by John | Feb 23, 2020 | Updates
Have you entered the WriteMovies Winter 2020 Screenwriting Contest yet? If not, you’d better move fast – there’s just one week to go until the final deadline, which is coming up this Sunday 1st March!
It’s always easy to miss a deadline, especially when you want your script to be as good as it can get. You get stuck into the editing, polishing every last scene right down to the smallest word – and the next thing you know, you’ve missed your chance. The deadline has passed!
That’s why we always make sure to let you know when one is coming up. The Winter 2020 Screenwriting Contest has been a great one for us so far, especially with the inclusion of our latest genre prize – the Romance and Comedy Award 2020 – and we’re eager to see what else you’ve got for us. Make sure you get those scripts in!
With a $2000 Grand Prize on the line, plus free script development, guaranteed pitching to industry, and InkTip prizes for our top three scripts, there’s plenty to be won. We’re already looking forward to working with our next batch of winners. And who knows, one of them could be you…
Click here to visit the main contest page and submit your script to the Winter 2020 Screenwriting Contest. Remember, you’ve only got until Sunday March 1st!
by John | Feb 17, 2020 | Highlights, Pitching, Updates, Writing Insights
To give a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes at WriteMovies and TalentScout International Management, our Director of World Wide Development Ian Kennedy is sharing a week of his Hollywood/LA Diary with us at the start of March.
Expect news of meetings at major studios and with Elite producers, screenwriters and other adventures in Hollywood, plus a string of fresh images of iconic Hollywood locations.
In the meantime, we’ve brought together two of our Elite Mentors and a former WriteMovies winner living in LA to share their L.A. industry pitching tips. Here are our Elite Mentor Bobby Lee Darby’s tips about meeting preparations and pitching tips… (more…)
by John | Feb 10, 2020 | Updates
The Oscars is always an interesting night, no matter how things turn out. The films that get the biggest awards aren’t always the best (consider this: SUICIDE SQUAD won more Oscars than THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION), but no matter what, there’s always something to learn. Here are our thoughts on the Oscars 2020…
- The big winner was South Korean film PARASITE, winning Best Picture, Best Director (Bong Joon-ho), Best Original Screenplay (Bong Joon-ho and Han Jin-won) and Best International Feature Film. Considering this year’s Oscars had been criticized for a lack of diversity – an issue which was still definitely a problem in the acting and directing categories – it was great to see a non-English language film winning big. Add to that Taika Waititi’s win for Best Adapted Screenplay for JOJO RABBIT, and HAIR LOVE winning Best Animated Short, and things no longer look quite so bleak from a diversity standpoint.
- It’s pretty rare for a non-English language film to win Best Adapted Screenplay, but it just goes to show that great stories transcend the limits of language. Given how unlikely it is that most voters would have read PARASITE’s screenplay in its original Korean, the lesson to remember here is that fundamentally, your script is a blueprint for a film – and it’s how that film turns out that determines how good your screenplay is!
- Apart from making Taika Waititi the first person of Maori descent to win an Oscar, JOJO RABBIT’S win for Best Adapted Screenplay was an interesting one for other reasons. In many ways it was unsurprising – having already picked up a BAFTA and Writers Guild Award in the same category – but it’s certainly not the usual take on World War 2 that usually wins over Academy voters. It might not mark a lasting shift in tastes, but it’s still great to see that you don’t need to follow the same route as everyone else to achieve success at the Oscars.
- Superhero films continue to get more recognition. Last year, BLACK PANTHER picked up three awards and SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE won Best Animated Feature. Now, Joaquin Phoenix has won Best Actor for JOKER – the second person to win for playing this comic book character after a posthumous Best Supporting Actor award for Heath Ledger’s performance in THE DARK KNIGHT. On top of that, JOKER also picked up Best Original Score. Will the trend continue? We’ll have to wait and see.
- Netflix had more nominations going into last night’s ceremony than another studio, with 24 across all its projects – but it went home with only two, with Laura Dern winning Best Supporting Actress for MARRIAGE STORY and AMERICAN FACTORY taking home Best Documentary Feature. This repeats the pattern from last year, where ROMA was the favorite for Best Picture but lost out to GREEN BOOK; it seems the Academy still isn’t ready to reward streaming services just yet over traditional release platforms and studios.
For us here at WriteMovies, this was the Oscars 2020 was an interesting one to watch from a writing perspective. Both PARASITE and JOJO RABBIT were welcome diversions from the usual Oscars films to win in the screenwriting categories, and the fact that a non-English language film won Best Picture for the first time feels like a big moment, proving that stories really can break down borders.
It still remains to be seen whether the issues around diversity in the acting and directing categories can be resolved for next year, but PARASITE winning big at the Oscars 2020 was a great moment – and we hope it’s part of a continuing trend.
by John | Feb 3, 2020 | Updates
It seems like just yesterday that we were announcing the third WriteMovies genre prize: the Romance and Comedy Award 2020. But the final deadline is already here – you’ve got until the end of this Sunday, February 9th, to submit your scripts!
If you’re feeling in a funny mood or a romantic one with Valentine’s Day coming up – or even a bit of both – then this is the contest for you. We’ll be accepting scripts in the romance, comedy, and rom-com genres – so if you think you’ve got what we’re looking for, make sure you submit by the deadline!
There are great prizes to be won, too. Our winner will receive two sets of Development Notes from our expert script analysts, further advice to fine-tune their work, and guaranteed pitching to industry. Plus, all submissions receive FREE, automatic entry to the Winter 2020 Screenwriting Contest!
The winner of our last genre prize, the Horror Award 2019, was MONGER by David Axe, and he also walked away with the Grand Prize in the Fall 2019 Screenwriting Contest: $2000! If you’d like to follow in his footsteps, then this is your chance.
WriteMovies has been helping writers succeed since 1999, and we’d love to help you, too. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to get your script out there. Click here to submit to the Romance and Comedy Award 2020 by this Sunday, February 9th!
by John | Jan 31, 2020 | Updates
To reflect changes to other roles in the business, we and our agency partner TalentScout International Management are looking to recruit a new Industry Liaison based in Los Angeles, initially in a part-time role with potential to grow into a full-time role in future.
The aim is to hire someone already based in Los Angeles with a demonstrable track record of engaging with industry and promoting high quality scripts, who will support the company’s ongoing talent pipeline and film production activities – opening new doors every day to help writers get their scripts optioned and produced, get their films made, and provide dynamic ongoing content for the company’s marketing platforms in the process.
The appointment is intended to be the first in a series of steps to expand the company’s Los Angeles presence as both a promoter of exciting new talent and a production company: the right candidate should be ambitious, can-do and proactive to make every aspect of this a reality, including through working in film production, budgeting and packaging as well as marketing, pitching and script development.
At the heart of our business is solving problems with scripts and proposals, to enable them to fulfil their potential without compromising the writer’s vision; championing them to industry; and doing what it takes to get them produced to the right standards. We’ve been doing it for over 20 years, working with Elite Mentors including Tom Craig (RAIN MAN, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE etc) throughout that time and getting films made including THE LIST (with Wayne Brady and Sydney Tamiia Poitier, 2007).
Candidates should be able to prove their successful track record of working in person in LA to promote great writing and promote their activities on digital platforms. Industry references will be needed and interviews will be held in LA on March 2nd – 6th.
This is a freelance ongoing position, on potentially flexible terms but with monthly minimums required and guaranteed, plus additional responsibilities and additional profitshare available to incentivize growing our client base and productivity.
To apply, please send your resume and a cover letter to info@writemovies.com. Some aspects of the role may be negotiable subject to guaranteed minimums.
by John | Jan 29, 2020 | Updates
Script Sales tend to drop off in November/December as everyone gears up for the new year, but there were still some significant November 2019 script sales, as reported by Script Pipeline.
You can check out our pick of the sales below. But before that, a reminder that the final deadline for the Romance and Comedy Award 2020 is fast approaching; you’ve got until Sunday February 9th to submit!
- The life rights for a Michael Jackson biopic have been picked up by GK Films, and John Logan (Oscar-nominated for GLADIATOR, THE AVIATOR, and HUGO) is set to write the script. It remains to be seen how some of the more controversial aspects of Jackson’s life will be handled – but it’s hard to see how the rights could have been sold unless the script promised to treat its subject kindly.
- It’s been a few years since STAR TREK: BEYOND, and talk of potential sequels – including one from Quentin Tarantino – has stalled, with Chris Pine and Chris Hemsworth both walking away from negotiations. Now it’s set to be revived by Noah Hawley, creator of the TV shows FARGO and LEGION.
- One of the more unusual looking sales is THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT, in which a fictionalized version of Nicolas Cage – played by Cage himself – is forced to recreate the characters he’s played at the birthday of a super fan. We’re getting serious BEING JOHN MALKOVICH-type vibes from this project. However it turns out, it should certainly be interesting!
Click here if you’d like to see the full report from Script Pipeline, which features plenty of other interesting information!
by John | Jan 27, 2020 | Updates
Established by Alex Ross in 1999 alongside WriteMovies, TalentScout International Management is the agency that helps us get our winners’ scripts out there. That’s why we’re happy to announce that it’s recently undergone a relaunch, with a brand new website!
To this day, we work closely with TalentScout International Management (TSIM). The company is our closest partner; using WriteMovies as its main talent pipeline, it represents writers across the globe. When we’re looking to pitch our winners to industry – as we do with everyone who places in the top three in our contests – it’s TSIM we turn to first.
And as WriteMovies moves forward and continues to celebrate great writing, with our 20th Anniversary Year just completed, it was time for TSIM to get rejuvenated too. With a newly designed website, it can now help us represent our winners better than ever.
We’re looking forward to continuing our partnership with TSIM for a long time still to come. If you’d like to be represented by them, the best way is through WriteMovies by submitting to one of our current contests: the Romance and Comedy Award 2020 or the Winter 2020 Screenwriting Contest!
And in the meantime, click here to take a look at the new website and let us know what you think about it! More content will be added in the months to come as it’s updated with details about our winners and their scripts…
