Click on the following Link to read a hilarious portion of my latest LaughRiot Comedic Screenplay provided for you here.
Enjoy. If I do say so myself (and I do say so myself), it really is:
KICCASS
4/12/09
WAREHOUSER - Set Piece
Click on the following Link to read a hilarious portion of my latest LaughRiot Comedic Screenplay provided for you here.
Enjoy. If I do say so myself (and I do say so myself), it really is:
KICCASS
4/11/09
FREE FILM FESTIVAL DIRECTORY
Including Fest’s with Screenplay Competitions
It’s Film Festival season once again dear Film Freaks. Which will you submit to and attend?
If you perform your own Google search you’ll find a number of commercial websites that provide a Directory of Film Festivals. To save you the time and frustration, I’ve provided you with the following Link to IMDB’s Film Festival Directory, which is rather extensive. Please note that some of these Fest’s do conduct Screenplay competitions, though in IMDB’s Directory they do not indicate which of them do or do not. If you have a Finished Short Film, Feature Film, or work in process, this directory can be of immense help. Proceeding the IMDB Link I have provided my own FILM FREAKS Directory of Festivals that do conduct Screenplay Competitions of various kinds.
IMDB FILM FESTIVAL DIRECTORY
http://www.imdb.com/festivals/
FILM FREAKS Directory
of Film Fest Screenplay Competitions
of Film Fest Screenplay Competitions
NOTE: Descriptions are provided by each Festival Promoter as displayed in Search Engine results. Some Fest’s listed have run their course for the year, they have been included in order that you might know of their existence for future reference. --- Also note that some are Genre specific; some are take Shorts only.
DISCLAIMER: This Directory is provided to you as a resource only. No guarantee of the quality of any one of these Festivals is implied. The order they appear in is random and is not indicative of any preference on the part of Rick Denny or FILM FREAKS ASYLUM. Please conduct your own research of and for each Festival in advance of submitting your Screenplay(s) to them.
AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL
Competition dedicated to recognizing the writer's contribution to the motion picture industry.
www.austinfilmfestival.com/
RHODE ISLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
The top prize in the 2008 Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) Screenplay Competition will go to .... To read more and see the list of winners, ...
www.film-festival.org/enterascreenplay.php
EERIE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL
An annual screenplay competition and film festival that takes place in Erie, Pennsylvania.
www.eeriehorrorfilmfestival.com/
SHRIEKFEST
Shriekfest, the Los Angeles International Horror/Thriller/Sci-Fi/Fantasy Film Festival & Screenplay Competition,...
www.shriekfest.com/
VAIL FILM FESTIVAL
www.vailfilmfestival.org/
NANTUCKET FILM FESTIVAL
Innovative film festival celebrating screenwriters. Features include submission information, volunteer opportunities, tickets and upcoming schedule.
www.nantucketfilmfestival.org/
PHOENIX FILM FESTIVAL
Phoenix Film Festival Arizona Screenplay Challenge ...
www.phoenixfilmfestival.org/pages/section-view.php?id=109
WATERFRONT FILM FESTIVAL
Announcing the fifth Waterfront Screenplay Competition, ... and movie-goers for making the 10th annual Waterfront Film Festival an AMAZING success! ...
www.waterfrontfilm.org/
BIG APPLE FILM FESTIVAL
Big Apple Festival Screenplay Competition. 2009 Rules and Regulations: ... is reviewing all contest entries for our screenplay competition. ...
bigapplefilmfestival.com/screenplaycompetition.html
QUEEN’S INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
QiFF - 6th Queens International film festival: November, 6-9 2008 - festival info - screenplay competition finalists -
www.queensfilmfestival.com/festival/screenplay/
L.A. COMEDY SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL
See a list of the Finalists for the 2009 L.A. Comedy Scripts Screenplay Competition! ...
www.lacomedyshorts.com/scripts/scripts.htm
BIG BEAR LAKE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Now accepting films and screenplays for our 2009 festival!...
www.bigbearlakefilmfestival.com/
APPALACHIAN FILM FESTIVAL
Appalachian Film Festival Film and Screenplay 2009 Competition Guidelines. 2009 Rules for Screenplay Submission...
www.appyfilmfest.com
GOTHAM SCREEN – NEW YORK INT. FILM FESTIVAL
The 3rd Annual GOTHAM SCREEN Film Festival and Screenplay Contest will take place October 20th thru 25th 2009 in New York City. ...
www.gothamscreen.com/
LAS VEGAS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
This annual screenplay competition was created to help aspiring screenwriters break into the entertainment industry as well as to support emerging ...
www.lvfilmfest.com/Filmmakers/Screenplay_Competition.aspx
IVY FILM FESTIVAL
Domestic Application. International Application. Screenplay Application. ... Rates for basic Withoutabox accounts: First submission: $20 ...
www.ivyfilmfestival.com/submissions
WORLD-FEST HOUSTON INT. FILM FEST
(International Competition for all Film & Video Production & Screenplays) ... WorldFest is the oldest Indie Film Festival in the world, and the 3rd oldest ...
Rick Says: “This is a poorly formatted and difficult site to negotiate. After spending far too much time trying to figure out if they actually do take script submissions, I went to their Categories Sub-Link, which I’ve provided here. --- There I discovered that, they do. The rest is up to you.
www.worldfest.org/PAGES/categories.htm
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END DIRECTORY
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END DIRECTORY
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There may be more out there that I have yet to uncover, and new ones may come to the fore. If I find others I’ll update this Directory. If you know of any, would you please send me an email informing me of them so that I can include those as well.
Send any all replies, questions, comments, or, in my humble estimation, well deserved praise to:
SEND ME AN EMAIL AT: seerasylum@gmail.com
Now go jumpstart that career; and while you’re there:
KICCASS
4/8/09
HOW TO EMAIL YOUR SCRIPT SAFELY
Submitting Your Script in the Digital Age
We have come to a time where more and more people are requesting Scripts from Screenwriters be sent by email as opposed to snail mailing a printed hardcopy. The only wise choice for emailing a Script is to send it in PDF format as an attachment. Not only does this eliminate any problems of compatibility, but PDF is as well a far more secure method of sending important documents. As you may well know, converting your Script to PDF format requires software, a PDF Converter, the most popular being Adobe Acrobat, which is not inexpensive. But, fear not dear Film Freaks, there are Free Converters out there.
READERS – CONVERTERS & EDITERS
<>PDF READERS are small software programs that allow you to view PDF Files. Having a Reader loaded on your computer enables you to download PDF’s off the Internet and read them, they do not afford you the ability to create nor edit PDF Files in any manner. At the end of this Blog you will find a direct Link where you can download Adobes free Reader if you so chose. However, as you will find, this will not be necessary if you install a Converter.
<>PDF CONVERTERS are software programs that allow you to convert documents and images to PDF Format from other software programs like word processors and Script Writing programs. Though Adobe Acrobat is expensive, fortunately for the Film Freak on a limited budget, there are a number of Free Converters available that you can avail yourself of today. I have provided two Links to companies that have made their Converters available at no Cost. The first, Primo, is quite large at over 10meg; on their site the company claims that over 15 million copies have been downloaded. The second, DoPDF, is much smaller at just under 2 meg. These are Converters only; they do not afford you the opportunity to Edit your PDF formatted documents. If you need to make changes you will have to do so in your writing program, then create a new PDF after changes are made.
SIDE NOTE: How this occurs is a mystery to me, but I can read a sentence on my Word Processor time and again that contains some small error in grammar or spelling, that when I read the same line in PDF the error jumps right out at me requiring a quick edit. A word of warning here: If you have only a Converter and cannot edit your PDF documents, when you go back to your writing program to make necessary changes, I would highly recommend you delete any previous PDF versions of the Script that you had created before you create the revised version, and thus eliminate the off chance of submitting the wrong version.
<>PDF EDITERS are self explanatory. They afford you the opportunity of altering the actual PDF document. Programs like Adobe Acrobat are an all inclusive program allowing you to read, convert and edit PDF files. You will note that the companies providing free Converters provide you with the opportunity of upgrading (at a cost) to an all inclusive program, giving you he ability to edit PDF’s as well.
ATSA RAP
A PDF Converter is must have software for Screenwriters in the Digital age. One benefit of PDF with Adobe Acrobat is that I can embed security information into the document that cannot be seen by those I send my Scripts to. I have not researched these free products, and cannot tell you if they provide this same functionality.
The information I’m providing you here is clearly not all inclusive. As stated above, I personally use Adobe Acrobat, I have not used these other products I’m providing you Links to, I'm therefore in no position to provide a tutorial on their use. I can only recommend that you read the attending documentation to get you started. That said; you should find that converting your Scripts to PDF is not a difficult task.
With Adobe Acrobat I have two equally easy to employ options for converting my Scripts to PDF. The old school method is to go to my Printer List where there is an item Adobe calls PDF Distiller; I click on that and it creates and saves a separate PDF file of my Script. And yet the far more convenient way is to click on the Acrobat Icon that resides at the top of my Word Processor on the Tool Bar. Converting my Scripts to PDF takes only a matter of seconds.
I've been using PDF conversion for over a decade and have never found the process to be anything be easy to employ. Learning how to use all the Editing tools available in Acrobat had a fairly steep learning curve to it, yet like most all powerful software applications, once you get the hang of things the tools prove their value time and again.
PDF Converters also read PDF documents. If you downwload and install any manner of PDF Converter onto your computer, you will not need to load a separate Reader for viewing PDF files.
KICCASS
4/5/09
HOW TO WRITE MONEY MAKING SCREENPLAY’S
Sharpen The AxHone Your Craft
The best Athletes in the world have a Coach for a reason. But not only do they have a Coach; the best Athletes in the world train long and hard under the best Coaches in the world.
Profoundly talented and immensely humble people, like myself, have a tendency towards being blinded by their strengths with little capacity for seeing their own weaknesses. What is of paramount importance to our breaking into the Film Business, and once we are in, sustaining career growth, is that we are continuously about the task of expanding ourselves; educating and reeducating ourselves; --- that we hone our craft.
The best writers in the world have an editor for a reason. Publishers, in our business Producers; Editors, and in the Film Industry Readers, know better what reads and what does not, what will sell and what will not. We need to learn how to write, not to please ourselves, but to please those who have the capacity of turning the written page into a Finished Film.
SIDE NOTE: I’m one of the most radical dudes you’ll ever care to meet. In addition to the obvious, I’m also a Painter of extremely Radical Abstract Paints; create radical Digital Art like the example you see above; and as well, I create extremely radical electro-ethereal music and soundscapes. So, if anyone would think to make a radical Film, it would be me. But my goal is to have a long enduring career in the Film Industry, I am not interested in making Film's that only a few thousand people would pay to see, I am interested in making Movies that attract tens of millions.
As much as it is true that every now and then a Blue Moon doth shine down upon some whacky, radical Filmmaker who has been greenlighted to make some whacky, radical Film; and even goes on to blow everyone's mind by doing great at the Box Office. Nevertheless, if you want to succeed in the Film Business - Bet the odds, is more than just sage advice. For every radical Film that has ever been made, there are countless many more radical minded Wannabe’s out there, who still are just that, --- Countless Wannabe’s out there. They are not in the Film Business, because the people who finance Film’s – Bet the odds.
My advice again - Bet the odds (by this I mean make Film's based on proven models of success); give those who turn a written page into a Finished Film what they want; what they are shopping for; what they buy; what they finance. Write Screenplay’s and Produce Shorts and even Features on Spec that fit within the model of what sells well in today’s Film Market. If swimming against the stream is more important to you than making money, you really should be making Art Film’s and would do well to quit any notion of breaking into the prevailing Film Market.
As a writer, your worst enemy for success in the Film Biz will most likely prove to be yourself. The curse of the Wannabe Screenwriter is that they tend to be completely enamored with their own style of turning a phrase. Point of fact dear Film Freaks; if you cannot write to please the people who make things happen in the business, you’ll most likely never make it into the business.
With regards to our working towards improving our skills at Screenwriting, there are as many useless opportunities out there today as there are the genuinely useful. In today's market you can avail yourself of many fine books that have been written by seasoned professionals offering useful guidance. Certainly, if you are so inclined, you can go to Film School and take courses on this and any number of subjects. Attending Seminars and participating in a Screenwriters Association might prove beneficial (but depending on any number of factors, could prove to be a royal waste of your time). But I have become more than just a little convinced that the best way for an already good writer to learn how to write Scripts that sell, is to read Scripts that have already been made into money making Finished Films; Films you have more than likely paid to see yourself.
WHERE YOU CAN GET KNOWN MOVIE SCRIPTS
An excellent resource for Scripts can be found at a website called “ScriptCrawler.” Not the most attractive site I’ve ever come upon, but a truly excellent resource for Scripts to Films that did well at the Box Office. You’ll find quickly a rather extensive list of Scripts for Movie titles you recognize. You’ll also notice that these Scripts do not live on ScriptCrawler’s Server. To the right of the Screenplay title and Poster Art thumbnail, you’ll see that these Scripts are located on sites all over the place, making ScriptCrawler something of a Directory for the location of Scripts that are available (for FREE) Online. Some you read Online, some are available in PDF Format for you to download.
ATSA RAP
Just an FYI: ScriptCrawler was good enough not to trouble us with Pop-Up’s or Under’s, but they do display Banner Ad’s at the top of their page. Once you click on the Link below, I’d recommend you save ScriptCrawler in your Browsers Favorites file so you can return there time and again with ease.
So - go get ahold of one of your all time favorite Movies Scripts, and read it. Study it over and over again. Then get another, and another. Read, read, read, read, read. --- Let these successful Script's be your guide to writing Screenplay's that can, if you possess the talent to craft an origial story, make you not only some money, but set you on a path to an enduring career.
KICCASS
4/4/09
THE DIGITAL DILEMMA
Will Your Digital Film Survive 100 Years of Storage?This article is unique in two significant ways. First, I am not the author of what you are about to read; and secondly, this is very important information to anyone interested in a Film career in this present Digital Age.
The publication I hope to convince you to read is titled THE DIGITAL DILEMMA, which provides what in my estimation amounts to a Film School level education regarding Film Media with an emphasis on Digital Film Media and what it will take in cost and equipment to Archive our Films for a hundred years without loss or corruption of data or quality.
Quite frankly, if you are just getting started on your path towards a Film career, you will learn a great deal about a large body of things relevant to the industry by reading this document, information that could have otherwise taken you many years to obtain. Though it was released in 2007, the information contained within this publication is current and pertinent to this very day, and will remain pertinent for decades to come.
THE DIGITAL DILEMMA is the result of a study performed by The Science & Technology Council, a branch of the American Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, the Oscars people). A printed version would cost you $20.oo, but if you click on the Link I’ve provided for you below, it will take you to a page on the AMPAS Website where you are given there the opportunity to Download a colorful book-quality PDF version at no cost.
When you get to that page you will see that you have to Register in order to Download a copy. The Registration process is immensely simple, taking me less than twenty seconds to accomplish. This is a truly rich document, providing detailed information mixed with Film Industry History important to any Filmmaker no matter how long they’ve been in the business.
Here is just a sample of what you will find there:
“.....the goal of a digital preservation system is that the information it contains remain accessible to users over a long period of time. The key problem in the design of such systems is that the period during which such assets need to be accessible is very long – much longer than the lifetime of individual storage media, hardware and software components, and the formats in which the information is encoded.”
“Archiving of digital assets is a new challenge for the studios.”
“There is also much concern about the trend to create digital masters at 2K (only slightly better image quality than HDTV), which contains significantly less visual information than the film masters created today, or even those created 40 years ago. The fear is that projection and display technology will continue to improve, but the archived source material will produce nothing better than what can be seen on today’s display technologies.”
Excerpts from “The Digital Dilemma,” pages 13 & 14, The Science & Technology Council
KICCASS
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