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What Producers Want from Writers – Online Session, May 13th

What Producers Want from Writers – Online Session, May 13th

Presenting a new online session taught by WriteMovies’ Director, Ian Kennedy! On May 13th, find out What Producers Want From Writers, with unique insights and tips for both pitching and writing from the very top.

To become a successful screenwriter, you need to work with the people who actually turn scripts into movies: producers. That means you need to get their interest, and you can’t do that unless you know what they’re looking for!

This online session from WriteMovies’ Director Ian Kennedy will teach you what producers and commissioners want from writers, and involves a 1 hour presentation followed by a Q&A session. Find out what he’s discovered from his experiences pitching to top producers, along with hints and tips from WriteMovies Elite Consultants.

You will learn:

  • Coming up with a concept that producers can’t ignore
  • Which elements of a script matter most to executives
  • The commercial aspect of a script
  • Why the first 10 pages are the most important
  • The dos and don’ts of approaching producers
  • How to work with producers and establish a strong working relationship

What Producers Want From Writers costs $30 and takes place on May 13th at 12pm PDT (3pm EDT / 8pm GMT). Click HERE to sign up now!

Charlie Chaplin – A Tribute

On April, 16th 1889, writer, filmmaker, actor and icon, Charlie Chaplin was born. His films have gone on to be loved and enjoyed universally, and a frontrunner in showing the power of film and what it can emotionally do to an audience.

From his first feature film, ‘The Kid’ (1921)’, where the world first lay witness to his infamous ‘Little Tramp’ character. To genre-defining films such as the romantic comedy, ‘Modern Times’ (1936)’, and political satire ‘The Great Dictator’ (1940)’, he truly helped shape cinema and comedy.

To celebrate this, we asked Shintaro Ogai, winner of our 2020 Fall Contest, with his script ‘Riding With Charlie’, why he thinks Charlie Chaplin is so loved universally.

Here is his response:

WriteMovies: “Why has Charlie Chaplin been loved by people all over the world for over a century?”

Shintaro Ogai: “Because his films address issues important to people of every era: the ideas of class consciousness and status. His character, The Little Tramp, was influenced by his own experiences of financial hardships during his childhood. Throughout time, the themes of class, wealth, and social standing play an important part in every one of our lives, and Charlie’s comedy sheds light on all of these topics.”

If you want to read more about Shintaro Ogai and his winning script ‘Riding With Charlie’, click here!

Introducing: the New Generation view at WriteMovies!

Introducing: the New Generation view at WriteMovies!

At WriteMovies we’ve always been promoting new talent to the international entertainment industry. Our services create a ladder to help new entrants work their way right up to the top – from learning how to imagine, plan and write, all the way to getting pitched to the top of the industry, produced and distributed.

And now we’re going one step further to help new talent – by bringing the new generation directly into our business operations, decision making and marketing.

Meet Jake Morgan. He’s a fresh voice with a passion for great movies and great TV. He’s 18 and one of the millions of young people whose life opportunities have been cut down by the huge disruptions of the time we’re living in. He’s one of what many are calling a Lost Generation.

His generation are already becoming hugely influential on the industry we work in, through their use of social media and the ways they consume content. And now, he’s going to be sharing that generation’s perspective into the international entertainment industry every day, exclusively for WriteMovies. We’re really looking forward to working with him as we dynamize and reinvent our marketing and services in 2021.

Jake’s going to be writing a series of articles called The Lost Generation. Here, in his own words, is what it’s all about:

“In The Lost Generation series, I will look at the rebels, outcasts and relatable characters who have become icons to the younger generation and myself. From James Dean in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE to Matthew Broderick in FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF, I look at the themes used to develop these characters and what makes them iconic to a younger audience. I’ll also break down the social and political climate in which these films were released, and try to discover what made them so successful.

 

What is the aim of this? Well, we all know writing a screenplay is challenging (the biggest understatement of the century!). However, one of the most daunting challenges is creating the right characters, which can very often make or break whether a film’s success. The largest movie-going audience is between the ages of 14-24. This means if your screenplay is produced and shown in movie theatres, the largest segment of a potential audience is probably in this age range. Each of these films I’ll look at in this series were either commercial or critical successes, whose target audience was young adults or teenagers.

 

This series gives insights to screenwriters into crafting their characters. I’ll analyse each of these films for how they develop their characters, study the themes the writer presents in the script, and advise writers of all ages on how to creatively engage with younger audiences.

 

As our Spring Contest continues, we look to pitch all of our winners to the industry. Producers are looking more than ever for scripts that would get the largest movie-going audience back into the seats with a large tub of popcorn. Could that be yours?”

Watch out for online interviews and masterclasses with industry experts, opportunities for young writers and filmmakers, and MUCH more. We’d like Jake’s appointment to be just the start of how we can support the new generation into the industry – the first of many to succeed through us in new ways in the new times ahead.

We want YOUR views too. Whatever your age, whatever your perspective on our industry, whatever your interests, we want you to be part of the conversation about what the industry needs to do to regenerate itself in these troubled times. We hope that Jake will be a big part of how we adapt to the changing world around us and that you enjoy joining us on the journey, on all our platforms!

Spring Contest and Genre Award – Standard Deadline in 1 week!

Spring Contest and Genre Award – Standard Deadline in 1 week!

The standard deadline for both the WriteMovies Spring Contest and our Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award is in just one week on Sunday April 11th! As the world tries to get back to normal, producers are looking for scripts that could tempt audiences back into movie theatres. Could one of those script be yours?

There’s been plenty of positive news for the movie industry over the last couple of weeks. GODZILLA VS. KONG has set a pandemic record, taking $48.5 million at the box office – a clear sign that people are eager to get back to the cinema and that sci-fi and fantasy will continue to be strong performers.

Other genres are seeing investment too. There’s been recent news that Netflix are making a $400 million deal for two sequels to Rian Johnson’s KNIVES OUT, with the first due to start shooting as soon as June. This shows that original IPs are still sought after by producers, and that successful franchises don’t have to be built around aliens and magic!

All the news coming out of industry indicates that it’s getting back on its feet. Audiences are eager for content and producers are investing in new projects and scripts for future productions.

We’ll be pitching all of our winners – of both the Spring Contest and the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award – to industry. This is the right time to be getting your script out there, and submitting to our competitions is the perfect way to do it! We also provide Development Notes to all our winners, making sure that it’s pitch perfect and giving it the best chance of success.

Enter by the standard deadline on Sunday and you’ll save $10 on your submission. What are you waiting for? Submit your script to be in with a chance of winning some great prizes, including our $3500 Grand Prize – click HERE to see the full list of prizes and enter the Spring Contest, or click HERE for the Sci-Fi and Fantasy Award!

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