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 20, 2018 | Our Winners, WriteMovies News
Our International Screenwriting Contest isn’t just for full length screenplays – we accept short scripts as well! In our Spring 2018 Contest, the winner of Best Short Script also made it all the way to the semi-finals: ROLL WITH IT by Rosie Byrnes!
As most of our readers know, writing a screenplay is tough work that takes diligence, planning, and a whole lot of hours spent typing. It might seem like writing a short script is easier, but it brings with it an entire set of challenges you won’t find elsewhere. Imagine trying to cram a 120 page story into 10 pages and you’ll see how difficult it is!
Congratulations to Rosie for winning in this category; her script charmed us with its rich story, likeable characters, and colorful concepts. She now receives a copy of our Confidential Studio Manual and exclusive previews of our Virtual Film School as her prizes, plus a set of Development Notes to give her professional feedback on her work.
Read on to find out more about this short script which captured our hearts: ROLL WITH IT!
Here’s Rosie’s summary of her script…
“Max is the king of the roller disco, and he knows it—that is, until the spunky (and far more admirable) Lucy arrives at the rink. His crown threatened, Max challenges her to the ultimate dance-off. But he’s in over his head, and finds that he’s head over heels for the gal who knows what it means to be groovy.”
And a short biography of Rosie, too…
“Rosie Byrnes is a writer, a second grade teacher, and a notorious ice cream lover. Originally from Colorado but currently residing in Tainan City, Taiwan, Rosie has spent most of her life writing outlandish stories. Only after following her crush into a college screenwriting class did she realize that, hey, it’s actually pretty neat. Her most recent passion project is a feature-length screenplay about Bigfoot (who’s a big softie, deep down), and she currently holds the “Worst Female Bowler” title in her hometown’s championship.
Rosie can be found on Twitter via the username @rosiebwrites.”
Rosie 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 | Aug 10, 2018 | Our Winners, Updates, WriteMovies News
We are delighted to announce the winners of our Spring 2018 Screenwriting Contest!
We’ve read many fantastic scripts over the last few months, but at long last, our Spring 2018 Contest comes to a close. In every genre and in every format, there have been many scripts that shone – but we’ve finally managed to decide on our winners!
A massive thanks to everyone who entered, and who gave us so much great material to read! If you want to find out why your script placed where it did in our competition, we strongly encourage you to take advantage of our Script Report services – which are currently on special offer until 31st August 2018!
Our Grand Prize Winner walks away with:
- $2000 cash prize
- A year of script and pitching development worth $3200
- Exclusive previews of our Virtual Film School and a copy of our Confidential Studio Manual
And the top three submissions all receive:
- Guaranteed pitching and promotion to the top of the film industry
- 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.
So, a huge congratulations to our GRAND PRIZE WINNER:
DESERT RUN
by
Christopher Thomas
A great win for Christopher, and a thrilling script with strongly voiced characters. Christopher now takes home those wonderful prizes listed above.
But we must also congratulate our SECOND PLACED WINNER:
KLONDIKE MIKE
by
Thomas Zmiarovich
And our THIRD PLACED WINNER:
FIRE ON THE ISLAND
by
Timothy Jay Smith
A round of applause also for our Honorable Mentions: BLUT WIRD FLIEßEN by Urs Aebersold, LOVERS IN PARIS by Andy Conway, THE CRACK IN PEGGY SUE’S FLOOR by John Woodard, THE UNDERTAKER’S CHILDREN by Natasha Le Petit, THE ELECTRIC WAR by Arthur Tiersky, and HOLLYWOOD’S MOST WANTED: I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP, ESE by Manny Jimenez Sr.
A very well done to everyone named here and the many other impressive scripts we read this time around. It’s been a tough field to choose from! See the results in full below.
We’ll be telling you all about our winners in the coming weeks, and getting their script development phase underway.
Head to our Facebook page and our Twitter feed to congratulate our top three winners and Honorable Mentions yourself!
Here are the Spring 2018 Screenwriting Contest Winners and Honorable Mentions…
|
GRAND PRIZE WINNER |
|
|
DESERT RUN
by Christopher Thomas |
|
| SECOND PLACE |
|
THIRD PLACE
|
KLONDIKE MIKE
by Thomas Zmiarovich |
|
FIRE ON THE ISLAND
by Timothy Jay Smith |
|
HONORABLE MENTIONS |
|
BLUT WIRD FLIEßEN
by Urs Aebersold |
LOVERS IN PARIS
by Andy Conway |
THE ELECTRIC WAR
by Arthur Tiersky |
THE UNDERTAKER’S CHILDREN
by Natasha Le Petit |
HOLLYWOOD’S MOST WANTED:
I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP, ESE
by Manny Jimenez Sr |
THE CRACK IN PEGGY SUE’S FLOOR
by John Woodard |
by John | Aug 3, 2018 | Our Winners, Results, WMC, WriteMovies News
We are pleased to announce the Semi-Finalists for our Spring 2018 Screenwriting Contest – and the winner of our Best Studio Script, Best Indie Script, and Best Short Script Awards!
After another tough judging period, we’ve decided on the Semi-Finalists for our Spring 2018 Contest – plus three awards in new categories!
The scripts that advanced to the semi-finals impressed us for many reasons, with fantastic stories, well-crafted dialogue, and strong commercial potential – and as ever, a lot of great scripts just missed the cut. If yours is one of them, don’t feel downhearted – all of our Quarter-Finalists were impressive entries.
And don’t forget, if you want to find out why your script didn’t make it, and want to take it to the next level, all our Script Report services are on special offer until 31st August – and you get free entry to our next contest as a bonus!
Alternatively, check out our Elite Mentoring service: invaluable one-to-one advice from actual Hollywood producers and studio execs!
See the full list of Semi-Finalists below… but first, we’re announcing the best of those movie scripts that aimed themselves firmly at either a HIGH or a LOW budget which we felt could be the most desirable to producers at the budget it set… and, working to a different kind of constraint, we’re also announcing the Best Short Script! Writing a short film demands a particular skill: the ability to tell a complete, poignant story in the space of only a few short minutes – normally less than 15 pages instead of the usual 120.
Next week: we name our top ten and our Overall Winner! Who will take the big prize for the very best entry in our latest major contest?
| Best Studio Script |
Best Indie Script |
Best Short Script |
DESERT RUN, by Christopher Thomas!
With Honorable Mentions to: CHARMER, David Kurtz, and KLONDIKE MIKE, Thomas Zmiarovich. |
FIRE ON THE ISLAND, by Timothy Jay Smith!
With Honorable Mentions to: LOVERS IN PARIS, Andy Conway, and THE UNDERTAKER’S CHILDREN, Natasha Le Petit. |
ROLL WITH IT, by Rosie Byrnes! |
A big congratulations to the latest winners; we’ll be in touch with them soon about their winnings! Meanwhile, these are all of the other SEMI-FINALISTS who are still in the running for the big one… congratulations to all of them!
|
Semi-Finalists |
|
| BLUT WIRD FLIEßEN, Urs Aebersold |
REMOTELY WORKING, William Baber |
ROLL WITH IT, Rosie Byrnes |
| PARDON MY GENDER: SUCH A FARCE!, Bob Canning |
LOVERS IN PARIS, Andy Conway |
UNE CHANCE POUR GUÉRIR, Christine de Chauvelin |
| LES NIOCKS, Edith Devillet |
THE GOOD CITIZEN, Joel Doty |
OPERATION BROTHER SAM, Gustavo Freitas |
| ON THE SPARROW, RW Hahn |
THE LAST KING OF AMERICA, Richard Guimond |
SOUL OF AN EMPIRE, Ryan Jaroncyk |
| THE SAX, Pascal Kulcsar |
HOLLYWOOD’S MOST WANTED: I’M READY FOR MY CLOSE-UP, ESE, Manny Jimenez Sr. |
SHOOTING ANGELS, RW Hahn |
| HOBBY AND FITZ, James Milton |
CHARMER, David Kurtz |
WINDSPIRIT, Paul Penley |
| MAUDITE ÉQUATION, Joel Prost |
THE UNDERTAKER’S CHILDREN, Natasha Le Petit |
THE MYTHICAL GOLDEN TROUT, Craig Peters |
| DESERT RUN, Christopher Thomas |
WHEN I WAS A CHILD, T. L. Needham |
FIRE ON THE ISLAND, Timothy Smith |
| THE LOST OPERA, Rachel, Thomas-Medwid |
THE ARIZONA BALLOON BUSTER, Mark Perlick and Steven Pripps |
THE ELECTRIC WAR, Arthur Tiersky |
| THE CRACK IN PEGGY SUE’S FLOOR, John Woodard |
CHILDREN OF EDEN, Raymond Just |
KLONDIKE MIKE, Thomas Zmiarovich |
| MANHATTAN MARILYN (book), Philippe Laguerre |
MASON, Andrew Marshall |
|
by John | Jul 27, 2018 | Our Winners, Updates
We’re delighted to be announcing the winners of two more awards from our Spring 2018 Contest: Best Long and Short Form Pilots! These are both demanding categories, requiring a writer to tell a condense their story down to a small number of pages. In addition, any pilot episode needs to both tell a complete story and be the first instalment of a larger, overarching plot – meaning that these scripts have to pull double duty to achieve their goals!
(more…)
by WriteMovies | Jul 23, 2018 | Ian Kennedy, Writing Insights
How to give Producers, Executives and Publishers what they say they want…
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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.
