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What FASCINATES YOU? –finale… Last sword in the horse.

Wow… You people REALLY came out of the woodwork on these discussions about screenplay competitions! These blog things are very interesting but hey, at least you’re listening.

I’m still receiving email… 60 plus and counting.

Hence, the reason for this post… I cannot possibly reply back to everyone and quite frankly… Some of your emails I’ve received seem just shy of a death threat… LOL.

And that’s okay because just to let you know… I don’t take any of it seriously.

My posts about FASCINATION has apparently become the in some of your lives. Good or bad… For that, I am grateful.

Somebody had to put it out there and for those of you (as Poke so elequently pointed out) artistes who found it necessary to lambast me about … I was purposely vague about mentioning specific contests.

The majority of you out there KNOW which contests are worthy of submissions so you don’t need me to research it for you and to be honest, I don’t have the time nor the inclination.

But please indulge me in one LAST observation about …

For years, wanting to break into the business, scream and yell about how hard it is to get a break. First of all, let’s face it. Most written by those trying to break in are worthy of little more respect than a fire log.

However, just as started springing up like wild fire within the last several years (due no doubt to the onslaught of ), we now have screenplay competitions sprouting up in very much the same manner. In fact, except for those handful of competitions, I would go so far as to say that the majority of film festivals and screenplay competitions are the filmmaker’s and screenwriter’s equivalent to COMFORT FOOD.

Except for the very exceptional few, screenplay competitions simply are not the end all to breaking in the business. What is however, the end all to breaking into the business is a FUCKING OUTSTANDING SCREENPLAY.

So let’s say you write that fucking outstanding screenplay and submit it to the BUMFUCK EGYPT Screenplay Competition where the judges are the local artistes (remember them?) working at a nearby university… Cool, right?

Let’s take it a step further and say that your fucking outstanding screenplay even has a high concept! Holy shit! You’re sure to win Bum Fuck’s contest!

Several month later however, the results come out on Bum Fuck’s web site and you search your ass off… Then you take a break. Then you go back and search again because they surely must have made a mistake, right?

YOUR NAME CANNOT BE FOUND.

Instead however, you read the logline of the WINNING …

“The story of a young misguided debutante who takes over the family’s worm farm.”

Now you’re wondering, “What the fuck do I do now? Do I go learn as much as I can about worm farming and write a better screenplay or do I quit?”

Okay, okay… That’s too extreme.

But you do think to yourself, “What the fuck, over?”

And therein lies my point… As you chomp down on that comfort food and submit your fucking outstanding screenplay and lose to the worm farm epic, some part of you has to wonder if you’re in the right business.

All I’m saying is, don’t take the bait… Hey, that’s kinda funny. Bait. Worm farms.

Anyway, it is my contention that by and large, many of these film festivals and screenplay competitions THINK or worse yet, PRONOUNCE they are helping to change the scope of and in .

Don’t believe it for a second.

If anything, many of them are perpetuating the myth that your worm farm epic is the kind of that puts asses in theater seats.

And maybe… Just maybe… If you can find the in the worm farm epic, there could be some truth to that but let’s face it… The simple TRUTH of the matter is that the ticket buying demographic would rather see than a worm farm epic.

Comfort food does not equal hard work, extensive knowledge of the craft, or high concept.

Write what FASCINATES YOU. Find the in your story and write it into your screenplay. Make that screenplay a fucking outstanding screenplay. Shop it around and WE WILL TAKE NOTICE.

Insert sword in horse and twist.

Unk

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Saturday: 29 July 2006|2220|Under Uncategorized

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5 Responses to “What FASCINATES YOU? –finale… Last sword in the horse.”

  1. wcdixon on Saturday: 29 July 2006|2259

    good stuff…moving on…

  2. The Moviequill on Sunday: 30 July 2006|0954

    how about animated Worm Farm, with the voices of De Niro, Harvey Fierstein, Fran Dresher and Meg/Jennifer Tilly as ‘the Twins’….

  3. Scribe LA on Sunday: 30 July 2006|1645

    Hey Unk,
    Love your blog. Thanks for the link. Great post.
    Scribe

  4. Poke on Sunday: 30 July 2006|1648

    Unk,

    I told you the logline of my secret worm farm script-in-progress in confidence! Thanks for outing my epic to the world.

    I like the metaphor of film fests and screenwriting comps as comfort food. Because there are so many of them out there now, it’s become more likely to have a Hollywood power player show up at your brother’s birthday party than at the tiny film fest/screenwriting comp in BFE. We’re just feeding ourselves with the idea that the comp we enter will be our big break — and if we keep it up, someone’s gonna have to bring a fork lift to get us out of our houses.

    Like you said, the experience is valuable, but as you so eloquently put it “…the end all to breaking into the business is a FUCKING OUTSTANDING SCREENPLAY.”

    Poke

    PS To all of you who sent “death threat” emails, why not post your thoughts here in the comments? I for one would love to see a good discussion break out because of dissenting views. As it seems now, all of us who agree respond openly, and all those who don’t send a private email.

  5. Dave on Monday: 31 July 2006|1235

    man, that’s pretty funny how many people were upset, but didn’t.

    I’ll tell my age with this, but when I first started screenwriting, there were about 10 or less contests. I think most of them are still around. They all offered good feedback and although you may not be “made” by winning, it was an honest break.

    Now there must be over 50 contests. By and large, they are money making ventures. You might get back some good comments and you could take a nice prize, but the simple truth is that many people who enter these contests are not semi-pro or amatuer, they are beginning screenwriters.

    They’re also probably not thinking of marketing or sales, they’re telling their own personal story, which is great. But nobody involved with a contest is ploking down $20 million on your script. I would think it’s more akin to the novel market.

    The best speech I’ve heard about this was actually in a small movie, “The Dying Gaul” by Craig Lucas (Prelude to a Kiss). He also wrote both plays. It’s about a gay screenwriter who writes this fantastic script, but the buyer wants to make the relationship heterosexual. It goes something like, “Nobody is going to see your movie. The vast majority of Americans hate gays. I don’t care if you case Tom Cruise in the lead, Steven Spielberg to direct and throw it on 400 screens. Nobody wants to see it.”

    And that’s the majority of small movies.

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