HOLLYWOODSCRIPT.COM NEWSLETTER
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Craig Kellem
Mar 25, 2015, 1:19:13 PM3/25/15
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HOLLYWOODSCRIPT.COM NEWSLETTER
Welcome to the latest edition of the HOLLYWOODSCRIPT.COM NEWSLETTER,
which is published by script consultants Craig Kellem, Judy Kellem
http://www.hollywoodscript.com
If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, please reply to this
E-Mail and put the word "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.
The purpose of this newsletter is to share information, ideas etc.
concerning the fascinating (and elusive) world of screenwriting.
__________
Hi Folks, it’s been a while. Besides being busy as can be with our biz
and our lives, we’ve also been working hard on a book about
screenwriting. More about that very soon.
FYI, we’ve made a change regarding our screenwriting contest. It will
now be Bi-Monthly, every 2 months rather than every month. This is
more realistic in finding solid winners and will also make it easier
for us to help push the winning projects by creating some valuable
wiggle room with industry contacts, wherein we can occasionally make
calls on the fly. We did this with someone recently who was about to
win the contest –but things started to happen for her to preempt this!
“I first worked with Craig when I sent him a batch of my comedy
sketches. We worked well together and he actually sent them to an
agent for me who liked them enough to invite me to send him my first
screenplay, if I ever decided to write one. I quickly decided it would
be stupid not to write a screenplay. With Craig and Judy’s approach it
was much less daunting than I'd imagined, and actually, quite fun.
Thanks to his and Judy’s close guidance the story seemed to write
itself.
Craig is not only passionate and forthright, he's also very current
and open-minded, which really kept the creativity flowing throughout
the process. I can say the same of my experience working with Judy.
Judy's insights are crystal clear, smart and insightful, not to
mention, inspirational.
And because I was fortunate to cross paths with both Judy and Craig,
my first script and subsequent TV pilot have caught the attention of
that agent and then some. In fact, the screenplay has reached a
promising level on the ladder up since the agent thought so much of it
that he partnered up on it with another top agent who reps a very
successful producer/writer/director in the hopes of selling it via a
package.
Talk about good news! Thanks to the Kellems and their truly unique
approach to scriptwriting and consulting, I feel I've found my calling
and intend to continue onward... and hopefully upward!”
Kelly Beck-Byrnes
___________________________
LOVE THIS KIND OF MAIL
Hi Craig,
We finally finished shooting our movie "Why Do Men Cheat" (in Spanish
the title is "Quiero Ser Fiel"). It’s directed by Joe Menendez from
LA. We used Latin American stars and Sony is considering to buy the
US$2.0M budget movie.
We already sold the film to Star Castle from MEXICO and we have a big
opening in Mexico with more than 200 theaters projecting the film. We
already sold the rights to HBO as well and have a big premier in
COLOMBIA with more than 100 theaters and all CENTRAL AMERICA and we
continuing working PERU AND CHILE..
You are definitely part of this. I think that I owe you all this and
my career as screenwriter.
Thanks so much
Leonardo
Below is the IMDB link and a link to the trailer.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3011934/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peM0oP6QWPw
__________________________
HOT STUFF
Last year when a veteran with quite a story called and told us about
harrowing experiences he had while in the service we could tell it was
a doozy. Thinking it very worthy, we directed him toward the right
Hollywood reps for a project of this kind. We’re happy to say that the
book version has been published by Simon and Schuster (Jan. 2015).
It's called Murder at Camp Delta, written by Joe Hickman. We expect to
see it on the screen as well before long.
_________________________
YOU’LL LOVE THIS!! VERY HANDY. (THANX SO MUCH TO SIMPLYSCRIPT.COM FOR
ALLOWING US TO USE IT IN OUR NEWSLETTER).
Writer's Resources - Glossary of Terms - This is a list of terms
seen in screenplays, films, and on this web page. If you see a term
you didn't recognize or understand, it's hopefully in this list.
A
Action
The scene description, character movement, and sounds as described in
a screenplay.
For example: The sounds of TYPING rise above all the rest as MAX sits
at his computer writing his essay. He stops to sigh. Looks at what
he's written. Reaches over to the mouse. Highlights it all. And erases
it.
AERIAL SHOT
Use only when necessary. This suggests a shot be taken from a plane or
helicopter (not a crane). For example, if a scene takes place on a
tall building, you may want to have an aerial shot of the floor the
action takes place on.
ANGLE ON
A type of shot. This usually occurs in scenes taking place in large settings.
For example: if you're at a playground and little Billy is playing in
the grass while his sister Jenny is playing on the structure. To get
from a detail shot of Billy playing to Jenny playing you'd use "ANGLE
ON STRUCTURE" to suggest a new shot featuring Jenny. You're still in
the same location, but the director knows to point the camera a
different direction.
Note: this is often implied by simple scene description. Use ANGLE ON
with good purpose.
B
Beat
Many scripts will use the parenthetical "(beat)" to interrupt a line
of dialog. A "beat" suggests the actor should pause a moment, in
silence, before continuing the scene. "Beats" are often
interchangeable with ellipses "..."
b.g. (background)
Used to describe anything occuring in a rear plane of action (the
background as opposed to the main action or attention is focused in
the foreground). Always use this term in lower case initials or
written in full ("background"). For example: two people talk as Bill
and Ted fight in the b.g.
Character
In a screenplay, the name appears in all caps the first time a
character is introduced in the "Action." The character's name can then
be written normally, in the action, the rest of the script.
For Example: The limo pulls up to the curb. DAISY, an elderly woman
sits in the car as MORGAN, the driver, steps out and opens the door
for her. Daisy is dressed in evening-wear, ready for an Opera.
Character's names always appear in all CAPS when speaking. For proper
margins, see the Format page. For Example:
DAISY
You've been a darling, Morgan. Here's twenty dollars.
CLOSE ON
See also INSERT and Shot.
CLOSE ON is a shot description that strongly suggests a close-up on
some object, action, or person (an expressive body part such as the
face, or a fist).
May also be seen as CLOSEUP or CLOSE SHOT
CLOSER ANGLE
We move in for a new angle nearer to the subject. This is more of an
editing term, but can be mentioned in the screenplay when necessary.
CONTINUOUS
Sometimes, instead of DAY or NIGHT at the end of a SLUGLINE/Location
Description, you'll see CONTINUOUS. Basically, continuous refers to
action that moves from one location to another without any
interruptions in time. For example, in an action movie, the hero may
run from the airport terminal into a parking garage. The sequence may
include cuts, but the audience would perceive the action as a
continuous sequence of events from the terminal to the lobby to the
street to the garage to the second floor to a car etc. CONTINUOUS is
generally optional in writing and cn be dropped altogether. For
Example...
INT. AIRPORT LOBBY - DAY
JANET looks over her shoulder. The MEN IN BLACK are still after her,
toppling innocent passersby and sending luggage flying across the
linoleum floor. Janet faces forward again and nearly runs smack into
a nun. She apologizes wordlessly, glances back one last time before
pushing through the glass doors.
EXT. STREET - CONTINUOUS
Janet stumbles to the curb, stopping short of the honking traffic
-- Los Angeles drivers. As a bus flies by, blasting her with wind, she
steps out into traffic. A car SWERVES to avoid her! She GASPS, looks
back. The men in black are there.
FLASH
Janet gets shot in the back by the men in black.
BACK TO SCENE
She shakes off the thought and hops up onto the curb opposite the
airport. She enters the parking garage.
INT. PARKING GARAGE - CONTINUOUS
BANG! A shot RICOCHETS into the garage. Janet SHRIEKS, her steps
faltering momentarily, but she recovers.
EXT. STREET
The men in black pocket their guns and enter the parking structure.
INT. PARKING GARAGE
They glance around. No one else is in sight. The men nod to each
other and draw their guns. FOOTSTEPS in the distance. One of the men
points
at the stairs.
SECOND STORY
Janet, breathing heavily, makes her way to her car...
As you can see, I used CONTINUOUS for some of the sluglines (EXT.
STREET - CONTINUOUS) and dropped it for others (INT. PARKING GARAGE).
And it all represents no time passing between changes in location.
CRAWL
This is a term used for superimposed titles or text intended to move
across on screen.
CROSSFADE:
This is like a "Fade to black then Fade to next scene." In other
words, as one scene fades out, a moment of black interrupts before the
next scene fades in. It is not to be confused with DISSOLVE, since
CROSSFADE always involves a black or blank screen. (Note: I'm not sure
if this term is still in common use)
CUT TO:
The most simple and common transition. Since this transition is
implied by a change of scene, it may be used sparingly to help
intensify character changes and emotional shifts. The transition
describes a change of scene over the course of one frame.
CLICK FOR MORE
http://www.hollywoodscript.com/ScriptTerms
_________________________
CLASS ACT
Hi Craig,
Commentary from the most recent Black List evaluation:
“At its core, this script is pretty fantastic. It has the conceptual
grounding of an exceptional film. The focus on true events (the
Vietnam War flashbacks, the rebellions in Greece in the 1970s, the
9/11 reference) gives the script a foundation that helps to ground the
reader in the story. The connection between all of these historical
events is brilliantly depicted and helps the reader to focus in on the
big issues at hand outside of the O’Shea/Patcher dilemma. The writer
does a fantastic job with the character of the antagonist. A drunk for
much of the script, the reader is quick to dislike his manipulative
nature, yet he still manages to make compelling and interesting
arguments, despite his madness. His language and diction is very
distinct and clearly different from that of his associates. He is
proper and highly selective of his word choice, which is purposefully
off-putting to those around him who don’t understand his obsession
with such matters. The setting for much of the narrative is important
to the story as well. By placing this school group on a cruise ship
around the Greek islands, the writer isolates them from much of the
world for long periods of time wherein they are forced to interact
with one another and play off of each other’s strengths and weaknesses
in a closed environment.... it could be a great buy for a studio.
Filled with action and concepts that are presently relevant, this
script could be a hit. The best route would be to try to sell it with
talent attachments. If the writer can get an experienced director
(particularly someone with an action film or two under his/her belt)
attached to the script, the lead roles will likely follow quickly.
Talent will be attracted to the two strong male roles. Once talent has
been attached, the script will hopefully find a home at a studio that
can help market it in such a way that it reaches both the market that
is interested in the action elements as well as the market that will
be drawn to the higher concept material.”
This reviewer gives it a 7 – an earlier review gave it an 8, which got
it included on the site’s list of top scripts.
Thanks again – wouldn’t be conveying this good news if not for all
your hard work and input.
Steve Settle
________________________
A VERY COOL ARTICLE THAT SOMEONE RECENTLY SENT US!
What every writer needs to succeed
NOAH BERLATSKY
Sure, practice and research are important. But there's something else
that might matter even more: Luck
The Internet is filled with writing, and, as an inevitable corollary,
it is filled with advice on how to be a successful writer. Poke around
and you can get John Green to explain to you that the secret of
writing YA fiction is to find “emotional truth.” You can get Nicholas
Sparks to tell you that “becoming successful in anything requires
perseverance.” More practically, you can find Alyssa Rosenberg
explaining that to be a blogger/cultural journalist, you need to “read
everything and everyone on your subject. If you’re a day late on an
old idea, you’re not of any use.” You can even find Rilke declaring
that, “Nobody can advise you and help you, nobody.” Which seems a bit
overdramatic, but that’s poets for you.
In short, if you want to know how to be a successful writer, there is
specific advice, general advice, logistical advice and spiritual
advice. But in all this advice, the most important element, the one,
true, absolute key to personal, financial, aesthetic and every other
kind of success as a writer, is invariably left out. Work ethic,
knowledge, skill, perseverance — none of them is as important as the
one, single most important thing.
Which would be luck.
Nobody likes to talk about luck. If you’re a successful writer, you,
of course, like to think that you got where you got by work and skill,
grit and talent. Similarly, if you are trying to break into writing,
you want to know what you can do and how you can do it. You don’t want
to be told that, to some fairly consequential degree, your success, or
lack thereof, is beyond your control.
But whether folks want to focus on it or not, the fact remains that,
as a writer of middling stature, both my successes and failures have
had as much to do with happenstance as with my work ethic or my
talent. For instance, way back in 2008, I started to freelance for a
brand spanking new website called Culture 11 — a much-buzzed venture
that had ambitions to be a conservative-centrist alternative to Salon.
I had a great relationship with my editor (the lovely Peter Suderman),
and in some alternative universe, maybe, possibly, if everything had
gone right I could have ended up as a recognizable byline at a hip
expanding venture, linked to and admired far and wide. But, alas, the
housing bubble collapsed, the website folded, and I went back to
climbing from complete obscurity to semi-obscurity, rather than
vaulting into relevance.
It’s easier, perhaps, to invent ways in which things might have gone
better than it is to imagine how they could have been worse. But one
of my first breaks came when I placed a piece at the Comics Journal.
The essay had been sitting around gathering dust until the old editor
left and the new editor, Dirk Deppey, saw it and got in touch with me.
A lot of my early exposure is based on the fairly arbitrary fact that
one person happened to like my work. It’s hard to see that as some
sort of objective talent (after all, the previous editor didn’t like
it). And it’s not perseverance either — I didn’t keep sending pitches,
the person looking at the old pitch just changed. My break wasn’t a
function of virtue. It was serendipity (and the fact that Dirk Deppey
is awesome).
Being in the right place with the right editor, or the wrong place
with the wrong financial collapse, can have major effects on a
writer’s career. But that’s really only the tip of the roulette wheel
when you’re talking about luck. Probably the single most important
thing you can do to become a writer is to have parents who read to
you. After that, it’s to have parents who can afford to send you to a
high-powered school where you’ll get a fancy education and meet the
right sorts of movers and shakers. And if your own family happens to
have publishing connections — well, all the better for you. In
writing, as in everything else, the best way to win the race is to
start out ahead. In my case, I was able to start freelancing largely
because my wife has a full-time job with benefits. If her career
situation were different, or if I were single, or if I were gay and in
a state without marriage equality, I wouldn’t have had the support
structure necessary to write full-time, which means I probably
wouldn’t be writing this on Salon right now.
This isn’t to say that I’ve stumbled completely by accident into what
success I’ve managed. As I’ve mentioned before, I work just about all
the time. I’m obsessive about meeting deadlines. I write very fast;
I’m reliable; I have a lot of interests; I’ve read a good bit. I’m not
a grand-master-level networker, but I could be worse. Those are all
things that have helped me get gigs and pursue interesting projects
and make a living as a writer. But that (moderate) success doesn’t
mean that I necessarily am doing something better, or more right, than
lots of talented, hardworking folks who, for any number of reasons,
didn’t get a break. Advice from those who have jumped through the
hoops can be helpful, and there’s no reason not to learn from other’s
experiences. But it’s good to keep in mind that if there were a sure
formula for success, everyone would be successful — and that if talent
and hard work were the key to fame and fortune, there wouldn’t be so
many talentless hacks with sinecures. Meritocracy’s a myth. Whether
you’re offering writing advice or receiving it, that’s a good thing to
keep in mind.
________________
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managers and the like. They can zap your coverage or query directly
into the hands of many viable Hollywood producers, agents, managers
etc. A unique feature is that the emails will be generated from your
own personal email so industry professionals will respond directly to
you. (http://www.scriptblaster.com)
INKTIP.COM is a screenplay facilitation company that helps Industry
Professionals find good scripts & writers.
www.inktip.com.
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, all rights reserved.
Welcome to the latest edition of the HOLLYWOODSCRIPT.COM NEWSLETTER,
which is published by script consultants Craig Kellem, Judy Kellem
http://www.hollywoodscript.com
If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, please reply to this
E-Mail and put the word "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.
The purpose of this newsletter is to share information, ideas etc.
concerning the fascinating (and elusive) world of screenwriting.
__________
Hi Folks, it’s been a while. Besides being busy as can be with our biz
and our lives, we’ve also been working hard on a book about
screenwriting. More about that very soon.
FYI, we’ve made a change regarding our screenwriting contest. It will
now be Bi-Monthly, every 2 months rather than every month. This is
more realistic in finding solid winners and will also make it easier
for us to help push the winning projects by creating some valuable
wiggle room with industry contacts, wherein we can occasionally make
calls on the fly. We did this with someone recently who was about to
win the contest –but things started to happen for her to preempt this!
“I first worked with Craig when I sent him a batch of my comedy
sketches. We worked well together and he actually sent them to an
agent for me who liked them enough to invite me to send him my first
screenplay, if I ever decided to write one. I quickly decided it would
be stupid not to write a screenplay. With Craig and Judy’s approach it
was much less daunting than I'd imagined, and actually, quite fun.
Thanks to his and Judy’s close guidance the story seemed to write
itself.
Craig is not only passionate and forthright, he's also very current
and open-minded, which really kept the creativity flowing throughout
the process. I can say the same of my experience working with Judy.
Judy's insights are crystal clear, smart and insightful, not to
mention, inspirational.
And because I was fortunate to cross paths with both Judy and Craig,
my first script and subsequent TV pilot have caught the attention of
that agent and then some. In fact, the screenplay has reached a
promising level on the ladder up since the agent thought so much of it
that he partnered up on it with another top agent who reps a very
successful producer/writer/director in the hopes of selling it via a
package.
Talk about good news! Thanks to the Kellems and their truly unique
approach to scriptwriting and consulting, I feel I've found my calling
and intend to continue onward... and hopefully upward!”
Kelly Beck-Byrnes
___________________________
LOVE THIS KIND OF MAIL
Hi Craig,
We finally finished shooting our movie "Why Do Men Cheat" (in Spanish
the title is "Quiero Ser Fiel"). It’s directed by Joe Menendez from
LA. We used Latin American stars and Sony is considering to buy the
US$2.0M budget movie.
We already sold the film to Star Castle from MEXICO and we have a big
opening in Mexico with more than 200 theaters projecting the film. We
already sold the rights to HBO as well and have a big premier in
COLOMBIA with more than 100 theaters and all CENTRAL AMERICA and we
continuing working PERU AND CHILE..
You are definitely part of this. I think that I owe you all this and
my career as screenwriter.
Thanks so much
Leonardo
Below is the IMDB link and a link to the trailer.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3011934/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peM0oP6QWPw
__________________________
HOT STUFF
Last year when a veteran with quite a story called and told us about
harrowing experiences he had while in the service we could tell it was
a doozy. Thinking it very worthy, we directed him toward the right
Hollywood reps for a project of this kind. We’re happy to say that the
book version has been published by Simon and Schuster (Jan. 2015).
It's called Murder at Camp Delta, written by Joe Hickman. We expect to
see it on the screen as well before long.
_________________________
YOU’LL LOVE THIS!! VERY HANDY. (THANX SO MUCH TO SIMPLYSCRIPT.COM FOR
ALLOWING US TO USE IT IN OUR NEWSLETTER).
Writer's Resources - Glossary of Terms - This is a list of terms
seen in screenplays, films, and on this web page. If you see a term
you didn't recognize or understand, it's hopefully in this list.
A
Action
The scene description, character movement, and sounds as described in
a screenplay.
For example: The sounds of TYPING rise above all the rest as MAX sits
at his computer writing his essay. He stops to sigh. Looks at what
he's written. Reaches over to the mouse. Highlights it all. And erases
it.
AERIAL SHOT
Use only when necessary. This suggests a shot be taken from a plane or
helicopter (not a crane). For example, if a scene takes place on a
tall building, you may want to have an aerial shot of the floor the
action takes place on.
ANGLE ON
A type of shot. This usually occurs in scenes taking place in large settings.
For example: if you're at a playground and little Billy is playing in
the grass while his sister Jenny is playing on the structure. To get
from a detail shot of Billy playing to Jenny playing you'd use "ANGLE
ON STRUCTURE" to suggest a new shot featuring Jenny. You're still in
the same location, but the director knows to point the camera a
different direction.
Note: this is often implied by simple scene description. Use ANGLE ON
with good purpose.
B
Beat
Many scripts will use the parenthetical "(beat)" to interrupt a line
of dialog. A "beat" suggests the actor should pause a moment, in
silence, before continuing the scene. "Beats" are often
interchangeable with ellipses "..."
b.g. (background)
Used to describe anything occuring in a rear plane of action (the
background as opposed to the main action or attention is focused in
the foreground). Always use this term in lower case initials or
written in full ("background"). For example: two people talk as Bill
and Ted fight in the b.g.
Character
In a screenplay, the name appears in all caps the first time a
character is introduced in the "Action." The character's name can then
be written normally, in the action, the rest of the script.
For Example: The limo pulls up to the curb. DAISY, an elderly woman
sits in the car as MORGAN, the driver, steps out and opens the door
for her. Daisy is dressed in evening-wear, ready for an Opera.
Character's names always appear in all CAPS when speaking. For proper
margins, see the Format page. For Example:
DAISY
You've been a darling, Morgan. Here's twenty dollars.
CLOSE ON
See also INSERT and Shot.
CLOSE ON is a shot description that strongly suggests a close-up on
some object, action, or person (an expressive body part such as the
face, or a fist).
May also be seen as CLOSEUP or CLOSE SHOT
CLOSER ANGLE
We move in for a new angle nearer to the subject. This is more of an
editing term, but can be mentioned in the screenplay when necessary.
CONTINUOUS
Sometimes, instead of DAY or NIGHT at the end of a SLUGLINE/Location
Description, you'll see CONTINUOUS. Basically, continuous refers to
action that moves from one location to another without any
interruptions in time. For example, in an action movie, the hero may
run from the airport terminal into a parking garage. The sequence may
include cuts, but the audience would perceive the action as a
continuous sequence of events from the terminal to the lobby to the
street to the garage to the second floor to a car etc. CONTINUOUS is
generally optional in writing and cn be dropped altogether. For
Example...
INT. AIRPORT LOBBY - DAY
JANET looks over her shoulder. The MEN IN BLACK are still after her,
toppling innocent passersby and sending luggage flying across the
linoleum floor. Janet faces forward again and nearly runs smack into
a nun. She apologizes wordlessly, glances back one last time before
pushing through the glass doors.
EXT. STREET - CONTINUOUS
Janet stumbles to the curb, stopping short of the honking traffic
-- Los Angeles drivers. As a bus flies by, blasting her with wind, she
steps out into traffic. A car SWERVES to avoid her! She GASPS, looks
back. The men in black are there.
FLASH
Janet gets shot in the back by the men in black.
BACK TO SCENE
She shakes off the thought and hops up onto the curb opposite the
airport. She enters the parking garage.
INT. PARKING GARAGE - CONTINUOUS
BANG! A shot RICOCHETS into the garage. Janet SHRIEKS, her steps
faltering momentarily, but she recovers.
EXT. STREET
The men in black pocket their guns and enter the parking structure.
INT. PARKING GARAGE
They glance around. No one else is in sight. The men nod to each
other and draw their guns. FOOTSTEPS in the distance. One of the men
points
at the stairs.
SECOND STORY
Janet, breathing heavily, makes her way to her car...
As you can see, I used CONTINUOUS for some of the sluglines (EXT.
STREET - CONTINUOUS) and dropped it for others (INT. PARKING GARAGE).
And it all represents no time passing between changes in location.
CRAWL
This is a term used for superimposed titles or text intended to move
across on screen.
CROSSFADE:
This is like a "Fade to black then Fade to next scene." In other
words, as one scene fades out, a moment of black interrupts before the
next scene fades in. It is not to be confused with DISSOLVE, since
CROSSFADE always involves a black or blank screen. (Note: I'm not sure
if this term is still in common use)
CUT TO:
The most simple and common transition. Since this transition is
implied by a change of scene, it may be used sparingly to help
intensify character changes and emotional shifts. The transition
describes a change of scene over the course of one frame.
CLICK FOR MORE
http://www.hollywoodscript.com/ScriptTerms
_________________________
CLASS ACT
Hi Craig,
Commentary from the most recent Black List evaluation:
“At its core, this script is pretty fantastic. It has the conceptual
grounding of an exceptional film. The focus on true events (the
Vietnam War flashbacks, the rebellions in Greece in the 1970s, the
9/11 reference) gives the script a foundation that helps to ground the
reader in the story. The connection between all of these historical
events is brilliantly depicted and helps the reader to focus in on the
big issues at hand outside of the O’Shea/Patcher dilemma. The writer
does a fantastic job with the character of the antagonist. A drunk for
much of the script, the reader is quick to dislike his manipulative
nature, yet he still manages to make compelling and interesting
arguments, despite his madness. His language and diction is very
distinct and clearly different from that of his associates. He is
proper and highly selective of his word choice, which is purposefully
off-putting to those around him who don’t understand his obsession
with such matters. The setting for much of the narrative is important
to the story as well. By placing this school group on a cruise ship
around the Greek islands, the writer isolates them from much of the
world for long periods of time wherein they are forced to interact
with one another and play off of each other’s strengths and weaknesses
in a closed environment.... it could be a great buy for a studio.
Filled with action and concepts that are presently relevant, this
script could be a hit. The best route would be to try to sell it with
talent attachments. If the writer can get an experienced director
(particularly someone with an action film or two under his/her belt)
attached to the script, the lead roles will likely follow quickly.
Talent will be attracted to the two strong male roles. Once talent has
been attached, the script will hopefully find a home at a studio that
can help market it in such a way that it reaches both the market that
is interested in the action elements as well as the market that will
be drawn to the higher concept material.”
This reviewer gives it a 7 – an earlier review gave it an 8, which got
it included on the site’s list of top scripts.
Thanks again – wouldn’t be conveying this good news if not for all
your hard work and input.
Steve Settle
________________________
A VERY COOL ARTICLE THAT SOMEONE RECENTLY SENT US!
What every writer needs to succeed
NOAH BERLATSKY
Sure, practice and research are important. But there's something else
that might matter even more: Luck
The Internet is filled with writing, and, as an inevitable corollary,
it is filled with advice on how to be a successful writer. Poke around
and you can get John Green to explain to you that the secret of
writing YA fiction is to find “emotional truth.” You can get Nicholas
Sparks to tell you that “becoming successful in anything requires
perseverance.” More practically, you can find Alyssa Rosenberg
explaining that to be a blogger/cultural journalist, you need to “read
everything and everyone on your subject. If you’re a day late on an
old idea, you’re not of any use.” You can even find Rilke declaring
that, “Nobody can advise you and help you, nobody.” Which seems a bit
overdramatic, but that’s poets for you.
In short, if you want to know how to be a successful writer, there is
specific advice, general advice, logistical advice and spiritual
advice. But in all this advice, the most important element, the one,
true, absolute key to personal, financial, aesthetic and every other
kind of success as a writer, is invariably left out. Work ethic,
knowledge, skill, perseverance — none of them is as important as the
one, single most important thing.
Which would be luck.
Nobody likes to talk about luck. If you’re a successful writer, you,
of course, like to think that you got where you got by work and skill,
grit and talent. Similarly, if you are trying to break into writing,
you want to know what you can do and how you can do it. You don’t want
to be told that, to some fairly consequential degree, your success, or
lack thereof, is beyond your control.
But whether folks want to focus on it or not, the fact remains that,
as a writer of middling stature, both my successes and failures have
had as much to do with happenstance as with my work ethic or my
talent. For instance, way back in 2008, I started to freelance for a
brand spanking new website called Culture 11 — a much-buzzed venture
that had ambitions to be a conservative-centrist alternative to Salon.
I had a great relationship with my editor (the lovely Peter Suderman),
and in some alternative universe, maybe, possibly, if everything had
gone right I could have ended up as a recognizable byline at a hip
expanding venture, linked to and admired far and wide. But, alas, the
housing bubble collapsed, the website folded, and I went back to
climbing from complete obscurity to semi-obscurity, rather than
vaulting into relevance.
It’s easier, perhaps, to invent ways in which things might have gone
better than it is to imagine how they could have been worse. But one
of my first breaks came when I placed a piece at the Comics Journal.
The essay had been sitting around gathering dust until the old editor
left and the new editor, Dirk Deppey, saw it and got in touch with me.
A lot of my early exposure is based on the fairly arbitrary fact that
one person happened to like my work. It’s hard to see that as some
sort of objective talent (after all, the previous editor didn’t like
it). And it’s not perseverance either — I didn’t keep sending pitches,
the person looking at the old pitch just changed. My break wasn’t a
function of virtue. It was serendipity (and the fact that Dirk Deppey
is awesome).
Being in the right place with the right editor, or the wrong place
with the wrong financial collapse, can have major effects on a
writer’s career. But that’s really only the tip of the roulette wheel
when you’re talking about luck. Probably the single most important
thing you can do to become a writer is to have parents who read to
you. After that, it’s to have parents who can afford to send you to a
high-powered school where you’ll get a fancy education and meet the
right sorts of movers and shakers. And if your own family happens to
have publishing connections — well, all the better for you. In
writing, as in everything else, the best way to win the race is to
start out ahead. In my case, I was able to start freelancing largely
because my wife has a full-time job with benefits. If her career
situation were different, or if I were single, or if I were gay and in
a state without marriage equality, I wouldn’t have had the support
structure necessary to write full-time, which means I probably
wouldn’t be writing this on Salon right now.
This isn’t to say that I’ve stumbled completely by accident into what
success I’ve managed. As I’ve mentioned before, I work just about all
the time. I’m obsessive about meeting deadlines. I write very fast;
I’m reliable; I have a lot of interests; I’ve read a good bit. I’m not
a grand-master-level networker, but I could be worse. Those are all
things that have helped me get gigs and pursue interesting projects
and make a living as a writer. But that (moderate) success doesn’t
mean that I necessarily am doing something better, or more right, than
lots of talented, hardworking folks who, for any number of reasons,
didn’t get a break. Advice from those who have jumped through the
hoops can be helpful, and there’s no reason not to learn from other’s
experiences. But it’s good to keep in mind that if there were a sure
formula for success, everyone would be successful — and that if talent
and hard work were the key to fame and fortune, there wouldn’t be so
many talentless hacks with sinecures. Meritocracy’s a myth. Whether
you’re offering writing advice or receiving it, that’s a good thing to
keep in mind.
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