by John | Aug 7, 2017 | Featured Script of the Month, Our Winners, WriteMovies News
We are proud to be able to announce QUEEN OF HEARTS by Ethan Westgate as the winner of our Featured Script of the Month for scripts submitted in June and July 2017.
With our Summer Contest only opening late in June, we decided to combine our free monthly contest for all submissions from its opening period this time around.
We’re delighted to reward the most interesting script from those submissions, with a free Judging Feedback and re-entry! As ever, this is just a bonus prize and has no effect on any of our other contest results, but we love rewarding writers who are prepared to take risks to achieve distinctive scripts, and help them progress their scripts to the next level.
Honorable Mentions:
A FRIEND LIKE FILBY by Mark Wakely.
FACSIMILE by Gary Makin.
ÁNH SÁNG by Barry Brennessel.
Here is a short biography on Ethan…
Ethan Westgate currently resides in Chicago, IL. He has been working on screenplays for the last two years, Queen of Hearts is his first feature screenplay. Ethan graduated from St. John’s college in 2012.
Here’s a short introduction to the script written by Ethan:
In a world where everyone is united by a global thought-network, a small minority of people are unable to access this network. Molly Dark must lead others of her kind in a race to survive as the Network turns violently against those Unconnected.
Enter into the Featured Script of the Month contest for free. Just enter the Summer 2017 Contest or order a Consultancy and you’ll gain your free entry.
by John | Aug 4, 2017 | Highlights, Results, WMC, WriteMovies News
Meet our Spring 2017 Screenwriting Contest Grand Prize Winner: CHOKE JOB by David Dell Johnson! Check out David’s short bio and logline for the script.
A strong commercial appeal, an enticing story, and compelling characters. Many elements to David’s script, CHOKE JOB, stood out to us. One of our judges even said “I couldn’t stop reading it! It was so captivating.” Below you can read a synopsis for this “captivating” script.
Here’s what David wins…
- David receives the Grand Prize of $1000.
- David has also started his one-year of free script development with us.We’re looking forward to seeing the development of his script.
- Once David and his script is ready, we’ll move into the process of pitching his script to the industry! Guaranteed! Beginning with…
- David’s script will also be listed in InkTip’s directory and the script’s logline being featured in their magazine.
Here is a short bio on David:
David Dell Johnson is a retired Air Force officer and screenwriter from Alexandria, Virginia. Besides winning the WriteMovies Spring 2017 Screenwriting Competition his screenplay “Choke Job” took 3rd Place/Special Mention honors in the 2017 International Screenwriters Association (ISA) Screenplay Competition. His screenplay “Undertakings” was a finalist in the 2016 Roadmap Writers/Route One Entertainment Screenplay Competition. His screenplay “Dead Man’s Money” took first place honors in the Thriller category of the 2015 Fade In Awards Screenplay Competition.
And here is David’s short introduction to the script:
A slick defense attorney with a penchant for getting guilty clients acquitted has his life methodically destroyed by a mysterious stranger and must embark on a desperate race to clear his name of murder.
Congratulations to David on being named our Grand Prize winner!
You could be our next winner and success story with our current main international contest, the Summer 2017 Screenwriting Contest – enter HERE.
by John | Jul 31, 2017 | Elite Consulting, Highlights, Script Mentoring offers, Updates
Two New Elite Script Consultants Revealed – action, horror and thriller specialists!
We are happy to announce two new signings to the WriteMovies team. Hollywood co-writers Bobby Lee Darby and Nathan Brookes have come onboard as our newest Elite script Consultants, joining the likes of producer Tom Craig (RAINMAN, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE).
- Bobby and Nathan have collaboratively written several Hollywood produced films such as…
- ELIMINATORS (2016), action film directed by James Nunn. “A former US Federal Agent must abandon the witness protection program and come out of hiding when his London home is invaded in error due to a wrong address. When the event ends with multiple homicides, the news triggers those hunting him to send Europe’s most dangerous assassin to kill him. Now on the run with his daughter’s life in jeopardy, a determined father must get her to safety before the people he’s been hiding from track him down.” (IMDb)
- SEE NO EVIL 2 (2014), a horror film directed by Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska. “An undertaker’s birthday party is interrupted when Jacob Goodnight rises from the dead and proceeds to terrorize her and her friends.” (IMDb)
- 12 ROUNDS 3: LOCKDOWN (2015), an action crime thriller directed by Stephen Reynolds. “Upon returning to work after recovering from an injury, a police officer discovers and attempts to turn in incriminating evidence of illegal activities against his fellow cops.” (IMDb)
- Bobby and Nathan often work together (as they did on these three films), so they could be a great option for you if you’re collaborating with someone!
by John | Jul 28, 2017 | Highlights, Results, WMC, WMC-Archive, WriteMovies News
Just when you think you know who the protagonist is, something happens that makes you think twice. That’s what Kevin’s script does. Early twists in the opening 20 pages, goes against convention, setting the script up very nicely. There’s fresh industry interest in this genre right now too, so we’re looking forward to developing Kevin’s script!
Here’s what Kevin wins for his second placed finish:
- Kevin receives $300.
- Kevin has also started his year of free script development with us.
- Once Kevin and his script is ready, we’ll move into the process of pitching his script to the industry.
- His script will be listed in InkTip’s directory, and the script’s logline being featured in their magazine, which goes out to thousands of writers and producers.
Here’s some background on Kevin:
Kevin’s script TOUCH THE FIRE recently won the comedy category in both the StoryPros Awards Screenplay Contest and the Capital Fund Screenplay Competition. He studied modern European history as a Reynolds Scholar at Cambridge and has an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth. He has worked as a script reader at Lookout Point in London and as an international-trade advisor attached to a delegation of the European Parliament.
And here is a short introduction to the script:
In 1978, crippled by a blown operation that sees one of its agents murdered in West Berlin, MI6 activates skeptical veteran HILL to exact revenge on the man responsible: ex-SS war criminal ALD STITZMAN, who has taken control of the Stasi-funded Red Army Faction that is terrorizing West Germany.
Congratulations to Kevin on being named our Second Placed winner!
You could be our next winner and success story with our current main international contest, the Summer 2017 Screenwriting Contest – enter HERE. We’ll bring you info on our Spring 2017 Screenwriting Contest Grand Prize Winner, David Dell Johnson, next week…
by John | Jul 21, 2017 | Highlights, Results, WMC, WMC-Archive, WriteMovies News
Bob’s script had a hot start, with three big plot twists in the opening ten pages. That’s a great way to catch a reader’s eye! The script has a strong balance of action, comedy, romance and drama. Check out Bob’s short bio and logline for the script below: we’ll be working with him to refine these further during the coming year.
Here’s what Bob wins…
- Bob has already started his one-year of free script development with us, and receives a $200 prize fund.
- Once Bob and his script is ready, we’ll begin pitching his script to the industry! Guaranteed!
- Plus, he gets an InkTip Script Listing and have his logline featured in InkTip Magazine so he can promote himself and his script to InkTip’s entire network of producers, managers, and agents. InkTip Magazine is sent to over 15,000 producers and representatives.
Here’s some background on Bob:
Bob Canning was a writer for the Disney Studios for 14 years, and is a published playwright with two international awards. His first full-length screenplay, a direct-to-video comedy called Takin’ it Off!, went Platinum in sales and begat two sequels.
Blessée (Wounded), a romantic drama, is currently in the capable hands of an Oscar-nominated European director, and his globetrotting comedy about a 1940s James Bond, The Adventures of the Velvet Cat, has won several awards. He is excited about the reception his western-fantasy, The Ghosts of Silver Gulch, is getting, and for this award for his thriller, Burner.
And here is Bob’s short introduction to the script:
Fargo with sand. A Palm Springs police detective must put aside her health and marital problems to solve a brutal homicide, while the hitman responsible is now experiencing uncharacteristic bouts of guilt and anger after killing the wrong person.
Congratulations to Bob on being named our Third Placed winner!
Follow in Bob’s footsteps and enter in our current main international contest, the Summer 2017 Screenwriting Competition RIGHT HERE.
by John | Jul 16, 2017 | Ian Kennedy, Movie Reviews and TV Reviews, Writing Insights
Ian Kennedy continues to discuss the sublte storytelling reneaissence in cinema and how ARRIVAL could be the sign that this trend will continue…
In the cases of MOONLIGHT and MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, personally I appreciated them more than I enjoyed them! I can see why they were successful and critically acclaimed, but they never fully won me over. I took more of an interest in the film ARRIVAL, a film that applies similar subtlety in its storytelling techniques, but within the usually bombastic high-budget genre of sci-fi… and the ARRIVAL storytelling deserves a close look too.
Spoilers alert… this article will discuss the outcomes of the story in order to demonstrate how and why it works.
On the face of it, ARRIVAL is about an alien invasion, but this extremely provocative scenario provides the vehicle for subtle implicit storytelling rather than an action-packed, over-the-top, blockbuster story in the usual style.
Instead of invading or threatening humans, alien ships simply hang in air in obscure places, waiting for us to travel to them and engage them. We, as a race, have to work out why they’ve shown up unannounced and, more strangely (to audiences, at least!), why they are seemingly serene and peaceful.
Our protagonist, Louise (Amy Adams), an expert in languages, is called upon to decipher the language of the aliens in an attempt to avert any possibility of interplanetary war against clearly superior opposition (or even against fellow nations). So this becomes a story, not about alien invasion, but about communication – about why we and other creatures need to reach out to one another to survive. Telling this story from female perspective with great subtlety makes it a far more stimulating and rewarding thought-experiment than the usual whizz-bang sci-fi fare.
In a clever manipulation of our expectations of storytelling, this film presents us with a series of flashbacks showing the bereavement of Louise. Only at the end of the film do we discover these are actually premonitions of what will happen to her, which are generated by her understanding the language that the aliens teach her, which enables us and them to predict the future, and link past, present, and future in ways we could not have imagined. The aliens finally reveal they’ve done this, not because they want to conquer us, but because in thousands of years they’ll need our help. War is averted – through their subtlety and inaction, they’ve negotiated a peace treaty with us.
Conventional sci-fi stories play out male obsessions with power, control, colonialism, war and exploration, whereas ARRIVAL embodies a more subtle and feminine approach to the profound questions of life which sci-fi is uniquely placed to explore. Although there is an explosion in middle of the film (something that is poorly explained and has limited consequences on the story), the real story explosion takes place in our mind and in the hearts of our main characters, as the clues fall into place and the scenario begins to make sense. This film intentionally confuses its audience, so that its reveal can be more mind-blowing to us.
MOONLIGHT, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, ARRIVAL – in all 3 of these films, we see subtlety is used to reward intelligent audiences. Audiences who are tired of having their intelligence insulted by convention get rewarded for their patience, through stimulating and often powerful and unconventional stories.
MOONLIGHT winning Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards 2017 suggests critics, audiences and awards ceremonies are now more open to subtle and implicit films.
In return, these films have been rewarded by audiences, awards ceremonies, and critics – hopefully this signals the beginning of a new era of cinema and film storytelling, in which writers and audiences will be rewarded not through explosions or CGI action, but through the emotional and intellectual connection they make through the characters they’re watching. At WriteMovies, that suits us and scripts we love just fine. We look forward to sharing more of these with you in months and years ahead…
Exclusive to WriteMovies – To syndicate this content for your own publication, contact ian (at) writemovies dot-com.
© WriteMovies 2017
by John | Jul 7, 2017 | Highlights, Our Winners, Results, Updates, WMC, WriteMovies News
Spring 2017 Screenwriting Competition: Major international screenwriting competition, refocused upon what writers value most about us…
Another writing contest complete, another group of winners revealed. We’ve seen the growth and improvement in many writers who have submitted: thank you to all of you who entered for making our jobs of judging the scripts enjoyable.
We strongly encourage you to take advantage of our script consultancies to find out why your script placed where it did. It will further your growth as a writer and you’ll be entered, for free, into the current Summer 2017 Contest – another chance to win big!
Here’s what our Top 3 win…
- Cash prizes of $1000, $300, and $200, respectively.
- The 3 winners will receive one year free of script development and mentoring.
- We’ll also pitch and promote the scripts to the top of the film industry. Remind yourself what makes for winning writing HERE.**
- Plus, exclusive prizes from InkTip – an InkTip Script Listing and the winning scripts’ loglines will be featured in InkTip’s Magazine, read by thousands of writers and producers.
Here are the final results for the WriteMovies Spring 2017 Screenwriting Competition
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WINNER
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CHOKE JOB, David Dell Johnson |
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SECOND PLACE
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THIRD PLACE
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THE FACTION, Kevin Karp |
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BURNER, Bob Canning |
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HONORABLE MENTIONS
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PERFIDIES, Bill Baber |
THE 405, Patrick Byrne |
CRAZY WITH LOVE, Ronald L. Ecker |
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COLONIALS, Ian Fletcher |
PEANUT, Manny Jimenez Sr. |
MYSPACE LOVE, Christophe Lourenço |
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THE CHERRY ROOM, Christine, Stevens DeLorenzo |
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Here is a short biography on Ethan…