February 2012
34 posts
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From The Script Lab: 10 Great Film Exposition...
By Michael Schilf The Script Lab
Exposition is a necessary tool for the screenwriter and often one that is essential to understanding plot, character, setting, and/or theme because it provides an explanation of necessary background information to the audience. Every film has it, but not every film does it well.
When the presentation of the information comes out as a forced monologue, it is...
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From The Script Lab: Your Audience is Your...
By Michael Schilf The Script Lab
“The desire to be free as an artist is one of the most suicidal notions you can have.” — Robert McKee
But free from what exactly? Answer: Your audience.
Your audience is your everything, and if you’re completely “free,” you most likely are not making decisions with the audience in mind. The triangle (writer, subject, audience) is key in...
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WatchThis trailer for “Sawtooth”—a story about a group of kids who enter the woods in search of Bigfoot, but find something even bigger—just won $5,000 in our weekly Trailerfest competition! Inspired to make your own? Get more info about our next Trailerfest contest here.
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Podcast Exclusive: Lawrence Bender on a Producer's...
Lawrence Bender clearly recalls the moment that he knew he could succeed as a movie producer. And it wasn’t when he got his first movie (Intruder) made back in 1989. “I was just so proud, and happy. But then after, I realized that no one really cared,” he said. And soon, the struggling actor was back to work as a production assistant. “Believe me, I needed that P.A. job ‘cause I worked a year and...
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From The Script Lab: Love Hurts, But It's Worth It
By Michael Schilf The Script Lab
“Adrian!” One word. And you know the scene. Rocky Balboa, bloodied and broken, has just gone the distance with Apollo Creed, the Heavyweight Champion of the World. It’s a split decision. And even though Creed retains his belt, Rocky is the ultimate winner. He goes 15 rounds not just for himself and the people of Philadelphia. He does it for Adrian....
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New, From Amazon Studios: Hollywonk!
A wonk is someone obsessed with details. Which is how we feel about Hollywood. We are exactly the kind of *ahem* nerds who can talk for hours about what it takes to succeed as a screenwriter (hint: suppress your ego) or the challenges of reimagining iconic characters or the work of a producer, from the perspective of one of the best — Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction, An Inconvenient Truth, Good Will...
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WatchMatthew Gossett, winner of Amazon Studios’ $100,000 Best Script award, gets the good news from Amazon Studios director Roy Price on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
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Writer Wins Amazon Studios Best Script Award;...
Matthew Gossett considers himself a somewhat pessimistic person. So even though he believed his first feature screenplay, Origin of a Species, was strong, he didn’t expect much. He certainly didn’t expect it to win him the Amazon Studios Annual Award for Best Script. But this week, it did.
It’s a triumph he can celebrate with his new manager, Noah Rosen of Circle of Confusion, who discovered...
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WatchRob Gardner, winner of Amazon Studios’ $1 million Best Test Movie award, gets the good news from Amazon Studios director Roy Price on Feb. 7.
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Amazon Studios' Million-Dollar Winner: "I'm Still...
Rob Gardner knew that Amazon Studios would be awarding $1 million to the Best Test Movie of 2011. But as he spent the past year working on his project, 12 Princesses, he tried not to think about it.
“It was one of those things where I was like, ‘I have to just do this for myself.’ It’s a good opportunity, Amazon’s doing this thing, and I just gotta try,” he said. But as for winning, well, “I...
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Amazon Studios Announces Winners of $1.1 Million...
Congratulations to 12 Princesses and Origin of a Species, the projects selected today by a panel of top industry judges to receive Annual Awards totaling $1.1 million from Amazon Studios, the movie-development arm of Amazon.com.
“It has been an exciting year for Amazon Studios. We received projects from all over the world and have enjoyed collaborating with filmmakers and screenwriters to...
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Amazon Studios Annual Awards Update: Today's the...
Today, Amazon Studios will be announcing the winners of Best Test Movie and Best Script awards totaling $1.1 million. Today is also the day that our esteemed lineup of judges — Lawrence Bender (producer, Inglourious Basterds), Akiva Goldsman (writer, A Beautiful Mind), Trevor Groth (director of programming, Sundance Film Festival), Alexander Payne (writer/director The Descendants) and Courtenay...
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Annual Awards Finalist Spotlight: Marty Weiss...
On Feb. 7, Amazon Studios will select its Best Test Movie of 2011 from five finalists, including The Alchemist Agenda, written and directed by Marty Weiss. This week, we’re telling our finalists’ stories (see more here). Learn more about the Annual Awards — totaling $1.1 million — here.
In The Alchemist Agenda, a sunken German U-boat is discovered off the coast of New York, prompting a...
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Annual Awards Finalist Spotlight: Barrington...
On Feb. 7, Amazon Studios will select its Best Script of 2011 from five finalists, including Children of Others by Barrington Smith-Seetachitt. This week, we’re telling our finalists’ stories (see more here). Learn more about the Annual Awards — totaling $1.1 million — here.
Skylar has tried everything to overcome infertility — hormones, acupuncture, Chinese herbs. So after taking part in a...
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Annual Awards Finalist Spotlight: Francisco Ruiz...
On Feb. 7, Amazon Studios will select its Best Test Movie of 2011 from five finalists, including I Think My Facebook Friend is Dead, directed by Francisco Ruiz. This week, we’re telling our finalists’ stories (see more here). Learn more about the Annual Awards — totaling $1.1 million — here.
Can you love somebody you don’t really know? That’s the comedic premise behind I Think My Facebook Friend...
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Annual Awards Finalist Spotlight: Alexis Piza...
On Feb. 7, Amazon Studios will select its Best Script of 2011 from five finalists, including Animal Heads by Alexis Piza. This week, we’re telling our finalists’ stories (see more here). Learn more about the Annual Awards — totaling $1.1 million — here.
Leo is a 17-year-old pothead with dreams of escaping his boring, small-town existence in New Mexico and starting a BMX career in California. But...
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Annual Awards Finalist Spotlight: Zaki Rubenstein...
On Feb. 7, Amazon Studios will select its Best Test Movie of 2011 from five finalists, including Evolver, written by Zaki Rubenstein and directed by her husband, Andy Hurst. This week, we’re telling our finalists’ stories (see more here). Learn more about the Annual Awards — totaling $1.1 million — here.
Part machine. Part animal. All killer. “The Evolver” is an indestructible creature that can...
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Annual Awards Finalist Spotlight: Matthew Gossett...
On Feb. 7, Amazon Studios will select its Best Script of 2011 from five finalists, including Origin of a Species by Matthew Gossett. This week, we’re telling our finalists’ stories (see more here). Learn more about the Annual Awards — totaling $1.1 million — here.
In Origin of a Species, an ex-cop faces the greatest obstacle of his life after his three German Shepherds are infected with rabies...
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