Quoted from RayW Are you gonna be mindful that we should all be reel keen on UK-Englishifying our US-Englishified submissions? I can't even respectfully try to include some hackney, stereotype "English" characters, historical or contemporary.

Stay away from American colloquialisms/slang and you'll be fine.  This holds true, for the most part, if you write a period piece.


Phil

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films In a week perfection is impossible, just try and come up with a concept that is so intriguing it draws people in. Something that's cinematic and exciting. Ultimately the selection (if any! ) will be at my discretion, so let me worry about whether it's any good or not.

I'm not looking for perfection. Just quality. At this point, I'm much more conscious of what I'm writing than I was, say, two years ago and in hindsight, I think a lot of my OWCs tend to suck, if not, are rushed, possibly even my worst work. I'm not a writer who likes to beat himself up so you might as well take my word for it.

@Phil

There are exceptions of course... I read 5 really "KICK-ASS" scripts in the October OWC.  But I also read a bunch of bunk ones too.  I'm saying for anyone just going into a OWC, not too different from this one here, thinking a good script is going to be easy to pull off in a week might be rethinking that theory when the time comes to submit them.

Quoted from James McClung I'm not a writer who likes to beat himself up so you might as well take my word for it.

I am like you, James.  I will not post up my end result if I do not like it.

I mean, if the author does not like it, who will?

I sure wish more people took that philosophy to heart.

Having said that:

Quoted from Rick Ultimately the selection (if any! ) will be at my discretion...

Do you think anything he selects will not be subject to rewrite?

It is all going to be whipped into shape eventually, and reader feedback is a big part of that.

If the concept is rock solid, you might want to think twice about holding back just because your ending isn't twisty enough or whatever...

My tips still stand.  You can write a good five-pager a lot easier than a decent twelve pager in the given time.


Phil

Quoted from bert I am like you, James.  I will not post up my end result if I do not like it.

I usually like my end result, though it usually has nothing to do with the OWC.

Here's a cartoon about Dedyshka Vodyanoy for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSpsC9q8bVs&feature=related



Most commonly known as simply "Vodyanoy".

Here's the translation
"I'm Vodyanoy
No one wants to talk to me
No girlfriends, except for
The Leeches and Frogs
--how disgusting;
There's water inside of me
Maybe that's why they don't wanna talk to me...
And I want to fly
I want to fly
I want to fly so bad...

I know we have to stick with the horror and this Vodyanoy is too lovable) Just wanted you all to take a glimpse.
The cartoon is too funny...

Thanks Michael.

Ray, thanks for all the references. It's of great help! I've already selected mine and have a story. Need to write it down though.

Couple of questions for Rick...

1. Anthropophagi - sounds like a cool looking creature, yet one that would take animatronics and good special effects to look anything besides laughable on screen. would you look to write some of these beasts with a bit of Hitchcock type horror for that reason? The less seen is scarier...

2. I'm drawn to the doppleganger. Again, scenes in my head that would have things take place inside a mirror or window that aren't taking place on the reality side of the reflection. Can you shoot something like this?

James

If anyone wants a read before you submit, I'm here. I'm not participating this time.  

Second one is (relatively) easy...you just shoot the action twice and edit it together. With a VFX guy on board it would just take a bit of planning.

The first..harder for sure. But someone, somewhere could do it.

I think suspense and tension often make for better films in general anyway...but you've got to have the money shot, at least, with the hideous body/face.

Concentrate on making the story as good as possible and let me worry about that. There will be some young guys out there looking to break into special effects who would love the chance to build something like that for their portfolio, or even maybe an established guy who has less work due to CGI who would rather build it at the weekends than go out drinking.

These guys look pretty good:

http://www.millenniumfx.co.uk/

I notice that to get a job with them, you have to send a CV with 5 examples of your work. So it's people like that you can target...people who have trained and have the skills, but maybe have only three pieces of work and want something "wow" to show the world.

Quoted from Grandma Bear If anyone wants a read before you submit, I'm here. I'm not participating this time.

You got time to read, you got time to write!!!

Quoted from Scar Tissue Films You got time to read, you got time to write!!!

You know she'll just write one last minute.

Pia,

I see you're now a board moderator. For how long? should i assume you now posess the power to delete my posts?

Thanks for the info Rick.

James

Quoted from jwent6688 I see you're now a board moderator. For how long? should i assume you now posess the power to delete my posts?

She's got the power.  So you better watch yourselves.