us. (Coverage Ink clients who entered the contest through CI received long-form coverage and do not get the contest feedback unless they resubmitted a new draft directly to the contest.)

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1)

WRITERS ON THE STORM QUARTERFINALISTS. We announced the Writers on the Storm QF's last week (if you missed it, click here to see them.) The top 50, otherwise known as our semi-finalists, will be announced right here within the next few days.

THE SPEC MARKET KICKING ASS. Man, this is a great headline to write. According to the Scoggins Report, 2011 is the best year for spec sales since 2007-2008. Warner Bros. has bought 11 specs so far this year, up from its industry-leading 9 last year. And while DreamWorks has said they're done with buying for the year, the recent executive shuffle over there could change that picture in a hurry. After years of discussing the decline of the spec market in our Agent's Hot Sheet column in Creative Screenwriting, it is exhilarating to report that things have turned around. In fact, savvy readers may have noticed that our panelists Mike Goldberg from New Wave Entertainment and Emile Gladstone from WME called it a year ago, both predicting a big 2011 sales uptick (based on the studios having nothing on their slates for 2014-2015.) So if you've been feeling dispirited about the chances of breaking in of late (and who hasn't?) here's a whole bunch of happy for ya! (And don't forget to take advantage of our sale below to get your specs polished up and ready to rock.)

TRACKING B FINAL DEADLINE. We run our own contest of course, Writers on the Storm. Yet we have to give a hat-tip to our buddy The Insider and his amazing Tracking B Screenwriting Contest. Their final deadline is charging in fast (October 30th,) and if you enter no other contests this year, you should enter this one. Why? Because Tracking B is the most expensive contest around ($85 for "really late entry") and it offers no prizes per se. Wait, huh, wha'? Okay, we'd better explain. See, it's worth it, because Tracking B is the ONLY contest around that gets their winners signed, promoted and produced regularly. Last year's finalist John Swetnam got signed thanks to Tracking B; his movie EVIDENCE just wrapped production. The amazing thing is, he's the rule, not the exception. And lest you think it's too pricey, if you submit two scripts you get a free 1-year subscription to TrackingB.com, the real-life industry tracking board (a $79 value.) Head on over to TrackingB.com and investigate for yourself.

O'Hare celebrates.

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE FOR CI ANALYST. The string of good luck continues for both CI and for our analyst Kevin O'Hare, who has for the second time sold a TV pilot to Universal. "Just got an offer yesterday for another one of my spec TV pilots," says O'Hare. "Still in shock because it literally happened in two weeks. Just signed with ICM last month, they asked for any work I had laying around, and it just so happened I had another pilot no one had seen (very 'Lost') - they loved it, got a producer to take it into Universal because they bought that other pilot of mine, and sure enough Universal put in an offer to take it off the table." The deal also earned O'Hare enough points to get into the WGA. You rock, man! By the way, TV (and feature) writers, O'Hare is still available for coverage. Submit online at www.coverageink.com and just put "I'd like reader KO, please!" in the comments box. (See "Sale!" below.)

BACK IN PRINT. Last year we bemoaned the loss of The Hollywood Reporter's daily print edition. We tried to like the new weekly magazine format. We really did. And truth be told, it's slick, well-done bathroom reading. But it's not like the old THR, chock full of reviews and obits and minutiae; it's now more glammed out and superficial, in our opinion. And their daily email? We never even bother to read those. Another e-mail--who cares? Well, one of our staffers had a radical notion a few weeks back, and she went and subscribed us to Variety. Glory, glory, hallelujah. In-depth, daily entertainment news, on paper, is once again arriving at the CI offices. And, brothers and sisters, that is a beautiful thing. If, like us, you've grown dispirited over THR, give Variety a chance. You'll be very glad you did. Yeah, sorry, THR. You kinda suck.

COLLEEN'S GOT THE EYE OF THE TIGER. Our client Colleen Houck, who consulted with us on her entire book series, has optioned the film rights to her New York Times bestselling teen novel “Tiger’s Curse." Ineffable Pictures grabbed up the rights, and they aim to start production on the film within two years. This is especially gratifying to us here at CI, because one of the main areas we consulted on was in making the material as cinema-ready as possible. "Tiger's Curse" is the first of five planned novels following 17-year-old Kelsey Hayes as she tries to break a 300-year-old Indian curse that has turned a prince into a white tiger. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ineffable Pictures founder, Emmy-nominated producer Raphael Kryszek, says he read the book at the urging of his 11-year-old cousin. Way to go, Colleen! Visit the book's website right here.

LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE FOR ANOTHER CI ANALYST. CI Senior Story Analyst (and "Liberator" director) Aaron Pope has been busy on the for-hire writing front, recently landing assignment work on horror flick CROPSY for director Tom Holland ("Fright Night") and the family comedy I MISSED THE BUS for Vendetta Filmworks. Both are slated for principal photography in early 2012. In addition, Pope has other projects percolating at big prodcos all over town. And yes, he is still available for coverage as well! Just ask for AP when you submit. And speaking of "Liberator"...

Lou Ferrigno returns to superheroics in "Liberator." Photo by Russell Griffin.

OPERATION: LIBERATION CONTINUES. Coverage Ink's latest production LIBERATOR finished reshoots and pickup days in September, and the stuff looks fabulous. We were fortunate enough to have a stunningly successful Kickstarter fundraising campaign, raising $24,650 (our goal was $18,000.) We funnelled that money right back into the production, and we were finally able to get the shots we always wanted (which we did not have the time or money to shoot during the main shoot in June.) Liberator stars Lou Ferrigno as a disgraced, former superhero whose secret black ops past comes back to haunt him. The film also stars Michael Dorn (Star Trek: the Next Generation,) Peta Wilson (La Femme Nikita) and Ed Asner (Up). Watch some behind the scenes footage right here, then "like" us on facebook! And if you want to find out all about Liberator, listen to Director Aaron Pope and Executive Producer Jim Cirile talk about the film on the podcast SciFi Diner right here.

CI POST-CONTEST SALE! With the spec market on a tear, it's time for all of us to get a piece of the action. It's our first sale since launching Writers on the Storm in the spring, and we're making it up to you guys in a big way: 20% OFF ANY SCRIPT SUBMISSION. Just submit your script to CI for analysis and use this discount code in the text box: CINEWSLETTER20. Hurry, sale ends 10/31!

"Hannah's Law" writer John Fasano

THE WESTERN IS DEAD. LONG LIVE THE WESTERN. The old west has had a tough time of it lately at the US box office; while most of us love a good oater, they're unwanted as spec scripts. But the genre thrives on the small screen -- specifically on the Hallmark Channel, which has been blessing us with an avalanche of original, high-quality western telefilms and miniseries. Their latest flick is Hannah's Law, directed by Rachel Talalay (Freddy's Dead) and written by Coverage Ink's good pal John Fasano (Tombstone.) The film stars Sara Canning (Vampire Diaries,) as a strong-willed forntier gal who corrals Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp to help her town take a stand for justice. Hannah's Law also stars Billy Zane and and Danny Glover. The film is shooting in Canada and will air on the Hallmark Channel in 2012. Way to go, JF!

Anjali Patil in "Delhi in a Day"

FOXY. The hit parade for CI analysts continues. This time it's Billy Fox, who did story work for Director Prashant Nair on the new feature film DELHI IN A DAY. The film is now screening at festivals and has its Indian premiere in Mumbai on October 14th. The cross-cultural dramedy is getting fantastic reviews and won Best Feature Film award at the Houston Indian Film Festival. Its next US screening is at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival 10/23. "CI was indeed instrumental," says Nair. "We are finally pitching to distributors in the coming weeks - goal is a small theatrical release in India, UAE and UK. So keep fingers crossed!" Nair has put together a mesmerizing little movie, and we are proud to have helped it to the big screen. Visit the film's website to see the trailer and sign up for the mailing list.

Paul Moxham

CI CLIENT MAKES PAGE ACTION TOP 10. Hot young Australian writer Paul Moxham reports his script BLIZZARD, a Writers on the Storm honorable mention, has hit the top 10 of the Page Awards. Moxham's crackerjack writing landed him a manager earlier this year, and his scripts have placed highly in several contests. We have a soft spot for this little snowbound action/thriller about a man returning to his Montana hometown only to find his father--the Sheriff--has been kidnapped by the thugs he used to run with. We really hope this one cleans up. Show 'em how it's done, Paul.

Ever wanted to turn the tables on an exec at a pitch fest? We thought so.

WRITER WISH FULFILLMENT. Tell us if this sounds like a cool premise to you: at a screenwriters' pitch event, a vengeful writer turns the tables on an arrogant studio executive, ordering him at gunpoint to pitch a good story or die. As the clock ticks down, the exec gets a lesson in truthfulness and storytelling, but will he learn in time to save himself? Yeah, we thought you guys would dig that! That's the premise of Slamdance winner DEAD IN THE ROOM, a new short film burning up the festival circuit right now. "I got the idea for this after having attended a few pitch events myself," says writer Margie Kaptanoglu. "I just thought it might be interesting if an industry exec had to learn what it feels like to be 'under the gun' so to speak." DEAD IN THE ROOM screens next at the Red Rock Film Festival, Saturday, November 12th, at 2:30 pm in St. George, Utah. "Like" it on Facebook.

CI SCORES HOLY-CRAP!!!-HUGE NEW CLIENT. One last bit of amazing news for now. Coverage Ink recently landed our biggest client ever. This is a major production company with a a pipepline of huge studio movies. We really wish we could name names here. We would maybe make it our new slogan or something -- Coverage Ink, the script development service used by Holy Crap!!!-Huge Productions. Has a nice ring to it, huh? We've helped them with two projects so far -- an international best-seller we've all read, and an original period piece based on a true event.

Continue on to:

Agent's Hot Sheet - Back in Black
Test Your Screenwriting IQ with Steve Kaire
On Creative Screenwriting

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AGENT'S HOT SHEET - BACK IN "BLACK"

2011-10-08T18:06:00.000-07:00

The release of the Black List has become an annual event of importance for writers and their representatives. Agent’s Hot Sheet goes behind the curtain to find out what the list is and learn how someday you too might be in the ‘Black.’

Reprinted courtesy of Creative Screenwriting

By Jim Cirile

The Black List is out, and you all should read it (blcklst.com.) Why? Because anyone who is anyone in Hollywood feature lit is either on it or wants desperately to be on it.

Overbrook executive Franklin Leonard

Compiled at the end of every year by Overbrook Entertainment exec Franklin Leonard, the Black List is a compendium of industry favorite scripts, voted on by over 290 executives. Each voter selects ten scripts; a script must be nominated a minimum of five times to make the list. They are then rated not by # 1, 2, 3, etc., but rather, by the number of votes it received. For example, this year's top-ranked screenplay "College Republicans," about young Karl Rove's first dirty political campaign, scored 49 (pretty remarkable for subject matter which is itself blacklisted from the US corporate media.) The list has become instrumental in building heat around a writer. In other words, making the list is kind of a big deal. “It’s something that a writer now, as a result of how big the Black List has become, can put on their résumé,” says FilmEngine’s Jake Wagner. “When I send out (a submission letter), you always mention if the script was featured on the Black List. It’s clout. There can be a herd mentality oftentimes, so it validates it for people that are maybe on the fence.”

One of the cool things about the list is that the only criteria for inclusion are that the script be good. So a raucous comedy like Jeff Bushell’s “Ricky Stinicky” can share the list with the real-life Abscam thriller “American Bullshit” as well as the touching music drama “Imagine.” No Oscar-type snobbery here. And many of the scripts on the Black List are overlooked or undiscovered gems (a Black List rule is that a film cannot be released in theaters in the same year its nominated.) Included on the 2010 list are big spec sales like Evan Daugherty’s “Snow White and the Huntsman” and Dante Harper's manga-based sci-fi actioner "All You Need is Kill."

But for writers whose script may have been well-liked but perhaps not gotten the traction it deserved, making the list represents a rare second chance. “I went out with a script called 'Kitchen Sink' by Oren Uziel, which everyone loved,” says Circle of Confusion manager Britton Rizzio. Logline: a vampire, a zombie and a human teen team up to save their town from alien invaders. “But it was a harder sell because it was a little left of center. People shied away from buying it even though it had all these fans. And then it ended up on the Black List. (Former Sony exec) Matt Tolmach took notice, read it over the break, and ended up acquiring it the first week we were back from the holidays.” Rizzio thinks Tolmach might have missed “Kitchen Sink” had it not made the list. “People go through that list and they say, okay, what should I be reading or what should I have read this year? I think that’s important.”

Leonard says that he never expected it to turn into such a big thing. “I would love to claim that I had the strategic vision at the time to know that there was an appetite for a thing such as this, but no,” chuckles Leonard, who coined the name in part as a reference to the original Hollywood Blacklist as well as a hat-tip to his ethnicity (he’s African-American.) “Initially, I was working at Leo DiCaprio’s company, Appian Way. My job was to identify and filter great material up the chain of command, and I hit a bad patch where I was reading a lot of stuff that I didn’t think was very strong. I was looking at the rest of my life and saying, one of two things is happening here -- either I’m not very good at my job, in which case that’s a problem, or reading bad scripts is going to be the dominant feature of my professional life, for the rest of my life, which didn’t really feel like a good option either.” So Leonard reached out to his industry friends. “I asked them to send me a list of up to ten of their favorite screenplays (from) the previous year, and in exchange I would send them back everybody’s list. I think the first year was maybe ninety voters, and I sort of combined it, slapped a vaguely subversive name on it, and went on vacation.”

Now six years later, the Black List has become, in a way, the Spec Script Awards. But it’s not just writers who benefit from inclusion on the list. “It shows up on Deadline.com, the tally vote,” says Wagner, “what agency had the most, which I believe was CAA, and what management company, which was Circle of Confusion. It brands them as tastemakers. Relationships and taste, that’s the game, you know?” ICM’s Ava Jamshidi, who had several projects on the 2010 list, agrees. “I had a number of attorneys and managers either congratulating me or saying, hey, it’s awesome you’re on the Black List, what business can we be doing together? It’s definitely nice, especially with a couple of these guys who are on the list this year. They’re really homegrown. You really invest in (your writers) and in their talents and their abilities, and it makes me happy to see them getting that attention. It’s validating for me to know that I put all my energy and belief into something that other people see the same qualities in.”

The Black List’s popularity has also spawned competing lists. “I’ve been lucky to have people on the list in the past,” says UTA’s Julien Thuan, in the Black this year for “The Escort” and “Keep Coming Back.” “But I honestly have little sense of where the value stands, particularly with the proliferation of so many other lists like it.” So are other lists like the Hit List, the Brit List and the Blood List diluting the Black List’s impact? “I do read all the other lists because I am curious,” says Wagner. “I think there were four or five floating around this year. But the Black List is the Oscars, and the rest are like the American Music Awards.” Says Leonard, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I think some of them are noble in their intent and decent in their execution; others are less so on both counts. But ultimately what sets (the Black List) apart is the process by which the information is gathered, and the fact that at the end of the day, it really is all about the writers.”

I asked Leonard about how he felt about the perception that the list has become overrun as of late with material that has already been set up, versus in the past. “I think that’s actually untrue,” he says, pointing out that the very first Black List had Aaron Sorkin and David Benioff scripts in the top ten, both of which were already rolling towards production. “I think where that’s coming from is, you have certain people who are like, oh, well, I used to love this band, but now that they’re on the radio, I don’t like this band anymore -- the anti-bandwagon bandwagon. I think that’s been the cause of a lot of the backlash against the Black List.” He notes that the last two years’ number one scripts were written by writers who did not live in Los Angeles, and the projects had not been set up or have producers attached at the time of the list’s publication.

So the big question then is, how can we all get in the “Black”? Or should we even try? “I think you should aspire, because it really validates the writer as a great writing voice and separates them from the pack,” says Wagner. “(When) I start (reading) clients’ scripts, I think to myself, this could be on the Black List , or I think, eh, probably not. I kind of instill that in the writer early, like, hey, this is a potential Black List script -- people are really liking it, you’re going to get some votes. I think that fires writers up.” But Rizzio cautions, “I think that aspiring to it will drive you totally bonkers. There’s not a science to it. Because I’ve had some things on the Black List, people have said to me, oh, I think you’re fixing it or I think you’re rigging it. But I swear, I put it out there and it kind of has a life of its own. So, advice I have for writers is write what you’re passionate about and that will translate.”

Good luck, and hopefully someday we’ll see you, too, on the list.

Return to Newsletter

Test Your Screenwriting IQ with Steve Kaire

2011-10-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

(More) TEST YOUR SCREENWRITING IQ

by Steve Kaire

Here we go again with more Q's to tickle your brain stem. A couple of these are gimmes, but a few of them may stump you. Good luck!

True or False:

1. “Pay or play” is a term that means a writer has to be paid whether the buyer likes the material that’s been written or not.

That’s true.

2. For a television series to be sold, a showrunner has to be found first.

That is true.

3. A deal memo is an agreement between an agent and a writer for representation.

That’s false. A deal memo is an abbreviated copy of a contract listing the major points of the deal.

4. The biggest set pieces are found in horror movies.

That’s false. They’re found in action movies.

5. When you pitch your logline, the potential should be obvious if it’s a comedy, adventure, thriller or action movie.

That’s true.

6. You should mention your story falls into multiple genres when you pitch.

That’s false. Pick one predominant genre and stick to it.

7. The expression “turn it upside down and inside out” is a brainstorming technique that means take an existing story and change it substantially to make it fresh.

This is true.

8. When you pitch an action movie, you must mention who the hero and who the villain is.

That’s true.

9. The expression “half baked idea” is a negative term.

False. It means that there is something of value in the story but it needs to be developed further to become “fully baked.”

10. Acquiring rights to a story can be done by the writer himself.

While that’s technically true, it’s best to go through an entertainment attorney.

11. The reaction you want when you’re pitching is “Why didn’t I think of that idea?”

True.

12. The title of your material is not important.

False. The title is the link to your story is a marketing tool; it's what they remember you by.

13. During a pitch session, if you’re asked if you have a treatment on your story, you should say yes even if you don’t have one.

That’s true. Say yes, go home, write one and get it back to them immediately.

14. Good dialogue should say exactly what’s on a character’s mind.

That’s false. It should be communicated in subtext and not be “on the nose.”

15. The order of your pitch should be: Title, Genre, Logline.

That’s true.

16. Granting a free option on your material makes sense for a new writer.

False. Never give a free option. You should receive a few thousand dollars as a show of good faith.

17. “Hip pocket representation” means that an agent or manager isn’t taking you on as a full time client but on a project-by-project basis.

True.

18. Most writers with representation and are happy with their agent.

False. Just the opposite is true. This is generally because writers discover they still have to do much of the promotion themselves.

19. It’s a waste of time to keep rejection slips.

False. They start the paper trail in case of theft of material.

20. You need a contrast of writing styles with your writing partner.

False. Your styles better be similar or you’re both in trouble.

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How did you all do? If you got every one right, then pat yourself on the back and go get 'em, tiger. If you knew several, then way to go -- you are a savvy student of the business. Keep up the good work, and I'll see you all back here in 30.

Steve Kaire (HighConceptScreenwriting.com) is a Screenwriter/Pitchman who’s sold 8 projects to the major studios without representation. His top-rated CD, “High Concept--How to Create, Pitch and Sell to Hollywood” is available on his website along with original articles and national screenwriting contests.

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On Creative Screenwriting

2011-09-30T03:08:00.000-07:00

Fellow scribes,

It is with a heavy heart that I write this. Today I heard unconfirmed reports that Creative Screenwriting magazine has filed for bankruptcy.

To my understanding, that could mean one of three things -- either CS plans to continue operations, and will use the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to restructure; or they could sell the magazine and its assets; or they might simply pull the plug. As of now, it appears their website (creativescreenwriting.com) has been abandoned, and only a template remains, which is never the best sign. Calls to CS have not been returned.

As many of you know, I have been a columnist with CS for a decade. It was my honor and pleasure to write the Agent's Hot Sheet column every issue, and moreover, it was a master's class for me in how the business really works; priceless information which I delighted in passing along to you all. I took journalism and copy editing classes specifically to help with my magazine writing, which also directly helped my screenwriting by teaching me how to hone in on a theme right away (the "lede") and how to self-edit like nobody's business. It's these very journalistic techniques which I teach to screenwriters, elements of which are in all my videos and our CI Spec Format and Style Guide. None of that would have happened without Creative Screenwriting. And writing for CS also opened the door for me with Script magazine, which I still regularly contribute to.

We've also coordinated the CS Open and later the Cyberspace Open for Creative Screenwriting for nine years, as well as the Great Logline contest. In short, it was a pretty great relationship. If it is indeed really gone, then I am sad not only for me but for everyone, because through it all, Creative Screenwriting was one damn great magazine.

Here's what I do know: it's been a struggle over there of late. The crappy economy hit CS hard, and some poor customer service on some of their contests did some rather unfortunate damage to their reputation. As well, one of their contest coordinators bailed midstream a few years back, leaving everything higgledy-piggledy; it took a Herculean effort and many months to get that train back on the rails. As evidenced by some feedback on the screenwriting boards, the damage was severe and unforgiving. There were also some significant problems with the first go-round of the Cyberspace Open last year, a combination of a glitchy back end and scattershot customer service. But the next time out, those problems were solved and the ship sailed straight and true. Creative Screenwriting publisher Bill Donovan, to his credit, put his heart and soul into making it all work and responded personally to queries and complaints (as did I.) Lest anyone say otherwise, Bill really cared, and he worked tirelessly to innovate new products and to keep the magazine awesome (along with the amazing editor Danny Munso).

So what happens now? There may or may not be any new issues of Creative Screenwriting for a while, of course. Too, the future of the Screenwriting Expo is also up in the air. Now for contest winners or finalists, I have no idea what this means and honestly it's not really my place to speculate. I do know that Creative Screenwriting knows who the winner of the Cyberspace Open 2011 is, but I do not. I haven't seen the voting numbers and can't access them (and unlike national politics, that little consideration does in fact prevent me from calling a winner.) And whoever that winner is or would be, I have no idea if the contest prizes will be paid, and if they are, whether they'll be paid in full or only in part. (Coverage Ink did the judging for the Cyberspace Open, but the tournament is owned by Creative Screenwriting.) Yeah, I know that kinda blows. So I feel terrible about that, and for you Cyberspace Open top 3 -- Michael, Elisa, and William -- I can only offer my apologies and commiseration.

As for Agent's Hot Sheet, it will continue--either right here on this blog, or perhaps as a podcast or even in another magazine...

Rest assured, however, that Coverage Ink is not going anywhere. We're right here, ready to help, responding to calls and e-mails the same day, as we always have been. Customer service is always tops with us, because we're writers too.

We may have lost a great and beloved asset to writers everywhere this week. I hope that is not the case. But if it is, I am confident that all of us who were Creative Screenwriting will continue to help nurture and educate and give back.

Jim Cirile
Coverage Ink
Writers on the Storm

Update 10/6: Word is that CS is planning some sort of announcement soon.

Update 10/7: The announcement from Creative Screenwriting can be found right here. The bad news is they have confirmed that the magazine will cease publication, at least in the short term. The good news is they deny that that have filed for bankruptcy, and they seem to be pursuing avenues to keep the enterprise going. This is great to hear.

The other bit of good news (of sorts) is that CI is having a fire sale, with many of their products now available at deep discounts. The CS video series were great buys even at list price, but now they're a steal. Visit the page to check out some of their offerings and grab at them up at rock-bottom prices.

The other thing to keep in mind is that customer service and contests etc. are all on hold, it seems, so unfortunately this is going to leave some people in the lurch until everything is sorted. Again, we wish nothing but the best for CS and we are pulling for them. There are some really amazing and talented people who have poured their heart into this endeavor, given it their all. Let's all send good thoughts into the universe that they're able to find a way forward.

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WRITERS ON THE STORM QUARTERFINALISTS 2011

2011-09-14T23:28:00.000-07:00

Friends, Romans, etc., etc...

Thank you all for your patience! We really tried to make our original quarterfinalist announcement date last week, but we were delayed due to reshoots on our film "Liberator" as well as the Without a Box-mandated final extension that chopped two weeks off our reading period. But enough excuses. Here are the numbers: we had a bit over 1100 entries this year (including folks who entered the contest by submitting their scripts to Coverage Ink for analysis. And for the record, we were not easier on the CI people--in fact, the percentage of CI submissions who made the QFs is actually a bit lower than folks who entered the contest directly.) To qualify for the quarterfinals, your script needed to score a 'consider with reservations' for 'script.' Scripts are rated from 'pass' to 'recommend' for both writer and script. 'Consider with reservations' or better for script is historically about 10% of submissions. We actually selected 142 quarterfinalists.

One of you guys is going to walk away from this shindig with 10,000 bucks and and pretty nice level of access. Awesome! But regardless of anything, all you folks on this list really brought it. You guys on here did the heavy lifting; you labored over your craft. And it shows. Congratulations for making the Writers on the Storm 2011 quarterfinalist list!

Now I know the vast majority of you folks reading this are not on this list. This sucks. No two ways about it. It's another damn "pass." It's frustrating. It takes the wind out of our sails. It gets us a little bit angry. Those passes add up and eventually start undermining your self-confidence and can even make you want to throw in the towel. Believe me, brothers and sisters, I have been there.

The first thing I would tell you is: we are not the be-all and end-all here. Whether you're on this list or not is because of one person's opinion. Now of course all our guys know their stuff and are pro writers and analysts, but still, we could be wrong. Also remember that the difference between a pass and a consider can sometimes be insanely minor--a couple-hour rewrite to fix. Usually the problem is something we're not even aware of, but then someone points it out and we go, "Oh, jeez, of course!" (Remember, all WOTS contestants get $10 off any submission to Coverage Ink for analysis until 12/31/11--just use code WOTS10 on the order form. We'll gladly give you the full skinny and empower your rewrite.)

Look, even if your script needs major surgery, that's okay. My last action script got "passes" right up until the 13th draft or so. It was the 17th draft that was finally deemed good to go, and because of it now I am developing several projects with two big-name producers. Believe me, those drafts were PAINFUL. But I did 'em anyway, cursing the readers and the producers (kept to myself, of course) every damn step of the way. Writing ain't easy and getting it Good to Go ain't quick, much though we always delude ourselves that it will be.

What matters here is, are you willing to do everything you can to improve your craft, to make your script as good as it can be? 17 drafts, guys. Steel yourself, accept and embrace the process and you will ascend.

Feedback forms will start going out on or around October 5th. Semifinalists (top 50) will be announced 10/10.

If you're at the Screenwriting Expo this weekend, please check out our seminars: Liberator: A Crowdfunding Success on how we (partially) used crowdfunding to make our film LIBERATOR, Sunday morning from 9 to 10:30; and Agent's Hot Sheet - Live! featuring me interviewing 5-7 top literary agents and managers on how the hell we can get their attention (Sunday 11 AM - 12:30 AM.) Stop by and introduce yourself.

Once again, thanks everyone for your hard work and patience as well as your committment to your craft. I'm pulling for every one of you.

Jim Cirile

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WRITERS ON THE STORM QUARTERFINALISTS 2011

33 Yarrows Way by Christopher Morrison
A Grand Life by Charlene Keeler
A Little Trouble in the Big Easy by Samuel C. Spitale
A Murder of Crows by Dorian Hess
A Series of Accidents by Adam Bloom
A Ship Through Fire by John Miller
A Simple Bridge by C.M. Robinson
A Thin Layer of Cheap Paint by M. Esther Sherman
Abomination by Ross Raffin
Am by C.N. Bean
Anatomy of a Town by Patricia Fox
ARK by Darryl Anka
Atom and Eve by Hank Isaac
Avenging Blood by John Collins
Balloons by Nikki Braendlin
Bioterror Conspiracy by Louis C. Lio, M.D.
Blesse (Wounded) by Bob Canning
Brainwave by Conor Ryan
Bring Me Back by Alexis Lane
Bush League by Steven Shank
Caprivi by Peter Dewhirst
Captive by John Burch
Chuck Hodges Conquers the Universe by David Ball
Citizen Soldier by William Schreiber
Closer Than Love by Morris Clark and Rhonda Ermel
Convergence Zone by Glenn Gebauer
Crusade by Kristen M. Mozaffari
Custody by Lisa Redlich
Dark Complex by Mike Donald
Dead By Thursday by Anthony DellaFlora
Dead Walker by Josh Flanagan
Death Wind by Travis Heermann
Deceit by Naomi Lamont
Delirium Amour by Kevin Silva
Dirty Business by Haik Hakobian
Dust Devil by Mark Bankins
Eidolon 88 by James Edwards
Entangoed by Cecelie Berry
Erin's Voice by Greg Sullivan
Fairy Godmother - The Quantum Leap by Lee Tidball
Faithful by Dennis Luu
False Sense by Craig Cambria
Finding Room by Johnny B. Dunn and Georgia K. Vinson
Flipping the Bird by Robert Hestand
Furious Angels by Nathan Ruegger
Getaway, Inc. by Andy Maycock
Golden Hour by Norman Wexler
Hair of the Dog by Karen Lawler
Halfway Home by David Schroeder
Happy Trails by Michael Rhodes
Hate Storm by Dale R. Botten
Haunted by Darryl Anka
Haven by Bryan "Byron Scot" Hilbert
Heart of the Family by Sharon Duncan
Heavy Water [2H2O] by CJ Percy
Hill of Souls by Jennifer Hahn
Hold the Reins by Tracee Beebe
Hollow by Jeffrey J. Wagner
Hoop by Dianne Dempsey
Hot Beef and Son by John Conley and Teddy Lane, Jr.
If You Die In Two Rivers by Mark Roach
Imprinted by Alison McMahan
Inked by Fernando Gaviria
Insatiable by Michael D. Morra
Invasive Species by Patricia Semler and J. Russell Prine
Just Being Jack by Judith Dunn
Khamseen: The Killer Wind by Allan Ashby
Lame: A Romance in Three Wheelchairs by James Kahn
Last Man on Earth by Brian Pracht
Love in the Time of Zombies by Devi Snively and Circus-Szalewski
Lulu by Samuel Bernstein
Male-Order Bride by Charles Mitri
Man from the Moon by Kyle Wilmott
Marlowe by Louise Ransil
Mend by David Chester
Messenger by Tim Tyler
Misfortune Cookie by Amanda Darling
Muffled Screams by David Kaneen
Murdered by Dennis Luu
Night Watch by David Taylor
Nothing But Besties by Matt Ryan
O Golden Boy by John Bain
Paige and Hadley's Prom From Hell by Devi Snively and Circus-Szalewski
Paladin by Jared Kennedy
Passing Through by Jennifer Ward
Passing Through by Robert G. Rhyne
Private Storage by Jared Kennedy
Prom Night Abductions by Curt Burdick and Scott Burdick
Rage by Mike Davidson
Redemption by Robert S. Horvath
Requited by Bill Johnston
Roachtown by Cillian Daly
Rock Daddy by Chad Pennington
Run by Dennis Luu
Second Glance by Sue Morris
Shed by Dennis Widmeyer and Kevin Kolsch
Shiftress by Jonathan Edward Young
Silence by John Edward Flynt
Sliding Into Home by Rich Sheehy
Snake Hill by Lizbeth Finn-Arnold and Sandra Longo
Some Other Gods by Jay Korn
Spoiled Rotten by Cynthia Sieber
Sporks by Richard Dane Scott
Spy Stuff by Kay Weibel
Student Council by Tony Cohen
Superawesome Superheroes by Noelle Stehman and Betsy Van Stone
Survived By... by Ruth Simerly
The Beekeeper by Sean J.S. Jourdan
The Beneath by T.J. Cimfel
The Book of Malachy by Colin Elves
The Boy on the Cover by Elizabeth Savage Sullivan
The Crossing Order by Dalisia Mendoza
The Dorchester Plan by Patricia Semler
The Hartford Senators by Rick Telesca
The Heckler by Jery B. Rowan
The Intake by Rich Sheehy
The Journey by Josh Flanagan
The Legend of Hohokam by Lizbeth Finn-Arnold and Sandra Longo
The Man Who Stops Time by Paul Sargia
The Nativity Knockoff by Jason Hellerman
The Needle's Eye by Kathryn S. Moller
The Northlander by David Humphrey
The Piper by Russ Meyer
The Plush Life by Bill Scollon
The Power of the Chasm by Elisabeth Loesch
The Project by Elizabeth Franklin
The Reality Principle by David Sartof
The Sharecropper by Andrew J. Crane
The Spider's Web by Valerie Nordstrom
The Steps by Sybil Raney
The Swords of Nishimura by Gordon Milburn
The Ticking Jury by Mike Donald
The Touch by Naomi Lamont
The Wall by Jon Bachmann and Katherine Griffin
The Warriors of Westgate by Michael R. Harriel
The White Death by James Poirier
The Wind At Spanish Needle by Simon Nagel
Third by Sean McKee
Thirty By 30 by Scotty J. Pierce and Tom W. Metz III
Tick, Tick, BOOM by Don Perez
Triumph by John Winn Miller
Web of Deception by Elizabeth Franklin
Wright or Wrong by Glenn Sanders and Brooks Elms
Zombie Lesbian Sluts by Lesley Schroeder

Writers on the Storm QFs Weds night (hopefully)

2011-09-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

Much scrambling to get these ready, folks! We're shooting to post them before midnight tonight (Weds 9/14) if possible. Might have to be the morning, but we'll see. Hang tight!

Jim C.

Double Dose of Magazine Madness!

2011-08-27T00:41:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, my new 10th Anniversary Agent's Hot Sheet column Then and Now is now out in the latest issue of Creative Screenwriting magazine. It's frickin' hard to believe I have been writing this column for a decade. That's an awful lot of 45-minute phone interviews I've transcribed... sigh. Seriously, though, writing that column is the best gig in the world. Every time I call these guys up it's a Master's course in screenwriting education. The best part is passing all that info along to you guys. That may sound corny, but I always write it from the perspective of, give me something i can use to actually further my career. Since I have been there myself, I kinda know what I'd want to read as a writer trying to break in and get these guys' attention and navigate the mine fields of the biz.

This particular column looks back on the way things were a decade ago versus the way they are now. Quite a few changes in the last ten years -- some good, some bad. In a nutshell, while there are way fewer buyers now, development money and studio deals, new media and foreign companies have stepped up to offer new opportunities and change the playing field. Read all about it only in the new edition of Creative Screenwriting!

Not to be outdone, my latest article for Script magazine has also just streeted -- MYOM -- Make Your Own Movie. This feature article interviews five folks just like you and me who got fed up with the system and shot their own movies on the cheap. The article shows how they did it (and how you can, too.) We also talk about the pros and cons of the major crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter et al.

It's a pleasure writing these articles and bringing empowerment to us all. Thanks for reading and for being a part of the Coverage Ink, family! Now stop slacking off reading this blog and get back to writing ;)

Jim Cirile

Coverage Ink/Writers on the Storm/Cyberspace Open Newsletter

2011-08-19T11:50:00.001-07:00

August 2011

FINAL DEADLINE edition!

1) JC's Intro Blather
2) Shorties
3) Jim's Screenwriting Tip o' the Month
4) Barri Evins - Big Ideas Interview
5) Mo' Money, Mo' Problems
6) Lettuce

+++

I've been on a tear lately. I'm so stoked about the fact that we got LIBERATOR in the can for about the price of a nice new car that I have become a passionate advocate of DIY. I just wrote an article for Script magazine on crowdfunding (sites like Kickstarter, IndieGoGo and Invested.in which allow you to fund-raise online) and did a 90-minute teleseminar last week with Million Dollar Screenwriting's Chris Soth (which you can listen to right here,) one of the themes of which was that you CAN take back the power and make your own movie.

Here's the thing. As screenwriters, we are all taught that once we finish the script, we are powerless. We must depend on others -- agents, managers, producers, etc. -- to champion or produce our scripts. Well, f*** that! Time to take back the power, brothers and sisters. Our day has come. Advances in tech have made it possible to shoot a great-looking movie on your iPhone, for crying out loud. Anyone can edit using free software that comes with your computer. So why are we sitting around whining about not being able to find an agent? Who the hell needs them -- or studios, for that matter, anymore? Okay, so maybe you can't afford Brangelina or Industrial Light and Cheesy Overdone Computer Graphics. But you can sure as hell afford that great gal you saw in the Pippin revival last month and your neighbor's son who's studying VFX at Lower Botswana Community College. And hell, we were able to get four actors who starred in hit television shows for LIBERATOR -- Lou Ferrigno (The Incredible Hulk,) Peta Wilson (La Femme Nikita,) Michael Dorn (Star Trek: The Next Generation) and the legendary Ed Freakin' Asner (Up) for our movie. Okay, yes we had to dig a bit deep to get these guys, but not as deeply as you might think, because the script lured them all in. And while having a small cast and minimal locations definitely helps keep costs down, we were able to shoot at a real-life studio downtown with standing sets for 6 days for under $5 grand, and we got a green screen stage at a local high school for free. As a result, our movie looks like a million bucks.

Jessica Jade Andres in LIBERATOR

So check out the footage from LIBERATOR online and then ask yourself, hell, can I really do this? Can I really just... make my movie? Unless it's loaded down with effects (hell, LIBERATOR has 19 effects shots, including some really off-the-hook stuff... all done on the cheap) the answer is likely YES. If you're intimidated by the process, then find someone to help you! They're called "producers," and you can locate them via free ads on craigslist or mandy.com. They may do it for a low flat rate or even free if they really cotton to your script. Best of all, producers often know people like DPs, gaffers, griptricians and best boys, all those scary terms that we have no clue what they are but have some vague idea that they do something technical on a movie, often on ladders with duct tape. But you need not worry about any of that -- leave that to your new producer while you concentrate on bulletproofing your script and finding ways to shoot things more affordably than the way you originally wrote them. It's fun, it's exciting, but more importantly, it's empowering. At the end of the process, you will have an actual movie in hand that you can take on the festival circuit and try to get distribution for (hint: if it's good and a marketable genre, you have a way better chance in this regard.) You will be a Produced Writer. Because you seized the reins and willed your movie into existence.

So, ready to take back the power yet?

+++

As always, way too much going on right now. We've got the final final final deadline of Writers on the Storm midnight Sunday 8/21 (or 12:01 AM Monday Morning) plus an amazing two-for-one team-up with the We Shoot the Winner contest. We've got the last WOTS raffle winners. We've got an interview with screenwriting guru Barri Evins, who is coming to a city near you with her her kick-ass Big Ideas seminar. And as always, we've got news, tips, and attitude in what will hopefully be a great excuse for you to procrastinate from actual writing that you won't feel too guilty about, because reading this is kinda sorta writing-related.

Onward and downward!

Jim Cirile
www.coverageink.com
writerstorm.com

Like us on Facebook!

+++

2)

We Shoot the Winner's Chris Soth

WE SHOOT THE WINNER/WRITERS ON THE STORM SUPER TEAM-UP! Wow, this reminds me of the great comic book team-ups I loved as a kid. You heard We Shoot the Winner's Chris Soth and Writers on the Storm's Jim Cirile on their teleseminar "The Five Myths of Screenwriting Contests," right? (Click here for the podcast.) Well, until midnight 8/21 EST, if you enter We Shoot the Winner, you will also be entered into Writers on the Storm at no additional charge!

And why do we like We Shoot the Winner? Because they are the ONLY contest that offers this prize: they will produce the winning script. See, this ties right back into the DIY theme in Jim's opening letter. Of course, the entry fee is higher than a regular contest, but the trade-off is you have MUCH less competition. Their regular entry fee is $297, but they're also discounting that $50 just for CI Newsletter readers. So for $247 you get both WSTW and WOTS, and that, folks, is what we call a deal. Click HERE to enter We Shoot the Winner and get your complimentary entry into Writers on the Storm -- with a $10K grand prize and 150 participating companies. Bang-zoom double-whammo! Hurry -- ends midnight 8/21.

But hey, if you cannot afford to enter both contests, then enter Writers on the Storm now at Without a Box. Final deadline remains midnight 8/21. There will be no more extensions.

WRITERS ON THE STORM QUARTERFINALISTS (SO FAR.) Wait. the contest hasn't even ended -- so how can we have quarterfinalists already? 'Cause anyone who submitted their script to Coverage Ink for analysis before 7/31 was automatically entered in Writers on the Storm for free. Those who scored 'consider with reservations' or better for script became automatic quarterfinalists. We thought this would be roughly the top 10% but actually it was more like top 7%. Yeah, our readers are a tough crowd! Obviously, we show no favoritism to Coverage Ink submissions versus regular contest entries.

So, a shout out to our current Writers on the Storm 2011 quarterfinalists to date:

Getaway, Inc by Andy Maycock
Sliding Into Home by Rich Sheehy
Khamseen by AJ Ashby
Flipping the Bird by Robert Hestand
Just Being Jack by Judith Dunn
O Golden Boy by John Bain
Requited by Bill Johnston
Hollow by Jeffrey Wagner
Spoiled Rotten by Cynthia Sieber
Entangoed by Cecelie Berry
Snake Hill by Lizbeth Finn-Arnold & Sandra Longo
Reality Principle by David Sartof
Misfortune Cookie by Amanda Darling
Golden Hour by Norman Wexler
Needle's Eye by Kathryn S. Moller
Avenging Blood by John Collins
Triumph by John Winn Miller

And the CI MOST IMPROVED Award goes to Cecelie Berry, who has worked tirelessly on Entangoed, submitting draft after draft and really digging in every single time. It's one thing to make a tweak or two and call it a draft, but it's another thing entirely to really roll up your sleeves and get down in the muck and work on the plumbing. The most recent draft scored Consider/Consider and prompted CI Senior Analyst AP to comment, "It’s refreshing to read a thriller with as much rich character work as ENTANGOED features. The roles are juicy and detailed and are really the heart of this story." Way to go, Cecelie!

But that doesn't mean she's won it, folks. Far from it! The field is still wide open. So, everyone, remember you have until midnight 8/21 to resubmit a polish draft to the contest (if you so desire) at our Without a Box page. BRING IT.

AGENT'S HOT SHEET - LIVE! COMING TO SCREENWRITING EXPO. If you read Jim's column in Creative Screenwriting, you know that every issue he interviews some of the top agents and managers around and delivers the skinny on what's going on in the biz as it pertains to writers. Join us as we assemble an all-star panel of motion picture lit representatives and grill them on how the hell any of can ever get their attention. Sunday 9/18 at 11 AM. Register online at screenwritingexpo.com.

WOTS RAFFLE WINNERS. We've been giving away two free contest entries into Writers on the Storm every month since launch. So congrats to our final two winners: Cole Stennis and Emily Shostak. We've already contacted them both with instructions on how to submit their scripts. Nice going, you two! That's it for the freebies for now, but next month we will have a killer Fall Spec Season coverage SALE.

INKTIP PITCH and NETWORKING SUMMIT NON-REVIEW. Mea culpa time. The good folks at InkTip.com invited us to their pitching event back in July. They were proud that they'd made many improvements since last year's event and were eager to get us back, since we'd previously reviewed the first Pitch Summit for Script magazine back in January. They even asked us if we could helped them set up, which we of course said we'd be happy to do, especially since they were offering us a table. So we rolled into the Burbank Marriott that Saturday at 5PM... and found them packing up. The event was over. What the hell? Yeah, see we kind of assumed their 2-day event was Saturday and Sunday, with the classes on Saturday and the pitching on Sunday, rather like Great American Pitchfest. Well, you know what they say about when you assume. Turns out the classes were on Friday and the pitching was... yeah, you guessed it. So we totally blew it. Sorry, InkTip! So if any of you guys attended the event and want to let us know your thoughts, go ahead and comment here at the end of the newsletter or else email us at coverageink@gmail.com. Now on to Golden Pitch at the Expo, which we're pretty sure starts at 2 AM on a Tuesday night...

WRITER BOMBS IN ATTEMPT TO GET SCRIPT READ. Don't do this! (Beverly Hills) A writer desperate to get a movie script read suffered the ultimate rejection Thursday when police blew up a briefcase he said contained the screenplay after an agent refused to read it, police said. The bizarre story was set in Beverly Hills, where a man visited the office of a literary agent and left behind a briefcase that he said contained a computer, police Sgt. Brad Cornelius said. The man left instructions for it to be delivered to someone at the business, who told another person in the office, "This guy's been kind of pestering me to read his stuff," and said he neither asked for nor wanted the briefcase, Cornelius said. A security guard took the case into an alley, and a bomb squad was sent to investigate. Officials sealed off one square block and evacuated dozens of people from businesses on nearby Rodeo Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard before blowing open the briefcase, which contained no explosives. Police detained the man suspected of leaving the briefcase and were questioning him, Cornelius said. His name and other details were not immediately released. (AP)

DIY IN ACTION. Ted Leib was one of the Genre Prize winners (horror/thriller) in this year's Cyberspace Open. Though his scene "Square One" did not advance to the top three to get filmed, he did what we've been advising all of you guys to do -- he went out and shot his damn scene anyway (hey, do we detect a theme building here?) Ted sent us the link with this note: "I shot the genre prize winner with a teacher and student I work with at the Orange County High School of the Arts. I think it came out nicely. Would you have any interest in putting a link to it in your newsletter?" Why, yes we would, Ted, and nice job! Check out Ted's scene on You Tube right here.

MEET THE NEW SUPES. As Superman purists, we here at CI were excited when this first pic of Henry Cavill as Superman in Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" was released last week. Here was a big step forward from the lame costume from "Superman Returns." The "S" shield is classically styled, a good size and appropriately close to the clavicle, and the cape looks exactly like the comics, not like a dark red rubber... thing. The boots are the correct shape and design as well. And while Cavill was missing the spit-curl, well, he still looks good. But then we saw the CLOSE-UP.

Um... so is this Superman, or Aquaman? Because his costume seems to have taken on some sort of rubbery scales. Perhaps in the reboot, Superman comes from Atlantis and rides a seahorse? Hmm. Well, this is the trend in superhero designs lately -- unnecessary texture. The costume for the Spider-Man reboot seems to have been designed by Spalding. Seriously, the bloody thing looks like it's made out of basketballs. In related news, Sony just realized that their new Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield, is 27, so they've fired him from the sequel and will reboot the series again next year with yet another origin story starring the kid who plays Brick on "The Middle."

CYBERSPACE OPEN 2011 WINNERS! ER... NOT YET. Crap. Well, we'd hoped to bring you the winners of the Cyberspace Open, but as of press time, Creative Screenwriting was not ready to announce them. Voting closed July 31, but you can still watch the final three scenes (written by Michael Hedrick, Elisa Graybill and William Shank) right here. CS tells us they should be announcing the winners shortly, so sit tight, folks...

WAY TO GO, RICK! Big hat-tip to our pal Rick Jaffa, who with his writing partner Amanda Silver created "Caesar," which later became this summer's best Hollywood movie, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes." I first spoke to Rick for my article skewering the incredibly faulty WGA arbitration process for Script magazine last year. At that time, he told me a little bit about "Caesar" off the record, and expressed his hope that the movie was going to come out well, since everything seemed to be rolling along smoothly. As a big fan of the Apes series, it is awesome to see a fellow fan do the franchise justice, especially after the latest abortive attempt by a certain director with the initials TB. Hail Caesar!

+++

3)

WHO is your movie about? Use the first ten pages of your screenplay to SHOW us. It's called "establishing your protagonist in his/her known world."

After the "hook," which is a visual scene that sets the tone for movie (pages 1-3,) spend the next 7 pages leading up to the catalyst, AKA the inciting incident, showing your protagonist in their day to day life.

Many writers make the mistake of launching the story right away. While some movies have done this effectively, more often than not this approach means you have to find other, clunkier ways, to inform us as to who the protagonist is -- such as flashbacks, voice-over and (ugh) expository dialogue like this:

                        GUNTER 

     Say, Bill, remember when you foiled that cheese 

     factory robbery last year? Because you're a police 

     officer? And you fell in that vat of Velveeta? But
     that's okay because I know you like spray cheese
     and also zydeco music and you collect belly button
     lint, right?

So don't be afraid to use those pages to depict character. Make your lead(s) as dimensional and fascinating as you can. Show us their world, their friends, family. Go home with them and show us (don't TELL us) how they live. And THEN launch into the story and screw everything up for them. Go fer it!

+++

4) BARRI BRINGS THE BIG, BIG IDEAS

By Jim Cirile

We met former development exec and President of Debra Hill Productions Barri Evins at Great American Pitchfest in June, and we found her immediately impressive. A lovely and charming woman who comes from the bigs (and quite clearly knows her stuff,) she is a ball of energy and positivism. In addition, she works tirelessly on charitable causes, not the least of which is the amazing First Book, which has donated over 80 million books to needy children. Whoa!

Barri's coming to Boston September 30th with her Big Ideas Weekend Intensive Seminar, so we thought we'd let her tell you guys all about it.

Jim Cirile: Hi, Barri! Tell us a little bit about the ventures that you are into and what you're all about.

Barri Evins: I am a working film producer working on some fantastic projects, and in addition I am a screenwriting teacher. My whole goal is to help new writers by giving them the same sure-fire techniques that I use with professional writers.

JC: Okay, before we go into that, tell us a little more about the producing side. Are you actively developing projects now?

BE: My focus right now is on developing my own projects. I have a passion project, a true story called Stetson Kennedy with Tobey Maguire attached to produce and star in it, and it has Academy Award nominated screenwriters Mark Fergus and Hawk Otsby, who wrote Children of Men and Iron Man are attached to write the script. That is my passion project, my big, big boulder that I am pushing uphill. It's a character-driven dramatic thriller in the vein of Donnie Brascoe meets No Way Out. It's the story of a man who grew up in a rich, white Southern family. He was very idealistic, and when (World War II) came along, everyone signed up. But he was 4F -- he couldn't enroll. He decided he needed to do something important. So he moved to Atlanta, Georgia, pretended to be a racist and proceeded to infiltrate and expose the Klan from the inside out.

JC: Wow, that is a killer story. I would imagine your experiences in the trenches have informed your approach to teaching?

BE: Absolutely. In my work with Mark and Hawk, they talk about how professional writers never get writer's block. The very same techniques that we used to develop a very imporant pitch to lots of very important people are the same techniques I share with writers who I meet with. We also had to take a true story and craft it quickly and efficiently into a really compelling theatrical story that would sell. We had to do it expeditiously, because these writers make a great deal of money. This is how it works in the real world. A lot of aspiring writers get caught up in what a lot of really smart screenwriting gurus have to say, but each of them talks their own talk and have invented their own vocabulary. That's why we break it down and show people that all of these brilliant guys from Aristotle on are saying the same thing about story. We talk in the same language that you hear in Hollywood industry meetings, which is about the five big beats and how to think that way and how to structure the script coming out of that -- as well as how to create strong stories and especially on how to focus on the very truth of the idea -- everything begins with the concept. It's a really organic way of looking at it.

JC: Give us the heads-up about your seminar.

BE: It's an intimate, interactive weekend intensive. It's limited to ten writers. It takes you from what to write -- which is the single most important decison a writer will ever make -- to ready to write, over the course of a weekend. We talk about targeting contests, we talk about screenwriting superpowers. We'll learn how to pitch and use it as a fast-track to developing stories. We screen a film and completely demystify its structure, and I give writers tools that enable them to craft stories just like I was talking about with the Academy Award-nominated writers, so that in the end writers have the ability to spend a lot less time rewriting. I craft a very individualized experience for each writer, and to ensure that they make great strides after the seminar, they have my mentorship for a year.

JC: Wow. So what does that entail?

BE: E-mail and phone calls. People send me their one-pagers. They get feedback. Then I really prefer to have phone conversations, so that we can have an interaction. The part of my job that I love is the interaction with writers and development.

JC: Suppose someone comes in with a screenplay they want to workshop?

BE: This seminar is geared towards brand-new ideas. People are welcome to contact me for a script consult, and I'm really renowned as being the pitch doctor. But this is geared towards developing new ideas based on your terms, your passion, as well as an understanding of the marketplace.

JC: This is a two-day event?

BE: It is two days and two nights. When I say intensive, I mean intensive. We actually bring in all the food and drink. It's like a casino -- we don't let you leave. We create an intimate atmosphere, and it's Friday night, all day Saturday; there's a screening on Saturday night, and then we go all day Sunday, and they have to (participate in) my very unique idea-generating game. I dig deep, and our work on the seminar actually begins in advance with different exercises designed specifically to help me give everybody a truly transformational event.

JC: Fantastic. So how can people get in on this? You're coming to Boston next, yes?

BE: Yes. I go all around the country. I've taught in Richmond, Virginia, Chicago, San Francisco and Cleveland, and the next seminar is September 30 to October 2nd in Boston. That seminar is half full already. So anyone who wants to attend, contact me at signup@bigbigideas.com. There's a discount to the organizer of writing groups and nonprofits (contact Barri for details.) And since I am a mentor for Cinestory, there is also a Cinestory discount, which is part discount and part donation to Cinestory. If you say "WOTS" when you sign up, you'll get a 10% discount.

JC: Excellent, thanks for that -- WOTS for Writers on the Storm of course. I want to also mention your nonprofit pursuits. I love what you're doing with First Book, and I understand even the seminar has a "giving back" philosophy beyond simply teaching.

BE: Absolutely, and thank you. I try to enhance every community that I visit, so I most often, if I can, pair a seminar with a free screening for the public or a local writing nonprofit. It really is a great way of giving back, and I often partner with a film commission and/or a local university.

JC: Thanks so much for your time, Barri. Any closing thoughts?

BE: You can got to my web page or my Facebook page or my YouTube page and see terrific success stories. One of my greatest success stories ever what a concept that was developed into a treatment, which then sold for six figures in four hours to Warner Bros. This method works. My writers are moving on. They're optioning books, they're making progress in coming up with stronger, more commercial ideas that they still feel extremely passionate about. That's why we begin with all these advanced assignments, so that I can help writers target their passion and their strengths.

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5) MO’ MONEY, MO’ PROBLEMS

Every up and coming writer dreams of breaking in. But what then? Here’s how to keep from going broke as a successful writer.

Reprinted courtesy of Script magazine

By Jim Cirile

Ah, the life of the Hollywood screenwriter – fame! Fortune! Okay, not so much fame. But still – fortune! Right? Heck, your spec script could sell for a million dollars. Unlikely, but it could happen. You could become a production polish guru netting $250,000/week. Unlikely, but it could happen. Or you could sell your script for WGA scale plus 10%, then melt down into a neurotic mess for the next ten months until the next check, any check, finally comes in.

Likely, but it could happen.

Welcome to the scintillating world of Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems (with apologies to Notorious BIG.) We’re serving up the good, the bad and the ugly of how the whole money thing works for successful writers. We’re not even going to talk about being an up and comer, since as we all know, your writing income during that time is called “day job.” There’s no shame in that, and in fact it’s part of the deal, so suck it up -- and I said extra whipped cream in my Java Chip Frappucino, thanks. But once you finally do claw, scratch and furrow through the reinforced battlements surrounding Hollywood, it’s a good idea to have a clue what to expect.

THE PEOPLE WHO TAKE YOUR MONEY

Let’s say you sell your spec script for a cool $100,000. Nice, right? But how much of that do you actually pocket? The answer is $425.32. Okay, okay – kidding. But not as much as you may think. Tere are a lot of people with their hand out – agent, manager, attorney, WGA. And don’t forget least everyone’s favorite uncle (Sam) who desperately needs your money to keep blowing people up around the world. Here’s the breakdown:

Poof. Your six-figure payday is now the average salary of a llama groomer or a junior high janitor. The picture is exponentially worse if you have a writing partner. Each of you would net $22,601.25. And let’s not even discuss the 10% sales tax on anything you buy in Los Angeles. Oh, did I mention the $2,500 WGA West initiation fee (mandatory with any deal with a signatory)?

Uh... okay, that pretty much sucks. I know what you’re thinking – who needs all those hangers-on? Well, you do.

AGENT – It’s possible to get a deal without an agent, to be sure. They generally do next to nothing until you’re already established anyway, and then after you’ve done all the heavy lifting yourself, then they come aboard. You may be able to roll with just a manager and an attorney, especially if your manager is a former agent and has solid connex in town. But managers cannot legally negotiate for you, whereas agents can (or a manager/attorney combination could save you big bucks.) But when you’re starting out, the more people you have on your team, the better. Agents come with relationships, and those can be key not only to launching your career, but also introducing you to the town.

MANAGER – You don’t necessarily need both an agent and a manager. But what’s also true is that generally speaking, agents won’t give you the time of day, whereas managers will take your calls and help you develop your script until it’s good enough to land the agent who will then likely ignore you in the first place. If by some miracle you score an agent without a manager’s assistance, you’re either extremely lucky or your college roommate just happens to work at WME. But even in this scenario, you’re likely destined to be just a name on an 80-person list the agent can’t really bother with. Managers exist to provide that handholding and development most of us actually need but don’t think we do, to get us ready for prime-time as well as eventually get us the agent. So yeah, you don’t need to shell out that extra ten percent. Except you kind of do.

ATTORNEY – Five percent for an attorney? Trust me, that’s a deal. What can an attorney do for you that an agent can’t? A lot. They can build in bonuses and protections into your deal that agents sometimes miss or can’t be bothered with. If you get a piece of the merchandising of your film as well as box office performance bonuses, it’s because your attorney went to the mat for those. He is your “bad cop.” You certainly don’t want to be a d-y-c-k to the company who bought your project, and your agent may not want to ruffle too many feathers there either. But lawyers have no compunctions about ripping into the rapacious studio business affairs guys (whose job it is to screw you and delay payment in every possible way.) They act as your pit bull. You can certainly do a deal without an attorney, but you’ll likely get bent over most majestically.

So what's a working writer to do? Make as much money as possible while you can, obviously. The better the work you do, the more you’ll make. And if your quote is $250K and you’re getting two of three gigs a year, heck, even with everyone’s hand in your pocket, you’ll make out pretty well. So now the main thing is to try not to sabotage yourself, and to learn to financially cover your ass.

SUSTAINABILITY

Many of us are assume that once we’re in, we’re golden. Er, not so much. ICM agent Emile Gladstone says the average life of a screenwriter in the biz is about five years. There are factors both within and out of your control that conspire to railroad your career. First up: ego. Think you can keep your mouth shut when idiot producers make you rewrite your draft (uncompensated) for the 26th time? Can you suck it up and say, “Thank you, sir, may I have another?” Because it is exactly that ability that defines the successful writer with a long career. Seems obvious, right? But when you are in the thick of it and can’t take it anymore, you will rationalize a teeny little outburst. And in one fell swoop you could kill your career – no one wants to work with anyone perceived to be “difficult.”

And beware the trap so many writers fall into – not writing. We harangue our reps to keep shopping material the entire town has already passed on. Many a career has been killed by writers simply failing to write.

Worst of all: heat. One day you are hot; the next, brrrr. And it can happen in no time flat. Maybe a movie you wrote comes out and tanks. Maybe the town simply gets bored with you. Or maybe you’ve worked on a couple of assignments but the execs didn’t love the results. Everyone talks, and word will spread, and before long, poof, the heat is off. And when you are cold, brother, you are Godzilla-frozen-in-a-glacier cold.

Sooner or later, the gravy train will derail. You need to have a strategy for how to handle that.

DIVERSIFICATION

Okay, you’ve banked a couple hundred grand and are working steadily. What you need to do now is grab the snazziest suite in the Bellagio to celebrate your success and cruise in there in your smokin’ new Bentley Arnage. Buy an expensive house in Pacific Palisades with a heated pool and hire a staff. Take your pals to expensive dinners... in France. Oh, my God, did any of you believe any of that? Surest way to disaster. Many a writer has done exactly these things, only to wind up a one-bedroom in Van Nuys in short order.

So: diversify. Sure, we’re talking saving and investing, but that’s just part of it. Sock money away in the best interest-rate accounts you can find. Invest, but beware the volatile market – many of us lost good chunks of our life savings in the past few years. But also think about developing secondary and tertiary revenue streams. In other words, develop ways to make money immune to the vicissitudes of the movie business.

Maybe there’s an investment property you can buy – land, or perhaps an apartment building where the rents cover the mortgage every month and you make a little profit on top. Maybe you’re a closet cake boss. You could open a bakery and hire a manager to run it for you. Perhaps you can partner in your cousin Aloysius’s start-up electric dog polishing service. Because when your writing career gets cold, it’s nice to know Barky’s Wash & Wax will cover your rent! We all have interests other than writing – baseball, renaissance faires, study of ancient Latvian dentistry manuals. Find a way to monetize it. Putting all your eggs in the screenwriting basket is the surest way to eventually crush a marriage and land you in therapy (which you will not be able to afford.) Please consult with a trusted investment professional before investing in anything. We at Script magazine are not financial advisors and are not making specific recommendations.

IF ALL ELSE FAILS

So now you’ve seen that despite your best efforts, despite years of dedication to the craft, your exciting new career may end sooner than you thought. What to do when that happens? Go to ground and plot your comeback. Take the time. Maybe it’s six months. Maybe it’s two years. Your next salvo is going to be incredibly important. It could reinvigorate – or permanently sink – your career. And then, when you are absolutely certain that new piece of material is tight enough to bounce quarters off of, then contact your remaining industry pals and casually ask them if they’ll check out your new spec. The great thing about being a writer is that a sizzlin’ new spec can re-energize even the iciest career.

And remember, there are plenty of ways to be a writer. Consider TV, novels, childrens’ entertainment, plays, etc. Bang out a 5-page comedy sketch and put it up on YouTube or Funny or Die. Something you could generate in a weekend could wind up going viral. Same principle – shoot a short and take it on the festival circuit. Win a couple awards and suddenly it’s a whole new ballgame. Travel magazines are always looking for writers and pay damn well. Dash off some articles and submit ‘em. Write about that expensive dinner you flew your buddies to in France. And hey, there is no shame in falling back on that barista gig.

The good news is it has never been easier to jump-start a flagging career if you’re smart about it. Just make sure you’re realistic about what to expect from the movie business, and remember: downtown Culver City does need a pizza joint.

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6)

Yep, we stole the name of our letters column from "Cracked."

Dave writes: Hi Jim, thank you very much for sending me your Spec Format and Style Guide. I've just been reading through it and the layout is very clear, and you explain issues with spec script writing that isn't covered in The Screenwriter's Bible -- well, certainly not the version 4.0 copy I have, maybe in version 5.0, don't know. However, your e-book is certainly much easier to use and apply for my writing than having to refer to a large book like The Screenwriter's Bible every time I just want to check on the correct formatting to use. Your e-book and the information it contains is literally at my fingertips. Thank you for taking the time to produce such an amazing source of information for us screenwriters.

Jim C. replies: Thanks, Dave! yeah, we've been thinking of raising the price. you know, $3.95 is really dirt-cheap, and I put a lot of hours into writing that thing. How much does the Screenwriter's Bible go for? Whoa, seriously? No way can we charge that much. Eh, well forget that. $3.95 it stays!

Marcy writes: I am so frustrated with Final Draft. Why do they have to make it so hard to find the title page? Why isn't the thing simply the first page on your screenplay, and then you fill it out and continue? Why is it a separate document? How do they expect people to find it? And then when you do find it, don't make the mistake of 'saving' it! Oh no, because that gives saves your title page separately from the rest of the script. The only way to get it to save onto the rest of the script is by X'ing out of the title page, and then you save the script, and then then when you make a PDF there it is. I mean, does this make sense to anyone?

Jim C. replies: Yeah, I wrote about this in our Spec Format and Style Guide. Not sure if this problem persists in version 8, but it is pretty annoying, and probably 25% of Coverage Ink clients send in their scripts with no title page because they can't figure it out. Sigh.

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Thanks for reading! Questions? Comments? Shoot us an e-mail at info@coverageink.com.

You have received this mail because you are either a Coverage, Ink client, a Writers on the Storm contestant or you have participated in the Cyberspace Open Writing Tournament. We do not wish to spam anybody! And we will never sell your name to a list.

If you have received this e-mail in error, or do not wish to receive e-mails from us, please REPLY to this mail and enter DELETE in the subject line -- and we’ll make sure you’re removed immediately.

All content is copyright 2011 by Coverage, Ink.

Shorties 8-11

2011-08-19T11:50:00.000-07:00

We Shoot the Winner's Chris Soth

Getaway, Inc by Andy Maycock
Sliding Into Home by Rich Sheehy
Khamseen by AJ Ashby
Flipping the Bird by Robert Hestand
Just Being Jack by Judith Dunn
O Golden Boy by John Bain
Requited by Bill Johnston
Hollow by Jeffrey Wagner
Spoiled Rotten by Cynthia Sieber
Entangoed by Cecelie Berry
Snake Hill by Lizbeth Finn-Arnold & Sandra Longo
Reality Principle by David Sartof
Misfortune Cookie by Amanda Darling
Golden Hour by Norman Wexler
Needle's Eye by Kathryn S. Moller
Avenging Blood by John Collins
Triumph by John Winn Miller

And the CI MOST IMPROVED Award goes to Cecelie Berry, who has worked tirelessly on Entangoed, submitting draft after draft and really digging in every single time. It's one think to make a tweak or two and call it a draft, but it's another thing entirely to really roll up your sleeves and get down in the muck and work on the plumbing. The most recent draft scored Consider/Consider and prompted CI Senior Analyst AP to comment, "It’s refreshing to read a thriller with as much rich character work as ENTANGOED features. The roles are juicy and detailed and are really the heart of this story." Way to go, Cecelie!

But that doesn't mean she's won it, folks. Far from it! The field is still wide open. So, everyone, remember you have until midnight 8/21 to resubmit a polish draft to the contest (if you so desire) at our Without a Box page. BRING IT.

Jim's Screenwriting Tip o' the Month

2011-08-19T11:47:00.001-07:00

                        GUNTER 

     Say, Bill, remember when you foiled that cheese 

     factory robbery last year? Because you're a police 

     officer? And you fell in that vat of Velveeta? But
     that's okay because I know you like spray cheese
     and also zydeco music and you collect belly button
     lint, right?

BARRI BRINGS THE BIG, BIG IDEAS

2011-08-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

By Jim Cirile

We met former development exec and President of Debra Hill Productions Barri Evins at Great American Pitchfest in June, and we found her immediately impressive. A lovely and charming woman who comes from the bigs (and quite clearly knows her stuff,) she is a ball of energy and positivism. In addition, she works tirelessly on charitable causes, not the least of which is the amazing First Book, which has donated over 80 million books to needy children. Whoa!

Barri's coming to Boston September 30th with her Big Ideas Weekend Intensive Seminar, so we thought we'd let her tell you guys all about it.

MO’ MONEY, MO’ PROBLEMS

2011-08-19T11:41:00.001-07:00

Every up and coming writer dreams of breaking in. But what then? Here’s how to keep from going broke as a successful writer.

Reprinted courtesy of Script magazine

THE FIVE MYTHS OF SCREENWRITING CONTESTS!

2011-08-11T00:04:00.000-07:00

Now: listen to the podcast right here:

http://www.jeffreyborrowdale.com/audio/5_Myths_of_Contests_2011-08-11.mp3

++++

Hi folks, want to know the skinny on screenplay contests?
Want to know which ones are the real deal?
Want to know which ones (if any) the industry pays attention to?
Want to know how to cut through the hordes and break into the top ten?

Well, check out our free conference call: THE FIVE MYTHS OF SCREENWRITING CONTESTS.

Join Coverage Ink and Writers on the Storm's Jim Cirile and Million Dollar Screenwriting and We Shoot the Winner's Chris Soth in a rollicking 1-hr free conference call, followed by a half-hour Q&A. Tips, wisdom and no-BS will be dispensed! Get the inside scoop on how contests are really run and whether or not any of them are really worth the money. Free gifts will be dispersed!

This is a completely free call, so register now at http://www.chrissoth.com. Then strap in for a fun and fast-paced ride with two industry vets, teaming up for the first time! Hurry - the call is coming up TODAY at 5:30 PM. Sign up now. Looking forward to sharing our knowledge and perspective with all of you.

Jim C.

Without a Box blast correction

2011-08-10T23:48:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, just a clarification/correction: in our blast that went out from Without a Box last week regarding Writers on the Storm contest (which is extended to 8/21 via Without a Box ONLY,) it appeared that manager Jeffrey Belkin was affliated with Save the Cat! This was because a comma was somehow omitted in our list of participating judges and sponsoring companies. Just to be clear, Jeffrey Belkin is an awesome guy and a great manager but has no affiliation with the fine folks at Save the Cat! We regret the error.

And to be still clearer, you CAN still enter Writers on the Storm - until 8/21 and that is IT, folks -- but only via Without a Box. You can no longer enter through writerstorm.com or coverageink.com.

Jim C.

HELP LIBERATOR! Deadline Wednesday 1PM!

2011-08-09T01:30:00.000-07:00

For a very short time the past couple days, we here at Liberator Central were ecstatic. We were contacted by a donor who said he was going to step up with a $10,000 donation on our Kickstarter page. That person said he was stoked for the movie, excited to put us over the top and that he was going to make the pledge Friday. We were all giddy, of course, and I was all set to announce it, and then... (crickets chirp.)

Well, we haven't heard anything since then. No reply to our mails. Radio silence. Um... hello? If you're out there, oh most munificent one, well, we still love you, and we could really really use you! The clock, quite literally, is ticking. Now we know 10 grand is a lot of dough, so maybe you need time. Maybe this will still come through. But right now we kind of have a knot in our collective stomach the size of Lou Ferrigno's fist. We have to assume that this donor for whatever reason was not able to make good.

Lou Ferrigno, Tara Cardinal and Don 'The Dragon' Wilson

Gulp.

Two days to go, and we need over 8 grand.

Not sure what to say right now. To go from the highs of making this badass indie superhero movie with this amazing cast, to the lows of feeling like, well, the rug's been pulled out from under us... well, it's not a lot of fun.

Needless to say, if there's anything any of you can do -- retweet this message, Facebook it -- any way you can help us spread the word, heck, we might still make this goal. You can repost this awesomely cool article the kind folks at ScienceFiction.com wrote about us: http://sciencefiction.com/2011/08/06/liberator-a-dark-superhero-adventure-help-it-become-a-reality/. LIBERATOR already has thousands of fans on Twitter, Facebook and our web pages. We know there are Star Trek fans out there who would be psyched to see Mr. Worf back in action; La Femme Nikita fans excited to see the stunningly beautiful Peta Wilson return to the silver screen, and of course legions of Lou Ferrigno fans the world over. And seriously, Ed Asner as the President. Need I say more?

Jessica Jade Andres as Sonya Migliocetti

We can still make this happen. This movie has been triumphing over the odds since we first conceived it two years ago. We were told we'd never be able to make it on our budget. We were told we'd never be able to get names. We were told we could never afford a studio. Blah, blah, blah. There are a lot of naysayers out there. Well, positivity and can-do spirit is what got this film in the can, our that same vibe is going to put us over the top for postproduction money. LIBERATOR is a film by sci-fi and comics fans for sci-fi and comics fans -- it's the movie WE wanted to make with a cast of icons that actually means something to us. We WILL make this happen.

Two days left. Doable. Please visit our Kickstarter page and contribute a buck or whatever you can: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1291858738/liberator-superhero-short-starring-lou-ferrigno

Thank you all, every one of you.

Jim Cirile
Executive Producer

WRITERS ON THE STORM WAB-ONLY EXTENSION

2011-08-09T01:24:00.000-07:00

Hi folks,

There is still a way to enter Writers on the Storm. Though we are no longer accepting entries on our website (writerstorm.com,) and scripts submitted to Coverage Ink are no longer elgible for contest entry (or re-entry,) you CAN still submit via Without a Box.

The WAB-exclusive extension ends 8/21/11. There will be NO MORE extensions. So 8/21 is your last chance to submit your script to Writers on the Storm -- or for Coverage Ink clients, to submit your new, polish draft for reconsideration.

It's been a pleasure bringing Writers on the Storm back to you again this year. We had a few hiccups at first, but we switched to a new submission system and it's been smooth sailing since. We'll be back to you with more info as to current quarterfinalists (those folks who submitted through CI find out their status early) and how many entrants we've received so far as soon as we can get another newsletter together (we're terribly behind... deluge! Sorry!)

Click HERE to enter Writers on the Storm at Without a Box.

Ciao for now!

Jim C.

Writers on the Storm Late Deadline Midnight 7/31

2011-07-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

Contribute now or you will make Lou Ferrigno angry.

Our late contest deadline is coming up Monday at midnight. Hurry -- bounce on over to http://writerstorm.com and get your scripts in if you haven't already. With a $10,000 cash grand prize and over $25K cash and prizes, 150 participating companies and two winners signed from last year -- it's the move.

OR... would you like to help us out AND get a discounted contest entry at the same time -- AND cool rewards?

We are currently in the middle of a huge fund-raising drive for finishing funds for our superhero pilot LIBERATOR on Kickstarter. So how does this sound:

Pledge $50 or more to LIBERATOR and your entry to Writers on the Storm is FREE.

Plus you'll receive an autographed DVD of the movie signed by Lou Ferrigno and more great rewards! See our Kickstarter page for the details.

Here's how to do it:

1) Visit our Kickstarter page
2) Pledge $50 or more.
3) Submit your script at writerstorm.com and pay the entry fee.
4) Email us at writerstorm@gmail.com and say, "I pledged $50 to Liberator."

We will promptly refund your contest entry fee in full! Hurry - deadline is midnight 7/31.


Director Aaron Pope and Lou Ferrigno. Photo by Lucia Fasano.

Top 8 Financial Tips for Writers

2011-07-16T15:30:00.000-07:00

Thinking of making some dough writing? (Not a bad idea, that.) Here are some tippers to help you hold on to that hard-earned cash. Sure, they may seem simple, intuitive, and a little “duh.” But our brains do have a tendency to turn off at the most inopportune times (like when making financial decisions.) Tape this list to your forehead!

1) Embrace Your Inner Skinflint. Just because your wallet’s fat, that doesn’t mean it’s time to live like Diddy. Screenwriting careers can be notoriously short-lived. At some point, the gravy train will derail. The high life is great for Miller beer, not you. Now is not the time to buy that mansion in Pacific Palisades. Stay cheap!

2) How Many Reps? If you have both an agent and a manager, God bless you. But each one of them Hoovers away 10%. Do you really need both? Maybe, if they’re both amazing and functioning as a team. But what if your manager is doing all the work and your agent doesn’t do jack? A manager and an attorney (at 10% and 5% respectively) might be the move.

3) Pay Yourself First. It’s easy to forget to spirit away a chunk for yourself when you’re loaded down with debt. Instead: lop 10% off the top (or more if you can) whenever you get a check and tuck it in an IRA, a CD or whatever your favorite investment is. You may only be earning a percent or two, but the main thing is you’re slowly building wealth. Even if it’s only 20 bucks – do it.

4) Diversify and Conquer. Learn the basics of investing (or find a trusted financial advisor to handle that stuff) and then make like the big boys and have multiple types of investments. Maybe you’ll own some stocks, some mutual funds, shares in non-US companies, maybe even physical gold or silver. This will prevent you from taking too big a hit if any one market or sector, or the entire economy, tanks.

5) Build a Secondary (non-industry) Revenue Stream. There’s a reason every actor in town owns a restaurant. Consider investing in or starting a business that has nothing to do with the movies. Love baseball cards, crocheting, line dancing, cheese-making? Then start a business involving one of your other passions. If your career ever goes down in flames, you’ll be glad you did.

6) Get an Accountant Who Knows the Biz. Here in Los Angeles, there are quite a few terrific accountants who not only know their tax law but all about how it applies to writers. Your family accountant in Terre Haute just ain’t gonna cut it. Your accountant becomes your partner in many ways and may even prevent you from making bad financial decisions. Best of all, they generally work for a flat fee, and will often dispense advice at no additional charge.

7) Get an Income Property. Real estate may not be the surefire investment it once was, but mortgages right now are dirt-cheap. Consider buying an income property such as an apartment building. For example, in a 4-unit building, the rents should cover the monthly costs and make you a little profit on the top. You might even be able to live in one of the units!

8) Never Pay Retail or Sales Tax! Ah, the wonder of eBay, Craigslist, the Recycler, Amazon marketplace… Why drive to the local Target and pay top-dollar plus the usurious 9.75% Los Angeles sales tax? Order online and save a bundle. You’ll often be able to find the exact same item brand new for less, with either free or cheap shipping, or even better, slightly used at deep discount.

***

It’s all about being having financial foresight and being frugal. Remember that the industry does not care about you. You are chattel to be utilized and then discarded. So even though right now you might be on top of the world and rolling in six-figure paychecks, two years from now you could be desperate and unemployed. Many writers have found themselves burnt by the system, left stunned, despondent and broke! Don’t be one of them. Follow these tips and shore up your financial empire. Good luck!

--Jim C.

New Moviebytes article on Writers on the Storm

2011-07-12T18:53:00.000-07:00

As we move into our final (late) entry period of Writers on the Storm, we're delighted that MovieBytes.com's Barri Evans published this "Inside the Contest" article about us. It was great to pass along to Barri our philosophy and what makes us different. Please forgive the somewhat long-winded answers!

Read the article on MovieBytes right here.

Coverage Ink/Writers on the Storm Newsletter 7-11-11

2011-07-11T14:04:00.000-07:00

HURRY! WRITERS ON THE STORM DEADLINE MIDNIGHT 7/11/11!

enter online now at http://writerstorm.com

1. SUP? by Jim C.
2. Shorties
3. Jim's Screenwriting Tip o' the Month
4. (More) Test Your Screenwriting IQ by Steve Kaire
5. Rating the Pitch Fests by Jim Cirile

+++

Sup, kids!

We're rolling out a new, easier to read format here at the Coverage Ink/Writers on the Storm/Cyberspace Open blog. We came to the conclusion that we were packing our monthly newsletter with so much content that a lot of folks never made it all the way through. So we're now going for shorter stories more frequently -- like an actual blog! Can you believe it?

And speaking of blogs, the sharp-eyed among you may notice that we have yet again changed our name. Why? Because to our horror, it was recently pointed out that our previous nom de blog, "Stormfront," is the name of the largest white supremecist group's site. Gulp. Obviously, this is not anything we want to be associated with. So the new name, and I think this one's gonna stick, is STORMBLOG. We Googled that name and found it mainly associated with only a few smaller, insane death and hate cults, so we're good to go.

In keeping with the better, stronger, faster approach of the new format, I'm going to throw out just a couple of fast, random snippets for you all to do what you will with.

The kids on Glee Project are insanely talented. How the hell?
The summer movies this year, from what I've seen so far, are pretty freaking underwhelming. (The word is the Hogwarts gang brings the goods, thankfully.) Cars 2, seriously? Didn't you already do the spy thing with The Incredibles, Pixar? (PS: Still love you guys.)
I am more convinced than ever that DIY is the way to go. Screw waiting around for Hollywood to buy our scripts. That paradigm is moribund. Long live Kickstarter and alternative financing!
I finally decided I liked the new Hollywood Reporter format just as my subscription ran out.
I still do not get Twitter. It just seems like dumbed-down facebook to me (which itself was just homogenized MySpace.)
Michael Dorn (Worf from Star Trek) uses a 5-year-old flip phone. Seriously. Nicest dude in the world, by the way.
Screenplay formula is a necessary evil. Eschew it at your own peril.
There's nothing quite like performing Monty Python's "Travel Agent" sketch with your 11-year-old daughter reciting the Eric Idle rant word for word. Just like I did when I was 11. Watney's Red Barrel, anyone?
I am really sick of shrinking sizes. A "pint" of Haagen Dazs is now down to 14 oz, and the 7-Eleven Big Gulp is now a Moderately Freakin' Puny Gulp at 30 oz, down from a full quart. Not cool!
Oh wait -- Twitter is exactly the place for dumb random thoughts like these! Hmm...

But enough of this jolly musing. Read on -- we have a bunch of cool things to impart unto you, such as a free teleconference with me and screenwriting guru Chris Soth; we have some Writers on the Storm quarterfinalists (yes, already) and the skinny on Coverage Ink's exciting new movie Liberator, which wrapped last week. We have high concept king Steve Kaire once again testing all of our Screenwriting IQ, and we have raffle winners (as well as a new raffle for June.)

Oh yeah, and we have a DEADLINE - Writers on the Storm Regular deadline is midnight Monday 7/11/11. Enter now right here.

Keep the faith, keep writing, and remmember -- it's always darkest when you first get the notes. Fight your way through. Get your mojo back. Use those !!^#%$@*! notes to empower you, not to defeat you.

Jim C.

Coverage Ink
Writers on the Storm

Like us on facebook!

+++

DEADLINE! Now is the time for all great writers to step on up. Writers on the Storm Screenplay Contest deadline is midnight, Monday 7/11/11. With over $25,000 cash and prizes, a heavy development prize package, and 150 companies, WOTS could be the defibrillator your career needs. Now featuring brand-new prizes from Virtual Pitch Fest and Million Dollar Screenwriting's Chris Soth. Did we mention we got two of our winners signed last year? Hurry, enter now! http://writerstorm.com.

WRITERS ON THE STORM QUARTERFINALISTS (SO FAR.) Wait. the contest hasn't even ended -- so how can we have quarterfinalists already? 'Cause anyone who submits their script to Coverage Ink for analysis before the final contest end date is automatically entered in Writers on the Storm for free. Score a 'consider with reservations' or better for script (roughly top 10%,) and you are an automatic quarterfinalist. Those folks then get the option of polishing and resubmitting before the end date, if they so desire. (And no, we show no favoritism to Coverage Ink submissions versus regular contest entries.)

So, a shout out to our current Writers on the Storm 2011 quarterfinalists to date:

Getaway, Inc by Andy Maycock
Sliding Into Home by Rich Sheehy
Khamseen by AJ Ashby
Flipping the Bird by Robert Hestand
Just Being Jack by Judith Dunn
O Golden Boy by John Bain
Requited by Bill Johnston

Kick ass, guys!

AGENT'S HOT SHEET - LIVE! COMING TO SCREENWRITING EXPO. If you read Jim's column in Creative Screenwriting, you know that every issue he interviews some of the top agents and managers around and delivers the skinny on what's going on in the biz as it pertains to writers. Join us as we assemble an all-star panel of motion picture lit representatives and grills them on how the hell any of can ever get their attention. register online at screenwritingexpo.com.

RAFFLE WINNERS + NEW RAFFLE - LAST CHANCE. We've been giving away two free contest entries into Writers on the Storm every month since launch. So congrats to our two winners for June: Benjamin Peary and Rachel Lavin. We've already contacted them both with instructions on how to submit their scripts. Now it's your turn. Our last two giveaways are upon us. Send an email before July 31 to info@coverageink.com and put "STORM RAFFLE" in the subject line and your contact info in the mail. We'll randomly select the last two winners at the end of the month. Feel free to resubmit if you entered last month and didn't win!

THE LIBERATION HAS BEGUN. Coverage Ink proudly announces the completion of principal photography of its new short film LIBERATOR. "Liberator" stars Lou Ferrigno as a disgraced, washed-up ex-superhero whose secret black ops past comes back to haunt him as he tries to put his crumbling life back together.

"Liberator" also features a killer genre cast:

PETA WILSON (“La Femme Nikita”) as Marla Criswell
MICHAEL DORN (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) as General Pollard
DON “THE DRAGON” WILSON as Sidewinder
and EDWARD ASNER as President Whitlock

“Every one of our lead cast have starred in a hit TV show or movies,” says Executive Producer/Co-writer Jim Cirile. “Launching a brand-new superhero property without source material is death. That’s why it was crucial that we cast an actual superhero – Lou Ferrigno – in the title role, and also why we surrounded him with the best actors we could find. We want to see the continuing adventures of this character.”

You won't like him when he's angry.

Further grounding “Liberator” in comics mythology, former Marvel Comics bullpen artist Darren Auck is creating the film’s comic art prologue, and SyFy Channel’s “Hollywood Treasure” co-host Jesse D’Angelo designed the Liberator suit and poster art.

The film also features an original orchestral score by Tim Wynn, perhaps best known for scoring “Red Faction: Guerrilla.”

Become a part of Team Liberator! Visit our Kickstarter page to watch clips from the movie and find out how you can help us finish the film and blow everyone away.

FREE TELECONFERENCE WITH CHRIS SOTH and JIM CIRILE. Million Dollar Screenwriting's Chris Soth and Coverage Ink's Jim Cirile are teaming up to bring you a free teleseminar called FIVE MYTHS ABOUT SCREENWRITING CONTESTS. The seminar will run about 60 minutes and there will be a Q&A afterwards. And did we mention it's free? Mark your calendars: this is going down Thursday, 7/28. And if you've never seen Chris' "SOLD--How I Set Up Three Pitches in Hollywood" DVD, you need to check it out. This guy is a pitch master, and watching him confidently deliver his pitches and explain his prep and story breakdown is a marvel to behold. Register now at ChrisSoth.com.

+++

LARGE... BUT NOT IN CHARGE. “LARGE” is the world’s laziest and most meaningless adjective. We all overuse it without even thinking about it. Well, think about it. “Large” usually tells us nothing that we couldn’t have figured out on our own simply by mentioning the item described as “large.” More importantly, using “large” all the time tells people you are not scrutinizing your prose for the punchiest way to say things. Search and replace them out. If you do need to describe the size of something, compare it to something else. For example, instead of “a large cockroach,” which could mean anything from a 2-inch water bug to one 150-feet tall, say, “a cockroach the size of a VW bus.”

+++

(More) TEST YOUR SCREENWRITING IQ

by Steve Kaire

Here we go again with more q's to tickle your brain stem. A couple of these are gimmes, but a few of them may stump you. Good luck!

Projects that go into turnaround are often purchased by other studios and have a better chance of being produced.

That’s false. Turnaround projects have heavy costs that have accrued and which the new buyers have to pay before acquiring them. They have no better chance of getting produced.

Public domain properties never require the acquisition of rights from the original owner of the material.

That is true.

Residuals are checks sent to the writer for TV runs and DVD sales and are tracked by the Writers Guild.

That is true.

Dramas are well known for their “set pieces.”

That’s false. Action movies are famous for their “set pieces” which are big action scenes or sequences.

An attachment is either a star or director who’s interested in doing a particular project that makes it easier to set up and produce.

True.

The first five pages of a screenplay should be devoted to giving exposition and the character’s back story.

That’s false. The back story should be layered in gradually throughout your screenplay.

Your logline should tell what’s happening in your story almost like an unfolding of your scenes in order.

That is false. Tell what your story is about, not what happens in your story.

The bible of the entertainment industry is the Hollywood Creative Directory.

That is true. Although imdb pro is gaining ground.

Dialogue should be overwritten in order to give the actors more than they need and be able to discard what they decide not to use.

That’s false. Dialogue should be minimalistic.

You should always memorize your pitch.

That is false. If you memorize it and forget a few words, the pitch may not sound right and you’ll have to start again. Your pitch should sound like“practiced spontaneity.”

***

How did you all do? If you got every one right, then pat yourseklf on the back and go get 'em, tiger. If you knew several, then way to go -- you are a savvy student of the business. Keep up the good work, and I'll see you all back here in 30.

Steve Kaire (HighConceptScreenwriting.com) is a Screenwriter/Pitchman who’s sold 8 projects to the major studios without representation. His top-rated CD, “High Concept--How to Create, Pitch and Sell to Hollywood” is available on his website along with original articles and national screenwriting contests.

+++

Reprinted Courtesy of Script Magazine. Please note: this article refers to pitch festivals attended in 2010. We'll be running an update based on this year's round of pitch fests in an upcoming blog post.

by Jim Cirile

Let’s face it, pitch fests are nerve-wracking. You have five short minutes to try to impress someone who might be jaded, bored or hypercritical. And yet every year, thousands of screenwriters shell out big bucks to do just that, because there’s no better way to get in an executive’s face than to, well, get in an executive’s face.

But which to choose? As of this writing, there are four major players. Each has plusses and minuses, but they all have two things in common: they each offer direct access to industry you can’t get any other way, and they ain’t cheap. So come with us now as we investigate which, if any, of these pitch fests deserve your hard-earned shekels.

HOLLYWOOD PITCH FESTIVAL (Fade In)
www.fadeinonline.com/events/hollywood_pitchfest
Description: 2-day event
Cost: $445
July 30th + 31st, 2011

Now in their 15th year, Fade In magazine’s Hollywood Pitch Festival boasts an impressive list of connections made and projects set up. “(It) was just an idea I had in 1995 to give aspiring writers direct access to Hollywood buyers,” says Fade In’s Audrey Kelly. “We weren’t sure if it was going to work at the time, but we were happily surprised by the enthusiasm on both sides of the table -- attendees and industry pros alike. And then when we saw that it actually worked (we had two sales in the first year right off the bat) we were thrilled.”

Hollywood Pitch attendees select their meetings on day one on a first come, first served basis. “If you really want a choice of companies and time slots, you've got to show up early -- and we're talking REAL early,” says attendee Lee Tidball. “For (writing partner) Ron and I, it was always between 5 and 5:30 AM, and that usually put us in the first 30 or so. Good enough to get most of what we wanted. First in line people would get there an hour earlier (ugh). That, by the way, is for an 8 AM check-in.”

There’s also a standby line, which folks can wait in between scheduled meetings, but like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get. “You wait… and wait… and wait… then you’re hustled into a meeting with some company that you never heard of, or you wind up pitching your horror/thriller to someone from Hallmark Channel,” laughs Tidball.

2010 attendee Bill Lange from San Diego calls Hollywood Pitch Fest a valuable experience and something that serious writers ought to do at least once. “As first-time attendees, my writing partner and I were lobbing screwballs at batters who were looking for fastballs in the strike zone. Even so, we did get a couple of requests from respectable production companies and we're still working the leads we got with our most recent script.”

GREAT AMERICAN PITCHFEST
www.pitchfest.com
Description: 2-day event (pitching on day 2 only.) Day one is free seminars.
Cost: Packages from $250 to $650
June 4th and 5th, 2011

By the numbers, Great American Pitchfest is our highest rated pitch event (see sidebar.) GAPF offers access to a large amount of companies in a single day -- meeting with 15 to 20 (or more) producers is possible. But where GAPF really distinguish themselves is on day one of their two-day event -- a full slate of free seminars from top screenwriting educators. GAPF says they get over 1,500 screenwriters piling into the Burbank Marriott’s ballrooms on day one (and approximately 500 attendees and 100-plus companies on day two.)

How’s the pitch event itself? Well-run and organized. Whatever company you want to meet with, you simply get on that line and wait your turn. If there are four people on line in front of you, that’s a 20-minute wait. “You spend a lot more time waiting in line than you do actually at the tables,” says writer/director Aaron Pope, who pitched at GAP in 2010. “You pitch, you come out and you have to queue back up. You’re able to hit a lot less tables than you think.” He says it’s important to target specifically the lines worth staying in. “I was there for four hours and met with a total of 10 or 12 companies. If I had been pitching a smaller project, I could have found lines that were shorter and hit a lot more.”

GAPF cofounder Bob Schultz says, “Some people are focused like a laser beam on exactly who they want. Other people’s strategy is to pitch to as many people as possible. So the different approaches (people take) help our lines stay more even-keeled.” Fellow cofounder Signe Olynyk adds, “For every five participants who attend, we invite another company. The lines rarely get longer than five people on average. And for those companies that we expect to be more popular, we try to get more than one representative from the company. That right away cuts the lines in half.”

As the Great American Pitchfest rolls into year eight, they claim tons of relationships made and projects set up. “We’ve had lots of people sign with agents or managers,” says Olynyk. “We’re over 100 success stories now. Every year we get at least ten more.”

GOLDEN PITCH FESTIVAL (Screenwriting Expo)
www.screenwritingexpo.com/golden-pitch.html
Description: 3-day event
Cost: $89 Expo sign-up fee plus $25/meeting or 5/$100
September 15-18, 2011

The Golden Pitch Festival takes place every year at the Screenwriting Expo, the largest annual screenwriting gathering. Golden Pitch uses an online shopping cart system for writers to select their appointments. This thankfully eliminates long lines (and getting up at 5 AM,) but it’s imperfect. While attempting to book my meetings this year, my choices wound up frequently disappearing from my shopping cart -- bought out from under me by others, since the tickets go quickly when registration opens. I finally managed to land meetings with the companies I wanted, all clumped together late Sunday afternoon within a few minutes of each other. But Golden Pitch should consider implementing a system like Ticketmaster uses if possible, where the choices stay in the shopping cart for five minutes, to prevent the frustration of having your selections disappearing and having to go back and do it all again.

Golden Pitch’s pricing policy is interesting. In theory you can pay $300 and select 15 companies to meet with, which is a pretty decent deal. But in my case, there were only three prodcos my partner and I wanted to meet with when the first wave of companies were announced. But later, after we’d spent our $75 and bought our three meetings, additional top-shelf companies were announced. Had we known this in advance, we certainly would have selected the five for $100 deal. But the discount only applies at the time of purchase, another policy Golden Pitch needs to rethink if they’re going to dribble out the attendees. Fortunately, there was a multitude of discount tickets (many half-price or less) available at the event for quite a few smaller companies.

But when the rubber hits the road, Golden Pitch shines. The organization, as well as selection of companies attending, were all excellent. Our 3:15 appointment took place right on time, as did our 4:30 and our 4:50. There was NO waiting in line. My partner and I were in and out of there in under two hours having met with the exact top-notch companies we’d wanted, leaving the rest of the day free to check out Expo events and NOT stand in line. Too, Golden Pitch staffers were knowledgeable, professional and helpful. Hat’s off to the management for the smooth as glass operation.

PITCH SUMMIT (InkTip)
www.inktippitchsummit.com
Description: 2-day event (pitching on day two only.) Day one is seminars.
Cost: Packages from $300 to $625
July 23 and 24, 2011

InkTip founder Jerrol LeBaron had a bold vision for making his new Pitch Summit the must-attend pitch fest of the year by offering meetings with 30 or more companies in a single day. How? “We’ve made our pitch day a little bit longer, but at the same time, we’ve greatly reduced the ratio,” says LeBaron. “For example, instead of there being ten writers for every production company, we’re bringing almost 200 production companies and we expect about 400 writers.” However, LeBaron omitted one tiny detail. The real way InkTip accomplished that goal – and accomplish it they did – is by putting reps from three different companies at every table.

When my partner and I got wind of this, we were pissed. We now had to contend with keeping three people interested instead of one. Fortunately, InkTip mated the companies well, so for example, there would be three horror producers at the same table, etc. But still, withholding this key bit of information from attendees before the event frankly kind of sucks. But here’s the thing -- they shouldn’t have, because it’s brilliant. As my partner and I worked the room, in every case it worked in our favor. Enthusiasm is contagious, and we and I walked out of there with an astonishing 100% success rate.

As far as organization goes, the picture could have been better. Like Great American Pitchfest, you queue in lines, in this case for each table. The event got started late, then broke a scant 50 minutes in for water breaks (?) even though there was plenty of water for the execs in the room. Less than an hour after that, they broke yet again for lunch -- for another hour. Ugh. And while there were a lot of great companies, there were plenty of no-shows. My partner and I said “Later for this” and split before lunch. But those who stuck it out said it was worth all the waiting in line; many folks got lots of script requests. “We’re working out a lot of kinks, to be honest,” said InkTip’s Eric Kim. “The biggest lesson is to be sure in confirming a good number of producers so that we can most effectively organize them in the sense of what they’re looking for. There were a lot of last-minute show-ups.”

CONCLUSION

Which should you choose? Hate to do this to you guys, but we say: all of them. Cop out? Look, every single one of these gives you access that’s pretty much priceless. Each has downsides, but upsides which far outweigh them: the chance to meet a heck of a lot of people and possibly get a foot in the door in Hollywood. So it’s going to come down to budget and schedule – whatever works for you.

And please make sure your stuff kicks tush before signing up. There’s little point in shelling out hundreds of dollars to pitch them a script that’s a “pass.” Take the time and do the work. Access ain’t worth jack if you don’t have the goods. Good luck, and I’ll see you all at the next pitch event!

++

Screenwriter Jim Cirile lives in Los Angeles and is the owner of screenplay analysis/development service www.coverageink.com.

Read the companion article "BEST OF THE REST" at scriptmag.com.

+++

Thanks for reading! Questions? Comments? Shoot us an e-mail at info@coverageink.com.

You have received this mail because you are either a Coverage, Ink client, a Writers on the Storm contestant or you have participated in the Cyberspace Open Writing Tournament. We do not wish to spam anybody! This newsletter is the ONLY thing you will ever get from us -- and we will never sell your name to a list.

If you have received this e-mail in error, or do not wish to receive e-mails from us, please REPLY to this mail and enter DELETE in the subject line -- and we’ll make sure you’re removed immediately.

All content is copyright 2011 by Coverage, Ink.

Rating the Pitchfests

2011-07-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

HOLLYWOOD PITCH FESTIVAL (Fade In)
www.fadeinonline.com/events/hollywood_pitchfest
Description: 2-day event
Cost: $445
July 30th + 31st, 2011

Now in their 15th year, Fade In magazine’s Hollywood Pitch Festival boasts an impressive list of connections made and projects set up. “(It) was just an idea I had in 1995 to give aspiring writers direct access to Hollywood buyers,” says Fade In’s Audrey Kelly. “We weren’t sure if it was going to work at the time, but we were happily surprised by the enthusiasm on both sides of the table -- attendees and industry pros alike. And then when we saw that it actually worked (we had two sales in the first year right off the bat) we were thrilled.”

Hollywood Pitch attendees select their meetings on day one on a first come, first served basis. “If you really want a choice of companies and time slots, you've got to show up early -- and we're talking REAL early,” says attendee Lee Tidball. “For (writing partner) Ron and I, it was always between 5 and 5:30 AM, and that usually put us in the first 30 or so. Good enough to get most of what we wanted. First in line people would get there an hour earlier (ugh). That, by the way, is for an 8 AM check-in.”

There’s also a standby line, which folks can wait in between scheduled meetings, but like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get. “You wait… and wait… and wait… then you’re hustled into a meeting with some company that you never heard of, or you wind up pitching your horror/thriller to someone from Hallmark Channel,” laughs Tidball.

2010 attendee Bill Lange from San Diego calls Hollywood Pitch Fest a valuable experience and something that serious writers ought to do at least once. “As first-time attendees, my writing partner and I were lobbing screwballs at batters who were looking for fastballs in the strike zone. Even so, we did get a couple of requests from respectable production companies and we're still working the leads we got with our most recent script.”

GREAT AMERICAN PITCHFEST
www.pitchfest.com
Description: 2-day event (pitching on day 2 only.) Day one is free seminars.

Cost: Packages from $250 to $650
June 4th + 5th, 2011

By the numbers, Great American Pitchfest is our highest rated pitch event (see sidebar.) GAPF offers access to a large amount of companies in a single day -- meeting with 15 to 20 (or more) producers is possible. But where GAPF really distinguish themselves is on day one of their two-day event -- a full slate of free seminars from top screenwriting educators. GAPF says they get over 1,500 screenwriters piling into the Burbank Marriott’s ballrooms on day one (and approximately 500 attendees and 100-plus companies on day two.)

How’s the pitch event itself? Well-run and organized. Whatever company you want to meet with, you simply get on that line and wait your turn. If there are four people on line in front of you, that’s a 20-minute wait. “You spend a lot more time waiting in line than you do actually at the tables,” says writer/director Aaron Pope, who pitched at GAP in 2010. “You pitch, you come out and you have to queue back up. You’re able to hit a lot less tables than you think.” He says it’s important to target specifically the lines worth staying in. “I was there for four hours and met with a total of 10 or 12 companies. If I had been pitching a smaller project, I could have found lines that were shorter and hit a lot more.”

GAPF cofounder Bob Schultz says, “Some people are focused like a laser beam on exactly who they want. Other people’s strategy is to pitch to as many people as possible. So the different approaches (people take) help our lines stay more even-keeled.” Fellow cofounder Signe Olynyk adds, “For every five participants who attend, we invite another company. The lines rarely get longer than five people on average. And for those companies that we expect to be more popular, we try to get more than one representative from the company. That right away cuts the lines in half.”

As the Great American Pitchfest rolls into year eight, they claim tons of relationships made and projects set up. “We’ve had lots of people sign with agents or managers,” says Olynyk. “We’re over 100 success stories now. Every year we get at least ten more.”

(More) Test Your Screenwriting IQ by Steve Kaire

2011-07-11T13:58:00.001-07:00

Jim's Tip o' the Month

2011-07-11T13:56:00.001-07:00

Shorties 7-11

2011-07-11T13:54:00.001-07:00

Getaway, Inc by Andy Maycock
Sliding Into Home by Rich Sheehy
Khamseen by AJ Ashby
Flipping the Bird by Robert Hestand
Just Being Jack by Judith Dunn
O Golden Boy by John Bain
Requited by Bill Johnston

Kick ass, guys!

You won't like him when he's angry.

Writers on the Storm deadline 7/11/11

2011-07-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

WRITERS ON THE STORM Screenplay Competition

***Deadline: midnight 7/11/11*** Enter now!

http://writerstorm.com

"Whoever says contests get you nowhere should be shot. You hooked me up with UTA!" -- Jeremy Shipp

150 companies. $10,000 first prize. Over $25,000 cash and prizes. Every entry receives feedback.

But what really counts is results. We got two of our winners from last year's contest signed. We placed Jeremy Shipp ("Sleight of Hand") with UTA, and Muraviov Management gobbled up Paul Moxham ("Vertically Challenged.") Hey, prize money is great, but what this is really about is your career. Read the interview with Jeremy Shipp right here: http://writerstorm.com/content/winners

But we don't skimp on the prizes either. Check this out:

Winner:
$10K cash
Coverage Ink Platinum Script Development Package
Creative Screenwriting Analyst Survey + subscription
Admission to Save the Cat! Beat Sheet weekend
Screenwriter Showcase 1-year subscription
Ellen Sandler 1/2 hr consultation
Michael Hauge Max Pack
Movie Outline 3.0 screenwriting software
Save the Cat! 3.0 software
Script Pipeline 1 yr database subscription
TrackingB.com - 1 year subscription
High Concept Screenwriting Audio CD by Steve Kaire
Neil Landau 10 Things I Learned in Film School
Moviemaker magazine 1 year subscription
Virtual Pitchfest - 10 pitch pack
Great American Pitchfest bronze pass + Screenwriters Survival Kit
inkTip: Script Listing, newsletter and magazine posting
Writers Boot Camp: $1,000 in Creative Currency + script analysis

Plus tons more prizes for 2nd and 3rd place, top 10, top 50 and everyone who enters. See writerstorm.com for complete details.

Hurry! Deadline approaching fast. Ener online NOW at http://writerstorm.com.
Good luck to all!

President Asner Speaks!

2011-06-14T02:38:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, Coverage Ink's second movie THE LIBERATOR is in production right now. LIBERATOR stars Lou Ferrigno as a disgraced, washed-up ex-superhero whose secret black ops past comes back to haunt him as he tries to put his life back together.

Our knockout cast also features Peta Wilson (La Femme Nikita,) Michael Dorn (Star Trek: the Next Generation,) Don "The Dragon" Wilson and the legendary Ed Asner as President Whitlock.

We had the pleasure of meeting with Mr. Asner on Memorial Day, and we took the opportunity to shoot some behind the scenes footage with him in his office. Here I ask Ed what brought him to Los Angeles, and his response was pretty wild--it was 50 years to the day that he arrived in town to pursue acting! Click here to watch this cool 2-minute video.

Visit the official movie site at LiberatorMovie.com!

Jim C.

Coverage Ink/Writers on the Storm/Cyberspace Open Newsletter - 6/11

2011-06-01T13:16:00.001-07:00

ALERT! WRITERS ON THE STORM EARLY DEADLINE IS MIDNIGHT 6/1!

Enter online now at a writerstorm.com.

June 2011

1) Shorties
2) The Great Actor/Writer Disconnect
3) Interview: InkTip's Jerrol LeBaron
4) Manager's Hot Sheet
5) Movie Shorthand = Bad
6) Lettuce

Hey, kids!

"If you're writing a spec and you're not having fun, something's wrong. I used to have lots of fun. Now, I'm always thinking, will it sell, will it sell?" -- Shane Black

I found this quote online and it got me thinking. There was no date attributed, but I can't imagine it's recent. Does Shane Black still play the spec game? Does he still really give a crudbucket if his spec sells? Well, maybe he does. After all, when you've racked up historic sales like he has, there's probably a certain amount of pressure to keep it going. Me? Eh. I couldn't give a rodent's derriere.

What I mean is, I'm a bit more realistic nowadays. When you're in your 40s, and you've been at this a while, you start to gain what some people might call "a cynical freaking attitude," but I call it "perspective." I know that the vast majority of scripts never get any traction at all. Even if you're lucky enough to have a script sent out by a major agency or management company, the chances of a sale are pretty microscopic.

See, it's not the 90s anymore. I'm no longer so naive as to believe my script might sell for $1.6 million against $3 million in a bidding war. Sure it still happens, rarely, and when it does, I write articles about those occurrences in Script and Creative Screenwriting. But way more often than not, a script will go out, it won't sell, and if you're lucky you'll land some "generals" (meet n' greet meetings with development execs who liked your script, even though their company didn't buy it.) From there, your personality and charisma takes over; if you come across as easy-to-work-with, someone the exec could see hanging out with over a period of months to develop a piece of material, well hell, you might just land a rewrite assignment. And that, friends, is what it's really about. "The bread and butter of Hollywood is the assignment game," says ICM superagent Emile Gladstone.

Still, a lot of people seem fixated on selling their spec. I guess that's not a bad thing in one respect, if that means you'll do the heavy lifting necessary to make your script really kick gluteus. Problem is, this thinking is based on an old, and no longer totally accurate, paradigm. Compared to 15 years ago, spec scripts hardly ever sell anymore. Worse, if you have that mindset, it may mean that you're looking at Hollywood as your lottery ticket. Bad move. This ain't Vegas. You will not get rich quick here. The money will NOT show up in the nick of time, when you need it most. More like, after a decade or more of dedication to your craft, you may finally forge a relationship with a small producer, and eventually some of the projects you develop together could lead to a paying opportunity down the line. What's that, you ask? When do I get paid? Well, that's what your job shoveling horse dung at the racetrack is for (see above, re: "cynical freaking attitude.")

Of course I have my tongue pretty firmly in cheek here, but still. See, here's the tricky bit: we writers tend to get so caught up in the machinations of the business (and the endless tsunami of rejection) that we start to get neurotic and really stressed out. And despite Woody Allen movies, no one loves a neurotic, stressed-out writer. Which brings us back to Mr. Black: "I used to have lots of fun." Remember when writing was a blast? Yep, when you're working on a draft, and you're in the zone, it is an awesome feeling, right? It's FUN. The buzzkill doesn't really kick in until we start dealing with how to sell the damn thing.

So I challenge all of you to share my "perspective." Stop caring about selling your script. I don't mean don't try to market yourself or don't send your script around. Of course not! I mean, don't invest so much into the outcome that you lose the joy of creativity. Be okay with the process and accept it for what it is. So what if the big pot o' gold is slightly more elusive nowadays? Appreciate your life, your family, your dung dispersal technician paycheck. Find your zen. And you know what? If you do, people will sense it, and you'll be much more likely to land that killer rewrite gig and maybe even... sell that spec.

Kind of messed up the way that works, huh? Yep.

+++

Could it be Writers on the Storm early deadline already??? YES. This is your last chance to get in for our rock-bottom $40 rate. Don't say I didn't warn you. At 12:01 AM July 2nd, we move into the regular deadline period and prices go UP. But don't forget you have two chances to enter for free every month until the contest end (7/31; see Raffle below.) We've got some more great articles for you this month including an interview with inkTip's Jerrol LeBaron; the Cyberspace Open top 3, now online and ready for voting, news about Coverage Ink's film LIBERATOR and our very first Writers on the Storm quarterfinalist. All dat plus a ton more, so let's get to it.

Onward and downward!

Jim Cirile
Coverage Ink
Writers on the Storm

Like us on facebook!

* * * * * * * * * *

1)

WHO WON? WHO WON? AND WHO'S NEXT? Hey, did ya know we're raffling off two free entries into Writers on the Storm every month until the end of the contest (7/31)? It is true! Here's how it works: email us at coverageink@aol.com and put "STORM RAFFLE" in the subject line. We will then randomly select (using random.org's random number generator) two folks and notify you by e-mail. And sure, you can try again if you entered last month! Just e-mail us again. This month's winners are: Eleanor Rogers and Christian Wagner. We've already notified them and told them how to enter. Two more raffle winners will be selected next month. Will you be among them?

HOW IT'S DONE. Congrats to Andy Maycock, the very first Quarterfinalist in Writers on the Storm 2011! Maycock submitted his screenplay Getaway, Inc. to Coverage Ink for evaluation, and it scored a 'consider' for script. That makes it an automatic quarterfinalist (appx. top 10%.) He can now either let it ride, or he can resubmit a polish draft based on the coverage, theoretically bettering his odds. But one way or another, his quarterfinalist status is locked in. Way to go, Andy! Remember, only the folks who send their scripts to CI for coverage find out their status and have a chance to polish those scripts and resubmit. If you enter the contest directly at writerstorm.com, you have to wait until after the end of the contest (7/31) to find out if your script made the quarterfinals. Don't start counting that prize money yet, Andy... you've got an full-on assault coming at you. Stand tough, my brother! And congrats again.

LIBERATION COMMENCES. Principal photography on Coverage Ink's second film, THE LIBERATOR, began 5/30 in Los Angeles and wraps 6/25. Liberator stars Lou Ferrigno as a disgraced, washed-up superhero whose black ops past exacts a heavy toll on his life and everyone around him. The 15-minute presentation pilot also stars Peta Wilson (La Femme Nikita), Michael Dorn (Star Trek: the Next Generation) and the legendary Edward Asner as President Whitlock. Scoring the film is Tim Wynn (Supernatural) whose work with the Skywalker Orchestra for the video game Red Faction: Guerrilla has to be heard to be believed. Liberator is written by CI's own Jim Cirile and Aaron Pope, as well as directed by Pope. Check out www.liberatormovie.com for production diaries, behind the scenes footage and more!

LET THE VOTING BEGIN! Whether or not you participated in the Cyberspace Open this year, you'll definitely want to watch the top three scenes and vote on them! Earlier this month, we videotaped actors performing the top three scenes in staged readings. Top 3 Elisa Graybill, Michael Hedrick and William Shank wrote own interprations of our scene prompt, which went a little something like this:

Your PROTAGONIST is desperate and mulling a risky proposition. Taking action could result in a personal gain to the protagonist, but at great potential cost in the form of a relationship(s). Write a scene either before or after the decision has been made, addressing it in whatever manner you like. You may use any number of additional characters you desire, and again, keep in mind SUBTEXT when writing dialogue. One other thing: your protagonist is *crazy*.

Watch the scenes at the official Cyberspace Open web page and then vote for your favorite. But remember, we're not just looking for solid scenes; we're looking to see how well they adhered to the scene prompt. The scenes are also posted on Vimeo here, here and here. Thanks, everyone, for participating. As always, it was a gas. The Cyberspace Open will be back soon for... wait for it... year ten!

3-D: YOUR 15 MINUTES ARE UP (AGAIN.) Check out this great discussion about the pros and cons of 3-D on aintitcool.com. As with all things, moderation is the key. A little 3-D every now and again is fabulous. Hell, bring on the 40-minute 3-D Imax spectaculars! But Hollywood of course has no concept of moderation, and so pretty much every single film coming out nowadays is in "3-D." I put that in quotes because oftentimes they're coverted to 3-D in post (gimmicky and lame) as opposed to natively shot in 3-D. Converted 3-D movies look like poo. Don't know about you guys, but the idea of spending an extra 5 bucks on movie tickets to have my eyeballs forced off their vertexes for two hours just doesn't do it for me. What do you guys think?

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A STAR, BABY. Our pal, indie film writer extraordinaire Aaron Schnore from New York City, sent along this heads-up about his latest movie:

Hey, everyone, I want to let you know that "Starla" -- a new feature film by the immensely talented Rik Cordero -- is having its world premiere on Saturday June 25th in NY. I was one of the writers. There are 7PM and 9PM showtimes (although I think the 9PM is almost sold out). The screening will take place at the Auditorium on Broadway (1871 Broadway). You can check out the teaser trailer -- and BUY TICKETS -- by going to http://www.StarlaMovie.com

"Starla" is a psychological thriller about a woman who seeks revenge on the surgeon who botched her daughter's surgery. I co-wrote the script with Rik and my longtime collaborator (and senior Coverage Ink analyst) Billy Fox. This is my second feature film with Rik, following "Inside a Change" (Winner - Best Picture; 2009 HBO NY Latino Film Festival). Billy and I also co-wrote the award-winning hip-hop horror webisode series "Rhyme Animal" (with our pal Jorge Rivera). I'm proud of this movie, but I won't lie -- writing the script wasn't always fun or easy. It's an emotional story, and writing it put me in some dark places at certain points. But it was worth it. I'm excited about "Starla", and I hope you can join me on this special night.

ADVICE FROM THE MASTER -- FREE. Speaking of Billy Fox, he wanted to share this with you all:

So I've been on a big "Rockford Files" kick the last couple weeks, and just finished plowing through the first season. I loved the writing so much that I became curious about the creator and lead writer, the late Stephen J. Cannell. Can't believe he wasn't on my radar before, as he was one of the most successful producers in the history of TV, and an amazingly prolific writer for several mediums. Check out his credits on imdb.

I've been finding lots of great interviews with him online. The best so far is the "USC School of Cinematic Arts Conversations With" series (Cannell is number 5 on the list). I strongly urge you all to have a listen on iTunes. I got tons out of it, and literally minutes after finishing it I was brimming with ideas on how to retool a script that's gone through multiple drafts over a several year period, but just wasn't knocking it out of the park.

And for those of you who don't do iTunes, watch this lovely 4:33 bit of advice on writing from Mr. Cannell right here.

GREAT AMERICAN PITCHFEST - LAST CHANCE! What mades an enormous thudding sound followed by a queasy, flatulent squish? Why, that's the sound of missed opportunity, ladies and gentlemen. The Great American Pitchfest hits town this weekend June 3-5, 2011. So you have a choice: be there, and enjoy beaucoup face time with buyers who are there expressly to try and find fresh writing voices; or give it a miss, and continue to whine that only one company out of 483 responded to your last query letter campaign. Find that inner strength to get in these people's faces and blow them away! Sign up now at www.pitchfest.com. And while you're there, stop by the Coverage Ink booth and say hi.

Blake Snyder

STC! SOFTWARE REVIEW COMING SOON. We're big fans of Blake Snyder (Save the Cat!), who left us way way way WAY too soon. Fortunately, the good folks at blakesnyder.com are keeping the torch lit. Coming soon: Save the Cat! software 3.0. We hope to bring you a full review in our August newsletter. We have been using 1.0 for two years now, and what a great tool it is. It literally forces you to think through your screenplay structure and dimensionalize your characters. Pretty amazing stuff. Well, 3.0 is supposed to raise the bar substantially. They say they've revamped everything, from the user interface to the corkboard notes to the scene cards. Oh, and they've upped the page count to 1,000, in case there's a manifesto inside you just dying to come out. Everything now intuitive and drag and drop -- so they say, but we'll be the judge of that...

ARE THEATERS OBSOLETE? No. People will always need a place to go on a date or simple to be somewhere other than home. But DVDs are probably going the way of the archeopteryx sooner rather than later, in the same way that digital music is slowly killing CDs. I mean, you gotta love VOD (video on demand.) The idea of going to a store or even a $1 kiosk to rent a flick seems so quaint when for a low monthly fee you can watch almost any movie or TV show instantly. Summit is the first major company to really test these waters by releasing Source Code, a nifty little thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal, on VOD two weeks before the physical release. According to deadline.com, this will not shorten the window between the theatrical release and the home video release, but rather, will delay the home video release slightly in order to gauge the public's appetite for viewing a big-budget movie on VOD. One thing is clear -- within a few years, it will be as hard to find a DVD of a new release as it is a vinyl copy of the new Lady Gaga.

GET THE BOOT. This from our friends at Writers Boot Camp: SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: 5-Week Basic Training Session with Writers Boot Camp Founder Jeffrey Gordon in Santa Monica starts Tuesday, June 7. A few spaces are still available. Stormfront blog readers can save $100 if they register by noon on Friday, June 3rd.

Writers Boot Camp alumni work at the highest level of the film and TV industry and have been nominated for Academy Awards, have won Emmys, Golden Globes, WGA Awards, Webbies – even the Tony! In Basic Training, you will learn comprehensive screenwriting techniques in a condensed 5-week time frame, and you will complete a first draft of a feature-length or TV spec script. Classes meet one night a week, and each writer can also check in for support during office hours. All you need is an idea and 10 hours a week to write. Kick off the summer by completing a draft! Contact us today at 310-998-1199 or e-mail rfisher@writersbootcamp.com. See you in class! AND contact us now about the Pavilion series, kicking off Sunday June 26th with a brunch and a full day devoted to attracting representation. Call us at 310/998-1199 for details.

EARLY DEADLINE MIDNIGHT 6/1/11

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2) THE GREAT ACTOR/WRITER DISCONNECT

by Simon Herbert

Screenwriters, by necessity, spend a lot of time by ourselves; listening to the voices in our head, trying to give form to the characters that are going to populate and drive our story. Most screenwriters will agree that all genre bells and whistles aside, character is the only real essential that defines their stories. If we don’t get this aspect right, then no amount of special effects, last act reveals or hip postmodern embarrassments can save our script. Plot may be the visible structure of the rocketship that we’re building to transport people to our exotic new world, but it’s character that is the fuel; without it our creation will never achieve escape velocity.

So it’s strange to consider just how distant our relationship can be with the people who have to breathe life into our characters: a strange species known as actors. Most screenwriters don’t actually get to spend much face time with the people who are actually going to interpret their words. Even produced scribes are rarely invited by the director or producer onto the set. It’s kind of like you spent two years designing your dream house, and then you hand it over to the first anonymous laborer you find on Craiglist. There’s a bit of a disconnect going on.

I only truly became aware of this distance over the course of the last year when, with two friends and fellow alumni from the UCLA MFA in Screenwriting, we three newly minted virgin multi-hyphenates (co-producers/writer/directors) embarked on shooting our own self-funded feature project -- firstly because we got tired of people with bad hair gel asking us “Yeah, great, it’s a little too 'Hungarian,' but what else you got?”, and secondly because we believed we’d formulated a killer idea that could be done modestly, so why the hell not?

The last year has been tough but energizing (by coincidence, at time of writing this article, today marks the first anniversary of our start date. This should be taken as an indication to all indie wannabes that shooting a micro-feature on weekends take time and patience) and if there’s one thing that all three of us agree on it’s that working with actors has pretty much given us a whole new perspective on the writing process. Yes, working with actors. Those people that interpret all the pretty stuff we’ve been writing and (hopefully) rewriting. That mystical portal that acts as a direct continuum between your words and the audience that absorbs them... two or three years later on the screen.

Now, working on the lower slopes of the Hollywood system means that you quickly realize that some actors are better than others (and, to be fair, this is also true of writers.) Some come prepared, and some don’t. Some are actually even better than their showreels, whilst others make you wonder if the person stood in front of you is a poor CGI photocopy of the person you originally thought ideal for the part. Some “get” the role in relation to the larger story and trot their lines out quickly and efficiently; whilst others decide to try to invoke the “Jack Nicholson Method” of camera hogging (basically, this involves leading with an extended heavy pause before the delivery of the first line; then the actor moving their eyeballs to the left whilst keeping their head immobile, then tilting their head afterwards to follow their eye line, thereby ensuring an extra precious nanosecond of screen time.)

But actually sitting with an actor and discussing their part, and their interpretation of it and their thoughts, has been a real revelation to me as a writer, for several reasons:

1) It’s humbling. All flippancy aside, an actor is a human being, just like you. Hollywood is stuffed with stressed and bitter people who lick their wounds by ripping the piss out of any other type of professional than themselves, and actors are high on the shit list. We all have to drive on the bloody 405 to get to the shoot location. We all have dreams, and after a certain time we maybe all realize that we’re not going to be going to Cannes any time soon, but we remain invested in wanting to make some tangible, qualitative impact on this termite mound with our craft. We want to do something of worth.

Unlike writers, though, an actor doesn’t have the luxury of a thousand takes in the privacy of their Ikea-furnished palace: they perform in public, to a ticking clock. They have to deliver (“interpret” would be a fairer word) their contribution with often less than 24 hours of prep time, and often without contextual information about the scenes that the actor isn’t in. More often than not, actors are forced to thrash around confused, barely understanding their place in the greater scheme of things: like they’ve been given 20% of a map, with most of the landmarks left out by some malevolent cartographer.

They then have to stand in front of a camera, a stressed DP, and bunch of jaded smartasses with tired feet and one eye on the clock (or the craft services); even as other fussy people, that they don’t even know, are sticking their sweaty hands up their shirts and clipping radio microphones onto intimate body parts, or putting tape by their feet, or adjusting lights that can eradicate the cornea and fry the aqueous humor at five paces.

It’s a real gauntlet to run, but I can honestly say, after the last year, that I’ve never worked with a single actor who wasn’t trying their best (and in that I include even the few really delusional ones I’ve met). Actors have cojones.

2) It's all about the process. As a screenwriter, it makes me appreciate that any single empty white page can eventually contain any number of amazing things, after you’ve wrestled the beast onto the mat and got your scene; but it’s only gonna fly if you mediate it through human beings. A bad actor will always screw your script up; but a good one can deliver either a good or bad performance depending on how you work with them. A screenplay is so fragile as a concept that it’s a kind of literal orchid, mostly predestined to wilt despite the most fervent care. Perhaps that’s why people still use tired terms like “magic” when it comes to movies; because for these bloody things to work, you really do need a certain amount of alchemy and dark arts.

Actors help you realize, as a screenwriter, that the process only really, truly, starts after you got a good draft on paper (which should be the least required of you as the writer.) Whether you decide that you want to be a writer who never wants to actually venture onto a set, or be a multi-hyphenate who steers the blueprint through to actual production, you now know that your script is only the beginning of the process.

3) Writers inevitably become better writers by working with actors. As Harrison Ford famously told his director on Star Wars (1977), “George, you can type this shit, but you sure can’t say it.” Over the last year it’s been proven to me, time and time again that, despite the best advice from my professors at UCLA, who preached the mantra of brevity at me like Calvinist wordsmiths, that I still write too much. My two collaborators had the same realization; when we stopped rolling due to something not working, and had to go rework the lines, we actually got to the heart of what the scene is about. It’s a different tempo than the terraforming we initiated on Planet Final Draft. Sometimes our character just needs to get to the urgent truth of the sequence more quickly. Or perhaps we simply get that the characters is humiliated or evasive without the need for them to say one more bon mot.

4) Actors want the lines to work. On occasion, some actors have actually suggested cutting lines before even we writers do. It‘s a selfless act, but the best actors know that 10 seconds of potent screen time is better than 15 of blah blah. Actors will often work with you, and their suggestions may occasionally be worthy of consideration.

5) We’re all in this together. A few years back I was brought in to rework a thriller that was already shooting. Called Japan (2008, and not coming to a theater or a Target reduced bin near you any time soon), the script called for a potential pre-”Wrestler” Mickey Rourke to be the villain of the piece, and I accordingly labored on the pages with this ‘character vision’ in mind. Visions of Rourke’s career flashed before me as I tailored the part to his unique energy: The Pope of Greenwich Village, Angel Heart, Diner. A couple of weeks later, I was invited by the director onto the set to meet the villain -- Peter Fonda. I was led to Fonda’s trailer and introduced to him. I wasn’t allowed to enter the trailer, just hover by the doorway. He looked up from his open bottle of Patrón (no shot glasses evident) and giant... cigarette... and said, “Hey. I feel like you really got the essence of this bad dude. It feels like you wrote it for me. Your words are a privilege to read.” And then he pushed the trailer door slowly closed with his cane.

The point is: you need actors just like they need you. Yes, they can screw your lines up and mangle them, and drive you nuts with unbidden improvisations; but they can also deliver the truth that you heard in your head when you first wrote those lines, and in, in some cases, even make it better.

So don’t be a snob as a writer. Don’t treat your words like they’re being written onto flayed parchment in gold leaf, and that a bunch of barbarians are going to gutturally interpret them and screw your incredible vision up. If you haven’t been produced yet as a screenwriter, then forget using Appletalk to computer-read your stuff, or even acting it out yourself (chances are you’re as bad an actor as actors are as writers), and find at the very least some amateurs to do a table read. Hear. Your. Words. Out. Loud. Writing as a process may happen in a vacuum, but remember you are writing for cinema, not for a novel. And that means actors. Embrace the process and it may well embrace you back.

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Originally hailing from the UK (in case you couldn't tell from the "bloody"s), Simon Herbert is a Los Angeles-based screenwriting teacher, tutor and magazine journalist and copy editor.

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3) INTERVIEW: InkTip's Jerrol LeBaron

With the InkTip Pitch and Networking Summit II event rolling in (July 22nd and 23rd), we thought this would be a good time to check in with inkTip founder Jerrol LeBaron to find out what they've got in store for us all this time!

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Jim Cirile: Hi Jerrol! Thanks for taking the time. The title of the event has changed to Pitch and Networking Summit. Tell us a little about that.

Jerrol LeBaron: Hey Jim, well first off, thanks for the interview. Always love working with you. Yeah, the name did indeed change. It sort of had to, really. The event has just been organically growing into something much more than just a “pitching” marketplace, so we felt the name should reflect more of the event's dynamic. In fact, there is a film currently in pre-production right now as a direct result of the networking opportunities at the Summit.

JC: Is the venue the same as last years?

JL: Nope. Changed the venue too. Ha. After last year, it became pretty clear that we needed more space, so we’ve moved it to the Los Angeles Marriott in Burbank for 2011. Though the popularity of the Pitch and Networking Summit with execs went through the roof this year -- more than 40 studio execs and studio-related production companies are already among the 300-plus attending professionals, so we’re negotiating with some very unique and amazing Hollywood venues for 2012.

JC: What lessons did you guys take away from last year? What worked, and what didn't?

JL: Ah, OK, the tough questions. Well, our executives worked! Unlike any other pitching event, we don’t pay our execs to attend. We do this for a couple reasons, but first and foremost, we do it so the only execs attending are those who are seriously looking to buy scripts and hire writers. If I knew I was getting a hundred bucks and a free lunch, I’d be willing to hang out with others and listen to some pitches regardless of if I’m looking or not. We knew we were taking a risk since it’s been status quo up until now, but we felt as safe as we could because also unlike other events, we work with these executives year-round, not just one day out of the year. The executives know us and know that we have good writers... it's a mutual trust. And from just one Summit, we already have 2 films in pre-production. About 17 writers optioned their scripts, were hired or are in development with production companies from that one day alone. No pitching event has yielded a produced feature-length film, nor that many successes, so right there we know we’re getting the job done. Now it’s a matter of smoothing out any kinks.

JC: I love The Kinks. Oh, wait. What kind of kinks are you talking about?

JL: The kinks in this case were all traffic-related. I have to take full responsibility for the delay we ran into in the morning, which slowed us down in checking in the executives. If I had 50 to 100 execs, no biggie, but we had about 310 execs check in when all was said and done. We just lacked the staff needed. We’ve drastically improved that system for July’s Summit, so we’re excited to see things run very smooth. And instead of getting 17 successes, we know we will get a lot more.

Also, it became pretty clear that some lines would get too long due to the popularity of a company. My buddy, Ryan, over at Lionsgate was a very popular dude that day. This time, we’re working to bring in several execs from major and mini-major studios and studio level production companies. For example, we already have three or so RSVPed from ABC, and three or more from Lionsgate; we’re looking at having one studio-level executive every other table or so. So, it will be much easier to pitch those more popular companies since the lines will be more evenly dispersed. This should also lead to a higher average number of companies pitched per person.

JC: Sounds great. Now at all pitch events, there are always a certain amount of buyers who RSVP but can't make it. Is there anything you guys can do to anticipate this and maybe lesson the impact?

JL: Like I said, we actually had 310 attend last year, so we just make sure that our number of confirmed companies are in range. We expect to have about 300 this year and about 400 writers. No one has ever had a ratio of writers to producers like that. We really want to make sure our writers are able to pitch lots of producers, not a mere 8 or 15.

JC: Talk a little bit more about the success stories from last year's Pitch Summit. I met my girlfriend there!

Hurry -- registration closes June 17.

JL: Glad we could help! Haha. We’ve had tremendous success. Some 17 options and writers getting representation, but there are a couple we’re really proud of. One is that a buy offer was actually made at the event! Pretty sure that’s another record set. Of course the success story I love is the fact that we’re the only pitching event to lead to feature films going into production, and it’s only going to get better this year. “In the Belly of the Whale” is being packaged with A-list talent now, and indie film “Broken Doll” starring a close friend of mine, Fernanda Romero, is also in pre-production and slated for release late 2011. Your readers can look up InkTip and Summit credits on IMDb (InkTip [us] for most of our corporate credits, and InkTip Summit Events [us] for the two in prepro now).

JC: What kind of work goes into putting something like this together? Seems a Herculean effort.

JL: Yikes, that’s a big question. Simple answer, hard work. There’s a lot of prep and care that’s taken on even the smallest details, but I’d say something that puts us in our own league is the attention to our relationships; making sure we take care of both our executives and writers before, during and after. Corny, I know, but it really is the truth.

JC: Thanks again, Jerrol. Tips for writers who are going to participate?

JL: Be happy and be daring. Be willing to go big in a pitch, but focus more on the potential relationship between you and the producer. Maybe they like your pitch, maybe they don’t, but if they like you personally, they’ll be much more willing to talk through different ideas and work with you in the future.

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4)

What exactly do managers do? Are they worth the extra 10%? Come with us, young grasshopper, as we impart unto you the secrets of management and why you should have some in your life.

Reprinted courtesy of Creative Screenwriting

By Jim Cirile

ADVISORY BOARD

Richard Arlook
The Arlook Group

A.B. Fischer
The Shuman Company

Ava Jamshidi
International Creative Management

Emile Gladstone
International Creative Management

Julien Thuan
United Talent Agency

Jake Wagner
Film Engine

Managers are one third of the representation triad (along with agents and attorneys.) Yet do you have a clear idea of exactly what they do? Many of us don’t. So this time out, Agent’s Hot Sheet has been shanghaied by five feisty reps from leading management companies. As you will see, managers may be the most crucial part of the team, especially for the emerging writer.

I describe managers as the guys who really do what we think agents do. They who do the heavy lifting — developing scripts through draft after draft, nursemaiding our rampaging writery neuroses and trumpeting us to the industry. FilmEngine’s Jake Wagner tells us an agent may have 80 clients while a manager may only have 20. “An agent will read a script once and make a decision if they can sell it or not, boom, one and done,” he says. “Managers will go through eight drafts.” Mandown Pictures’ Pouya Shahbazian agrees. “It’s about having more intimate relationships and a lot more personal attention than an agent has time to give.” Shahbazian, who is also an attorney, says that agents are pressured to book business nonstop and simply can’t be as hands-on as writers might hope. “But as a manager, I can take a flier on a young client who needs development work or wants more attention so I can get them to the place where their career will launch or we can place them with an agent.”

Yep, that right there is the key reason why a manager is crucial to have on the team — because the path to agency representation is often through management. Whether we want to believe it or not, nine times out of ten our material needs honing before it will be ready for presentation to the biz. “I will do 100 drafts with a client before I’ll even give it to an agent,” says A.B. Fischer from Shuman Co., who summarizes himself as part life coach, part development executive, part cheerleader and part business partner. “If an agent has 100 clients, there’s no way they’re able to dig into material like I can.” More often than not it is the manager who gets your material to the point where it’s really ready—as opposed to when you think it is ready — and then he gets you the agent and the attorney.

Any other differences between agents and managers? Well, managers can’t legally negotiate. “That’s what agents and lawyers are for,” says Fischer. “We strategize, and oftentimes we’ll be on the call if the agent is negotiating the deal. I like to be a part of that process and feel like I add value.” Magnet Management’s Jennie Frankel describes agencies as “an incoming call business, whereas managers tend to be an outgoing call business. When people have an assignment, they’re going to call CAA, ICM, UTA, Endeavor.” But Magnet is constantly making calls to get their clients out there. “In general, we’re supposed to be looking out more for long term, and I think in general, agents (are) more concerned with the short term.”

One way the agent/manager lines are blurred is that a lot of managers started out as agents. Why? The Arlook Group’s Richard Arlook says there are two reasons — voluntary and involuntary. “It’s very competitive at agencies. (Maybe you) reach a certain age, or you’re not bringing in a certain income, or maybe you got caught up in some political thing. In my case, it was purely voluntary. I was a partner, ran the Gersh motion picture lit department and had a home there for many years. In my case, it was a bit of agent burnout, wanting a different kind of lifestyle and a change in my life.”

But the big reason agents move into management? Money. By the talent agency act, agents cannot produce. Managers can, which can yield significant additional revenue. “I’m probably one of the few managers that didn’t get into managing to produce specifically,” says Fischer. “There are a lot of managers who look at it as a means to an end, because they want to be a producer.” Arlook notes that in his first year as a manager/producer, “I’ve got two documentaries in the can that were labors of love, executive produced my first feature and set up a few things at studios,” he says. Arlook feels that his coming aboard as producer can be an advantage to the client. “My role is to do everything I can to facilitate the project moving forward and to protect my clients’ needs. I don’t produce every client’s script. It’s really, am I added value? Have I helped in the development process?” Frankel says, “If there are ideas that we generate in-house as producers, then we’ll bring those ideas to clients. We’ll only produce when mutually agreed upon, and there’s no pressure to our clients to have us come on to their material. We’re not looking to glom onto anything. But a lot of them like it when we come on to produce. Should the writer be taken off the project, we’re there to hopefully prevent that from happening, and also to (protect) the original idea.”

Get the picture as to why a manager may be beneficial to your career? But then there’s that pesky extra 10%. When you add together agency fee (10%), attorney fees (5%), the WGA and taxes, you’re looking at 40% or more of your money vaporizing. And then you’re going slice another 10% off the pie? “That’s a legitimate argument,” says Fischer. “We think that we more than make up for that 10% in what we do for our clients. This business is about relationships, and you’re multiplying the number of relationships (you have access to) by the number of representatives that you have. If you’re getting an extra job a year, or getting you the job you want, that 10% is going to be more than made up for.”

Arlook notes that while a million-dollar writer may not want to give away the extra 10%, “if you’re somebody that has never earned any money and you’ve got maybe a young agent and you haven’t gotten your first break, (it helps to have) somebody else out there — that manager-producer screaming your name. Every time there’s a submission made on your behalf, it increases the odds that someone’s going to read it, someone’s going to buy it, someone’s going to send it to somebody else, that it will lead to a more successful career.” Wagner adds, “Oftentimes it seems to be more of a personal relationship as well, and to that end, you speak with your manager a lot of times more than your agent because you’re developing the material from an idea, doing multiple drafts and all that. You become close through the creative process, closer through notes and development, especially if you have that creative connection with someone. I think that’s worth 10%, certainly.”

So if many managers used to be agents, and managers do a lot of the heavy lifting, do you really need an agent? Our panelists say absolutely. “There are a lot of agents that act like managers and a lot of managers that act like agents,” says Frankel. “But the business just keeps getting tougher, and the more hands helping you on your team, generally, the better off you are.” Arlook notes that he has gone out with specs as a manager with no agent on board, but, “I really like to build bridges. I am perfectly capable and qualified to go sell a spec just as a manager and producer. I have the same relationships, and as long as all the clients have lawyers to negotiate, there’s no conflict.” But Arlook still prefers to bring an agent aboard. “If I’ve got (a great script) and there isn’t an agent involved, then I can reach out to an agent, and in the long term get the client a great agent to capitalize on the sale of the script, and then in turn maybe get that agent to send me a client, then it’s a win-win.”

Shahbazian concludes, “As a manager, you love everybody, and everybody loves you. You can have relationships with other managers, producers, executives, everyone across the board. For the most part, agents very rarely speak to their direct rivals. But as a manager, you can be everyone's friend." So befriend a manager today! You’ll be glad you did.

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5) MOVIE SHORTHAND = BAD

by Jim Cirile

I've been reading "Thor" since I was 5, and so I was really excited about the selection of Kenneth Branagh as the film's director. If anyone could really add depth to these characters, not to mention make Thor's "verily-and-forsooth" faux Middle English patois not laughable, it's Branagh. Turns out I was only partially right.

Minor spoiler alert!

Now let's just get right out there, I kind of liked the film. Captain Kirk's dad did a great job in the title role, radiating real star power and charm. Anthony Hopkins' gravitas indeed made the Asgardian elements of the story compelling when they could have been laughable. The fish out of water stuff on Earth was passable and generally fun, and some of the action was creative.

But I had two big problems with this flick. This first is: it was a nonstop CGI fest, from start to finish. Sure, we had some big sets and a few smartly designed practical elements, but the vast majority of the film looked fake. They spent $150 million (!) to make this thing, and yet the overload of enormous swooping CG vistas were a snoozeroo. To my eye, they never had the verisimilitude of a proper miniature set (although the Jotunheim ice world design was very effective), and the big Destroyer whom Thor fights in New Mexico, again, never believed it for a minute. Remember 29 years ago, in Star Trek II when we saw the Genesis Effect for the first time, how cool that was? Well, we've been so bludgeoned with similar visuals since then that, frankly, I don't care anymore. And they still look fake.

But that's not my biggest problem with Thor. That would be: movie shorthand. Movie shorthand means a plot event or characterization or subplot not fully developed in the script; but because we've seen a similar element in movies before and kind of know how it's supposed to go, the filmmakers just sort of sketch it in. They forget to do the heavy lifting necessary to really motivate the element and make it work.

In Thor, I'm specifically referring to character arc. Thor starts out as fat-headed and arrogant, so much so that his father banishes him from Asgard and sends him to Earth, powerless, to teach him a lesson! That's pretty bloody severe. But okay, so far so good. We've certainly seen this character arc in movies before, and thus we have a pretty good idea that over the course of Act II, Thor is going to learn a painful lesson in humility. And of course, that's exactly what happens.. sort of. Problem is, the transformation is not motivated by anything that happens in the script. It simply happens, and we're supposed to accept it because, well, it's movie shorthand.

Now what should have happened is something like what happened in As Good As It Gets and Groundhog Day. We have a charming jackass who by interacting with a feisty female, finally starts to get that he needs to change in order to be worthy of her. The arcs are handled masterfully in both those films. But in Thor, while Captain Kirk's dad interacts with, and grows fond of, Natalie Portman's quirky scientist character, we never really believe he's falling for her, and we certainly never believe he has to change his behavior in order to get anywhere with her. Instead what happens is: Thor abruptly, and with no tangible motivation, becomes gregarious and charming early in Act 2.

Huh? Wait. Where's the scene where he gets his dressing down from his fed-up costar? Where's the scene where he realizes he cannot achieve his objective UNLESS he changes? The mythological movie formula (which Thor in all other ways follows) dictates that the protagonist realize his Problem at the midpoint, but he cannot solve the problem yet. It's only in Act 3, after the black moment where the lead character is the farthest from his goals, that he finally assimilates all the knowledge he's picked up along the journey from interacting with the other characters, and realizes HOW he can change his approach -- in other words, arc. Once that change happens, the hero is finally able to solve his problem and achieve his goal and defeat the threat in Act 3. But Thor, eh, he don't need any of that. Simply landing on Earth and being stranded there with Natalie Portman, whom he doesn't really appear to have any real sparks with, changes him into a jovial sweetheart by the 30-minute mark.

Now one might argue that any deviation from formula is a good one, and I would agree in theory. But when your movie hits those formulaic waypoints (verily, with a loud clank) the rest of the way, and we do not believe that the character as depicted in Act 1 could so abruptly change his tune scant minutes later, well, that, my friends, is just crappy writing. AKA: movie shorthand.

Be aware of it and by Mjolnir, keep it far from your scripts, if you can :)

Jim C.

Writers on the Storm EARLY DEADLINE 6/1! Enter online now: http://writerstorm.com.

* * * * * * * * * *

6)

Yep, we stole the name of our letters column from "Cracked."

Michael Hedrick. writes: Hi Jim (and team), I just wanted to say thanks for all of your hard work on judging the Cyberspace Open competition again this year. I know it can't be easy reading through the 2000+ entries and providing individual input on each of them in the time frame you've set up. It's a great contest that keeps 'part time writers' like myself in mind.

Because I noticed some negative venting by other entrants on the blog, I wanted to counteroffer with some praise for the attentive feedback I've received, consistency of the contest rules and your ability to stay on target with the scheduled timelines -- within reason ;) It's has been very much appreciated. And trust me, I'm not being biased because I've made the final 3 :) I have entered the contest previously (not making it past the first round) but still looked forward to the rating/feedback, which is definitely worth the entry fee in itself.

I'm very excited to be viewing my scene online in the next few weeks and the unfolding results!

Jim C. replies: (sniffles) Thank you. Wow. Appreciation. (sniffle)

BC writes: Damn fine newsletter, Jim! Always great to read it. But it's sometimes frustrating. Historical drama is dead. Romantic comedy is dead. Western is dead. Mob is dead. Sports is dead. Dead is dead. What's left? Porn? And which one -- gay or straight?

Question: what advice can you give us about writing MOCKumentaries? Is it welcome "virgin territory" or "Christopher Guest's private domain -- so stay out"? I have scripts to "Bob Roberts" and am awaiting "Drop Dead Gorgeous" (great black comedy!) "Bob Roberts" breaks a lot of formatting rules plus loooong speeches -- totally in keeping with the genre and hey, he's Tim Robbins, so do as you please. Obviously, I'm writing a mockumentary which gives me some freedom, but will it be a dead end, like the mob film or the historical drama?

Jim C. replies: Thanks, great letter. Mockumentary is such a niche thing that it's not overexposed as a genre so as long as it's FUNNY and well-written, it could get you attention. Hell, Surf's Up was a mockumentary of sorts. Might be best done DIY however, since those types of movies tend to make small bank. Good luck!

Bill writes: Hi Jim, Received the Mark-up/Editing yesterday and finished making the corrections. I love this service as it is so helpful and I cut 5 pages off the script. (112 to 107). Also implemented some of the advice I received from the reader which was very helpful.

Jim C. replies: "Some"? ;) Nice going, Bill!

* * * * * * * * * *

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INTERVIEW: InkTip's Jerrol LeBaron

2011-06-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

by Jim Cirile

With the InkTip Pitch and Networking Summit II event rolling into Los Angeles (July 22nd and 23rd), we thought this would be a good time to check in with inkTip founder Jerrol LeBaron to find out what they've got in store for us all this time!

+++

Jim Cirile: Hi Jerrol! Thanks for taking the time. The title of the event has changed to Pitch and Networking Summit. Tell us a little about that.

Jerrol LeBaron: Hey Jim, well first off, thanks for the interview. Always love working with you. Yeah, the name did indeed change. It sort of had to, really. The event has just been organically growing into something much more than just a “pitching” marketplace, so we felt the name should reflect more of the event's dynamic. In fact, there is a film currently in pre-production right now as a direct result of the networking opportunities at the Summit.

JC: Is the venue the same as last years?

JL: Nope. Changed the venue too. Ha. After last year, it became pretty clear that we needed more space, so we’ve moved it to the Los Angeles Marriott in Burbank for 2011. Though the popularity of the Pitch and Networking Summit with execs went through the roof this year -- more than 40 studio execs and studio-related production companies are already among the 300-plus attending professionals, so we’re negotiating with some very unique and amazing Hollywood venues for 2012.

JC: What lessons did you guys take away from last year? What worked, and what didn't?

JL: Ah, OK, the tough questions. Well, our executives worked! Unlike any other pitching event, we don’t pay our execs to attend. We do this for a couple reasons, but first and foremost, we do it so the only execs attending are those who are seriously looking to buy scripts and hire writers. If I knew I was getting a hundred bucks and a free lunch, I’d be willing to hang out with others and listen to some pitches regardless of if I’m looking or not. We knew we were taking a risk since it’s been status quo up until now, but we felt as safe as we could because also unlike other events, we work with these executives year-round, not just one day out of the year. The executives know us and know that we have good writers... it's a mutual trust. And from just one Summit, we already have 2 films in pre-production. About 17 writers optioned their scripts, were hired or are in development with production companies from that one day alone. No pitching event has yielded a produced feature-length film, nor that many successes, so right there we know we’re getting the job done. Now it’s a matter of smoothing out any kinks.

Hurry -- registration closes June 17.

Return to Newsletter

Lettuce

2011-06-01T11:21:00.000-07:00

Yep, we stole the name of our letters column from "Cracked."

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