Owner: The Screenwriters League URL:http://www.ScreenwritersLeague.com Join Date: Thu, 08 May 2008 10:27:57 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: The Screenwriters League is a collective of NYC-based writers sharing their experiences as they build their careers from the ground up, and hoping to impart any knowledge they gain along the way. Site statistics:Click here
Desperate Times, Desperate Measures 2008-05-11 19:01:00 Jumping off Cake Man’s Don’t Never Change, I really don’t know if I have a regular enough process to the extent that I’d call it my “writing process”. I would say that I have writing habits that fluctuate greatly. I’m a young writer, and perhaps when I’m older things will be more concrete, but right now they’re all over the place. If anything they center around music lately.I’v Read more:Desperate
, Times
, Measures
Nega-writing 2008-05-13 17:12:00 Over the weekend, I believe I may have actually nega-written.After two solid, drawn-out sessions in front of Final Draft, I came out with a lower page count than I went in with. The fruits of the weekend's labors amounted me taking out two already-written scenes and replacing them with entirely new ones.In the course of writing
any first draft, I fall into a pattern of compulsive self-editing. I w
Voices in My Head Put Me to Sleep 2008-05-12 18:24:00 Like Onyx Enforcer, I don’t have a set writing process. While most times I like to write out an extensive beat sheet before I begin, the script I’m currently working on went through little to no planning, and is so far the smoothest writing I’ve done in years. I also find inspiration from very different places for each scripts, and while music is always playing when I write (I can’t stand Read more:Voices
, Sleep
How many crazy people can they fit on a soundstage? 2008-05-15 12:39:00 Hollywood Reporter is reporting from Cannes about two newly announced David Lynch-related projects:David Lynch and Werner Herzog will be co-directing a horror film, and Lynch will be producing a new Alejandro Jodorowsky (Holy Mountain, El Topo) mobster film starring Nick Nolte, Udo Kier, and Asia Argento.Looking through the names listed above, is there a single one that's not notoriously, well, a Read more:people
Screenwriting Link of the Week 2008-05-14 19:28:00 Ken Levine recently posted his summer movie preview up on his excellent blog. My favorite bit:THE PROMOTION – Seann William Scott and John C. Reilly are two schleppers vying for a promotion at a Walmart type store. Comedy in aisle five! More fun: wait till it’s on cable, gather your friends, and play the drinking game every time there’s a pratfall.Ken's entertaining take on what will be this
Joining the dark side 2008-05-16 08:10:00 Around two years ago, I interned at a small but fairly well-known (and well-funded) production company. My main duty was script coverage. I passed very little scripts along, but the ones I liked I pushed and followed along and asked every once in a while to see if my bosses would do anything with them. I was always happy when I get a “we’ll consider him for our new TV show team” or “his cu Read more:Joining
The Writing Week part 20 2008-05-19 17:14:00 Not much progress to speak of this week.I guess you could say I’ve been in a bit of a rut. A funk. A dry spell? Anyway you put it, it’s been a few weeks now, and I haven’t even re-read all of my post-Apocalyptic spec, which is the next thing that I’m going to pounce on again. Despite the lack of reading/writing recently, I have been doing a lot of thinking. Like Zombie mentioned in a post
Cigarettes: Cancer Sticks or Instant Cool 2008-05-20 17:21:00 At this year’s Tisch graduation writer/director Amy Heckerling (Clueless, Fast Times at Ridgemont High) was invited to say a few words to the class of 2008. She cautioned the next generation of struggling screenwriters about smoking and the portrayal of smoking in their films, among other things. I didn’t attend the graduation, but from what I hear she touched on how quick many of us writers a Read more:Cancer
It's Cold Outside Eden 2008-05-21 23:07:00 Growing up, movies weren't a major influence in my life. As a kid I mainly read mythologies, then middle school it became Japanese manga, by high school it was poetry and contemporary Chinese literature (and, who am I kidding, Asian pulp fiction). Up until then, movie watching was serious entertainment. No matter it was in the theatre or at home, movies are watched in complete silence, no lights Read more:Outside
Screenwriting on the Web II 2008-05-23 20:30:00 Danny Stack, a brother screenwriter/blogger in the UK, was recently ask to share what revelations he's had since starting his writing career.He goes on to list these revelations, which are all very worthwhile reading for anyone early in their screenwriting career. A few examples:- It doesn’t get easier. It gets more difficult. You always have to raise your game, dig deeper, work harder.- The sys
The Writing Week Part 21 2008-05-26 11:00:00 It's a hard thing to break out of a slump, and if you've read in between the lines of my past few posts, you'll know that's what I've been in recently. Onyx offered encouraging words, reminding me that I had written a lot in a very short amount of time, which is true. But the pace I was writing at is the one that I like to maintain, and I've just not been doing it lately.However, I think that's at
Screenplay hard drive clutter 2008-05-28 21:25:00 Last week I talked about the document I keep of cut passages from each of my screenplays and the nega-writing process. While I'm on the topic of peripheral files for a screenplay, I may as well touch on the other things that I accumulate during the writing of a first draft.I keep a folder on my desktop that share their names with different writing projects I'm working on. In each of these folders Read more:drive
, clutter
The Writing Week part 22 2008-06-03 23:00:00 I know what you're thinking: "Where's Cake Man's writing week? I sure do hope he's ok." (In all seriousness, I know none of you are thinking that.) Other than a few impressive scotch induced hangovers, I''m still here. I actually spent the better part of the last Writing Week in Colorado visiting a friend of mine. The break - during which point I read two Leaguer's scripts but did no actual writin
Trimming The Delicious Fat 2008-06-03 16:47:00 I recently finished a draft of an action script, and after receiving notes I am seeing what should have been obvious at the time. My sidekick character has a habit of overshadowing my protagonist. It’s not the worse problem to have. At least I have a protagonist, and you better believe that there are scripts floating around good companies that barely have one. Anyway, I don’t think my problem Read more:Trimming
, Delicious
The Writing Week part 23 2008-06-09 19:42:00 It feels so damn good to be writing again. Amazingly good.I finally decided to really, actually, honestly start re-writing my post-Apocalyptic script. Like I anticipated, bringing my computer on vacation with me (sadly, the vacation ends tomorrow night), has almost forced me to be productive. I've nearly finished my re-write this week (and should do so completely by Wednesday, at the latest). Now,
Sliding in to home... 2008-06-08 18:56:00 I'm within five pages of my projected end. I know exactly what is supposed to happen and how it will happen. At long last, a finished draft is so close I can smell it.But why won't my fingers type anymore??Been moving at a brisk pace all weekend despite the blistering heat and an air conditioner that doesn't work quite as well as I could have hoped for. I got a solid three hours of writing in this Read more:Sliding
You know you're a film nerd when... 2008-06-11 17:35:00 ... you're playing Grand Theft Auto IV and you spend a good chunk of time re-enacting scenes from There Will Be Blood in Liberty City's bowling alley...Actually, that probably says more about me than "film nerd"...Sigh.
It's here!!! 2008-06-12 22:38:00 For all you who lives in New York, or near New York, it's almost time forThe 7th New York Asian Film Festival!!!June 20-July 6Presented by Subway Cinema'm not hired by these guys. I've actually been waiting for this for months, and am very excited.A good amount of them are big-budget hit movies in Asia, rather than the usual art house movies played in festivals. And probably because they are big-b
More Giant Robots! 2008-06-16 10:26:00 Looks like Transformers may be getting some competition in the awesome giant robot market. According to hollywoodreporter.com, Lawrence Kasdan is set to adapt Robotech, the epic sci-fi animated series from the 1980s.For those of you not too familiar with the Robotech series, you and I are pretty much in the same boat. I got my giant robot fix from the Transformers. Although I’m not a Robotech hi
The Writing Week part 24 2008-06-17 17:06:00 All in all, a pretty good week. I got another draft of my post-Apocalyptic spec out. It's tough for me to gauge how it went. On the one hand, I think that the few, yet important changes I made have strengthened the script a lot. Act Two flows much better, the scenes are connected much more, and the characters' desires, especially the protagonist's, are much clearer. On the other hand, though I cut
Sifting through the wreckage... 2008-06-26 10:11:00
Last night I got a round of feedback from the League on a recently-completed first draft.
It was easily the most interesting round of notes I've ever been given. People touched on things I'd never thought of, and things I *knew* people would have a problem with going in weren't even touched by anyone. What was most interesting that I got different notes from practically everyone - each Leaguer h
Greatest one-scene cameos 2008-06-25 17:00:00
The Onion AV Club staff posted a list of their 19 Favorite One-Scene Cameos in cinema. Worth checking out, especially for the YouTube video links of each scene
embedded in the article.
My favorite on the list is Dean Stockwell's short appearance in Blue Velvet. His performance of Roy Orbison's "In Dreams" wasn't part of the screenplay and was added on-set, but still gives me chills for it's biza Read more:Greatest
Experience Points 2008-06-24 12:59:00
We all know that part of the challenge of being a young writer (or any writer for that matter) is keeping motivated to write and finding the avenues to best develop what you produce. I’ve been thinking lately about how fortunate those in the league are to have a platform where at any given time we can bounce our material off of several trained writers. In some cases the fortune extends to the p Read more:Points
The Writing Week part 25 2008-06-23 12:35:00
I saw three plays this weekend. Of the League, I think it’s safe to say that I’m the one most inclined to write for live theater, in addition to film. Seeing three plays made me want to write (plays), which is good, because other than rewrites, I haven’t wanted to write much recently (it wasn’t so much the desire to write a play, but rather to have people respond to my writing that stimul
George Carlin RIP 2008-06-23 12:15:00 George Carlin
passed away yesterday. Listening to his old routines reminds me of long road trips with his books-on-cassettes playing through the car stereo.
His infamous "seven words" routine. Read more:George
, George Carlin
The Writing Week part 27 2008-07-07 19:30:00 I started a play this week. It’s actually the feature length version of a one-act I wrote back in my freshman year of college (and, surprisingly, one of the pieces from college that other Leaguers who had class with me remember most). It’s tough going, very slow going. I’m not sure that I like it so far, and I’m writing at a snail’s pace, compared to what I usually do. I’m getting some
swordplay and acid trip 2008-07-05 22:54:00 Thanks to the NYAFF, I’ve been bingeing on Asian films, and am again reminded how Director Lee Myung-Se is greatly underappreciated. One reason is because you can’t really find his films in the states. To be honest, I’ve only seen two of his films, but he blew me away. The first film I saw was Duelist. I went to see it almost exactly a year ago with MWS. The premise seemed interesting. Kor
War Drums 2008-07-03 12:12:00 It’s The League versus 3,860 other writers. We’re like the 300 Spartans, only in real time and not quite as ripped.The PAGE International Screenwriting Awards (www.internationalscreenwritingawards.com) has posted a “Map Of Submissions” –or something to that effect—on its website, a world map complete with a little flag planted in every country that a submission came from this year. Ony Read more:Drums
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