Yeah Brett, I spotted that aswell.

It comes across as if this is tailored to big ticket shorts, but maybe the next ones will be different.

Quoted from Electric Dreamer I hope his readers don't get the wrong idea here. That they have to write mega budget shorts to get noticed.

I'm leaning the other way.  

I hope his readers take his word as gospel and write nothing but 3D Sci-Fi Period Pieces about underwater towns full of kids that ride small, French speaking animals.

Jordan

Quoted from Nomad I'm leaning the other way.   I hope his readers take his word as gospel and write nothing but 3D Sci-Fi Period Pieces about underwater towns full of kids that ride small, French speaking animals. Jordan

LOL!
Sounds like a Jean-Pierre Juenet film to me!
A humorous, but not very sporting sentiment there, pal!

Then again...
Writing a big budget thingy could trap lightning in a bottle.
Or at the very least...
Perhaps intrigue someone enough to want to collab & expand it into a feature.

E.D.

Quoted from Reef Dreamer Yeah Brett, I spotted that aswell. It comes across as if this is tailored to big ticket shorts, but maybe the next ones will be different.

Glad I'm not the only one that picked up on this.
Here's my comment on the blog, it was stuck in moderation for a while...


I think the "frequency" that shorts have lead to industry work has grown exponentially.
There are many famous examples splattered over the internet in recent years.
But to say that shorts were pretty pointless prior to YouTube is a bit shark jumpy for my taste.

Two days in a row, Carson has complained about the static choices of shorts authors.
There are a ton of "talking head' style shorts out there, that's true.
But I believe it has less to do with unimaginative writers and much more to do with...
Production Feasibility.

If you're a writer without talented pals to pull off a big show, feasibility is a huge issue.
So, a lot of writers will create something that's much less expensive to produce.
In the hopes of attracting talent that can reasonably produce the script into a quality short.

For example, today's short has got some solid genre tropes.
But I don't know any director that will take on this project as a short.
It would be extremely expensive to produce. Shorts don't make money. Period.

And it would be a shot in the dark, at best, of catching big industry/film festival attention.
Budget concerns is the first thing I hear from 95% of the directors looking for shorts.

Last year, I wrote and sold a short to two prodcos.
Nine pages. One room. Two characters. Add gun play and some fight choreography.
And just a touch of post-production CG for a laptop screen. That's it. Easy, right?
But even that's a Herculean task to get done when no one's getting paid.

Limited location means you can shoot in a weekend before everyone goes back to work.
And that really helps give a short script viability for hungry talent.

I think it's critical to address the issue of feasibility for amateur writers.
You greatly increase your chances of gaining interest.
Sure, zombie tiger hordes look cool. As do time-travel steampunk silent film style shorts.
But if you're a writer on your own, it puts you in a much deeper hole to get to production.

There's something to be said for thinking INSIDE the box, with shorts.
Just make sure what you put into that cheap, easy-to-produce box, stands out.
I don't think amateur writers should be discouraged from creating simplistic productions.
Quite the opposite.
Feasibility plays a much bigger factor in shorts.

And I hope there's at least one short on this week's list that emulates this concept.
It's not enough to write a flashy short, you need to optimize it for efficient production too.

Regards,
E.D.

Cannot agree more with you guys.

Screenwriters will listen to ANYTHING that Carson preaches. Like Nomad said, you'll soon be seeing something outrageous like people riding speaking animals under the sea. It really gives off a bad view.

Hopefully we do have a 'normal' short in there as Brett suggested. If this keeps on, it would seem like Carson skipped through every second short sent and if it didn't feature something unusual, put it down after a few pages.

Kids riding French speaking animals.  Zombie/Robot Suicide.  I wasn't too far off.

I think the time travel script can be made low budget. From what I read, it involves a guy with a pack on his bag. lol.

But I haven't read the talking animals. And that sounds like it has a chance only if it's animation.  

There's times when i agree with Carson and other times I disagree. It's a person's opinion.  

Gabe

Anyone interested in a half off a Carson read?

Quoted from Felipe Anyone interested in a half off a Carson read?

Isn't that still about 5 grand!

I'll stick to the missus - she's free and I might get lucky if she likes it.

I kinda jumped the gun on his newsletter trivia thinking there was no way I'd win and now I don't even have anything I want him to read. Not done with my current script.

Quoted from Felipe I kinda jumped the gun on his newsletter trivia thinking there was no way I'd win and now I don't even have anything I want him to read. Not done with my current script.

LOL.
I did the same thing for craps and laughs a half an hour ago.
But I got no reply. So, I guess you got the last one.

E.D.

Quoted from Felipe Anyone interested in a half off a Carson read?

Maybe you did jump the gun...
But wouldn't Carson let you "bank" the discount until your script's ready?

E.D.

He said something along the lines of "payment within 7 days" if I did choose to go with the service.

How much is half price read? I have one I'd like him to read.

Quoted from Nomad I hope his readers take his word as gospel and write nothing but 3D Sci-Fi Period Pieces about underwater towns full of kids that ride small, French speaking animals. Jordan

If they're cheetah warthogs, then I think we have a winner.