Just Effing Entertain Me

Winning!

Hello, everybody! I’ve been busy the last few days spending time with the wonderful, talented and dare I say, handsome Jared Kelly, the winner of the 2011 Just Effing Entertain Me Screenplay Competition with his script, Descendant. Jared will be blogging about his experiences later this week – I think I’m exhausting him! However, he did remark to me yesterday, as we were on our way to another meeting that this is the only competition that picks you up at the airport and takes you directly to a bar. Lol! True enough, I do pick you up, and, well, Jared looked like he needed a drink. Plus he’s British, so I just figured….(that’s him at one of my favorite bars in LA, the St. Felix.)

So far, Jared has had a meeting at Gersh, Voyage Media and with Andrew Kersey. In coming days, he has meetings with Gold Circle, APA, Circle of Confusion and Intrigue! On Wednesday evening, we had a lovely time at the Roosevelt Hotel with the inimitable Dan McGrath (SNL, the Simpsons, King of the Hill) where Jared and Dan discussed the similarities between comedy and horror and some of their favorite black comedies. We had a lovely evening in this venerable old Hollywood institution (site of the very first Academy Award ceremony) and even went on to get after dinner drinks at my favorite haunt, Jones.

Speaking of Intrigue Entertainment – the JFEME winner last year, Ian Simpson, who got repped through the competition by Andrew Kersey, is submitting a very big, fun action script to Intrigue soon and Andrew says everybody is very excited about the material! I was SO excited to hear this news from Andrew and Ian, if you’re reading this, you are in BIG trouble for not telling me what you were working on!!

Another of Jared’s prizes was that I was able to introduce him to Stephen Susco, who has bent over backwards and has been mentoring Jared, reading two of his treatments, giving him advice, etc. Stephen, for the guy who wrote Leatherface: 3D, you are an angel!

Today, Jared and I are going to meet Conrad Vernon (Madagascar, Monsters v. Aliens, Shrek, Shrek 2) and tour the Dreamworks campus and then this afternoon, it’s a VIP tour of the Warner Bros. lot.

For me, one of the most interesting take-aways so far was the conversation Jared had with Nat Mundel at Voyage Media. Nat discussed how the landscape today requires writers to really brand and market themselves. Something I think that we suspected, but Nat confirmed that a writer has to SERIOUSLY create a package of who they are as a person and as a writer. He talked about how Voyage helps a writer really be clear about his or her goals as a writer (also direct? produce?) and helps that writer connect the dots to make it happen – almost like the old-fashioned publishing houses of days gone by (and I do mean GONE daddy GONE) who worked very closely with their writers in terms of strategy, buzz building, goal setting, etc. I found the whole conversation super exciting and I know that Jared and I had quite a conversation about just what the Jared Kelly package and story are as we left.  Something to be thinking about, you readers – what is your story? What are your goals? What does the package of YOU really look like?

At any rate, Jared is here for several more days and we are having a hoot. You’ll hear from Jared soon as I give him a chance to catch his breath!

Chicago Workshop: Sunday November 20th

If you live in Chicago or the vicinity, I am teaching a last-minute workshop, hosted by the wonderful Chicago Hollywood! The class is the same one I just taught at Warner Bros., The Positive Power of No – all about turning rejection into determination for your writing! The class is from 1:30pm to 4pm and is $25 but of course, you guys know me – money is unimportant and I’ll open the doors to those in need. Times are tough, I get that.

Click HERE to sign up and learn more about the class!

The Power of NO

First of all, dear readers – forgive me – with no notice (even for me) I went up to Mendocino for a couple of weeks to camp with friends. During which time I became one with my head lamp, carved my initials into the cabin that once belonged to Jerry Garcia, learned that I love Balkan Beat Box and that I can feed 20 people with two burners, a frying pan and one pot.

Just back, and today I taught a class at Warner Bros. about the power of “no” to fuel creative determination, the importance of keeping your ego out of your writing’s way and how “no” just means “not yet”.

We talked about the importance of writers not writing to “save” the world, themselves, Hollywood or literature, but writing simply because it lights you up to do so. When you look at rejection in this way, every “yes” is a shared light and every “no” is light waiting to be revealed. Good stuff.

I shall be reading and judging the Halloween short scripts momentarily, again my apologies for going on a Mendocino lark!

Ebook Artist on Just Effing is Just Effing Talented

Well, that didn’t take long! Apropos of my article yesterday about the abysmal state of cover art on ebooks, a dear friend of mine stepped up and is willing and interested in helping writers create original artwork covers that inform, inspire and SELL your ebook.

Here’s her bio:

Theresa Cullen (aka Theresa Pettengill) has more than 19 years experience in animation, working as a Screenwriter, Director and Storyboard Artist. Theresa created and directed Christmas Maximus, a segment of Disney’s popular DVD release Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas, which featured the classic Disney character Goofy modeled, rigged and animated for the first time in CG.

In addition to working as a staff writer at DreamWorks, Theresa co-wrote Shrek the Halls, DreamWorks’ first television Christmas special, which debuted in 2007 and has run perennially since.

Theresa also wrote Cats Don’t Dance (Warner Brothers), an animated musical feature film which won the Annie Award for Best Picture the year it was released. Theresa has done storyboards for live action movies such as G-Force at Jerry Bruckheimer Films, and countless animated films from Shrek 2 to  Madagascar and Flushed Away as well as straight to DVD releases such as The Lion King 2, Dorothy of Oz and Barbie’s Perfect Christmas.

To contact Theresa with ideas about getting your cover art done, please email her HERE.

10 Questions: Book, Blog or Script?

Hello, everyone!

As we near Rosh Hashana, my favorite holiday, it is a time for renewal, recharging and taking inventory of our writing lives.

Recently, at Warner Bros., we reviewed the questions below, to check in with ourselves about whether screenwriting really is the best venue for our material. If you’ve read this blog for a minute and a half you know how I feel about the huge PAR-TAY going on across the hall from screenwriting, and that is the world of ebooks and self publish.

I may have also mentioned that on Fiverr you can hire me for five bucks to give you a quick few suggestions about how you can improve your blog. With the waiting list I have for reading scripts, I need more work like a hole in the head – call me crazy – but I’m just so passionate about writers and writing. And I’ve been blogging for a long time.

ANYWAY – back to this list of questions, fill it it out and see how your answers stack up!

1. As far as you know, and you’ve spent time finding out – is your idea as unique as humanly possible?

Yes No

2. Is your idea cinematic (visual) and filled with conflict?

Yes No

3. Does your idea take place over many years?

Yes No

4. Do you like to write descriptions quickly and sparingly and focus on dialogue instead?

Yes No

5. Are you an expert or are you passionate about a particular niche subject?

Yes No

6. Do you like to write collaboratively?

Yes No

7. Do you like to write detailed, evocative, rich descriptions of people, places and things?

Yes No

8. Is getting paid for your writing a significant part of what motivates you to write?

Yes No

9. Do you thrive on frequent feedback and audience/readership appreciation and interaction?

Yes No

10. Do you care (and are you informed about) pop culture and current zeitgeist?

Yes No

KEY
You might be a ideal screenwriter if you answered YES to questions 1, 2, 4, 6 and 10.
You might be an ideal blogger if you answered YES to questions 4, 5, 9 and 10.
You might be an ideal book author if you answered YES to questions: 3, 5, 7 and 8.

Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro

So one day I get an email from this company – Voyage Media – and we begin to talk about what they do for writers and what I do for writers and I decided that I love this company. Then they told me about a neat (and really inexpensive) seminar they are having coming up so I thought I’d post that here for Angelenos to take advantage of.

Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro: A Master Class in Career Strategy for Writers
with Special Guest Speaker, Screenwriter Corey Mandell

Date: August 14, 2011
Time: Noon – 5pm
Cost: $50, with a $10 discount for entering the Julie Gray discount code upon signing up

Location: The Writer’s Junction

1001 Colorado Avenue
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Sign up TODAY and get $10 off just for being so effing entertaining!

• Participate in an in-person seminar on selling a project and building a career

• Discover to the unspoken rules and “secret handshakes” straight from Hollywood insiders

• Learn how to move out of the amateur pool and start working

• Alert yourself to the 5 main reasons why people fail at screenwriting, and what you can do about them

It’s harder than ever to break in to entertainment in a real way, but those that do reap richer rewards than ever. Sign up for Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro now to find out how you can employ the right strategies to drive your career powerfully forward.

Making the Power Move from Amateur to Pro offers Insider knowledge on the strategizing, selling, politicking, self-agenting, reputation-building, and other business skills you need to establish a paid, lasting career in the industry.

Taught by the executives and producers of Voyage Media, a company that has helped writers, producers, and directors package, polish and pitch over 1,100 high-profile entertainment projects in film, TV, and branded entertainment, this course provides a fresh-from-the-field perspective on building a career in an exclusive, seemingly impermeable industry. It teaches you how to:

• Avoid wasting time on the wrong ideas (and start spending time on the right ones)

• Stop going it alone. Choose supporters and delegate the way the pros do

• Be your own agent – and use their best tricks to your advantage

• Get ready to pitch and sell so you don’t blow it when your moment comes

• Build a reputation that will get you hired again and again

• Spot and avoid the common mistakes everyone seems to keep making

You’ll get frank and honest instruction – stuff you’ll never read in the trades or the how-to books – on creating strategy and selling your work from the course speakers, including screenwriter Corey Mandell, who will address the reasons why most people fail at selling their screenplays and the skill sets that give you the best possible chance at success.

Speakers include:

Nat Mundel
Founder / CEO of Voyage Media

Nat is a consummate adventurer and storyteller. After a successful career as a professional mountain climber, Nat formed Voyage in 2002 to help filmmakers develop, market and sell their projects. Notable projects the company has helped develop include BROTHERS (Lionsgate), THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (Warner Bros), PET SEMATARY (Paramount), THE FORGOTTEN (ABC), MIAMI MEDICAL (CBS), LE REV (Wynn Las Vegas), MILLE MIGLIA (Ferrari World) and others. In addition to entrepreneurialism Nat enjoys surfing, flying, and personal growth. He lives with his wife in Topanga, California.

Jesse Israel

Jesse Israel is a feature film producer living in Los Angeles. His upcoming projects include AARON & SARA, starring Emma Roberts and Josh Hutcherson and directed by Neil Patrick Harris.

Jesse also spent many years as an executive and Vice President at Alcon Entertainment, where he worked on movies such as THE BLIND SIDE, THE BOOK OF ELI, LOTTERY TICKET, and THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2. He has also worked at Warner Brothers Pictures, Silver Pictures, Village Roadshow and Circle of Confusion. Before moving to Los Angeles, Jesse was a producer for Dateline NBC. Jesse has an MFA from The Peter Stark Producing Program at The University of Southern California and a BA in History from Dartmouth College.

Ed Olson

In his twenty-five-year career, Edward Olson has worked in virtually every area of the entertainment business. While serving as Senior Vice President of US Content & Studio Relationships at Anytime PTE., LTD, was principally responsible for managing corporate relationships with Warner Bros., Fox, Universal, Sony, and Paramount.

Olson also has extensive experience in the world of international television co-production and financing. He is responsible for hundreds of hours of programming financed outside of the U.S., including Village Roadshow’s PACIFIC DRIVE and PARADISE BEACH; THE LOST WORLD and BEASTMASTER. As a creative executive, he has developed and facilitated projects for all major broadcast and cable networks, notable among them Showtime’s Golden Globe-nominated miniseries ON THE BEACH; TNT’s acclaimed 2004 miniseries of Stephen King’s SALEM’S LOT, starring Rob Lowe; THE OUTSIDER, starring Naomi Watts; and the long-running syndicated series THE LOST WORLD.

Nance Rosen

A media commentator on CNBC, Nance Rosen has been named “America’s Top Job Coach”. Over 420 media outlets cover Nance on Personal Branding, Social Media, Business Communication and Success. She’s a former marketing executive with The Coca-Cola Company, the number one most recognized brand in the world.

She founded a division for Bozell Advertising and Public Relations, now Omnicom. She delivers keynotes and training, and coaches clients on marketing themselves to media and other high visibility positions. Her latest book is THE UGLY TRUTH ABOUT YOUR REPUTATION: HOW TO CREATE AND MANAGE YOUR PERSONAL BRAND. Her last book is SPEAK UP! & SUCCEED: HOW TO GET EVERYTHING YOU WANT IN MEETINGS, PRESENTATIONS AND CONVERSATIONS.

SPECIAL GUEST: COREY MANDELL

Corey is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter who has written projects for Ridley Scott, Wolfgang Petersen, Harrison Ford, John Travolta, Meg Ryan, Warner Brothers, Universal, 20th Century Fox, Fox 2000, Fox Family, Working Title, Paramount, Live Planet, Beacon Films, Touchstone, Trilogy, Radiant, and Walt Disney Pictures.

Corey is also a distinguished instructor at UCLA, where he earned his MFA. His students have gone on to sell or option scripts to Warner Brothers, Paramount , Sony Pictures, Disney, Fox, Fox 2000, MGM, Universal , Showtime, USA Network and Lifetime. Others have gained admission to the USC Graduate Screenwriting Program, the AFI Conservatory Screenwriting Program and Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab.

SIGN UP HERE!

Fearless Writing for the Enlightened Word Slinger

Do you ever have one of those days in which your body says – NOPE. LIE DOWN – ? That happened to me yesterday. Had a bit of a cold and there was no way I was going anywhere, despite the tons and tons of stuff to do.

As always, though it didn’t seem like it, it was a blessing. In Hebrew, there is an expression, tikkun olam - healing the world. I did my tiny part yesterday and it felt great.

I caught up on some of the mentoring work for the Afghan Women’s Writing Project. My workshop has about fifteen women in it this time and I edited two poems and an essay. While the general grasp of English is actually not bad, it is far from perfect. But the essay I edited was told by a true story-teller. I can’t use her name here, because the girls must be protected, but this young lady wrote a great essay about the hamman (the public bath) in her village and how she hates to use it. Her story built from a description of the hamman to the politics inside it so beautifully. The essay was informative and very poignant and I hope to get it on the AWWP blog soon. How uplifting to see these young women expressing themselves so beautifully and the dedication of the AWWP staff and mentors is amazing. I’m adding the AWWP to my short list of Things in Life That are Amazing: Trader Joe, Pandora, Notes from the Universe, AWWP.

After I finished the editing/mentoring, I devoured an entire YA book in one very long, nap-intermittent day. What a fun book and I can’t recommend it enough – The Water Mirror by Kai Meyers. I can’t wait to read the second installment. Such a cinematic read! Such a complex and vivid world! Egyptians! Flying stone lions! Mermaids in Venice! I love YA. I love that thrill of reading about things so imaginative that you haven’t thought about such possibilities since you were a kid – and they still thrill – a mirror that when you put your hand in, goes to another, watery world…..

I’d coincidentally just spoken with a dear friend about her book deal through Random House for a YA book. In these times of dwindling advances and deals, she actually got a very good deal and just turned in the first four chapters of her book.

I’m teaching a class at Warner Bros. later this week on the topic of figuring out whether your writing is best suited for a script, a webseries or a book. Timely.

Anybody notice the title of this blog post: Fearless Writing for the Enlightened Word Slinger? That little tag line used to read more specifically for screenwriters. But, apropos of the class this week at Warners, I’m wanting to incorporate other kinds of writing into this blog. It was foremost and will always be a blog about screenwriting but times, they are a’changin’ – fast. And as a fearless outlier myself, as a writer to the marrow of my bones, I want you to widen your horizons and take a peek at the numerous ways in which you can express yourself via the written word. In upcoming blogs we’ll talk a bit about the larger publishing world out there, of opportunities and ways to express – and give of yourself.

Book Store

WELCOME TO THE BOOK STORE!

A place where writers can:

• Learn about the exciting possibilities of self-publishing
• Find publishers and ebook format services
• Publish links to their self-published books
• Find artists to render compelling, original artwork for their books

This page is under construction and subject to (fun) change. For now, simply scroll down and see which categories are there and dig in! If you have an ebook that you would like me to link, email me with your best pitch about yourself and the book.

The Self-Publish R(ev)olution

Amazon Rewrites the Rules

Publishers & Ebook Formatting Services

Conscious Kernels: A full-service publisher specializing in New Thought and Spirituality

Book Cover Original Artwork

Not everybody knows about the ebook revolution happening right now. But everybody knows that we DO indeed judge a book by the cover. A quick sampling of the cover artwork available to writers in the form of stock photos, software programs and cheaply wrought graphics reveals a very simple reason why those books may not sell.

I work with writers on the crucial content of your book. But for an engaging, selling cover, you need an artist. And have I got the girl for you!

Theresa Cullen • Director, Writer & Storyboard Artist

Theresa Cullen (aka Theresa Pettengill) has more than 19 years experience in animation, working as a Screenwriter, Director and Storyboard Artist. Theresa created and directed Christmas Maximus, a segment of Disney’s popular DVD release Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas, which featured the classic Disney character Goofy modeled, rigged and animated for the first time in CG.

In addition to working as a staff writer at DreamWorks, Theresa co-wrote Shrek the Halls, DreamWorks’ first television Christmas special, which debuted in 2007 and has run perennially since.

Theresa also wrote Cats Don’t Dance (Warner Bros.), an animated musical feature film which won the Annie Award for Best Picture the year it was released. Theresa has done storyboards for live action movies such as G-Force at Jerry Bruckheimer Films, and countless animated films from Shrek 2 to  Madagascar and Flushed Away as well as straight to DVD releases such as The Lion King 2, Dorothy of Oz and Barbie’s Perfect Christmas.

To speak with Theresa directly about ebook cover art questions, please email her HERE.

What Producers Want

In the past few days, I have had long conversations with five producers about the landscape of the film market today, the labyrinthine new (and old) methods of distribution and how they seek to create “product” for less money and expect to make less than in any other generation of filmmaking. The Big Why is that distribution streams have changed.

I wish I could go on intelligently about distribution, about Miramax and the way the company created a business model that worked then burst, about the similarities between the impact Napster had on music industry in the 1990s and the way streaming entertainment is impacting movies today. But I am smart enough not to profess to be an expert on this topic. Far from it. Rather, much of this is blah blah Ginger to me. And it might be a bit blah blah Ginger to you as well, you writers sitting out there reading this.

Do we have to care about the way the film business works? Well, just like eating our vegetables, yes, we do. Because this rapidly changing landscape is eroding the way the entertainment business worked for over 100 years. This is the third major seismic change in the business of film since its inception, the others being the advent of sound and the break up of the studio system.

Development, production, distribution, exhibition, those are the four stages your script must traverse. However, production is often contingent upon a distribution deal and exhibition, i.e., box office is the hill upon which your script (now film) will live or die. So the distribution deal a film gets is crucial to the success of the film. Which is crucial to your career. It used to be, during the studio days, that every single step was taken care of by the studio – everything. So there were Warner Bros. theaters and Paramount theaters and RKO theaters and these studio-owned theaters exhibited films that they thought would do well in that particular region. The studio system was very efficient. It was also a monopoly and the government busted it up in the 1950s.

Now the issue at hand is that while studios no longer control theaters (about three major corporations do), they handle only development (which is also increasingly outsourced) and production. Distribution companies have sprung up both as independents and as satellites of studios. Which worked for some time as well. Until online streaming became possible. So if you imagine something shaped like a pyramid (the studio system) which then became shaped like one of those alien invaders in an Atari game (the current and fading-fast climate), now imagine something shaped like a very low hill with a very, very wide base. The top of each shape is talent and development and the bottom is distribution.  In today’s landscape, the top of the shape has dropped to a lower level, which means that more people can break in with fresh material because the base (distribution) is much wider than ever before.

So the bottom line is that there are more opportunities for writers today than ever before. And lower paychecks. And some confusion. These days, development companies might manage writers as well as produce. And form partnerships with distribution companies. It’s all getting mixed together so that the process can be done more cheaply and efficiently.

For as many more opportunities as this is presenting, the marketplace of today also creates a confusing situation in which writers can get taken advantage of very quickly all the while thinking they are being wined and dined. Make no mistake, and I HATE to say this, but writers are still the absolute bottom of the totem pole in entertainment and if there’s a way to make money off your script or idea and pay you the bare minimum, that is going to be the way it plays out.

I have a friend who was hired to write and direct a straight-to-DVD action movie a couple of years ago, for 50K. He managed to pull it off, and I can vouch for the quality of the film (in no small part due to the limited budget and the creative choices it forced). He was paid 6K to write and direct the film and he did it because it was sure to be produced (and it was) and distributed (and it was) and he’d have it as a credit (and he does). He actually pumped the 6K right back into the budget. The movie has since earned 700K on DVD sales. Zero of which my friend has seen a dime of nor will he. But he has a produced credit. While that scenario seems particularly egregious, there’s nothing illegal about it whatsoever. Yes, studios and larger production companies have higher budgets and more cash around but the days of the million dollar spec sales are headed toward the horizon very quickly – now more writers have the possibility of being produced than ever, but the paycheck has gone way, way down. There will always be rock star writers and actors who command a higher salary but as distribution (legal and illegal) makes more content available to more people in a fractionalized market, risk aversion is no longer a conservative precaution but a prudent reality.

So writers – it’s not your job to worry about how things are shaping up as much as it is to know that fresh, new content is absolutely the priority for producers and they are looking for YOU. In the years I have been consulting with writers on scripts and running script competitions, the number of requests for scripts has increased exponentially. Part of that is that I have become a known entity in the industry and that my offices are located on a working studio lot populated by tons of producers, that’s true. But it’s not just that, it’s emails and phone calls that I receive almost daily. Producers are looking for well written genre scripts.

For those of you who love writing and would consider life GREAT if your words were on a screen no matter what you were paid, times just got a whole lot more exciting for you. For those of you who are wanting your writing to pay for your kids’ college tuition or that new house in the Caymans – you’re barking up the wrong tree.

I Am I Want I Can

The other day at Warner Bros., I taught a lunchtime class – thank you again so much, everybody who came, asked great questions, did their homework (if you haven’t yet turned it in…AHEM) and I look forward to more classes in 2011.

While there, we talked about the I Am writing challenge we’d done here on Just Effing. I encouraged everybody to write their own I Am statements but then we took it to another level and talked about writing I Am statements for your main character that reflects their journey from page one to the end of the adventure.

Think about it this way – declarative statements such as “I want” or “I wish” ground your character’s focus in the NOW moment. What your character says as an “I am” declarative in Act One will be very different from what your character would say in Act Three, right? In Act One, your character has a fear: “I am afraid” but in Act Two your character will begin to make different choices and have less fear – “I can.” Try it – it’s fun and it might tell you something about your character that you didn’t know before!

Fill out the statements below, according to how your character feels in each act:

Act One
I am
I want
I am afraid
I hate

Act Two
I wish
I am willing
I can

Act Three
I am
I love