-Writer/author/script consultant/friend of the blog Howard Casner has launched a crowdfunding project for his short film 14 Conversations in 10 minutes. Donate if you can! Howard is also offering a great new service for screenwriters – $20 to review the first 20 pages of your script.
-Filmmaker Scotty Cornfield‘s crowdfunding project for his short film Goodbye, NOLA is going strong! They’re getting closer to reaching their goal, but can still use a little help. Donate if you can!
Got your own project you’d like to promote? Drop me a line.
Today is all about promoting other folks’ projects. All I get out of it is enjoying helping out some good people.
-Filmmaker and friend of the blog Scotty Cornfield is getting ready to shoot his short Goodbye, NOLA later this year. A crowdfunding campaign will be launching very, very soon. Until then, check out the website or the Facebook page for updates.
-Previous blog interviewee Barri Evins will be hosting her Big Ideas Tiki Bar Seminar the weekend of June 10-12 in Los Angeles. Barri’s seminars also include 6 months’ worth of individual mentorship. Expert screenwriting advice, 6 months of help, AND a tiki bar? How could you pass this up?
–The Great American Pitchfest is taking place May 20-22 in Burbank. Use code Z15 to get 15% off any package EXCEPT the Writing Partner or Scriptfest ones. But hurry – the code’s only good until May 1st, and the organizers tell me it’s filling up fast. This is a great opportunity to network and hone your pitching skills. I went last year and got a lot out of both.
-I’m a huge fan of the Comedy Film Nerds podcast, and co-host Chris Mancini has launched a Kickstarter campaign for his graphic novel Long Ago and Far Away. As of this posting, they’re getting close to hitting the goal. If you’re a fan of comics and supporting original works, feel free to donate if you can to help get them there.
Got your own project coming up that you’d like to promote? Drop me a line.
A hard-at-work pre-Internet server keeping things up and running
There’ve been several previous posts here regarding the benefits and necessity of networking. It can’t be stressed enough how incredibly helpful and effective it can be, especially if you’re not in Los Angeles or somewhere you don’t have a lot of in-person access to other writers.
But it’s not enough to just make a connection. An effort needs to be made by at least one of you (most likely you) to maintain that connection and keep it healthy. And it’s not as hard as you might think.
While it can be extremely easy and tempting to get sucked into the never-ending rabbit hole of the internet, designate a portion of your non-writing time to be just as productive and try to get some networking stuff done.
Are you connected to another writer in your area, but you’ve never actually met in person? Ask them if they’re up for a get-to-know-you coffee or lunch chat.
If you’re limited to online communication, send them an email or tweet asking how they’re doing, and how their latest projects are coming along. Be helpful, or at least offer to help. They might just take you up on it.
*Important – if it’s been a while since you’ve been in touch, don’t start things off by straight-out asking for something. Would you want someone to do that to you? Didn’t think so.
If something good (career or otherwise) has happened for them, send a note of congratulations. Likewise, if something not-so-good has happened, express your sympathies accordingly.
Cliched as it may sound, keeping the lines of communication open really can help you out. I’ve been extremely fortunate to have established strong relationships with several local writers and filmmakers, and exchanged notes with writers scattered across the globe.
I reconnected with a consultant I hadn’t been in touch with for several months, and that conversation led to them offering up coverage (which I still paid for) that proved to be quite helpful.
A writer I know who works in TV and film emailed me, wanting to discuss her latest concept because she thought I was a good match for it.
None of these would have happened if I hadn’t taken the time to keep each relationship going. Rather than taking a “how can you help me?” approach, I go in with the mindset of “maybe I can help you?”
One of the things you hear so often when it comes to establishing a screenwriting career is “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”. I’ve found both parts to be true. You definitely have to know what you’re doing in terms of craft and writing ability, but it’s equally important to establish and maintain solid, professional relationships with as many people as you can.
Because you never know who’s going to suddenly be a person of influence willing to help you out because you did the same for them.
So here’s your voluntary assignment:
1. Contact five of your connections.
2. Ask them how things are going.
3. Take it from there.
Philosophy, metaphysics and existentialism aren’t really my thing, but I suppose you could say I’m feeling very “zen” these days.
Part of it is stems from completing the last-polish-before-contests of my western. It definitely reads better, and I’m extremely happy with the results.
Working on this rewrite also renewed my sense of “don’t hold back”. It was exhilarating to write material that felt so alive and vibrant. I am fully confident this will continue with each draft of each of my scripts from this point on.
For some reason, this may also tie directly into a majority of my anxiety and stress and self-imposed pressure simply disappearing, or at least being drastically reduced. Seriously. Maybe it’s from just accepting that success will happen when it happens, and that beating myself up until it does is just counter-productive. I suspect there will be times when I’ll still get a little down, but expect it to occur on a less regular basis and definitely not as severe.
Big things of a positive nature are ahead, chums. I will do my best to maintain this blissful sensation while I keep working toward reaching that inevitable goal.
Which I do expect to happen. Preferably sooner than later, but either way I’ll get there.
**Editor’s note – this is my 700th post. While the ideal subject matter would have been “I sold a script!” or at least along those lines, I’m quite content with it covering the topic it does.
I hope you’ve enjoyed being part of this for the previous 699 posts over the past 7 years, and that you’ll keep coming back for more.
It’s been a busy couple of days with no sign of letting up, so another shorty today.
-Sorry to say a lot of my time recently has been taken up dealing with technical issues for my email and this blog. Many’s the time I wanted to fling my laptop against the wall due to something not doing what it was supposed to be doing.
-Latest batch of query letters sent. A handful of “send it!” (fingers crossed for that one to the big prodco), a handful of “thanks, but no thanks” and a lot of silence from the rest. Undeterred, I’ve got a few new lists ready to go.
-Got some great suggestions and feedback on my 1-pagers, so rewrites are underway.
-A hearty thanks to those who’ve contacted me about “scripts wanted” listings which are potentially solid matches for some of mine. Follow-ups are in progress.
-Still working on script notes for a few of you. Your patience is greatly appreciated.
-Huge thanks to those offering their support and words of encouragement during some recent times of feeling lousy, confidence-wise. Knowing you’re in my corner means a lot.
-Even though I’ve been super-busy, I’m still doing what I can to do some actual writing, both for my own projects and some outside ones I’m involved with. It’s not always easy, but really making the effort to get something done each day.
Have a great weekend, and hope you get some kickass writing done.
Maximum Z 