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Excellent goals. I mean no disrespect by this but see my previous post early on this thread. I did think I'd be playing rock music in space one day when I was a kid. I'm still bloody well disappointed it's unlikely to happen. There's always hope. Why do I now think of Shawshank?
I think To Be a director is something most screenwriters seek. It means you can completely control a film. A prime is example is the genius that was Kubrick.
I don't really seek to be anywhere near him in terms of reputation, to do so would be very foolish. Hell, I'll be lucky to be the new Uwe Boll. Come to think of it making a living doing something good in film would be a fucking start for me.
But to mentioned in the same sentence as Kubrick by someone who is really up there would fulfill many a fantasy.
Right. I would also prefer directing stuff I wrote. Not that fellow writers' scripts aren't good enough (trust me that's not the reason) it's just it seems it would be easier to direct something you wrote, since you already saw the film in your head.
Isle 10- A series I'm currently writing with my friend Adam and it will go into production soon. Think The Office meets 10 Items or Less.
Andrew, I've done some searching and I think I've found the source of your woes. Don't let it get to you. As you work and strive to meet your goals in life, you're always going to run into people who seem to want to drag you down. People who don't seem to care about the same things which are so very important to you, and even seem to make a mockery of these things. You just have to stay focused. It's your goals that matter, not theirs, or lack thereof. Become like a duck, and let it slide right off your back, my friend. You'll be just fine.
It's pretty useful because it has website links. The European countries tend to respect shorts a bit more than the fromer Anglo colonies , but they are all represented.
Don't think there is much scope for writers to contact the distributors personally, so a clandestine approach might be more in order. Surf the web and report back.
Sounds very interesting and workable to me, Jonny.
Between November '09 and February/March '10, I will be in a perpetual state of travelling, until I resettle in Oz for a year, so that could upset the applecart for my participation; however, would be great to get something like that off the ground if others fancy it.
decadence, would you mind embellishing your ideas re: 2, 'cos from where I stand there appears to be an interest.
Andrew
Because the challenge is for individuals, there would be no set format as such. I can tailor the challenge to your respective strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes, so you get out of it what you want the most, or what I, in my subjective opinion, think you need the most .
Maybe a forumista has tended to write in only one particular genre and fancies being challenged to write another one. Or perhaps you only write horror in which case the challenge would be more about forcing you to be more original, or to go bigger with your ideas.
I could start a thread looking for volunteers. We could start with a general discussion about where you see yourself, the type of stories that you like, what people have said are your strengths, what you think you need to work on, where you want to end up, that kind of thing. I'll look over the scripts that you have posted on here, look at what others have noted as well and set an interesting challenge that fits the criteria.
The rules that are then set for the script would be designed to help you achieve your individual goal. So, if you want to create a low budget horror piece to attract an independent producer, the task will focus on that. If you are looking to create a high concept action piece that you can expand into a feature, the challenge will focus on that.
It's hard not to be vague, because the whole idea is that they will be for the individual, so it will be based on their particular needs/desires/worries.
Maybe I can start to refine the challenge as it goes on (if there is any interest) into categories.
EG : 1 Lucky Dip. You can ask to be given a random challenge. I will choose a genre, a topic and present a particular, measurable challenge. Fellow SSers could then adjudge 2.Hollywood Producers Pitch. Production company is looking for high concept, original genre ideas. 3.Independent Producers pitch. Local filmmaker is looking for a low budget script to present at festivals
The categories will be non exclusive though. IE you may want to create a high concept, low budget film.
The challenge would have its own thread and would be open to discussion, so we can discuss interesting ways of creating stories, characters etc
I think the best way of explaining it would be to do it. Would you like to be the first guinea pig?
I think Me is someone who's found success within this business. I read her posts very carefully for success in screenwriting is a bloody rare thing. She is also a bloody good writer. Pardon swearing.
No success with screenwriting, but screenwriting lead to other things.
A question for you while you're here. A very general reply will suffice. Do you make a living, or anywhere near, out of scripts?
I don't make any money from scripts, but I might make some if the reality show happens which it looks like it will. I can't write features worth a darn so I'm pretty sure I'll never make any money that way. Realizing that might be why I didn't mind trying something else.
PS. Phil was not banned. There were other people here that liked to "voice their opinions". One was Alan, then there was Chris and some other guy. I think the mods had a full time job keeping the boards under control back then... Ahhh, the good ole days!
That sounds like a great idea to me. The categories were also particularly interesting. Well, rather than stealing the thunder of a new thread, here are my scripts that sit on SS, and I quite like the idea of being a guinea pig Some say I have a weird little face anyway
We actually discussed the idea of a One Month Challenge where the goal was a full on screenplay. The reason for this sort of idea is because when a producer wants a script, they are the ones with the idea they want produced, and when they ask for the F13 knockoff, what do you do with the brilliant character driven horror piece you already have? Obviously, you shelve it, write the knock off, and then pimp your brilliant script after you've buddied up to the producer with your equally brilliant F13 knockoff.
One thing we've seen come through here are people wanting scripts. They usually drop in, say "I want such and such" and then move on when someone can't immediately produce or indicate that they can put together that idea. I also get emails stating that so-n-so is looking for, say, a crime thriller set at a bed and breakfast in Costa Rica. Yes, that's an actual idea someone was looking for once. I tossed some ideas together, but I never wrote it out. The kick-in-the-butt on that one was that about a month later, I saw the same request cycle through again. If only I'd written it, I'd have something!
But that's my thought. Kick off a one month challenge based on an idea that comes out of the free Inktip email complete with whatever requirement they're actually looking for. The ultimate goal is to have something producable, but the point is to write a viable script in as short a time as possible. Not everyone would be able to do it, granted, but it hasn't been done yet, it would be great practice, and a real dose of reality..
They are doing the "feature in one month" thing at DD right now. Quite a few people are taking part. They seem to inspire each other too. Which is great.