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Final Draft Newsletter
 
Volume 7, Number 4   -  July 29, 2008
Final Draft, Inc.'s
Global Voices Supports
Chica Luna Productions
1. Final Draft, Inc.’s Take A Meeting Executive Profile
2. Save $50 off ScriptXpert Coverage Service
3. Script magazine/Ask the Pros Bundle Offer
4. Final Draft, Inc. is Coming to the U. K.
5. Join us Across the Web!
6. Final Draft, Inc.'s Global Voices
7. On the Scene: Transforming Stories @ Highland Farm
8. Writers Marketplace
 
   
 
1. Final Draft, Inc.’s Take A Meeting Executive Profile
     
  You want to be a screenwriter. If only you had the opportunity to get that script into the hands of someone who can make your dream a reality. At Final Draft’s upcoming Take A Meeting event, Jewerl Ross—longtime literary manager and founder of Silent R Management—could very well be that someone. Jewerl sat down with Script to give aspiring screenwriters the inside track on good writing, bad ideas, and conducting oneself as a professional screenwriter.

Script magazine’s interview with Jewerl Ross of Silent R Management informs Take A Meeting participants about what this attending executive may be hoping to find.		  
     
 
Who Will Sell Your Script?: A Sit-down with Jewerl Ross
Reporting by Robert Piluso of Script magazine
 
SCRIPT: You made the jump from being an agent to being a literary manager. What are the differences?
   
JEWERL ROSS: In many ways, agents and managers all do the same thing. Basically, an agent and a manager send scripts to people and ask those people to read them, to try to sell the scripts, and get [their clients] jobs writing movies.
   
SCRIPT: What are some good ways for a pitching writer to make a good first impression?
   
JEWERL ROSS: I’m the kind of manager who’s less focused on ideas and more focused on writing. There are thousands of good ideas out there, but there are far, far fewer people who can execute great ideas, who can make an idea come alive on the page, who can write a comedy that’s laugh-out-loud funny, who can write a horror movie that scares you, who can write a thriller that has enough surprises that it will keep you guessing. I have relationships with a few people in town who spend a lot of time peddling ideas, and I feel like their ideas are worthless unless the person can write them. Although I want to hear good ideas, I’m really more of a writing person.
 
There are a lot of people who will only go out and try to sell scripts with big ideas; scripts that are high-concept, that are commercial, where people can wrap their heads around them in one sentence. I, on the other hand, will often try to sell scripts that are bad ideas, scripts that are low-concept, scripts that are uncommercial, but if the writing’s good, that’s more important to me. I can send a great piece of writing to a hundred people, set 50 meetings, and have people call me and tell me I have great taste, just because the writing’s good; they don’t care if the idea’s bad. There’s this underlying prejudice among high-minded development people in Hollywood that a great idea is not going to be well-executed. It’s a fine line between trying to have something that’s commercial but also trying to have a screenplay on the page that’s going to get people excited about you as a screenwriter.  
   
SCRIPT: How important is screenplay format?
   
JEWERL ROSS: A screenplay that is in a great format can often be written with incomplete sentences: things you would never find in a classically written novel, but it’s clean and crisp and clear. If I open a screenplay where it’s in a font or point-size that’s unfamiliar to me, and I feel the writer’s trying to cram too many or not enough words on a page, I don’t even read it, I’m onto the next thing.
   
SCRIPT: Do you have any pet-peeves with regard to writing and to writers?
   
JEWERL ROSS: I’m a guy with a lot of pet peeves. (laughing) In terms of writing on the page: too much stage directions, writing like you’re a director, giving me too much information. If a person goes to read The Sixth Sense, one of the best screenplays ever written, [M. Night Shyamalan] does a great job of conveying every single emotion in that movie, every single beat, but you look at the page and it is almost white. That is what real screenwriting is all about.
 
Pet peeves in terms of screenwriter personalities: lack of trust…people who are lazy…and people who are overly aggressive. I have often not pursued a client because he or she was too aggressive with me; that’s regardless of the quality of the material. If a person’s going to be needy and he or she is not even a client yet, I’m not going to want to sign him or her as a client. My best clients, my most talented clients, my clients who make me the most money, are the ones who are not the neediest.
   
SCRIPT: What do you expect from your clients?
   
JEWERL ROSS: Always be writing. If you’re not writing on assignment, I want you putting out at least two scripts a year - hopefully three. The biggest rule for me is to always be writing.
 
     
  To meet with Silent R Management and other companies represented at the 2008 Take A Meeting event, Visit: www.finaldraft.com/takeameeting  
   
 

Early Bird Registration Special:
BUY 2, GET 1 FREE still applies for the Take A Meeting, NY event Nov 7-8, 2008!*
*offer expires 8/31/08

Get your career rolling with a productive 15-minute meeting. Final Draft, Inc.'s Take A Meeting events (Los Angeles and New York) offer more professionalism and more time to build relationships, present your project, and get your screenwriting career rolling. Don’t miss your chance to meet with and get advice from Benderspink, Circle of Confusion, High Concept Management, Industry Entertainment, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment, Practical Pictures, Silent R Management, Silver Pictures/Dark Castle, Tapestry Films, The Gersh Agency, Underground Films and Management, and many more!

In addition to bringing top executives to the table, some Final Draft favorites will be onsite facilitating educational sessions about writing and marketing your screenplay. Seminar lecturers include Pilar Alessandra, Syd Field, William C. Martell, Ken Rotcop, and Blake Snyder. Plus morning break-out sessions with CineStory industry mentors.

"The Take A Meeting program was a great opportunity. I was able to hear some interesting movie ideas and meet some undiscovered talent ... This is a great way for those without access to entertainment professionals to be heard."
—Michael Glassman, Outlaw Films

To register today for the Los Angeles or New York events,
Visit: www.finaldraft.com/takeameeting		  
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2. Save $50 off ScriptXpert Coverage Service
     
 

Save $50 off any ScriptXpert coverage package with our
Stay Cool Summer Discount Offer*!
Enter or mention code SSX88 when ordering to receive this special discount.
*Offer expires August 31, 2008.

With the ScriptXpert service, you receive a detailed, authentic report, just like the coverage producers receive from their readers, PLUS our industry readers offer suggestions on how to improve your script before you put it on the market.

This service offers Basic Coverage, Extended Coverage, Formatting Check, Grammar Check, Logline, Prepared Synopsis plus, Treatment Coverage and Live Phone Consultations.

And for those who have received ScriptXpert coverage before, submit your revision for more feedback and get a 15% discount on all coverage services. 		 
     
 
It's Working for Doug...
Doug Berger submitted his script, Running in a Whirlpool, to Final Draft, Inc.’s ScriptXpert service. He then gave Script magazine permission to have one scene critiqued by writers/mentors Bill Kelly (Enchanted, Premonition) and Michael Seitzman (North Country, Here on Earth) for the Scene Fix article that appears in the publication. For some great scriptwriting pointers, download the PDF of Script magazine’s July/August Scene Fix article at:
www.finaldraft.com/mm_media/mm_newsletters/080730/vol14no4-scenefix.pdf
 
     
  Get your professional coverage today!
Visit: www.finaldraft.com/products-and-services/scriptxpert 		 
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3. Script magazine / Ask the Pros Bundle Offer
     
  Script offers substance, style, inside information, news, trends, and authoritative advice on how to write and sell a script in today's market. Each bi-monthly issue delivers informative articles on writing, developing and marketing screenplays and television scripts.

“A perfect combination of newsworthy entertainment and spot-on advice to the creative community, Script magazine is always at the top of my pile.”
-—William Lowery, Underground Films

 Subscribe now and with your paid order,
get a complimentary copy of:
Ask the Pros: Screenwriting: 101 Questions Answered by Industry Professionals

Offer valid until August 31, 2008, or while supplies last.
To take advantage of the Script magazine/Ask the Pros bundle,
Visit: www.finaldraft.com/specials and use special discount code: APBS8 		 
   
   
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4. Final Draft is Coming to the U. K.
     
  This September, Final Draft, Inc. will be in the U. K., and on September 13th at 5pm. Scott McMenamin, VP of Sales will appear at the Apple Store on Regent Street in London. Scott will demonstrate how Final Draft professional scriptwriting software helps writers get their stories onto the page quickly and easily. For our more advanced users, Scott will demo some tips and tricks as well as answer any burning questions our users may have.

Come by to learn more about Final Draft or simply to say cheerio!

For Apple Store, Regent Street information,
Visit: www.apple.com/uk/retail/regentstreet		  
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5. Join Final Draft and Script Across the Web
     
  Join Final Draft on the Web
Keep up to speed on new features, upgrades, special offers, and events on your favorite social network. Visit the following sites to request an add, view demos and videos from Final Draft users, and network with other writers:		  
   
MySpace: www.myspace.com/FinalDraftSoftware
Storylink: www.storylink.com/profile/finaldraft
Facebook: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1116122174
YouTube: www.youtube.com/FinalDraftSoftware
 
   
Join Script on the Web
If you want to know what's coming in the next issue of Script, have a comment about the current issue, or simply want to network with other Script readers, you can join us on the Web. Visit the following sites and request an add right now:		  
   
MySpace: www.myspace.com/scriptmag
Storylink: www.storylink.com/profile/scriptmag
Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Script_Mag/1023264648 
 
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6. Final Draft, Inc.'s Global Voices
     
  Final Draft, Inc. created the Global Voices initiative to connect with organizations and projects working to better their communities. We work with educators and leaders of community organizations, whose sole purpose is to use digital storytelling to increase overall literacy rates, improve literacy among English language learners, strengthen emotional intelligence, and build tolerance and understanding.

Organization Spotlight: Chica Luna’s F-Word
Chica Luna Productions is a nonprofit organization located in East Harlem that seeks to develop and support women of color who use popular media to engage social justice themes and are accountable to their communities.

The F-Word: Media Justice Film/Video Lab is a multimedia justice project for young women of color, 18 years of age and over. The objective of the program is to build the next cadre of socially conscious media makers by recruiting a number of young women of color of diverse racial, economic and linguistic backgrounds, to cultivate their perspectives as media activists. The F-Word participants take part in weekly workshops for 18 months on media literacy, filmmaking, developing advocacy skills and working toward self-healing through the creation of short films.

Some of the films completed feature topics on depression, police brutality, cross-gender identification, discrimination and surviving incest.

This year, Final Draft Inc.’s Global Voices project will be supporting The F-Word by donating copies of Final Draft software to its participants. Additionally, each participant will have an opportunity to meet with an executive of their choice at the New York Take A Meeting event Nov. 7-8, 2008.

To read about The F-Word,
Visit: www.chicaluna.com/fword.php

For more information on Global Voices,
Visit: www.finaldraft.com/company/outreach		  
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7. On the Scene: Transforming Stories @ Highland Farm
     
  sevenEcho and Script Partner to Explore Interactive Storytelling
Will the new technology of interactive, personalized and socially networked media on the Internet affect the storytelling process? In May 2008, this question was discussed at "Transforming Stories @ Highland Farm," a daylong symposium on storytelling in today's era of online entertainment. Held at the historic former home of renowned storyteller Oscar Hammerstein II, a panel of esteemed media professionals and scholars gathered to explore this timely issue and its relevance to emerging storytelling formats. Topics included: the narrative's basic tenets and their application across film, online entertainment, television and theater; the role of audience engagement in interactive and socially networked stories and the audience's expectations as new forms of storytelling arise. Panel sessions were moderated by Tony®, Grammy®, Peabody and Emmy® Award-winning producer Murray Horwitz (Ain't Misbehavin, The Great Gatsby).

Soon the entire seminar will premiere online in a series of interactive episodic shows, courtesy of Script and sevenEcho, the leading platform company for interactive, personalized and socially networked entertainment. "Transforming Stories @ Highland Farm" was produced using sevenEcho's Personal Interactive Episodic (PIE) Audience Delivery Platform, an online technology that allows audiences to personalize and interact with Internet media content as well as socially network with other viewers within a show. David J. Russek, CEO of sevenEcho explains, "We developed PIE for storytellers. The PIE platform enables writers and producers to create this next phase of Internet programming both easily and cost effectively. The [Highland Farm] series provides a forum for stretching the thinking behind…such storytelling."

The series debuts later this year on Script's website Scriptmag.com and at sevenEcho's site.

For more information on sevenEcho,
Visit: www.sevenecho.com 		 
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8. Writers Marketplace
     
  The following are messages from our sponsors:

StoryLink's Pitch Your Story Contest
StoryLink's Pitch Your Story Contest provides screenwriters with a pipeline to Industry Professionals with the power to put scripts into production. Launched in 2006, StoryLink is the leading networking and educational destination for professional and aspiring writers. Besides fostering the exchange of ideas and information, StoryLink also actively strives to be the channel through which writers and filmmakers connect to the Industry. The deadline to enter Pitch Your Story is August 31, 2008. Finalists will be announced early September 2008, with the Grand Prize Winner awarded early September 2008. Noted Industry Executives will choose the Finalists, with the Grand Prize Winner being selected by a major production company from the pool of finalists; Prizes include industry meetings, script coaching, software and more. For more information,
Visit: www.storylink.com/pitchcontest

2009 Slamdance Film Festival Call for Entries
The 15th Annual Slamdance Film Festival will be held January 15-23, 2009. The Slamdance Film Festival is dedicated to new filmmakers. We accept films in every genre, on any topic from every country around the world. Our mission is to bring attention to the most talented emerging filmmakers, showcasing their work in the media frenzy of festival week in Park City, Utah. The early postmark deadline is August 25th and final deadlines for all 2009 film submissions is October 10th. Slamdance 2009 films will be selected by the festival programmers. All film selections will be posted on our website during the second week of December. See you in Park City! For more information,
Visit: www.slamdance.com/festival/submissions.html

The Southampton Screenwriting Conference: The Art of the Screenplay
Join Us! Spots Still Open! July 30th - August 3rd. Opening night speaker will be Kenneth Lonergan, after a screening of his Oscar®-nominated film, You Can Count On Me. On Friday, August 1st, Robert Benton will discuss his films and on Saturday we will have a retrospective of the films of Alan Pakula, hosted by Molly Haskell. Morning workshops will be led by professional, working screenwriters with a broad offering of afternoon electives/panels (or a relaxing afternoon at the beach). The five-day residential Conference will inform, inspire, challenge, and further participants’ understanding of the art of the screenplay and the individual writing process. Our unique program of workshops, seminars, panel presentations, and screenings will encourage and motivate attendees under the professional guidance of accomplished screenwriters, educators, and script analysts.We look forward to seeing you in the Hamptons this summer! For more information,
Visit: www.stonybrook.edu/writers

Aaron Mendelsohn Script Consulting
Don't "fade in" to your screenwriting career...smash cut to it! Go beyond script analysis, get expert career consultation from a working Hollywood screenwriter. Aaron graduated from UCLA with a degree in Screenwriting in 1988. He has been working as a professional screenwriter in Hollywood for over 13 years. He made his feature film debut by co-writing the Disney family film Air Bud, which went on to become one of the most successful independently financed films of all time and has, to date, sired five sequels. Aaron's consulting services include script development from concept to final draft, expert script, character and scene analysis, and career guidance and strategic planning. Consulting services take place via phone or, for Los Angeles residents, in person. Rates are competitive and availability is limited. Mention Final Draft and receive a 20% discount! For more information,
Visit: www.aaronmendelsohn.com

Vancouver Film School Writing for Film & Television
In Vancouver Film School’s one-year Writing for Film & Television program, you will learn the screenwriter’s role in the film industry by writing, workshopping, and collaborating on a variety of storytelling forms, including feature screenplays, short film scripts, episodic TV scripts and pilots, sketch comedy, documentaries, and your own produced short film. Through our many productions during the year, you’ll also learn to write to deadlines, to work alone and as part of a writing team, and to rewrite effectively. To ensure you’re truly prepared to begin your screenwriting career, we teach you how to pitch and market your work. You’ll graduate armed with a portfolio of writing and the knowledge of how to get it made. To learn more,
Visit: www.vfs.com/screenwriter		  
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