pitchfests/ Doug Richardson/ Scriptshadow

Sept. 18 Pitchfests: Great American Pitch Fests emailed this video on how the screenwriters Geof Miller and Troy Hunter got 41 requests to read their scripts at one pitch fest.  They said: "And all day long executives were shoving their business cards into our hands.  It felt like a dream.  But it was very real.  We were sending emails and returning calls for the next week non-stop." They booked 3 deals in 10 days.  They said they needed the right attitude, expectations, and approach.  Don't leave success to chance.  This is a 12 min. video.  It was very entertaining to watch.  At the end it said one of them is a lawyer and the other is a banker.  They each full-time jobs, but they're screenwriters too. http://www.sceneplay.net/vid1-tgpitch/ Script pitch: GAPF sent me this great interview with the GAPF president Signe Olynyk.  It talks about how to pitch your script.  When some producer asks a question about your script, don't say: "Read the script."  It's like shutting the door.  Answer the question.  If you're afraid of spoiling or giving something away, then say: "I don't want to spoil it for you, but...." then give something away in vague wording. http://www.markwtravis.com/2012/05/an-interview-with-signe-olynyk-the-great-american-pitchfest/ Day job: GAPF sent this article "The Day Job is the Writer's Best Friend" by Richard Walter.  By having a day job, you get to interact with people and use it in your writing: "That’s why the day job is the writer’s friend. It keeps him sane and solvent, which are two closely related enterprises. More important, it keeps writers in touch with the more important resource for their writing: the humanity around them." It mentions Colin Higgins who won 2nd place in a screenwriting contest.  He got some money and worked cleaning pools which is a really good writer/ actor's job.  He met a movie producer who owned the house and convinced him to read his script. "The producer ended up buying and producing the script. It was called HAROLD AND MAUDE, and it launched Colin’s substantial career.  'Had my dream come true,' Colin told me years ago, “had I won not second but first prize, I’d be cleaning swimming pools today.” http://pitchfest.com/the-day-job-is-the-writers-best-friend/ Inspiration: Signe Olynyk wrote an article called "Living without a Net." She mentions these big filmmakers: "These giants of filmmaking all made their films using the resources and contacts they had in the places they were from, and developed their careers from there. There is no reason why we can’t all do the same."  "Like every great chef, cull the ingredients from your life and use them to create your own great story. You probably have more resources than you think." http://pitchfest.com/living-without-a-net/ LIFT: This stands for Liason of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto.  I get these monthly emails from them.  It's in small Courier new font and all these workshops in Toronto.  I'm going to unsubscribe from them, and like them on Facebook.  I also now follow them on Twitter. Sept. 21 Doug Richardson: He wrote the action movies Die Hard and Bad Boys.  He also writes books.  I found the interview inspirational because he wrote action movies and that's what I want to do.  Check out his website: http://dougrichardson.com/ GAPF sent this newsletter with this really good interview with him.  I put it up on my blog.  Here's a good quote from him: “There are a lot more successful relentless people in Hollywood than there are successful talented people. You need to water and fertilize the grinder side of you as much as your creative side. Grow it. Turn yourself into a grinder because relentless will win over talented every time.” http://thevertexfighter.blogspot.ca/2012/09/doug-richardson-interview.html Dialogue: GAPF called this the "most poetic chunk of dialog award for the movie Hugo.                      HUGO           Right after my father died, I would           come up here a lot ... I would           imagine that the whole world was           one big machine. Machines never           have extra parts, you know.            They always have the exact number           they need. So I figured if the           entire world was a big machine I            couldn’t be an extra part, I had to           be here for some reason ... And           that means you have to be here for           some reason, too.  Sept. 24 TV production companies: I found some old notes like omnitv.ca.  There's OMNI TV channels in Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario.  I looked for careers on the site, but there weren't any I'm qualified in Edmonton. I typed in mediajobsearch.ca and found this instead: http://www.mediajobsearchcanada.com/ There were also 3 positions in Edmonton that I wasn't qualified for like an assistant editor with 3 yrs experience. Yorkton Film: I had also written down www.yorktonfilm.org and I only got a Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival.   It's held in Yorkton, Saskatchewan.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yorkton_Film_Festival Sept. 25 Inspiration: I was reading my old The Great American Pitchfest newsletter and I found this article called "Inspiration from a Slaughterhouse" by Signe Olynyk.  She talks about how she locked herself in a meat freezer to write her screenplay Below Zero so she could buckle down and write it. I put up her article on both my blogs. http://badcb.blogspot.ca/2012/09/inspiration-from-slaughterhouse.html Scriptshadow: There was also an interview on the same newsletter by someone named Scriptshadow.  He gives really good tips on screenwriting.  I put his interview on my blog: http://badcb.blogspot.ca/2012/09/scriptshadow-interview.html Here's his blog: http://scriptshadow.blogspot.ca/2011/06/scriptshadow-special-how-to-craft-damn.html Oct. 1 Poetry: Today I submitted two poems to a contest.  I haven't submitted my writing to contests in 2 months, judging from my notes.