Silver Spring International End-Of-Year Film Festival

If you follow this blog regularly, you know that a group of students in Maryland have been using my writing system to create their short films.

Well, I have the distinct pleasure of attending the Silver Spring International (Lights, Camera, Literacy!) End-Of-Year Film Festival.

If you're in the Silver Springs area and will be attending (info below), I hope you'll say 'hello.'

AFI Silver Theater
Monday, June 1st
9:00 - 11:00 a.m.


DIRECTIONS:

The AFI Silver Theatre is located at 8633 Colesville Road - at the intersection of Colesville Road and Georgia Avenue - in the heart of the new downtown Silver Spring.

By Car: The AFI Silver Theatre is less than two miles south of Beltway exit 30 (Colesville Road) and exit 31 (Georgia Avenue) . The theatre is also convenient to the Bethesda area via East- West Highway, and a short drive from downtown Washington via 16th Street, NW.

By Metro: The AFI Silver Theatre is located on Colesville Road, just two blocks north of Metro's Red Line station in Silver Spring.

By Ride-On Bus: The Silver Spring station is served by Ride-On routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 28.

By Metrobus: The Silver Spring station is served by Metrobus routes 70, 71, J5, F4, F6, JH1, J2, J3, J4, Q2, S2, S4, Y8, Z5.

PARKING:

NOW OPEN: The Wayne Avenue parking garage is now open with convenient and easy access to Downtown Silver Spring. The Wayne Avenue garage is located between Georgia Avenue and Fenton Street. The Wayne Avenue garage offers FREE PARKING after 6:00 p.m. On weekdays and all day on weekends.

Convenient parking is available to AFI patrons behind the Lee Building at the corner of Colesville Road and Georgia Avenue ($ 3.00 for the entire evening). The lot can be entered from either Georgia Avenue or Fenton Street. There are new parking garages on Wayne Ave and Ellsworth Drive that offer parking free after 6pm. In addition, parking is available at Gateway Plaza after 6:00pm (in front of the historic shopping center at the corner of Georgia and Colesville) . The AFI Silver is also within easy walking distance of several public parking decks. The closest is one-and-a-half blocks from the theatre at Colesville Road and Spring Street. The public garages offer free parking on week-ends and metered rates of 50¢ per hour weekdays.

The Town Square garage, located on the northeast corner of Ellsworth Drive and Fenton Street is also now open.

Cowrite Revisited

I'm happy to announce that I've been selected as Cowrite's Week 10 Pro.

"Let me first announce that the week 10 Pro (after Eric Friedman) will be author and NYU screenwriting professor, Marilyn Horowitz. We are excited to have Marilyn because from the start we had wanted to have a screenwriting professor from an esteemed university serve as a pro. In addition to authoring a few screenwriting books, Marilyn is both a graduate of and professor at NYU's Tisch School. We hope we have provided a nice cross section of pros for everyone. We have had two hugely successful Hollywood feature screenwriters in Andrea Berloff and Jesse Wigutow, two TV writers, producers and former successful Hollywood execs in Shintaro Shimosawa and Josh Schaer, two of the more popular screenplay consultants in Script Xpert and Michael Hague, an Emmy nominated and prolific comedy writer in Eric Friedman, an independent producer and director in Lorena David, a screenwriter and author of one of the most revered books on screenwriting ever written in David Trottier and now an award winning professor from an outstanding film school. A pretty varied and reputable group, we think. Joining them as the final pro will be...one of you!"

For more information about the contest, please visit:

http://www.cowritescript.com/index.php

Caleb's Door available at Amazon.com

Just a quick note to let you know that Caleb's Door, the film I produced, is now available for purchase at Amazon.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR COPY

How Would Your Character Escape?

FYI: If you find this tip helpful, please take a moment to complete the survey below.

Getting your audience to connect with your screenplay on a gut level should be the goal of the screenwriter, whether writing a violent action film or a comedy.

But when actually writing the screenplay, sometimes it's hard to know how your hero or heroine and villain would deal with a moment of extreme emotional stress. This is critical knowledge to have, and gaining it can be fun. Placing your hero or heroine and villain in tough situations that they – for emotional reasons – must physically escape, is an effective way to move your story forward and to create a more dynamic relationship between these key characters.

Recently, I watched a beloved film, Garden State, to prepare for a class on a new method for screenplay structure I've developed. In the film, the hero, Andrew Largeman (Zach Braff) returns to his family home in New Jersey to attend his mother's funeral, and after the service escapes on an old-fashioned motorcycle with a sidecar. As he drives off, moody rock in a melancholy key plays on the soundtrack, perfectly underscoring the emotional quality of the film. It's a moment we all have really felt - that we must flee the situation we're in.

As a viewer, I was moved by this moment in the film. It spoke to me and made me care passionately about what happened.

Good writing creates an immediate emotional connection with audiences, which keeps them watching until the story is done. I have taught writers to do this by putting themselves in the story before they write.

When doing the following exercise, I want to encourage all of you to write organically, from a place inside of you that is resonant, so that you actually feel what you are trying to communicate to others as you write it.

The exercise is to ask yourself what you would do to get away from an unbearable confrontation, then to consider what your main character's and your villain's escape method would be and what the soundtrack is. For example, in The Silence Of The Lambs, Hannibal Lecter is moved to another prison and kills the two guards, then escapes on a hospital gurney. The accompanying music is soothing, luminous Bach.

Exercise: Part 1

The first part of the exercise is to write a brief scene that drives your characters to that moment of crisis. For example, in Garden State, the scene that leads to the crisis and need to escape takes place in his father, Gideon's, home office after the funeral. The talk is civil, desultory until Gideon can't resist a vicious comment that makes Andrew turn and silently leave the room.

In the next scene, Andrew's very upset and enters the family garage. He rips the tarp off a hidden object as if he were completing a magic trick, revealing the old-fashioned motorcycle with a sidecar. He drives off in state of fury. Andrew's anger is what creates a powerful sequence that will keep us riveted to the screen because we are connected to his feelings.

Now try this for your main character by describing the action that leads to the moment of escape:

Exercise: Part 2

Now write about the specific method that would be used to escape.
Write how you would escape:
And the music that would be playing:


Now repeat the exercise for your hero or heroine. How would he or she escape: And the music that would be playing:

Now repeat the exercise for your villain:
How would he or she escape:
And the music that would be playing:

Good work! I hope you found this exercise useful and will make a habit of imagining situations using this exercise, as it will lead you to more effective screenwriting.

Remember: Don't Get It Right, Get It Written!

FREE Screenwriting Class TONIGHT!

I will be hosting a FREE screenwriting class discussing the film Garden State and The Four Magic Questions of Screenwriting at 9:15PM Eastern Time.

In addition to focusing on plot and character development, I also hope to touch on the techniques I use to power through the Act II and how to write your best ending.

I'm particularly excited to discuss Garden State tonight, as it's a perfect example of the "new dream" that I'm so passionate about.

The last 15-20 minutes of the class will be dedicated to questions from the participants. You can email them to me ahead of time here.

To access tonight's teleseminar:
Step 1 - On May 18th at 9:15PM Eastern Time call 218.936.7999
Step 2 - You will be asked to enter a 6-digit code. That code is 383302.

Favorite Son

My friend Howard Libov will be screening his film Favorite Son as part of the Hoboken Film Festival on May 31. Please take the time to support him, his film and the festival.

Convergence

My friends Thomas J. Kelly and Kate Corcoran teamed up last week for Tom's very entertaining comedy show Convergence.

Check out this clip of Kate discussing ReasonsWhyIDumpedYou.com

Writers Block

I just wanted to pass this on to my friends in the New York City area.

My good friend Steven Arvanites runs a very popular NYC Screenwriter group that regularly hosts very interesting workshops and classes open to all writers.

This Thursday (May 14th), his group will be presenting a seminar on the best ways to overcome writers block. I will not be participating in this class but it does sound interesting and I wanted you to be aware of it.

Information about the class and how to register can be found below, or you can just CLICK HERE.

Good luck and happy writing,

Marilyn Horowitz


WRITERS BLOCK

Every writer has suffered from it at some point of his or her career.


It's paralyzing. It's devastating. It wears not only on your creativity, but also on your everyday life, your sense of who you are, and your feeling of purpose in the world.


It can lead to depression, self destructive behavior, or even giving up the creative life you have worked so hard to build for yourself.


What if you didn't have to suffer anymore?


What if you could write any time you wanted to: confidently, passionately, and even joyfully?


What Kind of Writer Would You Be Then?


In this mind-opening workshop, Jacob Krueger will introduce you to the principles of hypnosis, and how you can begin to use them to overcome your own creative blocks. Jacob's hypnotically guided writing exercises, powerful self-hypnosis techniques, and unique approach to daily writing will help you harness the power of your subconscious mind, and awaken your inner writer.



CLICK HERE TO REGISTER


ABOUT JACOB KRUEGER
Over his years in the entertainment industry, Jacob Krueger has worked with hundreds of writers,actors, and other artists in pursuit of their artistic goals. Jacob's own writing includes the screenplay for "The Matthew Shepard Story," which won the Writers Guild of America Paul Selvin Award, earned Stockard Channing an Emmy for Best Actress, and was nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Screenplay. He is a critically acclaimed director, and a groundbreaking screenwriting teacher and creative coach. Jacob is certified through the American Board of Hypnotherapy.


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MAY 14th, Thursday Evening

7:00PM sharp

Ellington Room

400 west 43 street

MEMBER PRICE: $14.99

TO RSVP => CLICK HERE

A Passion for Fashion

My friend Sandra is having a fashion party in the harbor room on May 14th. Please try to support her!

Cowrite

Just passing along...

In association with Benderspink (A History of Violence, The Butterfly Effect), Cowrite is developing a community-created movie script. Every other week the best 10-15 page submission is added to the developing story until the script is finished and ready to be sold!

There are only 2 scriptwriting entries remaining in the Cowrite contest!! You can read (or listen to) the developing script at www.cowritescript.com

We are now accepting entries for the next 10-15 pages of the community-sourced screenplay.

STANDARD DEADLINE: 11:59 PM EDT, MAY 17TH 2009--$10
EXTENDED DEADLINE: 11:59 PM EDT, MAY 20TH 2009--$14

OVER $35,000 in cash and prizes
$3,000 in cash and prizes awarded to a writer every other week
Grand prize: one of the winners will be hired to do a paid rewrite
All winners will share in any script sale

Visit www.cowritescript.com to find out more about this truly innovative screenwriting contest.

Cowrite has been featured in The NY Daily News and Script Magazine's Newsletter and is sponsored by The Los Angeles Film Festival, iScript, and software companies Final Draft, Inc. and Jungle Software, all of which will supply prizes to each of the eleven winners.

Happy Mother's Day

We all have mentors who have influenced judgments and ideas we have about other people or things (spouse, boss, self, etc.). Since Mother’s Day is fast approaching let’s talk about our mothers, who are our first mentors.

I once took a seminar with the author Walter Mosely, and he said that when you are born, “Your mama is god.” When writing, it is always useful to use yourself as a benchmark for developing characters. Write a list of your mother’s best attributes. How do your feelings about your own mother influence your choices and shape how you feel about yourself? Once you have answered this question in your own life (and there will be different answers for different times in your life), identify your hero or heroine’s mother, and ask the same question of your character.

In North By Northwest, Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) has clearly spent his life trying to please his mother. This insight into the character makes us much more sympathetic to an arrogant advertising executive who seems to think only of himself. We can see that he takes after her in the sense that he believes in his own vision enough to do what’s necessary to survive.

In Back To The Future, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is negatively inspired by his mother’s bitterness and disappointment as to how her life turned out, and in some way this gives him the courage to become a man and change his own future. Here the gift is a seemingly negative one, which produces positive results.

Exercise:

Step 1
As your character, write a list of their mother’s good qualities in your character’s first person voice. For example my mother throws a great party.

Step 2
Ask the character in your voice, how do they define themselves in terms of their mothers? And then answer again in the character’s voice. For example, my mother throws a great party but I am horribly shy.

Answering this question for your villain or obstacle as well as your hero and heroine will create real depth and subtext.

As my mother used to say…

Hollywood Script Express

My good friend Dan Bronzite (of Movie Outline) alerted me to their interesting new service:

Hollywood Script Express!

According to Dan:

HSX is an online script submission service that allows you to upload your script for printing, binding and shipping to any destination... without leaving your desktop.

For full details, click here.

Free Stuff From Script Magazine

A little something from our friends at Script magazine:


http://www.scriptmag.com/giveaway/