1) Shorties
2) Test Your Screenwriting IQ by Steve Kaire
3) “Save the Cat!” Beat Sheet Weekend Review
4) Reaching the 'Summit': interview with InkTip founder Jerrol LeBaron
Hey, kids!
Okay, I admit it. I've thrown in the proverbial towel, capitulated, given up. After three years of doing our newsletter as an all-text thing, it's time to move into the late 20th century. Our newsletter is now online. Why? Well, problem is that every month we got letters from folks saying the newsletters were formatted weird or unreadable. We experimented with some of the big newsletter services but found their formats way too limiting. To me, this newsletter is like a mini magazine. I want all the articles to run as long as they need to run without needing to break them into bite-sized portions to accommodate some arbitrary newsletter style sheet.
So our monthly newsletter is now on our blog. This ensures everyone can read it, and (gasp) allows us to actually include photos (see, that's me on the left,) art, bolding and underlining and other things we could not do in text-only. So I hope you guys like this move. Let me know if anyone has any difficulty reading any of this (though we'll likely not do anything about it.)It is now September, and I know many of you slacked this summer. Quite a few of you told me you were taking a "chillax" break from writing (for those of you not down with the lingo of the young'uns, that means a refrigerated hand axe.) Well, I'm here to say: get off your duffs! Your careers are not going to launch themselves. And while I totally get the need to recharge the batteries, there's also a time to become cantankerous and neurotic, to close the blinds, wall off from the rest of the world and submerge back into your art. That time is now. Believe me, I know it's the easiest thing in the world to continue the no-productivity streak once you get rolling. Things like job, income, kids, marriage, all that crap that takes valuable time away from your screenwriting, it has a way of suddenly seeming "important." We start to feel like we can't possibly make time to write, just because our significant other is threatening to leave if they don't get some of your time. Ridiculous! Being a screenwriter is about sacrifice. You knew this going in. It means, among other things:
- Spending lots of money on books, DVDs, coverage, pitch fests, classes, online postings, etc.
- Devoting free time to "writing" that could be better spent watching Sportscenter or playing online poker
- About a decade, sometimes more, of throwing sh** against the wall before you get any traction
- Suffering through meaningless day jobs and giving up potential real careers so as to focus on writing
- Endless amounts of butt-pummeling rejection
All of which is to say: most of us probably knew going in that this was going to suck. Yet we all selected this life anyway, because we're masochists or idiots or geniuses, because we feel we can tell stories worth being told, that we've got the goods to keep audiences in their seats, and that despite the endless smackdowns, we will always pop right back up again like a freakin' inflato-clown punching bag, fueled by confidence that someday, somehow, our talent will prevail despite constant reassurances otherwise. And that is what makes us freaking special.
So: suck it up and get back to work! Dig into that rewrite you've been avoiding, beat out that outline, and get your groove back, Stella. The world will reward you -- oh, in about ten or 15 years. Oh, and if you've guessed that this screed is but a thinly veiled excuse to try to motivate my own lazy ass into gear -- you are absolutely right ;)
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We've got some cool articles for you all this time out, including the inaugural column from Hollywood high-concept guru Steve Kaire. We sent one of our team to the Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! Beat Sheet weekend, and we've got the deets and a review. We've got the winners of the Spring Cyberspace Open and updates on the upcoming Cybersapce Open Fall 2010. Last but not least, we've got the full skinny on the upcoming inkTip Pitch Summit and an exclusive interview with inkTip founder Jerrol LeBaron. It's all coming at you... right now.
Onward and downward!
Jim Cirile
Founder, Coverage, Ink
The Industry Experts
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1)
CYBERSPACE OPEN WINNERS. Alas, we didn't get to let all of you know about the voting of the top 3 Spring Cyberspace Open scenes since it happened between newsletter cycles. (Hopefully all of you heard about the voting through the Creative Screenwriting blasts. We here at CI don't do blasts.) But the voting has been closed (but you can still watch the top three scenes right here.) Congrats again to top three finalists Ian Murillo, Lisa Scott and Dries Coomans. The votes have been tallied, and... drum roll, please...
First Place
Dries Coomans – Undesirables - Sao Paulo, Brazil
Second Place
Lisa Scott - Breach of Confidence - Psychiatric Office
Third Place
Ian Murillo - Untitled - Vietnam War setting
Coomans' gritty and gripping scene depicting a troubled, homeless Brazilian teenager who inadvertently kills a man resonated with many of you. Congratulations to all three finalists, and, Dries, you will soon be $3,000 richer. Nice work!
Think you can do better? Well, soon you'll get the chance to step up, because the Open is coming around again next month (registration begins mid-October.) The dates have not been finalized yet, but we'll let you know via newsletter and blog updates as soon as everything has been ironed out.
GOOD, "HARD" NEWS. Screenwriter Patrick Lewis just let us know his screenplay THE HARD YARDS just made the Scriptapalooza top 100! Patrick sends his thanks to CI reader JT for his help. "JT went out of the way to write 20 full pages of notes - well beyond what was expected. He approached my script with passion which is exactly what you need from this kind of a service. Based SOLELY on his notes, I went about making as many changes as I could to align it with his sentiments. Long story short, this draft made it into this years top 100 Semi-finalists for Scriptapalooza - plucked from obscurity you man helped me give it the focus it needed." Hope you've been resting your leg up, Patrick, because you're going to kick a lot of ass. Nice work!
NOT TO BE OUTDONE...On the TV side, Susan J. Boyer's MAD MEN spec "Good Mourning" scored a Strong Consider/Strong Consider, and once again our blog post about it led to a request from Roar, who is reading it now. Way to go, you guys!
BEST CONTEST WITH NO PRIZES -- PLUS RAFFLE! Why do we love TrackingB.com ? Because they are the real deal --a real-life industry tracking board used by actual industry types, that you can subscribe to. What the heck is the point of that? Well, you're all students of the business, right? (You'd better be if you want to have a chance in Hollywood.) Every time there's any sort of literary activity in town, from specs going out to open assignments to executive shuffles, it hits the tracking boards. As a fly on the wall, you will glean potentially invaluable insider information. Also very useful for finding out if there is already a project in development similar to the one you were about to begin! And they have a contest. No cash prizes or seminars or anything like that. Instead, their top picks get read by an amazing panel of industry heavyweights. Who needs a cash prize when what we really want is access, right? TrackingB's "The Insider" says: "We've lined up our strongest industry panel yet (Bruckheimer Films, Imagine, Mike Esola-WME, etc.), and all three of our finalists last year got repped out of it.") Check 'em out right here.
Hey, how about a chance to enter the TrackingB.com contest for free? We're raffling off one free entry to CI newsletter readers. Just e-mail us at info@coverageink.com and put TRACKINGB in the subject line (and your name and contact info in the body of the mail.) We'll randomly draw one winner and announce it next month!
BUILDING TO CRESS-CENDO. Five years ago, Cressandra Thibodeaux took the top prize in the CS Open live writing tournament. She's back in her native Houston, teaching screenwriting (using examples from the CS Open!) She's also opened her own microcinema -- a theater specializing in low-budget and indie films. Check out this article about Cress and her 14 Pews Cinema right here. She has big plans, including launching a festival promoting films with Latino and local content. If you've got a great indie film, especially one with Texas or Latino themes, snail mail a DVD to: Cressandra Thibodeaux, 14 Pews, 800 Aurora Street, Houston, Texas 77009.
JUST THE FLAX, MAN WINNER. Last month we raffled off leading screenplay consultant Robert Flaxman's 90-minute DVD “Seducing the Studio Reader." Over seventy of you responded, and the randomly chosen winner (we used random.org's random number generator) is... JON BRADFORD! Congrats, Jon! Robert will be sending your DVD right out to you. Holler back after you watch it and let us know what you think.
RATING THE PITCH FESTS. We're doing a quick survey to gauge your opinions on the various pitch festivals. Please let us know if you've attended/utilized any of these below and how you feel about them. We will use this data in an upcoming article for Script magazine. Thanks for your time!
Please rate the following pitch fests/pitch services from 0 to 5 (5 being best). If you did not attend an event/use this service, please leave it blank. Cut and paste it into a mail and send back to us at info@coverageink.com by 10-1-10 and put SURVEY in the subject line. Thanks!
1) Golden Pitch Festival (Screenwriting Expo)
_____ Organization
_____ Customer Service
_____ Value
_____ Overall Experience
_____ Results
2) Great American Pitchfest/Great Canadian Pitchfest
_____ Organization
_____ Customer Service
_____ Value
_____ Overall Experience
_____ Results
3) Hollywood Pitch Festival (Fade In)
_____ Organization
_____ Customer Service
_____ Value
_____ Overall Experience
_____ Results
4) inkTip Pitch Summit
_____ Organization
_____ Customer Service
_____ Value
_____ Overall Experience
_____ Results
5) Virtual Pitchfest
_____ Organization
_____ Customer Service
_____ Value
_____ Overall Experience
_____ Results
6) Pitch Q
_____ Organization
_____ Customer Service
_____ Value
_____ Overall Experience
_____ Results
Please provide us with any specific comments or feedback on any of these events or services, or any others you may have attended. Thank you!
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2) TEST YOUR SCREENWRITING IQ (Part 1)
by Steve Kaire
We are pleased to present a new monthly column by Hollywood's resident high-concept guru Steve Kaire. (We reviewed Kaire's audio CD last month -- check it out right here. With eight studio sales under his belt and decades of experience in the biz, Kaire knows whereof he speaks. Enjoy! --Jim Cirile
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True or False:
1. Literary agents are eager to add new writers to their client list.
2. Options are generally a good deal for screenwriters.
False. Options are a bad deal for writers. For very little money, the writer can’t pitch his project to anyone for the length of the option. And when the option is up, the company optioning the material has usually failed to set up the project and years have been wasted.
3. Half the members of the Writer’s Guild earn no income from their writing each year.
Unfortunately, that is true.
4. High Concept is any big budget film.
That’s false. High Concept is not related to budgets at all. A "high concept" is an original story idea with mass appeal that can be pitched in a few sentences.
5. A rejected screenplay can be resubmitted to the same company after revisions.
False. You have only one shot with each company you submit to.
6. Dramas are one of the most difficult genres to sell.
True. Dramas are a difficult sell because they are execution-driven, rather than pitch-driven. You have to read the scripts to appreciate them.
7. Verbal contracts are just as enforceable as written contracts.
False. Verbal agreements are legal contracts, but it comes down to one person's word against another. Get everything in writing so there are no misunderstandings.
8. There is a lot of theft of material in Hollywood.
False. Contrary to public opinion, theft of material does happen, but it occurs far less frequently than people think. It’s much cheaper to acquire material legally than steal it, avoiding lawsuits and bad publicity.
9. The writing and rewriting of a screenplay is generally a one to two-year investment of time.
Very true.
10. Never sign a release form because you are signing your rights away.
False. Signing release forms is sometimes the only way to get your material read by production companies and studios.
Any of these shake up your pre-conceived notions? Check out Part 2, coming next month right here on the CI blog/newsletter!
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Steve Kaire 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 & Sell to Hollywood” is available on his website along with original articles, contests and plenty of other information of use to writers. HighConceptScreenwriting.com
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3) SO MANY CATS TO SAVE. SO LITTLE TIME.
SAVE THE CAT! BEAT SHEET WORKSHOP REVIEW
by Ebony Jones
I recently took advantage of the fascinating opportunity to take part in Blake Snyder's Save the Cat! Beat Sheet Weekend Workshop. If I had to come up with a simple and poignant way to describe it, I'd call it the only workshop that you'll ever find in Hollywood that encourages your story's individuality. Remember that scene in the The Wall when the kids are on a conveyor belt and ground up in the meat grinder only to resurface as “clones” of one another? Well, I have been to other screenwriting workshops that reeked of the meat factory stench. That's definitely not the experience of The Beat Sheet Workshop.
For two straight days (and eight to nine hours a day), you're in a room with nine other people pouring out all the mental energy you have left to get them to care about your script. Weeks before, as I read Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat! Strikes Back", wherein he discussed his workshops, I thought to myself that I could never attend one of these. I had envisioned myself in this room with these amazing writers, squirming in my seat plotting out my exit strategy instead of my script. I just knew I'd be on the outside looking in on some secret society of the screenwriting world. My fears were proven wrong.
With Blake Snyder's passing in 2009, the workshops are now lead by the very thorough and knowledgeable Jose Silerio. He wasn't fumbling through notes, he didn't preach to us, and he wasn't trying to be Blake. He presented the ideas to us in the best way that he knew them. And his thought processes with every topic were honest and raw. I could tell that Blake's ideas were ingrained in Jose's heart.
Jose started out by telling us that it didn't matter whether we were novices or professionals, every one of us was starting from the same blank page. And that's an important attitude to have when you come in. Amongst the group, the common want at the start of the workshop was to just finish a script. But the common need at the end was to go forth and write the best screenplay we could write. There was no longer any doubt that we'd finish it.
On day one, all you need to bring in the door is one or two (I'd say two at the most) ideas. And the goal of day one is just the logline and the three most important parts of the beat sheet (the opening image, the midpoint, and final image). On day two, the goal is to beat out all 15 beats with your chosen logline. About an hour was spent per story idea to hopefully help the screenwriter get the story to the next step of 40 cards and then the 110 screenplay pages. No one was rushed during the discussion sessions. The conversations flowed from one to the next. Even if an idea didn’t seem like it was going to work, nine others put our heads together to come up with solutions. There was no way we were letting anyone’s potential screenplay fall to the wayside. As Blake said in Save the Cat! Strikes Back, most screenplays, even the bad ones, can be recovered with the 15 beats and 40 cards.
I must explain my experience with the The Beat Sheet Workshop on an emotional level. My father is a recovered alcoholic. I once asked him after his 30-day stint in rehab, what did his world look like when he left that place? He said that when you're in rehab, you're surrounded by people that are just like you. You've all made the same mistakes. And you're all there to make systematic changes so that the rest of your life's story isn't so cloudy. But the most important thing, he said, was that everyone in rehab cares just as much about your sobriety as you do. So you take those 12 steps and you tailor them to your life's story. And though you are guaranteed different outcomes from the guy or girl that sat next to you in rehab, both stories will be brilliant. Recovery is brilliant, but the first steps out of rehab leave you panicked and afraid of the world on the outside.
When I walked out of the workshop on the last day, I felt exactly the same as my father described. Jose, Bruce, Carran, David, Doug, Karen, Rick, Rebecca and Stephen were the helpers that aided the recovery of my script. But we all came in with the same ailments of unstructured and horrible storytelling. And Jose, with Blake’s words of wisdom, took us through those 15 beats. On day one, there were some fears amongst us all that the outcomes would be the same since we were working with the same base formula. But by day two, we proved ourselves wrong because our efforts led to some brilliant and diverse script recoveries with the help of the same 15 beats.
Needless to say, I recommend a Beat Sheet Workshop with Jose. Know in your heart that you will not fail when it's time to go and you step out those doors to write that script. Your new comrades will be there if you fall off beat and need a helping hand to get back on track. Maybe even ask one of them, whoever you felt really “got” your story, to be your guide from page 1 Fade In: through page 110 Fade Out, and then present it to whole group again. Trust me -- they won't ask you for more than just movie tickets to the premiere. And that's a promise you want and need to keep.
Thank you, Blake and Jose, for the experience and support system.
Ebony Jones is a 2001 graduate of Cornell University's School of Hospitality with a degree in business communications. She has completed her first unpublished novel "Swimming in Blue Drink" as well as a short story, “When Ariel Lost Her Voice”. She is finally going to tackle restructuring the dramatic screenplay she's been working on titled “When Momma Dies”. * * * * * * * * * *
4) REACHING THE "SUMMIT"
Interview with inkTip's JERROL LeBARON
by Jim Cirile
Jerrol LeBaron is the founder of inkTip (www.inkTip.com,) the leading site for screenwriters to post their material online. After over a decade of success stories, inkTip is now launching the inkTip Pitch Summit in Los Angeles September 25th and 26th. Registration closes THIS FRIDAY 9-17, so this is your last chance to get in on this event. We spoke to LeBaron about how and why he intends Pitch Summit to set a new high bar for pitch festivals. Meeting 35 producers in a single day? LeBaron says it can happen. Read on...
Jim Cirile: Hi, Jerrol. Can you tell us a little bit about your background and how you got the idea for inkTip?
JC: It wasn’t originally called inkTip, right?
JL: Right. The first name was Writers Script Network. There was another name similar to ours, so we ended up changing it to inkTip, which certainly was a lot easier to type out. Our focus really has been getting exposure to writers and getting results. We average four screenplays a week that are either sold or optioned or the writer’s gotten hired or gained representation. We get about 20 movies made a year. Our concentration is on results.
JC: I think a lot of people don’t understand that there are tiers within the producing community. There’s the big high-up mucky-mucks who are serviced by agents and managers, and then there’s everybody else who don’t necessarily have that same level of access to the CAA scripts that are going out. But those are the guys who are getting deals done, getting movies made, who still have to prove themselves. How did you go about contacting all these producers in the first place to tell them, hey, check our site out?
JL: I didn’t personally have the contacts in the industry to start it off. It was just a lot of legwork -- calling them, meeting with them, doing whatever it takes to get them to see that this is something that will work for them.
JC: When you got started, the internet itself was still pretty new.
JL: That’s right. The internet was unproven at the time. (In the beginning,) of the thousands of production companies out there, maybe 150 actually used the internet to search for screenplays. Now we’ve got about 2,000. It was slow going (laughs.) We’ve been going for a little over ten years now.
JC: So it’s proven now, it’s viable and you have an enviable success record. Why move into pitch fests?
JL: The more we expand, the more producers find out about us. By doing Pitch Summit, it’s inevitable that other producers will find out about us. We’re having industry professionals that we’ve never had contact with who are very qualified coming aboard.
JC: So the Pitch Summit cross-promotes the regular site too, which is good news for everybody.
JL: Right. I am always looking for ways to get better exposure for writers on inkTip. But in addition to that, I saw in the various pitch events that the results weren’t as abundant as I would like. If you go to a pitch event and you’re only able to pitch five or eight production companies, that is just not enough. So my focus is increasing the numbers. You have much better odds if you’re able to see 30 or 35 production companies or agencies.
JC: How can people get 30-plus meetings in a single day?
JL: It’s simple. We’ve made our pitch day a little bit longer, but at the same time, we’ve greatly reduced the ratio. 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. Each pitch session is five minutes. Of course there are going to be lines with some of them, but we’re greatly reducing the ratio so that you have the opportunity to pitch 30, 35 companies.
JC: How do you get these companies to show up?
JL: The same way any other pitch fest does -- you pay ‘em a fee. Now one (incentive for them) is that we’re only allowing writers that have completed, polished screenplays. That’s one thing that’s a real turn-off for production companies is that they go to a pitch event, and they end up sitting with someone who’s never even written a screenplay and who’s got their pitch on a napkin. That’s maybe slightly exaggerated, but not much.
JC: That’s great to hear, because whenever I ask industry friends about pitch fests, you get that sort of collective groan, because they know most of the pitches are going to be amateur hour. So how do you screen the writers?
JL: A lot of the screenplays are already on our site, but we have a lot of other writers who’ve never used (inkTip.com,) and we see their screenplay. I’m not saying we read them through, but we verify they have a completed screenplay. We want our producers and agents to know that they’re only going to get people who have completed, polished screenplays. That’s why we have companies contacting us now, whom we never reached out to, who’ve heard about the Pitch Summit and want to be a part of it.
JC: This is a massive undertaking. Just the rental of the Universal Sheraton ballroom must cost a fortune. This is a huge dice-roll for you guys, isn’t it?
JL: The nail-biting is ongoing (laughs.) Fortunately because of inkTip, we already have access to lots of producers and writers.
JC: Thanks so much for taking the time, Jerrol. Any final advice for folks who are thinking of attending Pitch Summit?
JL: The best way for people to maximize their chances is, we’re going to have studio companies there and big agencies. But if you only look for them, but those folks already have a lot of clientele and projects, and if they already have something similar to that, there’s no reason for them to look at a writer. What I would suggest is that you pitch whoever you can. Go to the smallest lines. The chance of getting recognized by the big guys is much more slight than by somebody who doesn’t have the roster.
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Thanks for reading! Questions? Comments? Shoot us an e-mail at info@coverageink.com.
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