2010 Nicholl Fellowships

My screenplay “Vermin” got two positive reads but didn’t place in the Nicholl Fellowships quarterfinals. However, it was in the top 20% of 6,304 entries. Still good in my view but I still have much work to do. I am pleased. The email with the news continues to be a class act. I wish more competitions were run with such professionalism.

Moving on to the next script now.

My script "Vermin" passed the test!

Specifically the “Bechdel Test for Women in Movies”.

It boils down to three simple questions:

• Does your script have at least 2 women in it?
• Do they talk to each other?
• Do they talk to each other about things other than men?

My script Vermin passes this test with flying colours. And it’s a damn fun read, to be perfectly honest.

Does your script pass the test?

Forget Dramatica

From Go Into The Story

“Here is a set of questions I think are important for a writer to grapple with and eventually answer during the prep-writing phase:

CHARACTERS

Who is the Protagonist?
What do they want (conscious goal / external world)?
What do they need (unconscious goal / internal world)?
Who is keeping them from that goal (Nemesis)?
Who is connected to their emotional development (Attractor)?
Who is connected to their intellectual development (Mentor)?
Who tests the Protagonist by switching allegiance back and forth between ally and enemy (Trickster)?

PLOT

What is the story’s beginning (Opening)?
What is the end of Act One (Lock)?
What is the end of Act Two (All Is Lost)?
What is the story’s ending (Final Struggle)?

CHARACTER-PLOT

What is the nature of your Protagonist’s metamorphosis from Disunity to Unity?

Read the complete article.

Masters of Screenwriting Interview: Tom Mankiewicz

There’s a really excellent interview with screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz over at Masters of Screenwriting.

Read it all. Very informative. You’ll be glad you did.

A screenwriter's income

After reading about all these multi-million dollar script sales, I have often wondered how do screenwriters deal with their income. I posed the question to Scott Myers over at Go Into The Story and this was his response:

“I, like most working screenwriters I know, incorporated, what is typically referred to as a “loan-out” corporation.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Thanks, Scott.

Journal Archives
 

All archived journal entries can be found below.