April has been a jam-packed, incredible month, filled with many blessings and surprises… and it’s not even over yet!
April began with a speaking engagement at the RT Convention about the importance of script coverage, and what to expect from your story analyst. Merrel Davis was on the panel with me, and we spoke to a full-house crowd of published, aspiring, and undiscovered writers and readers who were willing and eager to learn.
We were met with such a warm welcome thanks to, popular and sensational author, Viviana, who hosted and moderated our panel. She paid keen attention to novelists and how they too can benefit from a writing assessment. What the writers left the panel with was a solid understanding of the steps required to start their careers in screen / novel writing and why being open to feedback goes a long way once you achieve your goal of selling your work. We also made sure to get out the word on branding. Just because you’re a writer and you’re sitting at home hunting and pecking out your opus, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have a proper web and professional presence. It’s easily achieved and is so integral to your success.
Next we were on to the LA Comedy Shorts Film Festival, where Merrel and I were sponsors. It was more branding talk and networking with some very, very funny people and exceptionally talented filmmakers. The event was a 4-day non-stop, hilarity-filled extravaganza, with fantastic nighttime parties at the Kyoto Grand, ESPN Zone, and J Restaurant and Lounge. The liquor was ever-flowing, the attendees loads of fun and with every short we screened, it reignited my passion for making film.
As fate would have it, my recently reignited cinematic passion would get instantly put to good use, because Merrel and I are off to shoot a documentary pilot in Nebraska. It is an awesome time and a most exciting adventure traveling to a town of 292 people about 4 hours south of South Dekota. It’s a town that time forgot. The residents harken back to a way a life that is all but extinguished. It is a place where men work the land and rear their cattle to support their families. We’re going in search of the last bastion of the original American way of life and some sexy cowboys!
The last two weeks have been pre-pro central; work-shopping cameras, production meetings and shot lists. With cameras and crew locked in, we’re off to start location scouting / casting on 4000 acres of rich ranch land and local prep for our shoot.
Even though I can barely sleep for excitement about what’s coming in just a matter of days, beyond our awesome Midwestern Safari shoot, there’s loads to look forward to this summer!! GAPF in June, Screenwriter Karaoke NYC edition in July and much more! Stay tuned!
The CoverMyScript.com team has been working diligently on lots of super exciting events. And bless our lucky little hearts when today Merrel Davis and I stopped by over at the offices of the LA Comedy Shorts Films Festival.
We sat down with Artistic Director and festival co-founder Gary Anthony Williams (you may remember him from such comedy things as, everything) and along with Festival Director and co-founder, Jeannie Roshar – and I’ll admit it, we were originally just going to transcribe an interview, but our time with them so lively, it kinda turned into a podcast.
Listen below to Gary Anthony Williams and Jeannie Roshar talk the LA Comedy Shorts Film Festival
What comes in a Branding and Next Steps Consultation Package and why is it so freaking important?
When a filmmaker needs branding, it means they need to effectively set-themselves apart and above from their peers. Good writing and production is vitally important, but so much is how you present yourself in the context of your good work!
What’s the first thing anyone is going to do after they meet you or view your film? If they are interested, they’ll Google you or IMDB you. If somebody Googles your name now, is what comes up representative of you?
Take control.
The Branding and Next Steps Consultation includes:
1 hour Branding Consultation – how to leverage the brand of YOU and your body of work with Xandy Sussan and Merrel Davis
Website Strategies
Design Strategies
1 Design choice of business card, flier, movie poster, one sheet, or splash page
1 Inflatable ducky with eye-patch and fakey hipster mustachefinger tattoo (while supplies last)
Hope to see you all there, after all, who couldn’t have a great time when the most coveted prize is a horse’s ass!
Isn’t it the best when you wake up and find that your work is already done for you? It’s awesome, especially if you have a partner like mine. Since Merrel did such a great job of telling everyone what’s on the horizon for us, I figured I would just gank his post, and use it. Why do it twice, when it’s done perfectly the first time? So, here’s what’s going on in April:
HOLLYWOOD: From Page to Screen : Script Consultants Give You the Goods
Date: Wednesday April 6, 2011 01:00 pm – 02:00 pm
Event Type: Writer Industry Workshop
Location: The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, 404 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071
Phone: 213-624-1000
RT Booklovers convention is hosted by RTBookReview.com and is a focused community of romance writers across several sub-genres. Though I’m not working on the next “Twilight-killer” I do know what makes for good story, and I’m delighted to be joined by fellow panelists and writers Xandy Sussan (imdb), Melinda Snodgrass (imdb) and moderator Vivi Anna. We’ll sort you out. Romance lovers, hope to see you there.
CoverMyScript.com will be out at the LA COMEDY SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL:
The L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival and Screenplay Competition is dedicated to introducing the newest and hottest comedic talent to the industry, and helping them make the connections they need to take their careers to the next level.
In fact, the winners of the LA COMEDY SHORTS screenplay competition will also win a gracious CoverMyScript.com BRANDING AND NEXT STEPS CONSULTATION PACKAGE with myself and CoverMyScript.com owner, Xandy Sussan. Check it out, it’s going to be awesome, I mean Gary Anthony Williams people! He’s very pretty (source: bio.)
Script Frenzy is an international writing event in which participants take on the challenge of writing 100 pages of scripted material in the month of April.
Along with Merrel, I’ll be co-writing a stoner comedy script, based on an outline we hashed out (pardon the pun) last year. Script Frenzy is an excellent tool to keep yourself accountable. My goals with this draft are simple; get it on the page, beat it up, slap it around. Many other will be pushing themselves to hit the 100 page mark this April too. Follow me on twitter @covermyscript or Merrel at @uncompletedwork and the hash-tag #scriptfrenzy for my progress and others. You can also sign up and track your progress on ScriptFrenzy.org
Screenwriter Karaoke is going through some exciting changes in the coming months to include a NEW VENUE and NEW SPONSORS! Stay tuned for upcoming news about the when and where and what special conventions and conferences you’ll see Screenwriter Karaoke attend. If you’d like to suggest your favorite karaoke joint in Los Angeles, tweet at @SWKaraoke.
Netflix has got my best interest at heart. I know that now. Anytime I’m bored, or lazy or just trolling the channels looking for something fresh, there’s Netflix Streaming with a fantastic suggestion for me. Sunday’s offering: Visioneers.
I’m not a fan of “small films,” usually, because I find their story choices to be largely influenced by their aggressively poor budget. That’s just one of my filmmaking pet peeves. However, Visioneersisn’t like that all. While it was indeed a “small film,” it was well-crafted, visually inspired and has such a fresh twist on a bleak future universe that it was a total surprise delight. I loved it!
Visioneers is the simple story of a man, living in a dystopian corporate-owned tomorrow, which is only a mere hyperbolic breath from reflecting our actual reality. Zach Galifianakis stars as George, a middle-management worker at The Jeffers Company, the most influential company in the country. There it’s always a sunshiny “Jeffers Morning.” While The Jeffers Corp would have you believe everything is wonderful, there’s a palpable feeling that Big Brother is ruling with an iron hand. Under all those faux Jeffers smiles, are really worker bees not wanting to be wished into the cornfield. So they continue along searching for an ever-evasive happiness that will always allude them. Under the weight of having to pretend to be happy all the time, this society is suffering from such outrageous stress that it causes them to literally explode… It’s like Kopfgeschlagen, only with less Kevin Kline.
It was this quirky premise that caught my attention, it was the solid filmmaking that kept my attention. This movie didn’t find issue with the fact that they were small, they used it to their advantage. Since the future was close, the world so very similar, the sparse sets had a modern Brazil feel that instantly piqued my interest. In fact, the set design was fantastic. It really felt like a near modern tomorrow. It was because of this concerted visual style that it was so easy to believe this world could and probably would exist.
I’m not into Galifianakis’ man-child routine, so to see him play it straight, emotional, frustrated was compelling and powerful. Judy Greer, also known for her comedy, was delightfully dark and melancholy as his limp wife, too depressed to have her own ideas.
There was a bit of a let down for me with a couple of the sub-plots, (his relationship to George Washington, his absent son for example) but on the whole, I didn’t let the fact that it didn’t totally pay off for me ruin the entire experience. There were too many clever nuances, jokes, mannerisms and unexpected hand gestures for me to feel otherwise. This movie pretty well delivered. It was certainly worth the time it took to watch it on a Sunday morning, and it has stayed with me, like a haunting dream, since then. Plus, I’m a sucker for a movie that opens with an industrial film. So check out, Visioneers. It’s a Jeffers movie, for sure.
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