The 2009 Big Break Contest is now accepting entries, but before you upload that script, have a look at these 5 Tips (and one grammar reminder) from ScriptXpert Reader and Script magazine Senior Writer Ray Morton: How Not To Annoy a Reader.

Morton’s classic “Meet the Reader” column offers 5 “don’ts” for aspiring writers, and advice on how to write around those “don’ts” to make your script a “do.”

To read the full-text version of Morton’s column,
Visit: http://www.scriptmag.com/craft/meet-the-reader-how-not-to-annoy-a-reader.html

Then make your way to Without a Box to upload your Big Break entry.

Big Break is an annual, global screenwriting contest designed to launch the careers of aspiring writers. Big Break rewards screenwriters with cash, prizes and A-list executive meetings. Winners and finalists alike have had their screenplays optioned and produced and have secured high-profile representation as well as lucrative writing deals.

Since its inception in 2000, Big Break has awarded screenwriters with over $200,000 in cash and prizes and invaluable industry exposure. A panel of notable industry professionals conducts the final judging.

You’ve studied your craft and written a great script. You’ve gotten coverage. You’ve edited every word. Now it’s time for your big break.

To enter today, for your big break
Visit: www.finaldraft.com/bigbreak

Meet your team of Final Draft version 8 developers, QA staff and me,
the Product Manager. From Left to Right – Top row: Cam, Wayne, Tony, Rob, Mirko. Bottom row: Steve, Kirsten, Russell

Our engineering and QA team has been hard at work for almost 2 and a half years getting Final Draft version 8 ready for prime time. It’s almost hard to imagine we’ve been on the path this long and, yes -- it has been a long time coming.

Even though we’re a small staff, I’m pleased to say that so far, the feedback we’ve received from our beta testers and product team members has been quite positive. In fact we just completed a survey with them in anticipation of the launch and, based on their feedback, we feel like what you will receive will be a solid piece of software that has been professionally tested by a number of people working today in film, television and theatre.

With the software release coming up later this year, here are a few tidbits of information for you to chew on while you wait …

Our focus in development has been in three main areas: The phases of writing, production features, and making the script accessible across many media.

The first focus, the phases of writing, took us through the ways that our customers write now and what the various things they’d like Final Draft to do that many “story development” tools do now. Look for these new tools to help you in that process:

1. A completely NEW Scene Navigator
2. A NEW Scene View
3. Improved Index Cards – printing and re-sorting
4. The ability to add Color and a Title to your scenes

Our second focus, production features, emphasized the rewrite process and ways to streamline the work involved for people sending revisions to set. A few enhancements you’ll see include:

1. Automatic page changes based on the revision color
2. All templates now include standard revision colors
3. Merging and unmerging locked pages is now easier
4. You can now issue revisions as PDF in addition to hard copy
5. Title pages now include their own numbering for Cast and Locations pages

Our third focus, accessibility, is all based on Final Draft’s new file format. We have changed to an XML-based file format that will work with a number of other software applications used by writers, producers and creators of all types of media. Basically, any application that needs to get the details of the script will be able to do so with ease.

• Story Development tools - Create your ideas in applications like Scrivener and Storyist and save .fdx files right from them to open directly in Final Draft
• Production tools – Look for the following products to read the new .fdx file format, with more information than these products used to read from Final Draft: ToonBoom’s StoryBoard Pro, EP Scheduling, Gorilla, and Media Services’ Showbiz Scheduling software
• Post Production tools – Look for Avid to read and write back to the file format for some of the tools they’re working on.

Buy Final Draft version 7 after February 1, 2009, and receive an upgrade to Final Draft version 8 for free!
To take advantage of this special offer,
Visit: www.finaldraft.com/freeupgrade

A Healthy Energy Solution for Creative People … Started by a Creative Person
 
Screenwriter Declan Daly became a writer by accident.
 
“When I first got out of college I took a temp job working for a finance company,” he recalls. “One day, we were talking about people we dated in college. I told my story, and someone had said that it should be a movie.” The idea appealed to Daly, so he started reading screenwriting books at lunch, and then working on the screenplay when he had down time in the afternoons. He was writing a romantic comedy, and “fell in love with writing” in the process.
 
“I love the rush when you randomly come up with ideas that move your story forward,” he says.
 
At the time, Daly worked across the street from the World Trade Center. After 9/11, he realized life was too short, and left his unfulfilling finance job and did some soul searching. “I wrote a screenplay that I am currently trying to produce myself about being single in New York City. I took a temp job with an ad agency, since I was around some creative people, then ended up then at a fragrance company working as a sales analyst.”
 
It was during the time of writing and working full-time that Daly came up with the idea for Foculate.
 
“A lot of writers I knew talked about how they were so mentally fatigued by the time they had a chance to write that they ended up writing garbage,” he explains. “A lot of them would take drastic measures to try to get into the zone, such as massive amounts of coffee, prescription drugs, or a smorgasbord of herbal supplements. It just left them jittery and even in a worse state. All the energy in the world isn't any good if it isn't focused.
 
“It's like trying to stab a cereal box with a spoon: all the force in the world won’t pierce it,” he elaborates. “But if you use a knife when attacking a cereal box, then it's focused and much more effective.”
 
Daly took the idea of finding a focused, comprehensive energy supplement, and talked to some venture capitalists. “We searched out the top experts in nutrition and health. We spoke to nutritionists, doctors, herbalists, you-name-it, to finally come up with the formula to create a focused energy, without the jitters, that increases blood flow to the brain so that you are at your top capability when need be. It also has a cumulative effect so that you are much sharper the more you take it.”
 
So, by becoming a writer by accident, Daly helped create something for those writers who fell into the field on purpose. And, as a writer, Daly knows what writers need. “A lot of writers block is stress and anxiety, so we added some herbal ingredients so you are in a much calmer state of mind,” Daly says. “And it also infuses you with energy and focus.

“My cousin's boyfriend in Ireland is a professional screenwriter,” Daly relays. “He had a deadline for a rewrite and had horrible writers block. I sent him over a bottle and he broke through the block and said it was his best draft that he could possibly imagine.”
 
For more information on Foculate,
Visit: www.foculatelabs.com

To read original, full-text articles about the art, craft, and business of screenwriting,
Visit: www.scriptmag.com/e-articles

WGA Awards, February 2009
Final Draft, Inc. and Script magazine attended the Writers Guild of America West Awards ceremony on February 7, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. This annual event celebrates outstanding achievement in writing for screen, television, radio, news, promotional, new media, and videogame writing. Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) hosted the West Coast show as a star-studded list of presenters appeared including Josh Brolin, Sarah Silverman, Steve Carell, Sandra Oh, Rob Reiner, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dennis Haysbert, and many more.

Final Draft, Inc. and Script magazine were fortunate enough to meet the winners in the press room as they made their way across the red carpet, post-acceptance speech.

To view our WGA photo gallery,
Visit: www.finaldraft.com/company/news-and-events/on-the-scene/20090207-wga-awards.php

Slumdog Millionaire Screening, January 2009
Final Draft, Inc. and Script magazine hosted an exclusive screening of the Academy Award®-nominated Slumdog Millionaire -- a remarkable film that follows a young man’s journey from the slums of Mumbai  to competing on a TV quiz show in order to find the love of his life. Written by Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire is proving to be one of this year’s best films. At this year’s Golden Globe® Awards, Slumdog Millionaire carried away Best Screenplay, Best Drama, Best Director and Best Original Score. BAFTA recently awarded it with Best Film, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Music, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, and Best Sound trophies. The film also racked up 10 Oscar® nominations, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay for Beaufoy.
The Harmony Gold Theater was filled to capacity as viewers enjoyed the informative Q & A session with Simon Beaufoy, led by Script magazine’s own Bob Verini. Special thanks to 42 West and FOX Searchlight for their participation in making this screening possible.

To view photos from the event,
Visit: www.finaldraft.com/company/news-and-events/on-the-scene/20090909-slumdog-screening.php

Festivals
Final Draft, Inc. supports a variety of film festivals, competitions and organizations that offer education, access and awards for the screenwriter. This winter, Final Draft, Inc. has supported the following:

The Student Screenplay Competition, February 2009
 Final Draft, Inc. is proud to be a part of The Student Screenplay Competition, sponsored by the Sally Picow Foundation. The competition offers a mentoring environment for its three high school finalists by providing them an opportunity to experience the working life of a professional screenwriter. Final Draft, Inc. provided scriptwriting software along with our ScriptXpert coverage service for the three finalists.

The first-place finalist also received a scholarship to the USC School of Cinema-Television’s Summer Program.

The Angelus Student Film Festival, September 2008
Final Draft, Inc. sponsored the 2008 Angelus Student Film Festival. Contest winners and finalists were gifted over $25,000 in cash prizes, as well as industry prizes such as Final Draft software. In addition, winning entries were screened on September 13, 2008 at the Directors Guild of America. In 2009, select winners traveled to the Sundance Film Festival and will join the Angelus team for international screenings in Prague.

The 2008 winners are:
On the Line, Reto Caffi – grand-prize winner
Small Change, Anne McGrath
In the Name of the Son, Harun Mehmedinovic
Deface, John Arlotto
As We Forgive, Laura Waters Hinson
Sebastian’s Voodoo, Joaquin Baldwin
The Replacement Child, Justin Lerner

12th Annual Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, Sept. 2008
Final Draft, Inc. proudly sponsored the 12th Annual Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) on Sept. 19, 2008 at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, CA. The red carpet, star-studded event included appearances by Lifetime Achievement Award 2008 recipient Gustavo Santaolalla, Antonio Banderas, Francesco Quinn, and other celebrity guests, along with community leaders and entertainment industry experts.
In addition to special screenings of feature films, the festival announced and celebrated the numerous winners of the competition, including A Day’s Work by Rajeev Dassani for Best Short, The Promise of Music by Enrique Sanchez Lansch for Best Documentary, Desierto Sur by Shawn Garry for Best Opera Prima, and Paraiso Travel by Simon Brand for Best Feature.

Final Draft, Inc.’s On the Scene gallery Web pages are updated regularly to reflect recent events and company-sponsored contests.

To view On the Scene,
Visit: www.finaldraft.com/company/news-and-events/on-the-scene

Final Draft Inc.’s Writers on the Verge page showcases trailers from up and coming filmmakers whose work was written with Final Draft software. Our Writers On the Verge web page is updated regularly to highlight recent submissions. Here are two recent postings:

Still Me
Beth McElhenny's Still Me has won several awards including Best Short Film, Audience Award at the Big Bear Film Festival. Meeting the AMPAS's qualifications, Still Me was submitted for consideration of an Oscar® nomination for the 81st Academy Awards® in 2009. American Cinematographer highlighted the post-production work on Still Me in its January 2009 issue.

To view the Still Me trailer,
Visit: www.finaldraft.com/writers-resources/writers-on-the-verge.php

Deface
John Arlotto’s Deface has played in over 30 film festivals and has won several awards including Best Narrative Short at the Austin Film Festival which qualified Deface for Oscar consideration for Best Live Action Short Film of 2008. Recently the South Korean National Assembly requested Deface screen before a committee on North Korean human rights issues.

To view the Deface trailer,
Visit: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW2vW75mClI

Final Draft, Inc. on YouTube
You can see more films we recommend at our YouTube page. If you have an award-winning film you have directed or produced that was written with Final Draft software, submit your trailer for feature consideration on Writers On the Verge by becoming a Friend and Subscriber to our YouTube page, then sending us a message:
Visit: www.youtube.com/user/finaldraftsoftware