comedy

An amiable assortment o’ items

Maximum Z comedy, contest, crowdfunding, development, encouragement, film festival, half-marathons, momentum, output, perseverance, persistence, productivity, project, pulp fiction, rewrite, running, screenplay, screenwriting, script, spec, success, writing , , , , , , , , , ,
study group
Everybody’s keeping busy, so there’s lots to talk about!

First three months of the year wrapping up today, which makes it the perfect opportunity to offer up your Project Status Update! Feel free to step up to that virtual microphone (aka the comments section) and announce the latest developments for whatever is currently occupying your attention.

My list is pretty short:

-Work on the pulp spec continues. Currently around page 83, with a projected final count of 120ish. Strongly suspect FADE OUT will be typed sometime in mid-April, give or take a couple of days.

-Dipped my toe into the waters of rewriting the low-budget comedy courtesy of some helpful notes. Not a total page-one rewrite, but definitely taking my time with this one.

-My western was named a finalist at the WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival screenwriting contest. (Editor’s note – yay) Further details (i.e. how it placed) won’t be announced until the awards ceremony at the end of April, but still quite proud to have made it this far.

And a couple of items tacked on to the bulletin board, which spotlights creative-type folks and their even more creative projects well worth your time and attention:

-Filmmaker/screenwriter Eric Claremont Player has launched a crowdfunding campaign for his courtroom drama film project. Make sure to check out the colorfully captivating and absolutely true backstory that led up to it.

-Writer-director Dianna Ippolito is running a crowdfunding campaign for her new project Robb’s Problem: A Horror Short. As Dianna puts it, “Our goal is to bring you a really smart, beautiful and thought-provoking horror film, produced, written and directed by women.”

As with all crowdfunding projects listed here, donate if you can!

If you’d like to get the word out about a project of your own, feel free to drop me a line. Operators are always standing by.

-Ran the San Francisco Rock & Roll Half-marathon this past weekend. Made it just under the 2-hour mark with 1:59:11. Next race is in July, so hoping to shave a few minutes off of that.

Wanted: little-known gems

Maximum Z action, Buster Keaton, comedy, entertainment, film, Harold Lloyd, James Bond, movies, silent films, thriller, Whip It ,
keaton
Luckily, you won’t have to wait to see the show

I’m always keen for a good movie-watching recommendation, especially if it’s something I’ve never heard of, or at least heard of but haven’t seen. We all know a few of those.

So here’s your chance to shed a little light by a film (or films) that you’ve always enjoyed, but a lot of people may not be too familiar with.

Here are three of mine:

The Kid Brother (1927) An amazing piece of work from Harold Lloyd. Worth watching for the boat sequence alone. Plus it has a monkey in it.

ffolkes (1979) Roger Moore at his most un-James Bond-iest. A somewhat dated but still very entertaining action-thriller.

Whip It (2009) A charming and fun story that combines equal parts comedy, drama and women’s roller derby. Features a lot more name actors than you realize, and Drew Barrymore’s directing debut.

It doesn’t have to be a classic, nor does it have to be “a cinematic masterpiece”. You get a kick out of it, and think the rest of us would too. Just write down the title and what you like about it in the comments below.

Happy viewing!

Just another gradual shifting of gears

Maximum Z comedy, concept, draft, dramedy, feedback, multitasking, notes, output, pages, productivity, project, quality, screenplay, screenwriting, script, spec, story, writing , , , , , , , , ,
gear-shift
Start at first and take it from there

Notes continue to trickle in for the comedy-now-dramedy spec. General consensus – solid concept, underdeveloped, reads like a first draft, still needs a ton of work, and so forth.

All of which is fine by me. I wrote it in an extremely short amount of time, which is probably quite evident in the draft itself.  It’s also the fastest I’ve ever cranked out a draft, and to me that’s still a victory in itself.

Would I have loved for everybody to gush about it and claim it truly wonderful? Of course, but that ain’t gonna happen. As long as nobody says “This is terrible!”, I’m good.

Is it at least a decent script? Well, I like it. There’s a lot of potential in it, and the quality can only improve from its current state.

So while the thoughts of “what to fix and how to fix it” percolate, I’ll slide it to the always-expanding back burner and move on to the next couple of items on my agenda, which includes notes on some friends’ specs, followed by the first draft of a long-in-development project.

Exciting times, chums.

It’s that time again!

Maximum Z comedy, dramedy, notes, pages, polish, production company, productivity, project, reading, representation, rewrite, screenplay, screenwriting, script, story, writing , , , , , , , , , ,
New York Author Honored at Cocktail Party
Sparkling wit, bon mots & smart turns of phrase are right at home here

Another three months has passed, making it a more than fitting opportunity to check in with all of you hard-working writers to find out exactly how that writing is going.

That’s right, gang. Put on your public-speaking pants (online edition) and step up to take part in the world-renowned Project Status Update Time!

(insert triumphant fanfare here)

It’s a fairly simple process. In the comments section below, feel free to share with the rest of us what’s new with you and your writing.

Page count. Logline development. Contact with a prodco or rep. Pre-production on a short. Any and all updates are welcome.

As is the tradition, I’ll start things off:

I’ll still give it one more read-through, but I wrapped up the rewrite/polish on the comedy spec. It’s more of a dramedy now, but still quite a charming little story.

I’m also in the process of giving notes on some friends’ scripts, and once all of those are done, it’s onto a pair of new projects. Exciting times, indeed.

How about you?

Disappointed, yet still driven & determined

Maximum Z Austin Screenwriting Competition, career, comedy, contests, determination, encouragement, Nicholl Fellowship, notes, PAGE International, reading, screenplay, screenwriting, script, strategy, Uncategorized, westerns, writing
uphill
One step at a time

The results are in for my western’s involvement with the major screenwriting contests for this year:

PAGE – nope. Didn’t get notes.

Austin – nope. Notes expected later in the year. (They got over 9100 entries for shorts and features this year. That’s A LOT.)

Nicholl – top 15%, which isn’t bad. Two sets of notes; the first reader really liked it, whereas the second’s comments make me highly suspicious about their qualifications.

On a positive note, the script placed in the top 100 of the ISA’s Emerging Screenwriters contest, which is nice. Fingers crossed it advances to the finals.

But back to the big three. It’s a little frustrating that things didn’t work out, but that doesn’t mean the script’s bad. A lot of my readers, many of whom have done well in these contests, all had very positive things to say about it and thought it was a solid and entertaining piece of work.

Two things to keep in mind about these contests:

–It’s all subjective.

–Sometimes you just get a shitty reader.

These also happen to be things we have no control over. Yes, it’s disappointing to get that email that includes the phrase “Unfortunately…”, but just because you didn’t do well this year doesn’t mean you won’t do better next year. This is the mantra I’m going with for now.

I’m also taking a little time off from the western to focus on the comedy and at least one or two other scripts. It helps.

Something else for you to ponder: contests aren’t the only way in. More and more I’m hearing/reading from writers who do well in contests, but nothing comes of it. They might get a read, but that’s it. You gotta keep trying from every approach you can think of.

That’s my plan.

Will I enter the contests next year? Possibly. But they’re not a priority.

Making inroads into a getting a career going is.