Good Reading

I get really inspired by reading articles or books about other writers, and to that effect, I want to do a plug for Dennis Brown's Shoptalk. I actually found this book five years ago, for sale on a sidewalk just outside of Harvard in Cambridge, Mass. - yet only started to read it recently. I couldn't put it down. It consists of interviews with playwrights/screenwriters, a producer - and Tennessee Williams' mother.

Brown has a true gift for drawing out writers of all personality types and getting them to talk about both the process of writing and the ups and downs of their careers. Granted, the book is mostly devoted to writing for the theater (and, since the book was published in the '90s, it's a theater from several decades back) - but most of the playwrights have also written for the screen in their careers; the two writing tracks do a lot of overlapping. Finally, even though the business world in the book is from a few decades ago, the insight into the writing process remains timeless.

At any rate, I just finished reading the book this morning, and definitely recommend it to all writers. It has greatly inspired me to write, write, and write some more. Now that my film course is almost at an end (we're now into film editing, with just two weeks of class to go!) I'm re-entering a very devoted writing phase, and am planning to churn out multiple scripts in the next few months. Who knows? Thanks to Shoptalk, one of those scripts may even be for the stage.

Someone Else's Shoot

Just wanted to give a quick shout-out to another major educational force this past week, which has been helping out on the film shoot of one of my classmates. My own shoot was an invaluable experience, since it forced me to plunge head-first into finally having to manage the images on the camera and the direction. But this past weekend, I served as an extra pair of hands on a classmate’s shoot, and found that, without the pressure of being the director, I was able to gain more valuable (and calm) experience operating the boom microphone, the camera, and the lights. Since he was filming at the DFA, there were no restrictions on lights and sound like I had at Grand Central, so there was more room to experiment.

After this past week of filming, I feel way more comfortable with the camera. I know more about its functions (particularly color-correcting a scene when the white balance doesn’t quite do it), how to hold the camera to achieve certain shots, and how to set up the sound. I’m really looking forward to my next shoot, which will likely be in April. I have two short scripts ready to go, and both are set in locations that allow more control over the set-up.

If you’re interested in learning filmmaking, the best advice is to jump right in and start! That’s really the only way to start to understand how it works. Shoot me an email if you’d have an interest in helping out on one of mine: nomfaproject@gmail.com.

Auditions and My Shoot

A lot has happened in the last three weeks! For starters, I was in India for 10 days getting married for the second time to the same man. (It was an absolutely incredible experience.) Also, I selected my actors for my short film, held rehearsals (on either side of the India trip) and then, today, had my film shoot.

Overall, I don't think the short film is going to be all that spectacular when completed. I'm sure that's bad for me to say, but I'm being realistic - it was my first film shoot, and I have a lot to learn. I'm taking this particular shoot as just a major learning experience, so that I can move onto my next shoot with more confidence and better organization.

To give you a brief overview of everything, the auditions were great. Having invited about 16 actors and actresses, I had a final turnout of 11, which I was told was good. This surprised me, since I envisioned New York actors to be somewhat desperate for parts and auditions. What I learned is that serious actors often have so many auditions lined up in a day, in addition to a 'day job,' that some auditions may go by the wayside - and I'm sure auditions for unpaid student films would be more likely to get cut from their schedule than others.

Overall, the talent was good. Yes, I had one goofy moment where I realized one actor, who forgot what he was auditioning for, had actually applied to audition twice, using two different names and two different headshots in order to get two timeslots - but for the most part, everyone was professional and enthusiastic. I taped the auditions, to review later, but pretty much knew who my picks were by the end of the day.

My rehearsals felt awkward to say the least. Again, as a first-time director, I was a bit unsure of myself, which I think hurt things. The first rehearsal, a basic read-through just a few hours before my flight to India, in order to give some emotional notes, was fine. But once I returned from India, the rehearsals unraveled. Jet-lagged and frazzled with two days before my shoot, I think my instructions were unclear. To add to my angst, my actress, though super-talented, was reluctant to rehearse fully and wanted to save her juice for the actual shoot. Being a bit unsure of myself, I didn't know what to say to coax her into a more thorough rehearsal, which would have put my mind at ease. She said to trust her, and I did - and it actually all worked out because, at today's shoot, she was brilliant.

I barely slept last night due to my nerves over the shoot, and struggled to come up with a clear shot list. Of course, once the camera's set up at a certain angle, it's best to shoot all the necessary dialogue from that angle - even if it means jumping around in the script. (For instance, one camera set-up was the same on page 2 as on page 5, and it would have been good just to film both those pieces together.) While I tried to plan for this in my shot list, it didn't really pan out, and we basically wound up doing the entire script in order, which I'm sure wasted some time and energy.

Happily, though, we completed everything involving the actors today, even though I'd also scheduled for tomorrow. Now, all I need to worry about tomorrow is getting some basic shots around Grand Central to include in the film. This is a huge relief, since I'd worried about going over-schedule. Instead, I'm a day early.

Now, exhaustion is completely taking over, and I'm getting ready to crash. I'm proud of my actors and my crew, which consisted of two of my classmates and an assistant from the DFA, and think we probably all pulled together the best footage we could under the circumstances. My next adventures are going to come in post-production, when I try to correct for both the horrible light and sound in Grand Central - hopefully with decent results!

Screenwriters World Conference = Best Thing Ever

In a word: awesome. This was completely worth the time and the money, and I strongly recommend anyone with an interest in screenwriting do something like this ASAP.

The day started with the pitch fest. Of course, there was a snowstorm, so a few execs were late or had to cancel, but the turnout was still good. The way it was set up was that each company (management companies, production companies, and agencies) had a line in the main room. You waited in line for who you wanted to see. When you got into the meeting room, you had 90 seconds to pitch your script idea, and then they had three and a half minutes to respond. Then, it was back to the waiting room.

The pitch fest part of the day was four hours long and, given the lines, people were lucky if they averaged one meeting per hour. Some companies, particularly Pearl Street Productions, had super-long lines, so if you waited for them, chances were you only had two or three meetings within the four hours.

I was thrilled to fit in four meetings: two production companies (World Film Services and Gigantic Pictures) and two management companies (WV Management and One Entertainment). I started with the production companies, then figured it was a smarter bet to go for management companies, since with them, I could build a long-term relationship, rather than just hope to have one script picked up. My meetings went very well: out of four, three of them asked to read my scripts, which, given what I heard from other writers, was very promising. (The fourth company, a production company, took my one-sheet and said they’d be in touch if they were interested in reading the first ten pages.) In addition to the thrill of being in front of executives with my writing, it was also good to get feedback on my pitching, since I really had no idea what to expect. Overall, the feedback was good, and I’ll do another post soon that goes into more depth on how to pitch.

One thing I was incredibly grateful for was that I had prepared to pitch more than one script. Originally, I had only planned to pitch the horror script that I wrote last spring. At the last minute, though, I also brushed up on my pitch for a dramatic script I wrote a few years ago. Thank God I did, because WAY more companies were interested in drama than horror, even if they claimed to be interested in all genres. That surprised me, given that horror is way more commercial. Two companies didn’t want to hear about horror at all, but they both took copies of my dramatic script. Only one company was excited about the horror, and stressed that it would be seriously considered.

In the afternoon, there were seminars and panel discussions. I learned the difference between agents and managers (there’s a lot more hand-holding with managers, who help get your scripts, queries, treatments, and pitches into ideal shape, in addition to helping get the material placed, vs. agents, who really just go straight for the deal and don’t have as much of a personal relationship with their clients). I was also happy to hear that, in this digital age, all writers should put together websites to upload short films that they scripted – which is what I’m working on with my filmmaking class! Finally, I picked up other valuable info on getting work as a writer, made connections with other writers, and feel greatly encouraged to take the big step of actually going out to L.A. for the Great American Pitchfest, which offers some incredible opportunities.

All in all, money well spent, and I strongly recommend this to all screenwriters!

Screenwriters World Conference and Other Adventures

I feel like things are now really rolling, my friends. I said a long time ago that I wanted to do a pitch fest as a part of my No MFA Project… well, it’s happening on Jan. 21^st. I’ll be attending the Screenwriter’s World Conference in NYC.

Half of the day will be spent pitching my script to agents and producers. Each meeting is 5 minutes total – with the first 90 seconds for my pitch, the remaining 3 and a half minutes for their feedback. In a worse case scenario, they give advice on how to improve the pitch. Pitching isn’t my strong suit, so it’s advice that will be very welcome. In a best case scenario, writers may find representation or even option their scripts.

The other half of the day is spent sitting in on seminars on topics like finding an agent, selling your script, etc.

It is a little pricey - $299 – but for this kind of thing, that really isn’t so bad. The education gained off of even making failed pitches would be, I think, worth it. Besides, even with another $299 added to my current No MFA bill, I’m still $96,700 better off than I would have been getting my dramatic writing MFA at Tisch.

Check out the conference if you’re interested. Maybe I’ll see you there. ;)

http://www.writersstore.com/screenwriters-world-conference

Also, to add to the excitement of finally moving into the script-pitching stage of things, I learned about Specbank today. If TV commercial scripts are your thing, this is a completely free website for writers to upload their scripts. The site is a resource for directors looking for scripts to shoot to help grow their reel. While they grow their reel, you can grow your writing resume.

www.specbank.com

Final update of the day, I’m holding my auditions for my short film at the DFA tomorrow. I have 16 actors and actresses scheduled from 2 to 7. Sure to be an exhausting but amazing day!

And one more note to actors....

Now that I've just finished going through all my applications (finally coming in at about 300) I have one more note to add - put your resumes into the body of the email if possible! Opening attachments sucks up time and some attachments don't always open. (For example, I have an older version of word, so a .doc opens, but the newer .docx does not. Since I don't have time to email all the .docxs senders and ask them to resend as a doc or pdf, they just get cut out of the running by default.)

Out of about 300 applications, I wound up with 42 in my "Group A," best of the best file.... Now to trim that number down to somewhere between 10-20.

A Note to Actors!

Not being an actor myself, the rumors about how difficult it is have always been just that: rumors. Now having posted an actual casting call, both to craigslist and on the professional industry site Mandy.com, I see just what it is actors are up against.

I posted my casting call about a week ago. I have received approximately 250 interested applicants. That’s 250 people vying for 2 roles – in an unpaid student film! And many of them have incredibly impressive experience.

I’ve begun the arduous task of sorting through all these hopefuls, and figured that I should share some of what I’m figuring out about what makes an actor’s request for an audition great. This is not just for those of you looking to cast your own projects in the future, but also for the benefit of all you actors out there, so that you may better “apply” yourselves, so to speak.

1. This is obvious, but reply to the actual casting call that was posted. I don’t just mean hit reply and apply for the job – but actually reply to what you see in the post. I’m looking for dramatic actors in their 20s who are non-union, and am surprised to have received several applications from dancers (who only write about their dancing experience), folks way beyond their 20s, and stand-up comedians. Also, actors who are in unions. It’s a pain in the butt for me, and a waste of their time to apply. The moral: only apply for what actually fits you.
2. Along those same lines, I’m more drawn to people who have submitted a photo or reel that show the same emotion I’m looking for in my character. For instance, my female character, Jenna, is pretty but insecure, longing for approval. I was more likely to move applicants with somewhat shy expressions on their headshots into my “Audition” file. The moral: as actors, it’s a good idea to have a few headshots, showing different emotions, available, so you can submit the best one for the job at hand. I gave character descriptions on my post.
3. Reels! I loved anyone who sent a reel since I could just watch and get a sense of whether or not they’d work in my project without even really needing to look at anything else. It’s way harder to judge someone from a headshot and resume. The moral: put together a reel!
4. Resumes. Just to give you an idea how I read these: first, I quickly scan to see if you’ve acted for any company that is “known.” Unpaid student film notwithstanding, I still got actors who had worked for NBC, CBS, Discover Channel, and more. If there was nothing like that, then I looked to see if they at least worked for real companies, as opposed to only working in high school plays. The company didn’t need to be famous – I’m sure a lot of these ‘production companies’ are little film school operations, like me – but it still looks better than school plays (unless it’s a famous acting school or you’re earning an advanced acting degree). Finally, what roles were they given? I searched for plays I was familiar with to judge what they’d done. The moral: highlight any impressive companies you worked for. If you can, leave the high school plays off, since they’re not impressive. (Listing good acting schools is ok.) If worse comes to worse and you don’t have any experience with legit companies, put together a reel so we can see you’re not a flake.
5. Write me something! I don’t want anything huge, because it would be a pain to read it all – but a few lines, at least, preferably about why my project interests you. I was waaaaay less likely to be interested in anyone who emailed me a resume and headshot alone, leaving the body of the email blank. The moral: write a personal message pertaining to the project.

There are my thoughts on applying for acting jobs, although I might come up with more as I continue this process. I’m back to sorting through my many applicants (and in the time it took to write this post, I got 5 more.) Hopefully by next week, I’ll be ready to call in my top picks – I’m aiming to pick just 20 to audition out of 250 and counting.

Happy auditioning!