well - great to mentioned in the 'ones to watch' section on movie scope...flattered to be in such strong compnay...
check it out...
http://www.moviescopemag.com/tag/one-to-watch/
Thursday, 22 October 2009
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Independent article
check this out.... Kelly Marshall who runs the LCC Screenwriting course holds out a little bit of hope.... and it seems it's in the US...x
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/postgraduate/postgraduate-study/screenwriting-masters-how-to-write-for-a-soap-1802642.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/postgraduate/postgraduate-study/screenwriting-masters-how-to-write-for-a-soap-1802642.html
Tuesday, 6 October 2009
was it worth it?
So - was it? Well, I've met face to face the execs and got script samples on the desks of Mandate, Madchance Goldcircle, Summit, A Band Apart, Bone Fide, Oddlot, Rob Evans, River Road, Sanitsky Ent, Groundswell, Shed US and 19 and met two managers, a script website creator and top execs from ICM and United Talent. None of which I would've done if I'd have stayed at home. Now it's just a matter of me waiting to hear, whilst writing my next film. At least I know the one they all seemed to like the most, so back to the office so I can get a new first draft on their desks by Xmas.
Film council bunch
really welcomed by the gang and encouraged to contact them when having meetings. They even printed up a copy of my script i needed for the next meeting. Talked about how things work in LA - what we're all up to and how we can make the most of the American market's need for content. Basically - write global and be ORIGINAL. Don't guess the market. Not something we didn't know but good to keep in the consciousness.A manager joined us and talked about how she worked with her clients -you submit log lines to her and she helps you chose which one to work up to a treatment and script giving you creative pointers as you go..
Friday, 2 October 2009
the amazing little miss sunshine gang
met the two companies that produced my two favourite films of all time JUNO and LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. Good meetings, upbeat and positive... pitched my rom-com and my slacker road movie to both.. went well, left the script and the pitch now off to an ex LCC student's house for a porch party.. he's got the best job in the world moving from summer intern up to assistant at ICM.
Tomorrow I'm off up to Lois's to stay over and we're going to an avocado festival(!) and then on to moonlit dinner...
Driving up the PCH in my convertible...does it get much better than that?
Tomorrow I'm off up to Lois's to stay over and we're going to an avocado festival(!) and then on to moonlit dinner...
Driving up the PCH in my convertible...does it get much better than that?
AGENTS
Yesterday we met the men in suits at ICM - Shan Ray (Motion Pictures) and Eric Hornie (TV ) who generously talked us through the system in the US for an hour and today we had a meeting with the gorgeous Irish agent (there are only two in La apparently) David Flynn at United Talent who was very open about how things work.
Points to bear in mind..
In this hard market, films most likely to be picked up are four quadrant films. Films that work for families, men, women and teens .
Keep writing spec scripts ALL THE TME - even if you're a staff writer on a show - get up early; keep writing your own material.
Staff writers - the first rung of the ladder on a series won't get to write a script for a year but can be on $10,000 dollars a week.
We also got a pretty bleak run down of the figures at Toronto of 650 films in the market, 620 didn't have a US distributor and only 6 were sold.
Toronto film festival Film guardian.co.uk
25 Sep 2009: Adam Dawtrey: The Darwin biopic has finally secured an American distributor, but its very limited release suggests it is time the British film industry stops being so ...
www.guardian.co.uk/film/torontofilmfestival
Over with United and one important change in the US is they now get THE BRIT LIST which is a list of top twenty unmade scripts (rather like the BLACK LIST in the US) that agents/dev execs think are the best scripts out there. We asked who chooses and they're a mysterious gang a bit like the mystery shopper....
Another tip was to enter festivals with your work - a reccuring theme here - and the good ones will get found - not necessarily made - but will get you work and representation..
He also recommended writers be more hard working about getting their own stuff out there. See all the BAFTA short films and contact the directors of the ones you like and take them out for coffee and talk about what they want to do next. See if they're a good fit...
Points to bear in mind..
In this hard market, films most likely to be picked up are four quadrant films. Films that work for families, men, women and teens .
Keep writing spec scripts ALL THE TME - even if you're a staff writer on a show - get up early; keep writing your own material.
Staff writers - the first rung of the ladder on a series won't get to write a script for a year but can be on $10,000 dollars a week.
We also got a pretty bleak run down of the figures at Toronto of 650 films in the market, 620 didn't have a US distributor and only 6 were sold.
Toronto film festival Film guardian.co.uk
25 Sep 2009: Adam Dawtrey: The Darwin biopic has finally secured an American distributor, but its very limited release suggests it is time the British film industry stops being so ...
www.guardian.co.uk/film/torontofilmfestival
Over with United and one important change in the US is they now get THE BRIT LIST which is a list of top twenty unmade scripts (rather like the BLACK LIST in the US) that agents/dev execs think are the best scripts out there. We asked who chooses and they're a mysterious gang a bit like the mystery shopper....
Another tip was to enter festivals with your work - a reccuring theme here - and the good ones will get found - not necessarily made - but will get you work and representation..
He also recommended writers be more hard working about getting their own stuff out there. See all the BAFTA short films and contact the directors of the ones you like and take them out for coffee and talk about what they want to do next. See if they're a good fit...
Thursday, 1 October 2009
knackered
apologies these postings are coming so erratically but by the end of the day after talking and driving back and forth I have something to eat and I'm asleep in bed... only to be woken by my roomie at 3.30 typing away trying to finish her script in time for her meeting..
Wednesday was a fantastic day with a meeting with an LA manager who talked us through how they work as opposed to an agent. They sound very hands on - almost your own editor - with a sales head attached. He's already taken on one of the ex-students and got them a deal and a commission for asecond feature. He advised keeping in a 'box' of genre for a year or two so the town know what you're good at before branching out to your Zombie Rom-Com. He takes 10% but is as hands on as you need...He was also a rare species that take on writers who don't live in LA.
I then had a wonderful lunch with the producer of A PALACE DIVIDED that was shown on ABC years ago with Catherine Oxenburg and Roger Rees as Diana and Charles and me as Fergie.. (weirdly another of the writers on this trip played Fergie in a Fergie and Andrew biopic for NBC). Larry cheered me up no end by getting excited about my projects and saying 'okay Tracy, show me what you got..' It was also pretty exciting that Angelica Huston came to say hello to Larry and we had a chat...
This was followed by a couple of meetings at Century City. I was shocked at the first one as after the pitch the exec offered me a book, saying they were looking for someone to adapt it and if my script was any good, we might talk. I then went down the corridor to another company with a totally different mind set and had to pitch my political stuff rather than comedy Rom-Com...gear change...! He seemed interested and asked for samples and treatments. Keep the faith. Meanwhile back to my chick-lit...
Wednesday was a fantastic day with a meeting with an LA manager who talked us through how they work as opposed to an agent. They sound very hands on - almost your own editor - with a sales head attached. He's already taken on one of the ex-students and got them a deal and a commission for asecond feature. He advised keeping in a 'box' of genre for a year or two so the town know what you're good at before branching out to your Zombie Rom-Com. He takes 10% but is as hands on as you need...He was also a rare species that take on writers who don't live in LA.
I then had a wonderful lunch with the producer of A PALACE DIVIDED that was shown on ABC years ago with Catherine Oxenburg and Roger Rees as Diana and Charles and me as Fergie.. (weirdly another of the writers on this trip played Fergie in a Fergie and Andrew biopic for NBC). Larry cheered me up no end by getting excited about my projects and saying 'okay Tracy, show me what you got..' It was also pretty exciting that Angelica Huston came to say hello to Larry and we had a chat...
This was followed by a couple of meetings at Century City. I was shocked at the first one as after the pitch the exec offered me a book, saying they were looking for someone to adapt it and if my script was any good, we might talk. I then went down the corridor to another company with a totally different mind set and had to pitch my political stuff rather than comedy Rom-Com...gear change...! He seemed interested and asked for samples and treatments. Keep the faith. Meanwhile back to my chick-lit...
Wednesday, 30 September 2009
Tarantino's Development Exec
This one was a brilliant meeting. We met in a cafe - the fantastically authentic Cafe 101 - which gave it a casual, friendly edge. She'd read a sample and liked it, wanted to talk about what made me want to write, what stories I wanted to tell and why. She was well informed and generous with her knowledge and asked to read something else to get an idea of what other genres I could write. I left not with anything concrete but a real sense that she loved movies and that we'd keep in touch..
paramount
I left the Script Shark meeting and set off to my first one-to-one at Robert Evans on the Paramount Lot. A fabulous place, it feels like walking into a 50's movie set with sets being shifted and circus props hanging about, folk carrying piles of scripts, actresses huddled in groups, comparing tan lines...under the glitz though I'm sure it's just a sunnier version of Elstree!
Sitting outside on a bench I tried to gather my thoughts and not be too phased, but I shouldn't have worried as once in there, it was like every other meeting you might have in London. And these guys are so good at it. A few jokes, pleasentries and it's 'so what are you working on at the minute..' and you're away... I was asked if they could read the script of my Rom Com and the treatment of another which I happily left. Mind you; don't do what I did and have a script that's been copied on recycled paper... I was straight down to the printers after that and had a box of five pristine, three brad, scripts printed for only $20. Bargain if you ask me. My mission is now to get rid of them all...
So on to Odd Lot over at Culver City. More difficult to find I arrived stressed and hot only to find that with Yom Kippur the office was almost empty. Eventually the exec arrived and I was taken into the conference room. He was delightful but pretty realistic about the state of the business. Low low budgets - under $5 million are still being made and the top budget biggies - the Transformers etc are getting the financing but there is definately a desert inbetween. Even though cinema going is on the rise, it's for a particular type of film and ones with huge stars are going straight to video which has never happened before. That said he liked one of my ideas, saying he'd ike to see the script when I've written it, so it wasn't a wasted meeting.
Sitting outside on a bench I tried to gather my thoughts and not be too phased, but I shouldn't have worried as once in there, it was like every other meeting you might have in London. And these guys are so good at it. A few jokes, pleasentries and it's 'so what are you working on at the minute..' and you're away... I was asked if they could read the script of my Rom Com and the treatment of another which I happily left. Mind you; don't do what I did and have a script that's been copied on recycled paper... I was straight down to the printers after that and had a box of five pristine, three brad, scripts printed for only $20. Bargain if you ask me. My mission is now to get rid of them all...
So on to Odd Lot over at Culver City. More difficult to find I arrived stressed and hot only to find that with Yom Kippur the office was almost empty. Eventually the exec arrived and I was taken into the conference room. He was delightful but pretty realistic about the state of the business. Low low budgets - under $5 million are still being made and the top budget biggies - the Transformers etc are getting the financing but there is definately a desert inbetween. Even though cinema going is on the rise, it's for a particular type of film and ones with huge stars are going straight to video which has never happened before. That said he liked one of my ideas, saying he'd ike to see the script when I've written it, so it wasn't a wasted meeting.
LA catch up
hi all - sorry it's taken so long t get to this but it's been mental dashing from meeting to meeting. Arrived in LA and treated myself to the soft top motor on the assumption that if the meetings go shite; least I'll have a bit of fun getting there...
Excellent start to the trip organised by Kelly Marshall a fellow writer and course director at the London College of Communications (an excellent screenwriting MA with a great hit rate of professional writers coming out the other side). First meeting was with Lee Zahavi Jessup of Script shark http://www.scriptshark.com/ aat the fabulous Literati Cafe. A must for writers with all the decor relating to writing and screen plays and the best hot oatmeal and blueberries...
Her chat was an introduction to the industry. Script shark offer a suport base for the writer, running script coveage services and acting as a conduit for strong scripts to get read by the indutry. Lee was witty, engaging, extremely informative and realistic about the business at the minute. Saying the days of selling a spec script right off the bat are gone whilst also qualifying that with the tale of a bored insurance guy who wrote a script at his desk to aleviate boredom only to the sell it for several figures. She talked about the importance of entering script comps to get your script noticed and read by decision makers, suggesting you enter one big one - Final Draft or Scriptalooza with four entries into some of the smaller ones - either using a friends' US address or appying as a Brit, taking the vew that if you get high enough up the pile for it to be noticed, it won't matter that you might be disqualified; you got read. This exact thing happened to an alumni of the LCC and the writing team are now on to their second US script commission. She also suggested you don't go for the csh prize comps but the ones with the most impressive panel of readers. She also said that the industry is now more about nurturing a relationship with a writer in the ong term rather than just buying their script and bye-bye.
Excellent start to the trip organised by Kelly Marshall a fellow writer and course director at the London College of Communications (an excellent screenwriting MA with a great hit rate of professional writers coming out the other side). First meeting was with Lee Zahavi Jessup of Script shark http://www.scriptshark.com/ aat the fabulous Literati Cafe. A must for writers with all the decor relating to writing and screen plays and the best hot oatmeal and blueberries...
Her chat was an introduction to the industry. Script shark offer a suport base for the writer, running script coveage services and acting as a conduit for strong scripts to get read by the indutry. Lee was witty, engaging, extremely informative and realistic about the business at the minute. Saying the days of selling a spec script right off the bat are gone whilst also qualifying that with the tale of a bored insurance guy who wrote a script at his desk to aleviate boredom only to the sell it for several figures. She talked about the importance of entering script comps to get your script noticed and read by decision makers, suggesting you enter one big one - Final Draft or Scriptalooza with four entries into some of the smaller ones - either using a friends' US address or appying as a Brit, taking the vew that if you get high enough up the pile for it to be noticed, it won't matter that you might be disqualified; you got read. This exact thing happened to an alumni of the LCC and the writing team are now on to their second US script commission. She also suggested you don't go for the csh prize comps but the ones with the most impressive panel of readers. She also said that the industry is now more about nurturing a relationship with a writer in the ong term rather than just buying their script and bye-bye.
Friday, 25 September 2009
A day at the coal face filming a new ad for sainsburys - I don't want to see a joint of pork for quite some time thanks - and read this Hope DL posted on Facebook.
The guru Phil Parker ( ex head of the MA Screenwriting at LCC) tries to explain why original ideas aren't getting through..
http://www.screendaily.com/5006085.article
Also check out the Cambridge Short Film Festival - some awesome talent including the one and only Deborah Haywood...
The guru Phil Parker ( ex head of the MA Screenwriting at LCC) tries to explain why original ideas aren't getting through..
http://www.screendaily.com/5006085.article
Also check out the Cambridge Short Film Festival - some awesome talent including the one and only Deborah Haywood...
Thursday, 24 September 2009
pitching
read a few websites that might help when you're trying to get your feature down to a coulpe of paragraphs... This is much easier when you've written it. Trying to get a treatment into a sentance is much harder. You don't know the world or more importantly; the tone..
http://www.moviepitch.com/ is good site - especially if you're pretty new. He'll take your idea and pitch it for you... not sur ewhat the hit rate is but some interestiung advise.
http://www.moviepitch.com/ is good site - especially if you're pretty new. He'll take your idea and pitch it for you... not sur ewhat the hit rate is but some interestiung advise.
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
the American Dream...
sat here wondering if it's a good idea.... The University of the Arts (where I did my MA) has invited me to join them on their Writers Talent Camp. Three months ago it seemed like a good idea, now with my writing partner grounded with a doctors note and all my ideas feeling rubbish I'm pretty ner vous.. Managing expectations is the way forward... if nothing come sof it; that is all I expect! I'll be keeping a regular blog of the trip - the do's and ond't of how to get meetings; what to say; what not to say so keep tuned in...
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