by WriteMovies | May 21, 2018 | Competition Offers, Highlights, Pitching, Updates, WriteMovies News
Want us to promote your script in our next our next Hollywood script pitching whirlwind tour, or other pitching? We are seriously looking for 2-3 scripts for 2x Academy Nominated and 2x BAFTA winning, Habib Zargarpour to direct. If you have what we need please participate in: https://writemovies.com/spring-2018-screenwriting-contest/
WriteMovies founder and producer Alex Ross and VFX expert turned movie director, Habib Zargarpour, just went on a tour of various Hollywood production companies talking to top executives about their new project. Here’s what happened! (more…)
by John | May 11, 2018 | Competition Offers, Highlights, Updates, WMC, WriteMovies News
We’re looking for a script for a two-time Academy nominee and two-time BAFTA award-winning director – and submitting your VFX-driven script to our Spring contest can make it yours! Habib Zargarpour has worked with Spielberg, Lucas, Cameron and Villeneuve, on movies that countless millions of people have seen – and soon your script could join them. We’re looking for a great commercial script for him to work with, and if you submit to our Spring 2018 contest, you will be in the running for that opportunity.
As we’ll tell you very soon, Habib and our founder Alex have been getting a lot of success in recent meetings with senior Hollywood execs about their next crossover project, and yours could be next! We’ve introduced many new categories to the Spring 2018 – long and short form TV pilots, indie and studio scripts, and video game scripts. Inspired by this opportunity, we will be giving a special recognition to the Best VFX Driven Script that we receive. There’s no special prize – just kudos – but if Habib loves it then we CAN make this happen.
Award-winning VFX expert Habib Zargarpour
What we want is the script where VFX can help drive the plot, the characters, and the script as a whole. We don’t want style over substance, we want style to give substance! We’re looking for a VFX-driven script with crossover potential to make an awesome video game. The director of this project, Habib Zargarpour (find out more about him in THESE past interviews, and in more articles we’ll publish soon!) has been VFX consultant on lots of major movies and major video games including 007 and NEED FOR SPEED titles – so we have the potential to take this to both markets, which is exactly what Habib and Alex have been doing for another project in Hollywood in the last few days – as we’ll be telling you next week!
So polish up that movie script you thought would be too expensive for anyone to make, and get it to us NOW!
Enter HERE!
by John | May 11, 2018 | Updates, WriteMovies News
After spending just over two years with us, we give our thanks to Jamie White as he pursues pastures new…
It’s been a great couple of years with WriteMovies. I came across their 8-week virtual internship by chance, and that was the portal to so many opportunities, some I wouldn’t have even thought about!
I’ve had the chance to work on script consultancies, pitching materials, meet producers, work on a couple of film projects, write reviews, Insights articles, and, of course, converse with a load of you writers!
Before I sign off, I thought I’d share a few of my highlights from the past couple of years – not all my work, but some real great stuff.
INSIGHTS: Genre and what it really tells us. This is one of the first articles Ian Kennedy wrote while I was training as a script analyst. I love a good chat on genre, what makes a genre, semantics, syntactics. But this article really helped me to understand the pragmatics of genre (bloody Altman…) and it’s such a good guide for how you should be writing your genre script.Check it out here!- GAME OF THRONES Season 7 Review. After a little while, and quite a few script consultancies, I got more chances to write reviews and critical pieces for the site. My GAME OF THRONES season 7 review was one of my earlier reviews, but I think still one of my faves. I got to review one of my favorite shows (though probably its worst season) AND revealed one of my very own conspiracy theories – that Sony were releasing trash like THE EMOJI MOVIE to deter hackers – tell me that doesn’t make sense!Check out my GoT ramblings here.
Writing for Video Games Articles. From one of my first, to one of my last… My Writing for Video Games articles. I may enjoy the medium of video games more than film and television, so it was a joy to get the chance to write about this topic and give you guys some advice at the same time. I hope you game writers take some inspiration from these articles.Read the first article here.- Attending Pitch Meetings. I’ve had the rare and exciting opportunities to attend several meetings with film producers to talk about the prospects of several of our winning scripts coming to life. Sure, I was the sidekick to our Director of World Wide Development, Ian Kennedy, but attending these sorts of meetings have been vital to my development. I got to see first hand how you should be pitching, what sort of language and tactics to employ. A great opportunity and a great experience. Loved it!
- Reading your scripts… From my start with the internship, to the very end, the one constant has been the chance to read, analyze and judge the scripts you guys have sent in for contests and consultancies. Seriously, some of these scripts I could really visualize, some to an extent I could imagine the cinematography to their inevitable film. Some really were THAT good. I wish the writers that we’re developing now get to realize their dreams – if just one of these scripts gets made, that would truly make my time with WriteMovies a success (not that it hasn’t been anyway!)
by John | Apr 27, 2018 | Highlights, Our Winners, Updates
After praising Second and Third Placed David Kurtz and Simon Bowler, we finally get to our Winter 2018 Writing Contest Grand Prize Winner. And again, it’s a writer who’s come back to us, improved, and won!
It’s been two years since Tyler True won the monthly contest for his script LOVE IS SOMEWHERE ELSE. He’s been improving as a writer all that time and has finally reached the pinnacle of his career – winning the Grand Prize in WriteMovies’ Winter 2018 contest! (We’re joking, of course, but still a great achievement.)
It’s been great to see Tyler’s progress over the past couple of years and we’re delighted that he, David, and Simon have all improved upon previous placements. So proud…
Here’s Tyler’s reaction to his big win…
“I am so incredibly grateful to all of you for this prize! I think I was even sleeping with a smile on my face, which hasn’t left since I woke up. It’s just so fulfilling to realize that somebody else sees the same potential in this script that I do. I can’t wait to sharpen this up and take it to the industry!”
Here’s a little bio on Tyler…
“I’ve had various jobs on the ocean, such as a tug boat driver and commercial scuba diver, led me to the other end of the spectrum and into the skies. After serving 5 years as a pilot in the Canadian Air Force, and completing a degree in Psychology, I decided to quit the military and follow my passion to be a writer. Four years of full time writing, while working sparingly as a diver, has resulted in numerous screenplays and an autobiographical book about my debaucherous and adventure filled life.”
And here’s the logline to Tyler’s winning script, SLAVE SHIP:
A devout African man chooses to work on a slave ship in order to ensure the safe passage of other Africans sold into slavery.
There’s only one way for you to see if you’ll be our next Grand Prize winner. Take a chance with our Spring contest now!
by John | Apr 23, 2018 | Our Winners, Updates
We continue our celebration of our Winter 2018 Writing Contest top three winners – who all improved on previous placements.
Last time we commended Simon Bowler, who broke into the top three for the first time after winning two special TV awards. (Check out that article here.)
Today, it’s all about David Kurtz – our Summer 2017 Contest Third Placed winner who re-entered the Winter 2018 Contest to finish in Second Place!
We’re sure our previous Development Notes prizes have helped David out (we’ll let him tell you all about that, though!) but this is a great example of how every draft and version of your script will improve – so never give up!
Here’s what David said about his Second Placed finish…
“Doing well at the WriteMovies Screenwriting Competition brings great rewards – and you don’t have to win! 2nd and 3rd place receive the highest quality script Development Notes (+ INKTIP freebies!) – notes that have the ring of screenwriting experience and authenticity. Their readers really work at understanding what your script is all about – to you!
They not only make detailed proofreading corrections – but they offer suggestions that make you feel like you have a co-writer. For me, the most important help I’ve gotten is to give me the courage to edit – to remove scenes and dialogue I loved but knew deep down didn’t serve to move the story forward. (I save all the edited cuts to possibly be used in another story – this makes letting go easier.)
I assume that most writers (like me) are on a tight budget, but I would suggest saving money on lesser competitions to use on these amazing Development Notes. If you move up toward the top they will be free!”
Here’s a little background on David:
“I retired to Northern California from Massachusetts several years ago and took up writing screenplays – not golf. I’m a “gen Boomer” devotee of 1930s to 1950s movies that feature dialogue, romance, and humor. I naturally tend to write contemporary takes in those genres that might appeal to younger audiences as well as all age groups.
My writing education has been limited to basic composition at college, a creative writing class with a Tufts University professor and a beginner’s screenwriting course at Santa Rosa Junior College. CHARMER is my first “completed” script.”
And here’s the logline to David’s winning script, CHARMER:
A burned-out middle-aged accountant and a young daredevil woman put their polar opposite lifestyles aside when they team up on dangerous hostage-rescue mission.
Check out our script mentoring services for yourself. You could improve your script AND gain free entry into our Spring 2018 Writing Contest. View our services here…
by John | Mar 30, 2018 | Updates, WriteMovies News
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by John | Mar 30, 2018 | Highlights, Marketing, Updates, WriteMovies News
A year in the life of an innovative Script Agency… Facts and figures to mark two years since our successful relaunch in 2016.
It’s that time of year again where we look back on the previous 12 months and say “you know, we’ve had a pretty good year…” And we have!
Our Year…
Since our successful relaunch 2 years ago, we’ve been constantly growing and evolving our online presence – which you can see from these infographics!
As well as updating and reshaping our website organically over the last two years, we’ve also been highly active on social media, screenwriting forums, and providing insightful newsletters, of course! So, here’s a couple of snippets celebrating WriteMovies online in the past year.
We’ll bring you more tomorrow it’s all about “Why We Matter…” And then… the full graphic in all its glory!
