Screenwriting Tips and Tricks - Character Development
August 21, 2008
Comedy Film Movie Review - Pineapple Express
August 12, 2008
CC License photo credit: Jaypeg21
Movie Scripts Screenwriting Analysis - Chick flicks
July 17, 2008
photo credit: Bob Jagendorf
I NEED YOUR HELP - On the Lot filmmaking competition
February 23, 2007
I’m in the “On the Lot” filmmaking competition. http://films.thelot.com/films/23702 Please check out my entry and vote for me if you like it.
For those of you who don’t know about “On The Lot” yet it’s a reality television show where filmmakers compete in an “American Idol” type competition where 16 filmmakers compete to produce short films each week. The winning filmmaker gets a 1 million dollar directing contract with DreamWorks pictures. It’s being presented by Mark Burnett and Steven Spielberg.
Quest for a Video Blog - What would you like to see?
January 19, 2007
This website has become very popular over the last 6 months (shortly after I released Boy Who Never Slept) I get a lot of traffic and responses from my blog posts on movies and filmmaking and of course from my filmmaking endeavors which include my first movie release of BWNS.
Infact “Boy Who Never Slept” has become a keyword of sorts with lots of daily searches for it’s proper name. With the increased popularity (thank you readers) I’ve started to receive a steady stream of correspondence from filmmakers, fans, students and random surfers sending me everything from encouragement to, to story ideas, to movie clips and filmmaking advice
It’s so cool and I’m very happy that it’s generated this response. I’m going to be launching a video blog as soon as I can and I need YOUR INPUT. Read more
Two Short Stories from Another Writer / Artist named Solomon Rothman
January 19, 2007
I recently was able to correspond with Solomon Rothman and I’m not talking about myself. It turns out that a sculptor / artist / screenwriter/ actor / all around talented individual - shares my same name and is living in New York. His history is very impressive including being the former art director for Will Eisner Productions.
Recently we exchanged a few e-mails and after visiting his website (I had been there before and had remembered some very cool sculptures) I read two of his short stories.
” A Walk in the Snow” and “A Wake Up Call In The Bronx.” After reading both those storys my my reaction was (quoted from an e-mail to Sol)
” Wow!, they were extremely vivid and intense. Your rich descriptions, mixed with the perspective of yourself as a boy made them especially effective.”
So I suggest you read them, but you should note: they contain adult subject matter and aren’t for children. Sol describes “A Walk in the Snow” on his website as “This is a Christmas story… not the usual Christmas story. It’s seen through the eyes and heart of an abused little boy.”
[tags]Solomon Rothman, short stories[/tags]
Correspondence with a Teenage Screenwriter | New Writer Seeks Agent
November 26, 2006
The following is an e-mail message I received from a 17 year old screenwriter and my response.
Hi my name is Bridgette, i’m a 17 year old high school senior, and i wrote nine screenplays. I have completed and have copy written one of my screenplays. You were right about the screenplay agency. Can you help me or recommend a real agency i can send my work to, and agency that will accept new writers.
My response to the previous e-mail was:
Hi Bridgette,
There are a lot of agencies that accept new writers; of course you can’t just send them an unsolicited screenplay. The first step is the query letter or letter asking for permission to send them your script. As I haven’t sold any scripts as of yet, I ‘m not really qualified to give advice on pursuing the art of screenwriting, but with that said, I’ve read some excellent guides and resources on how to find an agent. Read more
Search for a Movie Script Agent | Sweet Taste of Rejection
November 18, 2006
I’m excited, I received my first rejection letter (actually an e-mail) in response to one of my movie script queries. Later on, I’ll explain the details of the steps involved in searching for an agent after you written a movie script, but for now you’re probably wondering why I’m so happy about receiving my first rejection.
The task of giving life to an idea, writing a story (movie script), and getting it successfully optioned and produced will take a large portion of your life and involves many different steps. If you look at the entire process and give it a timeline of say 3 years, it’s easy for everything to seem overwhelming and get stressed or frustrated at all the obstacles and difficulties inherent with achieving anything of value.
One way to stay focused is to celebrate the achievement of each major step as a success and fight the tendency of being overly optimistic. While Being optimistic is good, being overly optimistic leads to disapointment and frustration. One important step is the first rejection letter. What it means to me is that I made it to the marketing and ‘pitching ‘ stage. Read more
Horror Movie Script COMPLETED - Original Unproduced Screenplay
November 18, 2006
I finished my first movie script aimed at commercial distribution. It’s a horror script and in it’s final form ended up being 91 pages long.
I wrote the draft 7 months ago and since then have been rewriting, rewriting, rewriting and yes rewriting. It seems I spent about 5 times longer re-writing, polishing and editing then I actually spent developing the story and cranking out the first full draft. I wonder if most other screenwriters fit into this same category.
So what’s this movie script about?
Sex Objects and Examples of Bad Website Graphic Design
October 10, 2006
One year ago I wrote a brief article entitled “Examples of Bad Website Graphic Design” (copy of article on this website). Through article marketing, it was sydicated on a number of different sites including webdesign.org. I recieved the following comment on that article, which raises questions about my intended audience and woman as sexual objects. I’ve posted my reply below and I welcome your response.
Estela writes
Do you think you could you take off the comment about “People aren’t necessarily going to read the text of your website just because a girl in a bikini is on it” from your “Examples of Bad Web Site Graphic Design” article on webdesign.org? As a “girl” webdesigner, I feel like you aren’t addressing me in your article. Instead of contributing to the idea that women and girls are sex objects, why don’t you write to an audience of ALL people (male, female, etc)? That sentence sort of spoiled the rest of the article for me.
