Tag: screenplays

SCENE WRITING CLASS & FUNDRAISER FOR LAURIE AND DENNIS

CSW is holding a scene writing class led by screenwriter, filmmaker and story analyst Jim Mercurio. The event is a fundraiser for Laurie Smith and Dennis Greene who lost everything in a Christmas Day fire. All proceeds go to them.

 
SCENE WRITING CLASS & FUNDRAISER FOR LAURIE AND DENNIS
Carnegie Screenwriters presents Advanced Scene Writing with Jim Mercurio. This event is a benefit for local filmmakers Laurie Smith Greene and Dennis Greene whose home in McKees Rocks was destroyed by a fire on Christmas Day. They lost everything in the fire and need our help. All proceeds from the event will go directly to Laurie and Dennis to help them rebuild their lives.
Laurie is a filmmaker who has worked on Carnegie Screenwriters projects with us including “Test 89” for the 48 Hour Film Project (she won Best Cinematography) and “Silent Tales” the documentary about the Richland Cemetery in Dravosburg. Jim Mercurio is an award-winning filmmaker and story analyst whose book The Craft of Scene Writing will be released later this year.
Advanced Scene Writing – Four-hour Class with Lecture, Clips and Discussion
DATE: Saturday, January 27
TIME: 11 AM – 4 PM (Lunch Provided)
LOCATION: The Wilkins School Community Center
7604 Charleston Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15218
https://wsccpgh.org/
PRICE: $25
There are a limited number of seats and we want to make accurate plans for lunch, so please sign up online. Walk-ins welcome, but pre-registration is preferred.
ABOUT THE CLASS
Don’t think of scene writing as a specialty or niche craft applicable for only storytellers of short-form narratives such as commercials, skits, sketches and shorts. It is for everyone who uses the principles of narrative in their work — editors, composers, songwriters, actors, directors, producers, novelists, and of course screenwriters — ALL STORYTELLERS.
Scene writing is storytelling in its purest form.
How can you masterfully “turn” a 100-page script if you can’t master the climactic “turn” of a 3-page story?
The nitty-gritty craft principles of scene writing helps writers succeed both creatively and professionally. This class focuses on craft, and craft usually takes care of much of the business side. Jack Nicholson says he won’t do a movie unless it has at least five amazing moments. The scenes in your script have to be as good as its structure. Structure alone does not lead to a great screenplay.
Regardless of the specific state of the industry, the spec market always favors a script that is ready to go and writers who can deliver a near-flawless, ready-to-shoot draft. It’s not enough to have only a cool concept. A polished script with bulletproof execution can skip the development process and allows producers or agents to submit it immediately to actors or directors — the linchpins of the packaging process — whose involvement can lead to a sale and production
Create more emotional scenes and hone your unique voice while giving your script the best chance to succeed in the competitive spec market.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
  • Working definition of a scene and its elements
  • The source and essence of surprise and organics reversals
  • The importance of climax and how to accentuate it
  • How to “break the rules” like Woody Allen, Quentin Tarantino and David Mamet do
  • New principles like “smashability,” extended beats and writing to concept
  • Rewriting strategies for your scenes
If you cannot afford the fee, contact Jim (jim (at) jamespmercurio.com), and we will make it work.
Updates will be posted on the Carnegie Screenwriters Facebook Page and via email.

Call for entries for 2nd annual CSW Script & Screen Festival

Carnegie Screenwriters will host our second annual short film and short screenplay festival in August of 2018 at the Tull Family Theater in Sewickley, Pa.

We are now open to submissions from members and non-members alike. We are looking for the best of the best to be shown and read at our 2 day event. We are open to all genres of films and screenplays that fall within our running time and page count guidelines. Screenplays can also be submitted to receive feedback from our readers. Scripts submitted into this category are automatically entered into the short screenplay contest, please do not submit the same script to both categories.

Winning screenplays will be performed at a seated reading during the opening reception event held on Saturday, August 25th. Winning writers will receive free admission to the opening reception event. All film winners receive live screening of their film on Sunday August 26th. Winning films will receive one free admission to the screening event.

  • Super Earlybird Deadline
  • Earlybird Deadline
  • Regular Deadline
  • Late Deadline
  • Extended Deadline
  • Last Chance Deadline
  • Notification Date
  • Event Date

Details at: https://filmfreeway.com/CarnegieScreenwritersScriptandScreenFestival

 

Call for entries for CSW Script and Screen Festival

Carnegie Screenwriters will host our second annual short film and short screenplay festival in August of 2018 at the Tull Family Theater in Sewickley, Pa.

We are now open to submissions from members and non-members alike. We are looking for the best of the best to be shown and read at our 2 day event. We are open to all genres of films and screenplays that fall within our running time and page count guidelines. Screenplays can also be submitted to receive feedback from our readers. Scripts submitted into this category are automatically entered into the short screenplay contest, please do not submit the same script to both categories.

Winning screenplays will be performed at a seated reading during the opening reception event held on Saturday, August 25th. Winning writers will receive free admission to the opening reception event. All film winners receive live screening of their film on Sunday August 26th. Winning films will receive one free admission to the screening event.

  • Super Earlybird Deadline
  • Earlybird Deadline
  • Regular Deadline
  • Late Deadline
  • Extended Deadline
  • Last Chance Deadline
  • Notification Date
  • Event Date

Details at: https://filmfreeway.com/CarnegieScreenwritersScriptandScreenFestival

 

CSW Script & Screen Festival Film Screenings

CSW Script & Screen Festival Film Screenings

Join us for our first Carnegie Screenwriters Script and Screen Festival.  This International festival will feature short films from the Pittsburgh and surrounding areas in addition to selections from across the globe.  This screening event will take place at the Tull Family Theater in Sewickley, PA on Sunday August 27, 2017.

Attendees will have access to the full day of short film screenings of our selected films.  Tickets will not be sold for individual films or blocks of films.  Films will run from 11AM until approximately 4:15PM at which time filmmakers in attendance will receive their Official Selection certificates.  Doors will open at 10AM.  Please arrive early as films will start promptly at 11AM

Come out and meet local filmmakers and support independent filmmaking around the world.

Films:
Being Frank
Benefits
Big Boy
Breakage
Coffee
I don’t like her
Ivan & Ivanka’s Spooky Movie
J.P.
Light Sight
Lightheaded
Limit
Love and Goodwill
Main Street
Masterpiece
Mic Drop!
My Grandpa’s Garage
Notas la diferencia
Panic Attack!
Power Play
Promenade
Screen:Righter
Slate, Please!
The Eliminadora
The Making of Bad Hurt
The Mundane Life of the Infurious David McMiller
They Always Come Back
War Stars
Woogie

 

CSW Script & Screen Festival Filmmaker Reception

CSW Script & Screen Festival Filmmaker Reception

Join us on Saturday, August 26th for our first Carnegie Script & Screen Festival filmmaker reception and seated reading.

We will have seated readings of our selected scripts read by local actors.  Scripts to be presented are:

“The Badge, the Gun, and the Hangman’s Noose” by Edward Santiago.

“Dig” by Robert Brian Taylor

&

“Hell to Pay: The Legend of Robert Johnson” by Giancarlo Fusi

Cocktail hour will begin at 6:00 PM with savory treats from Philomena’s  Catering.  Come out and meet the screenwriters and filmmakers whose works will be highlighted during our inaugural event.

Portions of the evening will be filmed for an upcoming episode of WQED’s Filmmakers Corner program to be aired as part of a special Carnegie Screenwriters Script & Screen Festival episode to be shown in the fall.

Hope to see you there!

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3056944

 

Carnegie Screenwriters Script and Screen Festival

Carnegie Screenwriters is hosting our first short film and short screenplay festival in August of 2017 at the Tull Family Theater in Sewickley, Pa. We are now open to submissions from members and non-members alike. We are looking for the best of the best to be shown and read at our 2 day event. We are open to all genres of films and screenplays that fall within our running time and page count guidelines. Screenplays can also be submitted to receive feedback from our readers. Scripts submitted into this category are automatically entered into the short screenplay contest, please do not submit the same script to both categories.

Winning screenplays will be performed at a seated reading during the opening reception event held on Saturday, August 26th. Winning writers will receive free admission to the opening reception event. All film winners receive live screening of their film on Sunday August 27th. Winning films will receive one free admission to the screening event.

If the submission is accepted into the festival, the entrant grants a non-exclusive, royalty free license for use for theater screening, and to publish excerpts in print or electronic media to promote the event in any and all media. The filmmaker must secure all rights and clearances. Foreign films must be submitted in English or with English subtitles.

Films should have been completed since January 2014 to present and be no longer than 20 mins.

Screenplay submissions must be in English and be 15 pages or fewer. Entrant(s) must hold the right to perform, reproduce, display and distribute their work to enter the competition. The work must not have been previously optioned, sold or produced.

Digital download of all films selected for the Official Selection must be received by August 1, 2017. Any materials submitted will not be returned. All fees are non-refundable.

The Carnegie Screenwriters Script and Screen Festival is not responsible for lost or damaged submissions.

 

 

Carnegie Screenwriters Script and Screen Festival proudly accepts entries via FilmFreeway.com, the world’s best online submission platform. FilmFreeway offers free HD online screeners, unlimited video storage, digital press kits, and more. Click to submit with FilmFreeway.

http://<a href=”https://filmfreeway.com/festivals/24159?utm_campaign=Submission+Button&utm_medium=External&utm_source=Submission+Button” target=”_blank” title=”Click to submit with FilmFreeway”><img src=”https://storage.googleapis.com/filmfreeway-assets/submission_buttons/submit_btn-tangerine.png” title=”Click to submit with FilmFreeway” width=”263″ height=”40″></a>

Do I Need Final Draft?

Do I need to purchase Final Draft? (or Movie Magic Screenwriter)

You do not need Final Draft to write your first screenplay. There’s no reason to spend the money unless and until you have a real need for something like Final Draft. Does it make writing and formatting a screenplay easier? Absolutely. Is it expensive and unnecessary to writing your first script? Also, absolutely.

Writers might try to tell you that you must use screenwriting software. Not exactly. What you must be able to create is a standard format script in Adobe’s Portable Document Format (PDF) for uploading to registry databases and sharing with other writers.

The reality is, plenty of great scripts were written on typewriters, and manual typewriters at that! I’ve written most of my scripts on yellow legal pads before typing the drafts into whatever software was at hand. I prefer Literature and Latte’s Scrivener for OS X as my primary planning and drafting tool, but I’ve used text editors and Word when those were my available options.

My choice of writing tools depends on my need to share files with other people. If you have colleagues using Final Draft or Movie Magic Screenwriter (or any other writing application) it is always easier to use the same tool collaborators are using.

If you do sell a script or work on a production, the standards are Final Draft and Screenwriter. There’s simply no way to avoid using one of these tools, or both of them, during a professional screenwriting career. Some smaller production companies now use Celtx, and even fewer use Adobe Story, but if you earn a living writing screenplays you’ll use the two big names in our industry.

I hope that every member of Carnegie Screenwriters, and aspiring screenwriter, ends up needing Final Draft or Screenwriter.