Resource of the Week: Do the Work

Each week I’m highlighting a screenwriting resource that I’ve found useful. It could be a blog, a podcast, a contest, a book or a slightly addictive narcotic that may or may not be legal.

My goal here was to provide a quick heads up to my fellow screenwriting peeples about blogs and podcasts and general internet stuff pertaining to the art and craft of screenwriting.

Well, today is a bit different.

Thanks to a commenter on my project blog, I was directed to a free ebook (that’s zero dollars) by Steven Pressfield called, Do the Work.

Pressfield is the author of The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire, Tides of War, Virtues of War, The Afghan Campaign and Killing Rommel.

Do the Work is his manifesto of sorts.  It is the way through the project.  It is a how to how to.

It’s not just about screenwriting either, it’s about any project that you undertake that seems stupid or daunting or impossible or ridiculous or whatever else.

It’s brilliant.

It’s inspirational.

It’s practical.

It will get you started.  It will push you through the darkness.  It will show you what you didn’t know you had but hoped to god you did because why the hell else would you be doing this ridiculous thing that you’re doing.

Read it.

From his website:

My writing philosophy is a kind of warrior code—internal rather than external—in which the enemy is identified as those forms of self-sabotage that I call “Resistance” with a capital R (in The War of Art). The technique for combating these foes can be described as “turning pro.”

I looked at the book because I was curious and then I ended up reading it cover to cover in a single sitting.

Seriously.

Read the damn book.

Then turn pro.

-b

Brad is a screenwriter living and working in Ottawa, Canada.  When he’s not doing that thing he has to do for money or doing that thing he has to do because they’re his kids, he can be found posting screenplays on his project site, Steal My Script.

 

Agenda for May 15th

1.)Opening and introduction for any new members.

2.) Round table for any news or things going in Ottawa, or any script contest deadlines or other juicy gossip!

3.) Update on information for Les Soirées Schmooze

4.) Document Review:

• Jim Davies and Xiao Gong Ji – Medea : The Fury
• David Ritter-Live, Die or Survive
• Holly Richter-White – Boondoggle

The cutoff date to submit scripts or treatment documents is May 8th. We review up to 4 scripts/treatment/synopsis documents per meeting. If you want to participate with a document, or provide feedback to the other members, please send an email to thewritersroomottawa@gmail.com. You will be added to the script repository, where you can deposit your document or pickup documents to review. Only those who request access will be granted permissions to the repository to keep it fair for all participants.

5.) Wrap up any last items. Date for next regular meeting.

 

Resource of the Week: On The Page Podcast

Each week I’d like to highlight an online screenwriting resource that I’ve found useful. It could be a blog, a podcast, a contest, a book or a slightly addictive narcotic that may or may not be illegal.

This week I’m profiling On The Page, a weekly podcast put out by Pilar Alessandra.  Pilar is a seasoned (but still very young) script consultant working out of LA.  She teaches and speaks and writes about the craft and business of screenwriting.

I’ve been listening to this podcast since somewhere around episode 30 – she’s at 188 now.  A lot of podcasts come and go; they start strong, built on good intentions and great ideas, but fade quickly.  Not so with Pilar and On The Page.  This podcast continues to grow and evolve.  It’s a stable weekly bit of education and inspiration.

From the On The Page website:

PILAR ALESSANDRA is the director of the popular writing program “On The Page.” A sought after teacher and lecturer, she’s traveled the world teaching screenwriting and is in high demand at major writing conferences and film festivals. As a consultant, she’s helped thousands of writers create, refine and sell their screenplays. Her students and clients have sold to Disney, DreamWorks, Warner Brothers and Sony and have won prestigious competitions such as the Austin Film Festival, Open Door Competition, Fade-In Competition and Nicholl Fellowship.

If you’re new to On The Page, let me set you up.  Start with episode 179 (that’s a stupid itunes link) and Pilar’s interview with Craig Fernandez, writer of S.W.A.T., Biker Boyz and From Prada to Nada.  If you’ve ever had a romantic notion about what being a successful screenwriter is, this interview will set you straight AND inspire you at the same time.  Also episode 183 is insightful, funny and inspiring. Playwright Sam Wolfson talks about his successful play Jewtopia and how it launched a career in Hollywood.

If you still can’t get enough of Pilar, rest assured, her podcast is not the only work she does to improve your screenwriting chops.  She’s also a script consultant, a published author and an instructor (both locally and on DVD).  You might even be able to bring her to your city.

-b

Brad is a screenwriter living and working in Ottawa, Canada.  When he’s not doing that thing he has to do for money or doing that thing he has to do because they’re his kids, he can be found posting screenplays on his project site, Steal My Script.

 

My sad pictures from the April 17 Meetup

I brought my camera.

I forgot to take pictures.

Until it was too late.

Don’t these pictures make you want to come back and bring friends?

-b

 

Events That Took Place At The April 17th Meeting

People that Attended:

Jennifer, Jim, Keith, Brad, Ben, Morgan Tara, and Rick

New People Introduced:

Morgan,Tara and Jim

Toronto Screenwriting Conference & WGC Awards:

1. Brief update by Jennifer about panels and discussions.
2. Discussion about NSI and CFC Programs for Television.

Ottawa Film Community Event- Les Soirées Schmooze

• A joint venture between The Writers Room (Ottawa) and Ink Drinks (Ottawa)
• An early week event sometime in June.  Dates to be selected and can’t conflict with sports schedule.
• Promotion primarily through online or direct to various groups – Ottawa Film Website, Ottawa International Film Festival, Ottawa School of Speech/Drama, Algonquin College, IFCO, SAW, game developers, production houses.  Other groups and by word of mouth.
• Possible locations – somewhere relatively private; patio; central; big enough to hold up to say 50 people comfortably.  Group to provide suggestions and contacts if possible.

Project Reviews:

1. The Ministry – synopsis
2. Optika – first 10 pages

Admin:

1. New general email for the group – thewritersroomottawa@gmail.com.  This will be the central email for all requests for the script repository.
2. Talked about what projects are people working on.
3. Possibility of engaging students in Media and related courses who need scripts. Contacts through Algonquin.

Next meeting May 15th! 

 

The Importance of the Meetup – Join Us

“We-e-e-elll.. la-de-freakin’-da! We’ve got ourselves a writer here!”

Writing is a lonely endeavor.  Especially when nobody is paying you to write.  And it’s not your real job.  And nobody really believes your ability but yourself.  And you fight the feeling of being just a silly dreamer.  And you float between the elation of accomplishment and the devastation of failure.

There are others.

You want to write.  You need to write.  You have to write.  But the only person who believes you can be a writer is you.  And sometimes not even that.

There are others.

It’s early morning.  The laptop is open.  You’re staring at the screen.  It’s not blank.  But it would probably stink less if it was.  There are words.  They suck.  There is dialog.  It’s stupid.  You’re second guessing your motivation almost as much as your characters.  Your character.  What a stupid, trivial beast.

There are others.

You check your twitter feed, your facebook page, your email.  Nope.  No one believes you’re a writer.  You’re still that other thing you do.  That real thing.  That money generating thing.  It takes time, effort and energy.  Time you don’t have.  Effort you need for writing.  Energy you already used up staring at an empty screen since 4am.

There are others.

On the way home from work.  Maybe on the bus or in your car on on your bike or walking.  You think of an idea for a story.  You laugh or cry.  It’s brilliant.  It’s perfect.  When you get home, you rush to write something down, to capture the essence of the story.  The words mock you.  Somehow, in the 30 or 90 or 120 minutes from when you imagined the story to when you wrote it down, the inspiration became ridule.

There are others.

I guess what I’m trying to say is this.  No one, no not even you, could be as manic depressive about the craft of screenwriting as me.  From the mountain to the valley to the bat infested cave to the chilean mine in less time than it takes to brew a pot of coffee.

Come join us.  Share a drink, a laugh, a comment, a word of encouragement, a single line of perfect dialog.  Or just sit silently, saying nothing.

There are others.  We are here.

Join us.

-b

 

Updated Agenda – Meeting for April 17th

Hi folks,

Jessica has withdrawn her script for April 17th due to unforeseen circumstances.  Therefore, we will only have two projects to cover this Sunday.  I’ve updated the agenda below, but if anyone has any other topics to cover Sunday, please feel free to send me an email at jennifer.a.mulligan@gmail.com

Thanks!

1. Opening and introduction for any new members.
2. Round table for any newsworthy items or things going in Ottawa, or any script contest deadlines or other juicy gossip!
3. Update on the Toronto Screenwriting Conference, Writers Guild of Canada Awards
4. Feedback for:
   1. “Optika” – by Jennifer Mulligan
   2. “The Ministry” – by Ben Hoskyn
5. Talk about hosting a “Les Soirées Schmooze” – a gathering of various groups, all connected to the Ottawa film community, hosted by The Writers’ Room and held at a suitable location.  All ideas welcome.
6. Round table for next meeting agenda.

 

Resource of the Week: Go Into the Story

Each week I’m highlighting a screenwriting resource that I’ve found useful. It could be a blog, a podcast, a contest, a book or a slightly addictive narcotic that may or may not be legal.

Today, let’s take a look at Scott Myer’s blog, Go Into the Story.  It was ranked the number one screenwriting blog by a site I had never heard of but seemed like it was a pretty reputable source.  He even placed above John August (who we’ll profile in an upcoming week)

According to Scott’s blog:

Since selling his spec script K-9 in 1987, Scott has written nearly 30 projects for every major Hollywood studio and broadcast network. His film writing credits include K-9 starring Jim Belushi, Alaska starring Vincent Kartheisher, and Trojan War starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. In 2002, he began teaching screenwriting in his spare time. He won the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program Outstanding Instructor Award in 2005 and currently teaches at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.  – go into the story

Scott’s blog is a veritable treasure trove of screenwriting advice, interviews, clips and quotes.  If you’re looking for a primer about the blog written in Scott’s own words, check out Welcome to GITS, an introduction to everything Go Into the Story.

Scott also hosts a peer script review site called, The GITS Club (GITS for Go Into The Story if you’re not following).  Further, he and his partner, Tom Benedek, launched Screenwriting Master Class, a “unique, online resource for anyone interested in learning how to write a professional quality script”.

Scott is one of the most generous teachers and writers in the screenwriting blogosphere.  The rate at which he posts and the quality of information coming through is incredible.  He’s quick with a response, candid with his posting and encouraging to writers of all levels.

Add Go Into the Story to your daily reading list if you know what’s good for you.

-b

Brad is a screenwriter living and working in Ottawa, Canada.  When he’s not doing that thing he has to do for money or doing that thing he has to do because they’re his kids, he can be found posting screenplays on his project site, Steal My Script.

 

Highlights from Toronto Screenwriting Conference 2011

A. Sheldon Bull (300 sitcom screenplay experience+book Elephant Bucks)

Write lots of spec scripts before you do your own pilot script, i.e. build your chops and portfolio before getting out there

The seven plot elements of a two act sitcom are:

1. First goal/problem (a goal for active main chars, a problem for reactive main chars)
2. Obstacle
3. First action – based on an unwise decision
4. Act break: they are further from goal than when they started
5. Second goal
6. Second action
7. Resolution

These can also be used in a 3 Act structure (1,2/3,4/5,6,7)

B. Pen Densham (film screenwriter)

• Make your descriptions poetic so they explode in the reader’s mind
• Keep using your own voice to strengthen it
• A pitch is not just you selling a story, it is an opportunity to meet people who may want to be in business with you, so find mutual goals and areas of convergence
• IMDB Pro shows who agents represent to help you find suitable agencies to target

C. Damian Kindler and Martin Wood (Sanctuary)

• Use Visual Effects!!!! You can do amazing things working with a VisFX studio
• All-Canadian productions get 40% in tax credits, use of Vis FX also gets tax credits
• SciFi / Action series sell well internationally
• If you want to work on a show, always come in with solutions, “it might work better if”, never disrespect the show, it’s very personal to the creators

D. Leonard Dick (Lost, House, The Good Wife)

• Writers are never unemployed, they are ‘on hiatus’ – writing specs, doing meetings, etc.
• Create a balanced portfolio of works: different shows, styles, original voice and existing shows
• Spec script is nice if it’s a small story with surprising elements, something you didn’t know about the characters before.
• Spec script should always be about the principal character (surprisingly, lots of writers don’t do that)

E. Dara Marks

• Film is used by people as an instruction manual, since story is how the human psyche processes the world. Show how the protagonist grows and changes in relationship to conflict and other people.
• The story arc has two phases: Conflict and resolution. The tension rises during the first half, where the resistance to internal change from the protagonist battles with their attempts to solve problems. The second half releases the tension with the resolution of the problem. To build dramatic tension, use heightened conflict with jeopardy (emotional and physical).
• Art involves 3 phases:
  1. Intuitive: random outflowing from subconscious
  2. Process the material: add meaning through finding theme, find out what the material wants to say.
  3. Express it to the world
• Don’t forget the second step!! You need to make meaning for yourself before you can get it out there. This meaning is based on your personal voice.

Notes from: Beth Martin

 

Toronto – The Center of the Universe!!! :)

I know at least 6 of us that attended 2 conferences in Toronto this weekend.  I was at the Toronto Screenwriting Conference 2011, with another member.  We ran into two other guys from Ottawa too.  Also, at least two women attended the Toronto Screenwriters’ Summit.  More information will go up here as notes from the Conferences come in.

Tonight – The Writers Guild of Canada Screenwriting Awards!