Valuable Sources for Writers

The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (3rd Edition) by Christopher Vogler (Author), Michele Montez (Illustrator) is a valuable book for writing any story or script.  It is interesting and informative.  I advise you to read this valuable book if you are at all serious about writing.   It is based on the work by author Joseph Campbell who wrote Hero with a Thousand Faces and The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers. 

A book that the head of Acquisitions and Distribution at Alliance Atlantis suggested to me in 2001 (right before 9/11) was the book Making a Good Script Great 2nd Edition by Hollywood script consultant Linda Seger.  It is “A guide for writing and rewriting” scripts.  

If you are looking to be a writer in Canada then the book, The Canadian’s Writer’s Market 17th Edition, by Sandra B. Tooze is an important source.    Besides being a valuable tool for helping you be a writer in Canada, it

…offers practical advice on manuscript preparation and marketing, income tax for the freelancer, copyright, and libal law.  (Please see my post Protecting your Script).

Film Festivals

If you like film, crowds, excitement, and traveling you can visit many famous film festivals.  If you are lucky some will be right in your own backyard.

The top five film festivals are:

The Sundance Film Festival in Utah, founded by actor/director/producer Robert Redford.  The beauty of this festival is you will see independent films as well as more high profiled ones.

The Cannes Film Festival (travel package info included in link) is one of the most prestigious film festivals.  The world’s elite grace this Red Carpet in Cannes, France.

The Berlin International Film Festival or in German, Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin is also considered one of the world’s leading film festivals.

The Toronto International Film Festival or TIFF is a huge event in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  Over 300,000 people attend this festival.  The tickets are a bit of a headache to get.  I personally think it is a “red-tape” nightmare.  However, if you can endue their archaic process of buying tickets, picking films and attending them, then you will have a great time.

The Venice Film Festival or Mostra Internazionale d’Arte Cinematografica di Venezia in Italy is (according to Wikipedia) “one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals and is part of the Venice Biennale, a major biennial exhibition and festival for contemporary art.”

There are also local film festivals that may be available in your area.  In my area, there is the Ancaster Film Fest (blogspot link) which, is tied in with the Toronto Film Festival.  It is a great event for people who live in the Hamilton, Ancaster, and surrounding areas.  It has however, grown enormously in size.   It has increased in attendance so much that they have made an additional time for patrons to view all the films.  One showing is usually at 4:00PM and the other is at 7:00PM.  At least for the 7:00PM showing it is advisable to get there two hours earlier to get a decent seat.  They show their films on a Monday night in Ancaster, at Showcase Cinema in the Meadowlands.

I did enjoy the earlier years of the Ancaster Film Fest when it was a smaller, more personal experience, however, they have some great films.  If you are willing to take the time to get a seat, you will enjoy the film experience.   They even have guest speakers who may have produced, acted in, or directed the films.

If anyone has been to any of these festivals, I’d love to hear about your experiences.

How to Protect Your Script

It is very important to protect your work as soon as it has been completed.  Here are a few steps you can do to protect your script:  Register your work with either the WGA West, WGA East (Writers Guild of America) the WGC (Writers Guild of Canada) or, with a Copyright Canada or US Copyright.   It’s unlikely a company will do this, but if possible, have a company sign a non-disclosure form (information on Google) before you submit your work to them.

An Intellectual Property (IP) lawyer could also be useful.  For the most part though they will tell you to get a Copyright.  If you can work out a deal where you send them your work so that it is “safe” with them, then kudos to you.

Another less sophisticated method is to send your work to yourself through the mail system.  Make sure it stays sealed.  It will have the date you sent the script to yourself, proof that your work has been written by you.  Please don’t count on this method as a tried and true one.  It is merely another method to use in addition to the others (Copyright, WGA, WGC, IP lawyer).  The more secure you can make your work, the better off you will be in the long run.

If you are lucky to have your script optioned or bought outright you will need an entertainment lawyer, and an agent to help with your agreement.

The 2010 Guide to Literary Agents  is one of the books you can use on “where and how to find the right agents to represent your work”.

Another book you might want to consider using is the 2002-2003 Writer’s Guide to Hollywood Producers Directors and Screenwriter’s Agents.  This book has “Hundreds of Insider Tips from Hollywood Veterans”.

Good luck and “May the Force be with you”!

Soundtracks and Film

There are some film soundtracks that can be inspirational to your writing.

Ennio Morricone who did music for such films as The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, A Fist Full of Dollars, and Once Upon a Time in the West.

Some of the best film musical soundtracks are Sound of Music, West Side Story, and Moulin Rouge.

Of course Composer John Williams has some of the finest film soundtracks; Schindler’s List, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Star Wars. An interesting website to get more information on John Williams is Mfiles.

Music of the Lord of the Rings, Beauty and the Beast, Master and Commander, and Paul Robeson are excellent.

Paul Robeson sang in the movie Showboat, and was a Shakespearean actor; he acted in Othello. He also was a political activist for Civil and Human Rights. My family had the honor of having him as the Godfather to my sister Paula. He used to sing her lullabies when she was a baby.

There is one website that lists what they feel are the top 100 film soundtracks. It is called filmsite.

(More music to be added ASAP)

Films and Shorts that I Admire

View film trailers of some superb films:

More trailers of films that I really like.

The Godfather

In the Name of the Father

Rear Window

There will be Blood

Pride and Prejudice

The Closet from YouTube is an amazing short that shows one the power of a good story.

(More films I like will be added.)

Scriptwriting Questions and Blogs

Here are a couple of questions to think about:

* Do directors, actors, and others make the script, or does the script make the actor, director, and others?

* What is your favorite film and why?   Who is the director?   Who is the screenwriter?

To find more scriptwriting blogs on WordPress.com go to Blogs about Scriptwriting.

Scriptwriting and Acting

I have been an extra on a a few sets and have taken acting classes.  This has helped me to know how scripts are brought to life.   If you are going to do acting you will need two things, an agent, and “Headshots”.   One of the best photographers to go to is Richard Sibbald in Toronto.   I went to another photographer that was quite good, but I’m afraid I cannot recall their name. I am posting two of my pictures I used for acting over five years ago. Richard Sibbald did the black and white photo.

My acting days

My acting days

Finding Information on Film Companies

If you are interested in looking up information about film companies there is IMDB Pro. You can find “showbiz contacts”, “Track films in production” plus regular IMDB, “View actor and movie ratings”.

There are also books you can buy: Hollywood Representation Directory, 36th Edition or Hollywood Creative Directory: September 2009. These will list the film company, what films they have done, and perhaps what films they have in production. They may also tell you what type of films they are interested in producing. This is a very helpful feature if your have a romance script and the company you are looking at likes romances.  

Please see my other posting How to Protect Your Script for more information.

Software Programs for Scriptwriting and Formatting

There are some awesome software programs to help you write scripts in a professionally formatted manner. Movie Magic Screenwriter 2000 is the scriptwriting program I used. Since then there is an updated version of Movie Magic Screenwriter 6 for approximately $49.95 US. Another program is Dramatica Pro. The reason I bought Movie Magic Screenwriter 2000 was because it was compatible with another writing program that helps you format your entire script, stories, and plays. It is called Power Structure. It is amazing, and it is loads of fun. When I say Power Structure’s software is compatible with Movie Magic software, I mean you can transfer information from Power Structure to Movie Magic. That is why I purchased those programs.

[There is also]  ScriptThing. [With the] Complete integration with both ScriptThing™ & Movie Magic® Screenwriter™ allows you to take a script that you want to rewrite, and simply open it in Power Structure and have all your entire script in the program ready for analysis and rewriting. When you’re done with the restructuring / rewriting, simply click a button and it exports it back to a ScriptThing/Screenwriter Script with all your dialogue, character names and so forth still all formatted correctly for you!

I must tell you that I researched all the programs out there in the utmost way. Moreover, I sought out a highly reputable company who sells software for writing stories, scriptwriting, etc.; Write Brothers. I phoned them to enquire about their various softwares and the aforementioned ones were the ones they suggested to me. They were extremely helpful. I should add that I was a total novice at scriptwriting at this point and time.

A further list of screenwriting software can be found on Wikipedia.

Online Script Magazines, and Competitions

There are many online script magazines, and competitions you may want to consider:

Script Delivery
Script Magazine
Screenplay.com
Screenwriting Expo

Scriptapalozza is considered one of the best and most reputable screenplay competitions.