WELCOME MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR

Welcome dear Film Freaks --- this is your Asylum.


As defined, an Asylum is a place of security and tranquility. If you are about the task of converting your talents into a career in Film, you have most assuredly come to the right place.


Please take note that everything here is given freely. These pages are not cluttered with any manner of Advertising Banners or Pop-Up’s, there are no Google Ad’s; any commercial site Links you find here are provided solely for their value to you as a resource. All are Direct Links to the site indicated, I do not profit in any way from your going to those sites from this page. You will quickly find that all of the information provided here is rock-solid, valuable information obtained through two years of extensive in-depth research and interviews with Industry Professionals; information and resources that will save you a vast amount of time, heartache and money if you apply what you learn here.


Come now - enjoy, employ, post your comments, email me with any of your thoughts or questions, Subscribe and be the first to receive fresh insights and updated information; and please, do expose this quality Blog to your friends and colleagues so that they too might take advantage of Film Freaks Asylum's rich and rewarding resources. And, please be aware that the humorist in me has given way to some occasional R-Rated banter.


The best of success to you; Rick Denny

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



The Brilliant Mind of at
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