Just Effing Entertain Me

Judging Scripts the Darwinian Way

So last night we began judging the 2010 Silver Screenwriting Competition. It’s so exciting to be doing so again, and wondering who will find Willy Wonka’s golden ticket among the hundreds and hundreds of submitted scripts. We’re in our third year – each year the submission list gets longer and longer. Next year the competition will be more intense than ever.

I am not your usual screenwriting teacher/consultant. I have a specific take on screenwriting and on the way I conduct my various businesses. One based on the joy of it, and based on relationships, encouragement and learning. Based on being honest and forthright about your script and whether it can find a place in Hollywood given the current cultural and economic climate. I march to the beat of a different drummer. There is a third way, between brow-beating screenwriters that they’ll never make it, bootcamp style, and telling screenwriters beautiful lies about their script, the state of the business or what it takes to even keep on trying in the face of things.

So I feel pretty certain that the way we judge the first round scripts is not the usual. This is what I do. I make a delicious dinner and invite about 10 of my reader friends and colleagues over and we sit in the same room and do the judging together. Some have said that I should NOT have to deal with the earlier rounds of judging but this is mama’s competition and I want to make sure that the first round is as considered as any other round and I want to get a sense of the general state of the scripts that came in.

My judges have certain oaths they have to hew to: Every script gets a fair chance and its due consideration. Every script that is a “pass” has to have a number of strong reasons for that “pass” and every script advanced has to prove its worth to be so lucky. Judging together mostly means hours of quiet time punctuated by questions and observations. If a reader is unsure, the group has a look together. This goes on for several evenings and several delicious dinners at which NO alcohol is served, only good food, healthy beverages and lots of candy to keep everyone alert. No ONE person decides the fate of every script.

Unless. Unless the script is so poorly executed that it simply cannot be considered for any other level of judging.

And guys, boy did we find some unmentionables in the scripts we judged last evening. An unusually large proportion of scripts had numbered scenes – BAD. A number of scripts were written in odd fonts with strange formatting. A number of scripts were overly long and had bored the reader by the tenth page. Some scripts had crazy all-caps fever going on, some had terrible typos, some looked as if the writer had literally never seen a script before.

There were some standouts; one in particular that I read had the BEST first page ever. I stopped everyone and said listen up, guys – THIS is a first page. There were a number of scripts that were a bit heartbreaking because they were competently written but awfully dull and I felt so bad, knowing how hard each writer really does work.

But feeling bad because a writer worked hard and yet isn’t getting a script off the ground is not what a competition is about. We have to be Darwinian – may the strongest script (and writer) win.

In the early stages of judging, we look for – in this order – basic competence, engaging/interesting pages, good character and dialogue and a fresh idea. Writers are picked off rapidly in every category. And yes, because some random writer you’ve never met and never will has a tighter, more interesting, more streamlined opening to their script than you do, he or she will blow past you. Will they make it through the next round of litmus tests? Only a full read will tell. In the quarterfinal review, we’re looking for scripts that MOVE, entertain and are written with a skilled hand. Beyond that, the deeper issues of character development, original premise and great page work will out.

While it is not uncommon for the first few pages to be GREAT and then poop out in the second act, I have NEVER seen a script with a bad first few pages improve from there. That’s the way it is, kids.

If your script were compared to other scripts, side-by-side and in quick succession, how would it fare? Writers who can engage the reader immediately are going to rise in the ranks and leave others behind. Just like that. No matter how hard you tried or how much you love your script.

It’s survival of the fittest and a part of me cringes: I love every writer, I see the work that you do and I see the good bits that ARE working and how you can improve them.

But when I’m judging scripts, I’m afraid I have to put on a different hat and be a lot harder on your material. Because I have to think to myself, if this writer doesn’t have very good opening pages, and is therefore not displaying not only an aptitude but a gift for screenwriting, then how can I confidently send this writer at meetings with agents, managers or producers? If they can’t pull off tight, engaging, delightful pages on their own material, what makes me think they could handle a rewrite assignment for someone else?

Whereas if this other writer over here can pull off those pages…well…Darwin didn’t discover that it’s actually the survival of the nicest. Or the survival of the tried-hardest. Or the survival of the whoops-didn’t-realize-I-shouldn’t-have-camera-directions.

Enter Now or Forever Hold Your Piece

The Silver Screenwriting Competition closes its doors for 2010 in just over two hours. Phew! The scripts have been pouring in, especially over the last few days…and hours!

This is your last chance to win: a MacBook Air; lunch with Mr. Shane Black (LETHAL WEAPON, KISS KISS BANG BANG); $3,000 cash; hotel and airfare for three days in Los Angeles and tons more.

So either get to entering that script NOW or start writing one for NEXT year!

Silver Screenwriting Deadline

Just for clarity – I know we are writers, not scientists or mathematicians – the deadline for the Silver Screenwriting Competition is June 1st at midnight. Just BEFORE June 2nd. Get it? Maybe you do. I got confused.

So. There’s one more day is my point.

xoxo

This is IT

Good morning, everyone!

There is one week left to enter your script into the Silver Screenwriting Competition. There’s literally exactly eight days left, guys. You can do this. Get that sucker entered so we can go have fun here in LA and buy you a new computer and take some meetings.

Give the script a once-more-over for typos, do a quickie structure check on pages 10, 25, 50 and 75 to look for those big turning points. Write a logline and make sure that you can quickly, pithily articulate the main premise. Then go for it. Just take a risk and send it in. Who knows? You might be having lunch with Shane Black and me come this fall. I cannot wait! And you’re buying my coffee, right? With your three grand in cash?

And here’s something fun – today I’m going to open the phone lines for exactly one hour, between 3pm and 4pm. If you have any quick questions about your script, the competition or the prizes, you can email me and book a brief conversation. I will only be able to chat with so many people so book quickly if you’d like to speak today. It will be FUN!

Book your phone date with me NOW.

Send in your script to the SSC NOW.

xoxox

Summer Plans

So what are you doing this summer? Used to be that was a standard question, whether the answer was going camping or going to Lake Kitcheekama to see Gramma Doris. Now the question is generally rewarded with a blank stare. Nothing. Working. Ahhh it’s fun being an adult, isn’t it?

But perhaps you can take your own vacation – you know what I’m going to say – IN YOUR WRITING. Yeah. I know, that was a cheap shot. But SOMEBODY has to keep you guys in line!

Something VERY awesome is in the hopper for TSD but I can’t talk about it until the agreement is signed. Darn it. I hate that I can’t tell you.

MY summer is going to be peaceful – and busy. Working on the book and of course all of my usual consulting. After teaching in Toronto this June 5 – 6 (sign up now!) I’ll be in Los Angeles this summer, dedicating myself to finding (and judging!) good scripts.

My mini-me/daughter has decided to rock the boat and decamp for Israel for the summer and perhaps the following school year! A senior year spent in the Middle East – can you imagine what THAT prom is like?!  Guess she takes after her adventurous mama. She will be missed.

Other Stuff

…thank you to Gina Surles for such a fun conversation we had yesterday, a propos of her winning the Parakeet, Waltz, Sumatra competition! Gina also received a $25 Amazon gift certificate for her trouble. Gina, you’re a real sweetheart; I enjoyed chatting!!

The Silver Screenwriting Competition’s regular deadline is up this very Saturday, May 15 before we extend for a final two weeks to June 1. Please get those scripts in on time, all right, folks? The dates are firm and unmovable. Just think – lunch with Shane Black and me! And a new computer! And a trip to Los Angeles! And cash! Darn if I can’t enter this competition myself! Well, I’ll be there for the fun parts, so I’m excited already!

Silver Screenwriting

Hello everybody! The deadline for the Silver Screenwriting Competition approacheth on little pig feet. Wait. No, that’s not right. Well, it approacheth quickly and I do encourage everyone to give it a shot.

Because you can have lunch with Shane Black? Sure, that’s a pretty neat prize. Because you can win a MacBook Air? Of course. The cash? The meetings? Having Bedford Falls (Marshall Herskovitz), Bedrock Studios (Cary Granat) and Back Lot Pictures (first look with Sam Mendes) read your script? Whatever.

No, the reason you should enter is because I will personally pick you up from the airport and be your pal and your guide the entire visit. I know. It’s just too fun. Ask Kodjo and Hilary from years past. I get a tremendous kick out of being your tourguide; I love this town and I love introducing the winner to people they should know: agents, managers, other creatives. It’s a lot of fun for me.

But if you’re entering for all that other stuff, that’s okay too.

June 1 is the deadline so hurry on up, campers. There are no exceptions.

Important Silver Screenwriting Updates

The 2010 Silver Screenwriting Competition has lots of news!

1. We have a new website!

2. We have received a record-breaking number of submissions this year…

3. Therefore, we have extended the regular deadline to May 15 and will have a final deadline of June 1.

4. We’ve also lowered the prices to $49 if you submit by May 15 and $59 if you submit by June 1. Go to our website to submit.

5. Other great news is that Kristen Campo, Creative Exec at Fuse Entertainment, is going to guest judge the top 10 scripts along with yours truly!

5. The top 10 finalists will reach receive an invaluable, free one-year free subscription to It’s on the Grid, the holy grail of spec sale reports! That’s a gift worth $300!

On top of the amazing prizes, the grand prize winner will be meeting with Fuse to discuss their winning script and their career in general.

Here are the prizes:

GRAND PRIZE

• MacBook Air
• Round trip flight to Los Angeles
• Lunch with SHANE BLACK
• A one-on-one conversation via Skype with Chris Sparling, writer of red-hot Sundance feature BURIED, starring Ryan Reynolds
• Three nights’ accommodations
• A day of meetings with three managers (including Fuse Entertainment)
• $1,500 in cash

SECOND PRIZE

• TSD Story Notes with Julie Gray
• $500 gift certificate to The Writers Store
• Two manager reads of your work
• Two production company reads
• $1,000 in cash

THIRD PRIZE

• Free three-reader service from The Script Department
• $250 gift certificate to the Writers Store
• “What comes next?” phone consultation with Julie Gray
• Two manager reads of your work
• Two production company reads
• $750 in cash

Shane. Effing. Black.

Yes. That is with whom the grand prize winner of The Silver Screenwriting Competition will lunch next fall. I am EVER so excited and honored. I’ll see if I can do an interview with Shane either on the phone or in writing between now and the competition. Doors open on March 1, dontcha know, and the final (and I mean FINAL) deadline is May 1. Of course there all sorts of other yummy prizes like a MacBook Air, cash, a flight to Los Angeles, a day of three meetings with three managers and being personally squired around by ME for a week! Tell you a little secret – I loves it. Kodjo and I had the best time last year. In fact, I’ll be seeing Kodjo in the UK when I leave in just three weeks.

For those of you for whom the name Shane Black doesn’t immediately ring bells, Shane’s written some movies you might have heard of like LETHAL WEAPON, KISS KISS BANG BANG (with Robert Downey, Jr. – a personal fave), THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT, THE LAST ACTION HERO and many more. Shane’s set to direct THE COLD WARRIOR, which tentatively has Mel Gibson cast in the lead. The project’s still under wraps so that’s about all I can say about it for now.

If I were you, I’d set to polishing that feature script for The Silver Screenwriting Competition. Oh wait – I get to have lunch with Shane no matter what. Ha. And I said ha, ha! (Who can name the movie that’s from? Free teleclass for the first email respondent!)

Anywho, that’s all she wrote from this rocky isle of a beautiful morn.

Silver Screenwriting Winner Comes out of Seclusion

Kodjo Akeseh Tsakpo, the Silver Screenwriting Grand Prize winner, after being absolutely exhausted from flying to and fro and all of his meetings, etc. has returned to Merry Olde England, gathered his strength and sent us his brief take on what his trip was like:

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So by winning The Script Department’s opportune Silver Screenwriting Competition 2009, I’ve been flown to Los Angeles for meetings with Hollywood insiders and won a cool haul of prizes. So here I am – back in the UK, suitcase empty, study area a mess and the script to my left boasting the win in thick bold type – the latter is all I wanted but I ended up getting so much more.

I’ve spent the best part of a year in hibernation writing and rewriting SHIFT, and, whilst script-editors and writer-friends encourage, read and feed back nothing beats the accreditation of placing at competition. Nothing beats the accreditation of winning. Whilst always harbouring a passion for SHIFT I’ve always been aware that it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Though employing the tenets of a standard thriller, its narrative hook gives it complexity and, hopefully, depth. It’s labyrinthine and multi-layered and, at times, convoluted but necessarily so. In short – it does itself little favours when presenting itself to readers. But I don’t care. I’ve loved it. I’ve loved writing it. I’ve loved re-writing it. And, up until now that fulfillment was a satisfactory reward.

Due to the time difference, I awaited Julie’s call long after all my colleagues had gone home. I simply expected more questions about my eligibility to be in the competition – why can’t she just email me? So in that regards, being told – “You’ve won.” – pretty much made my year. Seriously – to go back to LA, meet agents, managers…taste root beer (which, for uninitiated, tastes like Coke but with MORE sugar in it) was more than I could have hoped for but exactly what I wanted when I entered the competition.

So what did I take away from LA 2009? That Los Angeles is populated with more generous people than the rest of the world gives it credit for. From Julie and The Script Department going well above and beyond their capacity for hospitality to the writers, agents and executives that took time out of their heavy schedules to read some Japanese-sounding Brit’s ‘metaphysical thriller’ – and from them giving one-to-one advice and support regarding the maintenance of a Hollywood career to the yet-to-break-in writers who I was blessed to befriend at the Screenwriters Expo a few days later. Aside from the airfare, the hotel and the unrivalled access to inner-Hollywood, winning this competition has ensured that I’ve left town with two of the most valuable commodities any career-forging writer and/or director should have – validation and friendship…

…and a Macbook Air, Final Draft 8 and money. In short, I’ve been humbled and I’ve had a blast but now the real work begins. So, till next time, which won’t be long, adios y buena suerte and my thanks to The Silver Screenwriting Competition and Julie Gray.