by John | Dec 8, 2017 | Industry News, Updates, WriteMovies News
Tarantino to do his thing with Charlie Manson, while DC has The Rock and a writer set for BLACK ADAM. As we wind down to the industry Christmas break, the script sales in November step it up with some very interesting pieces of news.
A Hitchcock-esque sci-fi, thriller, Sandra Bullock in a medicinal marijuana con story and much more. There’s plenty of room for sci-fi and techno styled spec scripts as reported in Script Pipeline’s November 2017 Script Sales – and that could provide an opening for you. With STAR WARS re-heightening the interest in sci-fi, the genre has had a bit of a renaissance (see ARRIVAL and PASSENGERS).
But the eye-catching news is elsewhere…
Quentin Tarantino is set to write and direct (the Tarantino way) about the Charles Manson murders – that seems right up Tarantino’s street. After the success of AMERICAN CRIME STORY season 1, which dramatized the O.J. Simpson trial, it seemed only a matter of time before a story about Manson came about. But with this being Tarantino’s first biopic, it’ll be interesting to see what comes of this…
Finally, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson not only has his DC film role, but also a writer for the script. The BLACK ADAM film set in the DCEU seems a-go… but for how long? Will this be a stand-alone film? Will this even get into production? The Rock has been pushing for this for a while now, but I don’t see a good outcome coming from this…
Check out the other script sales news from November with Script Pipeline here. What will December bring for script sales?
View our review on the Octboer script sales here.
© WriteMovies 2017. Exclusive to WriteMovies – To syndicate this content for your own publication, contact ian (at) writemovies dot-com.
by John | Dec 4, 2017 | Ian Kennedy, Updates, Writing Insights
ALIENS fired imaginations in 1986, and remains a touchstone for screenwriting. So why does it look a bit dated now, and what lessons does that reveal for writers today? Ian Kennedy looks at how to get the details right in your sci-fi script.
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by John | Dec 1, 2017 | Highlights, Our Winners, Results, Updates, WMC, WriteMovies News
Meet Our Summer 2017 Screenwriting Contest Grand Prize Winner: SPOON FED by Scott LaFortune
Scott did anything but spoon feed our judges and readers with his winning script, and as our Grand Prize Winner, he wins a year of free script development, guaranteed pitching to industry and exclusive script and logline listings via InkTip’s script directory and increasingly popular magazine – oh, and the Grand Prize of $2000!
It’s always heart-warming to see a winner so happy after a win, and boy was Scott happy. Check out his initial reactions here…
“I’m too nervous and excited to even type right now!
I’ll respond more after I run around in circles, yelling hooray hooray…”
Later that day…
“Many thanks again for this opportunity! First Place is still sinking in…
I first entered a WriteMovies competition in August, 2008. Seriously, a humbling journey-
And what a wonderful life experience, that screenwriting has been!
Thanks John, you guys are the best.”
Here’s a short bio on Scott LaFortune, our Summer 2017 Contest Grand Prize Winner:
“Originally from Minneapolis, Scott currently lives and writes on historic Main Street in Park City, Utah.
He also changes lots of diapers, searches incessantly for stray sippy-cups, and can’t believe how many Lego’s can fit into a standard garbage disposal.
In his spare time Scott’s a research chemist and microbiologist, with a devoted passion for story, cynicism, science, and social commentary.”
Here’s Scott’s logline for SPOON FED:
“A feisty feminist with a sweet-tooth is hired to curb the obesity crisis, then battles USDA corruption as she brings down a chauvinistic sugar lobby.
Based on true 1980’s events that led to the global diabesity epidemic.”
Read up on our Second (HERE) and Third Placed (HERE) Winners too, or take your chance to become our next winner with our current screenwriting contest… Will you be our next Screenwriting Contest Grand Prize Winner?
by John | Nov 24, 2017 | Highlights, Our Winners, Updates, WMC, WriteMovies News
Let us introduce our Summer 2017 Screenwriting Competition Second Placed Winners – FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY by Ron and Tony Basso.
Ron and Tony are the second collaborative winners since our 2016 relaunch, and the first father-son writing team! They showed the love for screenwriting in FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY which earned them second place in our Summer 2017 Contest. For coming in second Ron and Tony receive a year of free script development, guaranteed pitching to industry and exclusive prizes from InkTip.
Here’s a little background on Ron and Tony…
Ron Basso: Ron is bit of a renaissance man. Among his many pursuits is screenwriter. He specializes in historical dramas; he looks specifically for unknown or minor characters and their backstories to historical events.
Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, he has spent all but three years in the Commonwealth surrounded by historical sites that established this nation. He is currently working on a new full-length feature, and looks forward to more opportunities to share untold stories of our past.
Tony Basso: Tony is a soccer coach and EMT currently residing in Portland, Oregon. He has served on the coaching staffs of national, collegiate and local programs. His passion for screenwriting began while editing his father’s screenplays. Now, fully bitten by the screenwriting bug, Tony is working on various projects in his spare time.
In addition to For Love of Country, Tony is writing a 10-part mini-series on the lives of these spies and how their bravery and courage helped save the nation.
And here’s their logline to FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY…
70 years after an extraordinary true story of freed slaves volunteering to return to the South to spy on Confederate military forces, one spy questions if it was worth it.
For coming second in our Summer 2017 contest, they receive a year of free script consultancy, InkTip publicity bonuses, intensive pitch coaching and GUARANTEED pitching of their script to industry.
Will you follow in Ron and Tony’s footsteps in our latest contest? Click here to get your chance!
by John | Nov 21, 2017 | Movie Reviews and TV Reviews, Updates, WriteMovies News
In this JUSTICE LEAGUE review, Jamie White gives his verdict on DC’s superhero team-up and why he’d be more optimistic about seeing more DCEU films in the future…
I love DC. Their characters are rich, the storylines can be tragic, entertaining and enjoyable. I hate the DC expanded universe (DCEU). It’s been dull, gloomy, just not very comic booky, and although JUSTICE LEAGUE was a step in the right direction, it still had major problems.
The big issue is the fact that this film had two directors – Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon. Both have directed comic book films before, but both have very different styles – in fact, they’re almost polar opposites. Snyder definitely appreciates the visuals of comics more, while Whedon is all about tone and style, and while you’d think that would be a great match it really, really isn’t. These two directors’ styles clash horribly throughout the film that you can pinpoint when one scene is Snyder’s and when one is Whedon, and this makes the film feel very disjointed.
The first half of the film especially. There is no focus, no thread from one scene to another. It’s all just stuff happening. Then something else happens. But there’s no connection. Or rather, it’s a building being held together with sticky tape – the connection is there, but it’s weak. The film does pick up from around the halfway mark when a certain super man comes into the fold – it feels like we finally have a proper protagonist with more character depth. The film gains direction when Superman becomes a factor in the story, which it didn’t have before.
Now, this doesn’t redeem the film entirely – it just becomes a fairly average film with a lack of tension and consequences. Still a step in the right direction, I guess. I didn’t hate the film, but I didn’t like it. A lot of the action was poorly edited, the jokes didn’t land, and the character chemistry was just not there yet (it only really existed with Clark (Henry Cavill) and Lois Lane (Amy Adams) who of course have shared the most screen time as these characters in the DCEU.)
What I will say though is this: I was not excited to see this film, BUT it has given me some of Superman’s (newfound) hope that the franchise will improve. Let’s see what you’ve got DC…
© WriteMovies 2017. Exclusive to WriteMovies – To syndicate this content for your own publication, contact ian (at) writemovies dot-com.
by John | Nov 19, 2017 | Highlights, Interviews, Updates, WriteMovies News
Taking Flight in THE SQUADRON: VFX expert Habib Zargarpour on becoming a writer-director and the getting the balance right with real VFX.
In the third of our series of interviews, our Ian Kennedy asks Habib about his transition to writing and directing, the unique eye his new film will give to WW2’s aerial warfare, and why VFX pros have to keep it real too.
IAN: So next for you is THE SQUADRON which you’ve written and are directing!
HABIB: Yes, we’re doing a lot of visual effects shots for this shoot, we’ve got a lot of actors in cockpits, we’ll have to replace the background with what’s going on in the skies. It’s very tricky to light and to put greenscreen around real authentic planes, because the light has to move to show that the plane is moving, but you don’t want something [a heavy light] that could fall and wreck the [actual] plane, so we have to be super-careful with that, there’s a lot of technical challenges to it.
IAN: I was lucky enough to be consulted by Alex Ross (THE SQUADRON producer and WriteMovies founder) about one of your very early drafts of this one, it was fascinating to see how visual your ideas were – too many writers come from the opposite direction, getting heavy with dialogue and exposition, and you’re coming from the other way round with that.
HABIB: This is interesting to hear, because I don’t know any different, from you guys’ point of view! I do know I’m getting better at it for sure, it really helps to see how things evolve once you start shooting, we also got great synergy between the actors when we shot in a warehouse in Vancouver, them playing off each other. When I wrote I had the cast in mind, and things have worked out even better than I thought – they enhance it, they also bring stuff to the table by saying things like “I think my character would be more “…” in this situation, he’d say this other thing…” – so that’s woven into it. This next shoot should come together really well because all of these elements will come together, and hopefully the continued dialogue will keep getting even better at the same time. I’m looking forward to sending you a rough cut of the trailer, see what you think!
IAN: That’ll be amazing yeah! The pictures I have in my mind from what I’ve seen in the script are a really distinctive use of that whole World War 2 setting. Sometimes we feel like we’ve seen all there is to see of that conflict, but there’s always more to explore and it felt like you’ve put a good new edge into that.
HABIB: I had a lot of fun preparing for it, even though the timeframe was very tight, I only had 4 weeks to get all that in mind, finishing the script, getting the props, getting wardrobe, all the logistics for the travel and permits and things like that. One of the more fun things was to design and 3D print and build the props that I couldn’t find, and others that I wanted to custom design, taking advantage of my ArtCenter experience, building models of products that look authentic. I was able to apply those and use the latest technology – I have a 3D printer that I use, that gets the models and then we do the finishing and polish on them. The other things are all authentic that I was able to gather over a long time, by going to air races and going online on eBay, there were these authentic goggles and flight caps. A lot of things needed adjusting for size because people were smaller then, which was interesting!
IAN: CGI has really taken over so much of VFX in recent decades. Have you missed working with physical materials and objects, like the models you’ve brought back into THE SQUADRON?
HABIB: [You should use] whatever can be done the most easily that makes the most sense and most helps the actors – you’d want to do something practical, if it’s something they’re wearing or touching. I myself had to do a lot of CGI for some of the very complex aerial combat scenes. That’s always a question of how much of the real you can bring in. Theoretically you could shoot someone against a greenscreen and put the whole airplane around them, as opposed to filming them in a real cockpit around them, each of those brings different challenges and pros and cons to it. Usually, the more you can get the real stuff in it, the easier it’s gonna be to get the right look.
IAN: And there’s been an audience backlash against overdone excessive CGI and unreal characters, so it’s important to keep that balance.
HABIB: Yes, and I recently saw Dunkirk, and I know Christopher Nolan’s a massive fan of ‘as much practical as possible’. I’ll send you my trailer rough cut soon too…
IAN: Definitely. And we’d love to talk about your work as a lead designer in famous computer games too!
© WriteMovies 2017. Exclusive to WriteMovies – To syndicate this content for your own publication, contact ian (at) writemovies dot-com.
by John | Nov 17, 2017 | Highlights, Our Winners, Updates, WriteMovies News
David made the top 3 of our Summer 2017 Writing Contest with a well-written, funny, and tense action-comedy. A real CHARMER. For coming in third David receives a year of free script development, guaranteed pitching from industry and exclusive prizes from InkTip.
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.
An here’s his logline for 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.
You can head over to follow in David’s footsteps in our latest contest…
