Announcement

December 18

Society of Southwestern Authors Forum
The Tucson Sheraton Four Points on Speedway and Campbell in the conference center (south of the hotel). Program begins at 10 am.

Howard Allen will do his Presentation on the Storytelling Secrets of the Christmas Classic: It's A Wonderful Life

Two-time Contest of Contest Winners Finalist to Be Published!

Timothy Jay Smith, who has been a finalist twice in ScriptDoctor's Contest of Contest Winners screenplay competition, has turned one of those screenplays into a novel, Cooper's Promise, which will be published early in 2012. To learn more about the novel and/or pre-order a copy, please visit the author's kickstarter page.

ScriptDoctor's Contest of Contest Winners

ScriptDoctor's Contest of Contest Winners is still accepting entries through December 15. Do you have a screenplay that has won a contest? Visit ScriptDoctor.com to see if your screenplay qualifies and enter today!

Writing Advice

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), and The Atlantic has a slideshow of several prolific authors and their advice to writers. The piece is here.. From Stephen King's admonition to read voraciously and indiscriminately to Christopher Hitchens' advice to "write the way you talk," inspiration abounds for writers of all kinds. (Although, Muriel Spark's advice to get a cat may not be practical or sensible for all writers.)

William Monahan Interview (Collider)

William Monahan, who wrote the screenplays for Kingdom of Heaven and The Departed, was interviewed by Steve "Frosty" Weintraub for Collider. Monahan discusses the status of several recent and upcoming projects, but the interview holds interest for screenwriters in particular because of some of the lessons he's learned along the way, including that a writer can't be a "precious author" because changes, sometimes significant ones, will be made. (Monahan says that The Departed is the only film he's written that is essentially the script on film.)

Be sure to go to Collider to read the whole interview.

IFP Phoenix Member Discount

ScriptDoctor is offering a discount on services for members of IFP Phoenix for short film script analysis and diagnosis. See the IFP Phoenix website for details.

Beverley Smith-Dawson

Beverley Smith-Dawson, who was a finalist in the Contest of Contest Winners, was also a finalist in the Feature Screenplay category of the 2011 Moondance International Film Festival for her screenplay, Wild Horse Woman.

Congratulations, Beverley!