BETTER READ ON WEB ASPIRING WRITERS FOR THE SILVER SCREEN TURN TO INTERNET FOR EXPOSURE.Byline: Jesse Hiestand Staff Writer Like many aspiring as·pire intr.v. as·pired, as·pir·ing, as·pires 1. To have a great ambition or ultimate goal; desire strongly: aspired to stardom. 2. screenwriters This is a list of screenwriters: A–F
There's ``Sadko,'' her Viking-era rags-to-riches-to-rags tale of three magical fish and a man who learns the value of family over wealth and pride. ``Coco,'' also penned in her Burbank home office, stars a fiery, flamenco-guitar playing singer in a story loosely based on the life of Charo. And the sci-fi ``Mushroom mushroom, type of basidium fungus characterized by spore-bearing gills on the underside of the umbrella- or cone-shaped cap. The name toadstool is popularly reserved for inedible or poisonous mushrooms, but this classification has no scientific basis. Enigma Enigma Device used by the German military to encode strategic messages before and during World War II. The Enigma code was first broken by the Poles in the early 1930s, so that German messages were eventually intercepted and deciphered by Allied code-breakers during the war. : M.E.,'' the harrowing tale of two boys who wander into the woods where aliens invite them to plunge through a black hole. It's as though her scripts likewise disappeared into the abyss when she mass mailed them to studios or cold-called producers and agents. ``They wouldn't touch them,'' Goodman said. ``I contacted producers and they said I needed an agent. ``Studios said it had to come in by a known agent or agency. ``Now I'm out trying to get a high-powered agent but they don't have the time to look at first-time writers.'' To crack these barriers, Goodman and other writers are turning to the Internet, hoping their big break will come by e-mailing executives or posting scripts online. Goodman said the Internet has brought ``little nibbles'' from producers and agents, which is better than nothing at all. ``The most important thing writers get out of this is exposure,'' said Alexa Ort ORT oral rehydration therapy. ORT 1 Operating room technician 2 Oral rehydration therapy, see there 3. Registered Occupational therapist , a story editor at New Regency Productions New Regency Productions is a production company founded in 1991 by Arnon Milchan and a subsidiary of Regency Enterprises. It is located on the 20th Century Fox lot, and Fox is the current distributor of Regency releases since 1998, but is a wholly independent company. . ``It's hard for amateur writers to sell regardless but there's a lot of up-and-coming managers and agents logging onto these sites to scout out new talent.'' And there is no shortage of Web sites angling to bridge the chasm between script scribes Scribes is a text editor for GNOME that is simple, slim and sleek, and features no tabs, auto-completion and much more. Scribes is Free Software licensed under the terms of the GNU GPL. and filmmakers. None of these companies promise to turn unknowns into stars overnight and experts say that studios will continue to shun Shun In Chinese mythology, one of the three legendary emperors, along with Yao and Da Yu, of the golden age of antiquity (c. 23rd century BC), singled out by Confucius as models of integrity and virtue. unsolicited scripts, for legal and other reasons, whether the material arrives via e-mail or Manila envelope. That hasn't stopped the dreamers or the sites catering to them. ``Everyone out there has a story they want to tell and even people who are totally focused on this as a way of life don't have all the access they need,'' said Rafi Gordon, chief executive officer of Fountainhead foun·tain·head n. 1. A spring that is the source or head of a stream. 2. A chief and copious source; an originator: "the intellectual fountainhead of the black conservatives" Media Services, whose Filmtracker.com is set to launch today. For $50, anyone can post a script on Filmtracker, a site the company says is used by 200 studios and production companies to privately trade e-mail ``buzz'' on projects and deals. Writers will have control over who sees the full script and an additional $100 will get the screenplay screenplay Written text that provides the basis for a film production. Screenplays usually include not only the dialogue spoken by the characters but also a shot-by-shot outline of the film's action. reviewed by an independent reader, with the best scripts being singled out for praise. Industry watchers say that at least two scripts shopped around on the Internet are in development at independent film companies but it is not known if any major studios have found material in a similar way. The Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is a term often referring to the joint efforts of the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, west. Jointly, the two guilds act as the collective bargaining representative, or labor union, for writers in the motion picture and registers scripts but does not track their development or unregistered scripts at all. Burbank screenwriter Skip Press, author of several scriptwriting guides, has endorsed Filmtracker as a one-stop script marketplace and community forum for writers around the globe - and in Hollywood's backyard. ``There's guys here in the Valley that don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. where to start on getting in touch with somebody,'' Press said. ``It's one step closer to enabling you to get your phone calls returned.'' That comes as welcome news to screenwriters frustrated frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: by rejection. ``Any exposure is good,'' said aspiring screenwriter Lance Thompson Lance Thompson (born February 16, 1978 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian rugby league player for the Cronulla Sharks in the National Rugby League competition. His position of choice is in the second row, though he can also play prop forward. , 41, of Sun Valley, who was encouraged by friends to check out one of the script Web sites. ``You've got to get your stuff read and you never know what pair of eyes that reads it is going to say, Oh this is great, and pass it along to someone who can do something with it.'' But that hope is tinged with skepticism. ``It sounds like a good idea but it's probably more a business for the people who run the Web sites to get money to post the scripts,'' Thompson said. Not all sites charge a fee and the extent to which they have the attention of Hollywood's decision makers varies. Some sites focus more on offering writing tips or trading tales of the industry's inner workings. Joining the slew of smaller script sites are two established dot-coms - IFILM and Creative Planet - that are racing to help Hollywood do much of its production chores, from script screening to booking talent and scheduling, on the Internet. Creative Planet plans to launch Goodstory.com in September to complement its suite of Web-based production tools. ``We believe there's a lot of talent that's completely untapped throughout the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and even those people who've sold one or two or even 15 scripts all have other material that's unsold,'' said Anthony Jacobson, Goodstory's producer. For between $5 and $15, any type of literary work can be posted, classified and summarized by the writer, Jacobson said. Entire scripts can be uploaded too, with writers determining who sees the work. Independent review of the scripts are not planned but the scripts will be just a few clicks away from the studios, producers and agents who use the company's production development site, said CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Allen Debevoise. ``From the buyers' side you're creating a search engine that's more efficient in finding materials that is available,'' Debevoise said. ``For writers, you're putting up your work but in a controlled way.'' Control means safeguards so scripts are shielded from theft, plagiarism Using ideas, plots, text and other intellectual property developed by someone else while claiming it is your original work. and other risks that the Internet's wide-open access could exacerbate. Another problem, an unintended one, could arise from the come-one-come-all nature of these these sites, said Terry Borst, a Glendale screenwriter and columnist for the Writers Guild of America Web site. ``I just can't imagine that most producers, writers and agents will troll Web sites for more stuff when they can't keep up with all the material that comes into their offices already,'' Borst said. ``The last thing most producers and agents are looking to do is drop the entry barriers - they've traditionally liked having those walls up.'' Keith Goldberg, a story editor at Destination Films, said he's already checked out a few scripts online because of industry buzz about them and recently told a frustrated screenwriter in Boston that his best shot at getting read is to put the script online. Goldberg said he's looking into regularly skimming Skimming An electronic method of capturing a victim's personal information used by identity thieves. The skimmer is a small device that scans a credit card and stores the information contained in the magnetic strip. online script summaries for fresh ideas. ``It's pretty much one of the last places I would look - but at the same time I would look,'' Goldberg said. ``Once a week I'd spend half an hour or have an assistant go through and search for favorable fa·vor·a·ble adj. 1. Advantageous; helpful: favorable winds. 2. Encouraging; propitious: a favorable diagnosis. 3. coverage and read it because at that point it's already screened down two steps. It's people who are serious enough to pay to have it read and there's readers who say this is a good piece of writing.'' Concentrating on quality story craft is the one sure way to break through, said amateur scripter Javier Varon, 25, of Burbank. ``Have incredible stuff,'' Varon said. ``If you have 'American Beauty' on your desk it doesn't matter if it's the janitor who reads it. I honestly think writers should not think about anything but writing the best material they can. ``Contacts won't do you any good if you don't have the talent.'' THE FACTS Here is a sampling of the growing number of Internet sites offering to help writers create screenplays, market them or both: www.FilmTracker.com www.FromScript2Screen www.Hollywoodlitsales.com www.IFILM.com www.screenwritersutopia.com www.Scriptiverse.com www.Scriptwritersnetwork.com www.storybay.com www.StoryXchange.com www.Wordplayer.com www.WritersScriptNetwork.com CAPTION(S): 2 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) no caption (hands at computer keyboard with monitor) Charlotte Schmid Maybach/Special to the Daily News (2 -- color) no caption (Shirley Brooks Goodman) Eric Grigorian/Special to the Daily News Box: The facts (see text) |
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