by John | Aug 24, 2018 | Our Winners, Updates
Among the many screenplays we received in our Spring 2018 Contest, one television script stood out. It advanced all the way to the finals of our overall contest as well as winning this award – HOLLYWOOD’S MOST WANTED: I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP, ESE by Manny Jimenez Sr.!
Television may have long seemed like film’s little brother, but the truth is much more complex. A television pilot is only the first episode in a much longer story arc – so it has to convince us that there’s series potential that will keep audiences coming back time and time again!
Congratulations to Manny for winning in this category; his script made us laugh with its great premise and wacky situations. He now receives a copy of our Confidential Studio Manual and exclusive previews of our Virtual Film School as his prizes, plus a set of Development Notes to give him professional feedback on his work.
Read on to find out more about the winning script – HOLLYWOOD’S MOST WANTED: I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP, ESE!
Here’s Manny’s summary of his script…
“HOLLYWOOD’S MOST WANTED is a single-camera, comedy-drama series based on the life of Manny Jimenez and Suspect Entertainment.
From the ‘hood to Hollywood, Manny takes his knowledge of gang-banging and turns it into dealmaking. He straddles two worlds — fatherhood, and managing former gang members — turning the latter not into actors but into law-abiding citizens. In the process, Manny becomes the C.A.A. of East L.A.”
And a short biography of Manny, too…
“LA gang member-turned-filmmaker Manny Jimenez Sr. took his knowledge of the streets and applied them to Hollywood. Manny’s unique journey has led him to be the subject of numerous news stories on CNN, ABC, Fox, Telemundo and Univision. They’ve also led to articles in newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Entertainment Weekly and Emmy.
As a gang consultant, Manny worked on such films as Ali G Indahouse, Training Day and Criminal starring Diego Luna. Gang-consulting led to screenwriting. Manny believes authenticity is key and he writes from the truth. Now, as a screenwriter, producer, and finally taking a seat in the coveted director’s chair, Manny wrote and directed the short film A Way Out — an anti-gang story that will be used to deter at-risk youths.
Although working in the entertainment industry is Manny’s main endeavor, he has found his true purpose in life by guiding young people towards finding their passion and showing them that there is a better life without drugs and gangs.
Take a look at Manny’s YouTube page here: https://www.youtube.com/c/MannyJimenezSr
Manny has won previews of the WriteMovies Academy, and Phase 1 opens on September 15th – join now to take your work to take your screenwriting and production skills to the next level!
by John | Aug 17, 2018 | Academy, Updates
Start your journey to the top with our virtual film school, and take your screenwriting and production skills to another level. Welcome to the WriteMovies Academy!
No matter where you are in your odyssey as a writer or producer, our unique virtual film school will help you succeed. We will bring you closer to the real industry than film schools – and for just a small fraction of the price! With our course you’ll get insights and input into your projects from professional Hollywood writing experts, with tools, activities, articles, and materials that can’t be found anywhere else.
With an overall user rating of over 90%, our Academy has already received much acclaim! Our first set of feedback reports have given a 93% rating to the Mini-Masterclass presenter, 91% to our media and resources, and 89% to both the content of the presentations and the activities! In addition to this, our users’ confidence in the material covered grew by 18.5% and their confidence in their own work by 17% – with each Phase of the course!
You can sign up for whichever Phase of the course you’re interested in, and you can start and finish it in your own time. You don’t have to pay for more than one Phase of the course at a time, and there are no penalties if you need to take a few months off for work. We will always be there for you!
We’re now accepting entries for the official launch of each Phase of the course, beginning with Phase 1 on September 15th 2018 – so click here to join now, and start your journey to the top!
by John | Jun 15, 2018 | Updates, WMC
The Final Deadline is fast approaching for our Spring Contest 2018! Add the finishing touches to your script and submit it by this Sunday, June 17 to win fantastic prizes.
There are 9 winning categories, $2000 available in prize money, plus over $3000 in script development for the 3 winners, bonuses and promotion through InkTip – we promise to develop and promote them to the top of the international film industry.
Plus, twice Academy Award nominated director Habib Zargarpour and WriteMovies founder Alex Ross are looking for VFX driven scripts to take to Hollywood – make it yours by entering our competition!
In addition to our Overall Winner, we also have prizes for the Best Studio Script, Best Indie Script, and Best Short Script – and we’re not just interested in screenplays, either. Our competition includes several other categories: get your television series started with Long and Short Form Pilots, raise the curtain on a future in theatre by sending in your Stageplay, and unleash the screen potential of your Book!
And don’t forget our newest category: Best Video Game Script! Guide us into your gaming universe and show us how creative you can be – we’d be thrilled to read your projects!
See the prizes available below, and enter our competition here!
Prizes and awards up for grabs in each category… Click on the prizes to learn more about them!
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 | Dec 15, 2017 | Highlights, Industry News, Updates, WriteMovies News
So you want to be a screenwriter, huh? Well, we want you to be, too! For nearly 20 years we’ve been developing writers with our mentoring services and contests with the aim of getting writers’ scripts produced. And now we’re going that step further… our Hollywood Virtual Film School is here!
The WriteMovies Academy is introducing a brand new Hollywood Virtual Film School for all you aspiring writers and producers.
This 6 month academy will put you through your paces with courses on how to crystallize your concept, how to put that down into a script, and how to sell it and work with the production and distribution – all taught by our top, experienced script analysts, producers and writer mentors.
You invest months of your life on a script in the hope that it will sell. There is nothing sadder or more defeating than a script that has not sold. You owe to yourself to give your projects the best possible chance of getting made. We provide that to you. For a few cents for every hour of your life you have or are about to invest, we will provide you with not only a safety net, but a support system that will always be there for you. You cannot make it on your own, the odds are totally against you. Let us help you: THIS IS WHO WE ARE, PEOPLE WE HAVE HELPED, and FEEDBACK.
Don’t blow $100,000 to go to film school and be taught by “has beens”. We can teach you to become a professional screenwriter or writer-producer for $3000 and you will be taught by successful working professionals! Let us know about your own personal situation and WriteMovies will adopt a specific plan of action to take your script or idea to the next level.
Book your place on the first Phase of the course, or all six right here!
The Phases of the course, and their launch dates, and prices are shown below:
- Phase 0 (Project Selection, Additional consultation & notes): $250 (or free if you buy all of the Phases 1-6 for $3000!)
- Phase 1 (concept & development): $500
- Phase 2 (development & outlining): $500
- Phase 3 (1st draft & coverage):
$500
- Phase 4 (writing is rewriting & 2nd draft coverage): $500
- Phase 5 (pitching and promoting your script): $500
- Phase 6 (that’s a wrap): $500 per year for ongoing support
- Or, book your place on every Phase at once for just $3000, which includes Phase 0 absolutely free!
For more info on each Phase just click here, or to book your place for Phase 1, go right HERE.
by John | Oct 4, 2017 | Industry News
Is Winter the new Summer for Hollywood blockbusters? Release dates of big films this year suggest that Winter is the season to be jolly for Hollywood.
So-called Oscar bait has always been released towards the end of Summer right through to Winter. This supposedly gives these films an edge – there’s a recency bias surrounding these films, but Winter is also slowly becoming the time for blockbusters, too.
In recent years the Middle-Earth and STAR WARS franchises have been reinvented and relocated release dates to December – which proved financially successful for them – and now the superhero films are following suit. The 2017 Spring and Summer saw the fringe films, the riskier films – GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 2. SPIDERMAN: HOMECOMING, WONDER WOMAN, but come November, the big boys are coming back. THOR: RAGNAROK and THE JUSTICE LEAGUE both have November release dates – close enough to December to rake in the money, but far enough away from STAR WARS EP: VIII that they won’t have to fight off the Jedi fans.
While the big name films are currently few in number, it looks like Winter will become the new blockbuster season for years to come. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-19/how-hollywood-got-over-the-summer-blockbuster
© WriteMovies 2017. Exclusive to WriteMovies – To syndicate this content for your own publication, contact ian (at) writemovies dot-com.
by John | Oct 2, 2017 | Industry News
All is not as it seems… AMC makes an investment in a virtual reality startup company, also backed by Hollywood stars.
Hollywood and Television companies are beginning to follow in the success of gaming with increased interest and investment in VR (virtual reality) companies. Gaming consoles such as the PlayStation 4 have already taken advantage of this phenomenon to give their gamers a new experience. Companies like AMC investing in VR companies suggests that audiences of film and television should start to get ready for a new cinematic experience.
Check out more here: http://deadline.com/2017/09/amc-invests-20-million-in-dreamscape-vr-expands-theatrical-rollout-1202177023/
You can see all our collecion of new here, too: https://writemovies.com/about/news/film-news/
© WriteMovies 2017. Exclusive to WriteMovies – To syndicate this content for your own publication, contact ian (at) writemovies dot-com.
Congratulations to Manny for winning in this category; his script made us laugh with its great premise and wacky situations. He now receives a copy of our Confidential Studio Manual and exclusive previews of our Virtual Film School as his prizes, plus a set of Development Notes to give him professional feedback on his work.
