Breaking Down a Screenplay

FilmSlate blogger Deborah Osment wrote an article recently about how (and why) to break down a screenplay. It's short, but helpful.

"For me, breaking down a script is another step in catching the mistakes I made while writing that script," she writes.

Screenplay Adaptation

Beau Willimon wrote the play Farragut North, which forms the basis of the George Clooney film The Ides of March. Willimon is interviewed in The Atlantic about his history in politics and the journey of his play to the screen.

When are you a writer?

John Scalzi has a post on his blog in which he answers three questions:

When can you call yourself a writer?
When can you call yourself a professional writer?
When can you call yourself a good writer?

It's a good read, and recommended for anyone concerned about the answers.

Robert Hestand

Last year, Robert Hestand sent ScriptDoctor a note with a glowing recommendation of our services:

I just wanted to say that I was extremely thankful for the quality of your service, as well as the quick turnaround, and I won’t hesitant to recommend you (and your company) to friends and colleagues.

I appreciated the fact that you encourage writers to “own” their rewrite, rather than telling the writer what is “right or wrong” with the story. Personally, it allowed me to approach my next pass with a sense of discovery rather than a sense of correction.

He had significant plans for the script he sent to ScriptDoctor Howard Allen:

With THE N WORD, I utilized your review and synthesized it with additional coverage, in turn combining that with critiques from friends (and we all know how “honest” those are…), and executed a much stronger draft. My primary goal with this spec is to showcase my talent by (hopefully) placing in several contests and securing representation.

We've received word from Robert that his screenplay, The N Word, has placed in several competitions:

- 2nd Place, 2011 MoviePoet annual contest
- Finalist, 2011 WriteMovies contest
- Semi-Finalist, 2011 StoryPros contest
- 2nd Place, 2011 ScriptVamp "Attention Grabber" contest
- Scriptshark Scouting Qualifier

Congratulations, Robert!

John August on First Sale Doctrine

John August has a post on First Sale Doctrine and what it means for screenwriters. There's some excellent information there, especially about how digital rentals are better for the film industry (and everyone who works in it, including screenwriters) than analogue rentals (DVDs, etc.) because digital rentals and streaming generate revenue.

Please read the whole post here.

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.