Los Angeles Or Bust » Industry

L.A. Trip – Day 6

Aadip — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:07:55 +0000

Put in four hours at the WGA
Library with my new buddy, Javier, at the helm. Read
through that pilot, four scripts, and another pilot. Good times.
Ready to get home and write.

Got back to the pad and took a short nap.

Long Time No Bloggy

Aadip — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:28:59 +0000

As many of you know we’ve been positively slammed over at the ol’ NWSG. Planning
for our spring/summer program has been exhausting, but extremely rewarding.
I’m learning the art and science of delegation instead of taking on too much.
Damn Virgos, always overextending ourselves.

We just hosted the Way of Story Workshop with
Catherine Ann Jones. What a wonderful event! 15 writers showed
up and tackled their inner fears, wrote from the perspective of their heroes,
and many other timed writing exercises that stretched our brains and our
hearts. I was tired but invigorated by the workshop and Catherine’s obvious
mastery of story. We’re considering bringing her back to do an Acting for
Writers Workshop.

She strongly suggested we all read "Respect
for Acting" by Uta Hagen.

I picked up a copy and can already see the benefit
of learning how real actors will approach possible roles that we write for
them.

On Wednesaday, I was invited by Lacey Leavitt of IFP to speak on behalf of
the Guild at the SIFF Screenwriters Salon at 911 Media
Arts. I accompanied Geoff Miller (co-founder of NWSG back in the day)
and his writing partner/former student, Troy Hunter. We had a grand time,
often derailing all serious conversation by creating elegantly hideous pitches
together. We covered
topics like loglines, elevator pitches, meeting preparation, what to pitch,
research, crafting your pitch, Screenwriting Expo, etc. We were told
that this was the most entertainment Screenwriters Salon so far, which is high
praise. I
hope everybody enjoyed themselves. We even got some members
out of it!

Next up is Marilyn Atlas in about two weeks. I’ll be interviewing
her on Friday, May 2nd (Clear Channel), and then she’ll be conducting a two-part
workshop on Saturday (NWFF). Sunday, she’ll be taking pitches from Compendium
Members (Sorrento Hotel), so get your scripts in. This is not to be missed.
Not only does Marilyn love writers, but she wants to spend a lot of time gettting
to know our members individually. So there will be several opportunities to
network with her and make a personal connection.

What else, oh yeah we’re in the hot and heavy of screenwriting
competition season.
Here are some upcoming deadlines:

Apr 22 – Scriptapalooza
April 30 (late) PAGE Int’l
May 1 (regular) /May 8 (late) – WA State Screenplay Competition
May 1 – Script PIMP
May 1 – Nicholl Fellowship
May 1 – Sundance Institute
May 15 (normal) / June 1 (late) / – Austin Film Festival

Strike II (con’td)

Aadip — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:05:04 +0000

Many of you have asked, so I wil answer on behalf of the NWSG. Of course
we are in full support of our fellow writers who are merely asking to be paid
for the work they do. Some believe that because we’re
in the creative field, we’re supposed to bow down to those who let us create
and maybe pay us. Without the writer’s idea, there would be no films or TV
shows.

All that web content has to be written by someone, and they should be
compensated for that and all future delivery/viewing formats. We
also support the writers’ desire for a an equalization of download and DVD
royalty rates. According to Variety, "The AMPTP still insists on no jurisdiction
for most of new media writing; no economic proposal for the part of new media
writing that would be covered; Internet downloads at the DVD rate; no residual
for streaming video of theatrical product; and a "promotional" proposal
that allows re-use of movies and TV shows on any platform with no residual;
and a "window” of
free reuse on the Internet."

Chris Soth has been mobilizing and educating non-WGA writers by putting them in touch with Strike Captains on weekly strike calls.

See attached Strike Rules.

Thanks for being on the call tonight. And for your support
of the WGA in this troubled time. LOTS of you have emailed
me with your intentions to join picket lines and otherwise
support the cause. My inbox is flooded and I’ll try to send
along a few snippets of thanks and insight from those of you
that were kind enough to write, and a few highlights of what
our guest had to say about the strike.

The list of struck companies
at wga.org.

The online petition supporting the WGA

Sponsor of next week’s call is the Great American Pitchfest

Thanks for being on the call and supporting the cause.

In fact —

Thanks "A Million",

Chris Soth
MillionDollarScreenwriting.com
HollywoodByPhone.com

11730 Washington Blvd. #25
Los Angeles CA 90066

E-mail from past NWSG guest, Steve Barr (with permission).

As many of you know, my union (the Writers Guild of America) has gone out
on strike, for the first time in 20 years. This link is
to a short YouTube video that explains why we’re taking this drastic step.

After studying and working hard for the last 10 years, I finally got my "big
break" in April of this year … and almost immediately I’m volunteering
NOT to work. I could be destroying my career just as it gets started, but I
have to join this fight. This is because I think this negotiation is the most
important contract negotiation of my generation. If we allow the studios to
cut us out of the internet, we have no future.

If you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them. Please pass this on
to anyone who wants to know why those darn greedy writers are so eager to put
the whole entertainment industry out of work.

If you’re frustrated with the endless reruns or bad scab-written TV shows
and movies you’ll be seeing soon, please don’t blame the writers. All we want
is a fair deal.

Take care,

Steve Barr

barr@socalfilm.com

Strike

Aadip — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:00:22 +0000

Hey guys, this just in from Variety.
As we know, the TV season is what will suffer most because of a strike. Too bad
many of the new fall shows and several returning shows have not really held up.
There is almost nothing to watch, although Big Bang Theory, Pushing Daisies,
and Bionic Woman seem like strong additions to the prime-time lineup.

Have a safe and happy Halloween. Looking for a scary movie, I suggest the remake of The Hills of Eyes 1 and its sequel.
The graphic novel prequel is also very cool.

I’ve heard from a few Expo-goers. It sounds like we have names of some prospective
speakers, and NWSGs cripts have gone out to companies as a result of pitch
meetings. Good luck!

WGA Strike Vote Approved (90%)

Aadip — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 22:53:23 +0000

Hi Everyone. I know there’s one question that’s keeping many of us up at night, "Is there going to be a WGA strike?"

We can only guess what is going to happen, but the WGA writers came out in droves and voted 90% for the strike authorization vote (SAV). According to several of our Hollywood sources, the strike is supposed to start on November 1st, and could last as long as eight months.

Usually during a strike, all production ceases, no properties (scripts) get optioned, the TV season can be significantly delayed, and all the writers who were already working with WGA signatories will crank out their “if only I had more time” pieces. Those of us who are trying to break in will be up against these guys and gals when the strike ends.

How do we get around this? Well, we really can’t. I just encourage everybody to enter the screenplay competitions, write as much as we can, refine our structure, hone our pitches, and hibernate. The good news is that maybe writers will get treated better if many of the WGA demands are ratified.

Check out the following sites for daily updates on the strike:
The Artful Writer
WGA West
Variety