Movie Audiences Want More Imaginative Film-Making Source: MarketWatch #screenwriting #film #screenplay “Research Commissioned by Gin Brand Bombay Sapphire Reveals Audiences are Keen for More Original Screenplays and Less Technology A survey around modern film-making has revealed that 81 percent of the international film community believe mainstream audiences now have an appetite for more imaginative films, a trend that would seem supported by the surprise commercial success of ‘The Artist’ this year (named in the survey as the second most imaginative film people had ever seen). The research also revealed two-thirds of those surveyed feel there is a shortage of original screenplays hitting cinemas, with big film franchises being favored, and that 60 percent had a concern that too much emphasis on new technology could distract from the importance of imagination in overall film-making. Despite this, 3D adventure ‘Hugo’ (2011) came out on top when respondents were asked to name the most imaginative film they have ever seen, followed by 2012 Oscar winner, ‘The Artist’. Joanna Botwood, Bombay Sapphire, Global Brand Manager said: “Bombay Sapphire commissioned this research to spark the debate around imagination within the film industry and highlight some of the challenges that budding film-makers are facing. We believe imagination is the key ingredient in any creative endeavour and, as such, we are working to understand how we can support the film industry going forward.” BOMBAY SAPPHIRE®, the world’s number one premium gin by value for a second consecutive year[1],surveyed more than 3,000 members of the international film community, made up of industry voices and film enthusiasts on the state of imagination in modern film-making. *Research carried out through Screen International and EMPIRE international databases. 3,065 were surveyed between the 23 and 27 March 2012……”
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Movie Audiences Want More Imaginative Film-Making

Source: MarketWatch

#screenwriting #film #screenplay

“Research Commissioned by Gin Brand Bombay Sapphire Reveals Audiences are Keen for More Original Screenplays and Less Technology

A survey around modern film-making has revealed that 81 percent of the international film community believe mainstream audiences now have an appetite for more imaginative films, a trend that would seem supported by the surprise commercial success of ‘The Artist’ this year (named in the survey as the second most imaginative film people had ever seen).

The research also revealed two-thirds of those surveyed feel there is a shortage of original screenplays hitting cinemas, with big film franchises being favored, and that 60 percent had a concern that too much emphasis on new technology could distract from the importance of imagination in overall film-making.

Despite this, 3D adventure ‘Hugo’ (2011) came out on top when respondents were asked to name the most imaginative film they have ever seen, followed by 2012 Oscar winner, ‘The Artist’.

Joanna Botwood, Bombay Sapphire, Global Brand Manager said: “Bombay Sapphire commissioned this research to spark the debate around imagination within the film industry and highlight some of the challenges that budding film-makers are facing. We believe imagination is the key ingredient in any creative endeavour and, as such, we are working to understand how we can support the film industry going forward.”

BOMBAY SAPPHIRE®, the world’s number one premium gin by value for a second consecutive year[1],surveyed more than 3,000 members of the international film community, made up of industry voices and film enthusiasts on the state of imagination in modern film-making.

*Research carried out through Screen International and EMPIRE international databases. 3,065 were surveyed between the 23 and 27 March 2012……”

How to Survive Rejection Source: @psychtoday #screenwriting #film #screenplay “At some point early on in a Hollywood career—whether an actor, writer or director—a person has to come to terms with rejection. I ought to know. Prior to becoming a licensed psychotherapist, I spent 17 years as a screenwriter. Now, in addition to my private practice, I write novels and columns like this, so I certainly have a very clear view of rejection—I hate it. Occasionally I’ll read about some creative type who’s apparently so well-adjusted that he sees having his work rejected as just another event, one bead on a long string of similar beads; in other words, the rejection has no more (nor less) meaning than having his work accepted. I confess, I can only stand back and admire such creatures. And wonder what planet they come from. Because frankly, when I toiled in the screenwriting vineyards, I wanted people not only to accept what I wrote, but like it. A lot. Hell, I wanted them to love it. (Even while acknowledging the well-known truism that, at a certain level, they could never love it enough…) On the other hand, having my work rejected was cause for anguish of near-Biblical proportions—the familiar gnashing of teeth, rending of garments, etc. On one such occasion, a friend of mine looked at me and said, somewhat testily, “For God’s sake, don’t take it personally.” “How should I take it?” I replied. “Impersonally?” That, in a nutshell, is the paradox of rejection. It isn’t intended as personal, but it’s impossible not to experience it that way. Let me give you an example. Years ago, as part of the writing staff on a popular sitcom, I joined the producers in a casting session, auditioning actresses for a guest shot on the show. After seeing about a dozen young women read, we chose one. Later, on my way out of the building, I happened to overhear a couple of the others walking away, dejected…..”
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How to Survive Rejection

Source: @psychtoday

#screenwriting #film #screenplay

“At some point early on in a Hollywood career—whether an actor, writer or director—a person has to come to terms with rejection. I ought to know. Prior to becoming a licensed psychotherapist, I spent 17 years as a screenwriter. Now, in addition to my private practice, I write novels and columns like this, so I certainly have a very clear view of rejection—I hate it.

Occasionally I’ll read about some creative type who’s apparently so well-adjusted that he sees having his work rejected as just another event, one bead on a long string of similar beads; in other words, the rejection has no more (nor less) meaning than having his work accepted.

I confess, I can only stand back and admire such creatures. And wonder what planet they come from.

Because frankly, when I toiled in the screenwriting vineyards, I wanted people not only to accept what I wrote, but like it. A lot. Hell, I wanted them to love it. (Even while acknowledging the well-known truism that, at a certain level, they could never love it enough…)

On the other hand, having my work rejected was cause for anguish of near-Biblical proportions—the familiar gnashing of teeth, rending of garments, etc. On one such occasion, a friend of mine looked at me and said, somewhat testily, “For God’s sake, don’t take it personally.”

“How should I take it?” I replied. “Impersonally?”

That, in a nutshell, is the paradox of rejection. It isn’t intended as personal, but it’s impossible not to experience it that way.

Let me give you an example. Years ago, as part of the writing staff on a popular sitcom, I joined the producers in a casting session, auditioning actresses for a guest shot on the show. After seeing about a dozen young women read, we chose one. Later, on my way out of the building, I happened to overhear a couple of the others walking away, dejected…..”

The Tagline – It intrigues them! It hooks them! It draws them in! Source: Dominic Ambrose #screenwriting #film #screenplay “Marketing of a film is an important aspect of the film industry. One foolish mistake in the pitch to the public can mean millions of dollars in lost revenue. For this reason, certain marketing strategies which were once casually thrown together are now executed with military precision. Such is the case of the creation of a film’s taglines or catchphrases. These are sentences which are used in publicity to entice the passerby to come into the theater. Traditionally they were seen on diagonal bands pasted across a film’s poster, in plastic letters on the theater’s marquee or spoken (always by a male voice) in voiceover during a theater preview or trailer. They are snappy one liners that tease the public rather than inform. Perhaps the most famous one is “Be afraid. Be very afraid,” from the 1986 film, The Fly . They are not loglines – those are one or two sentence descriptions of the story that succinctly give the essence of the plot, setting or conflict. Loglines are important during the pitch of a script or during the sale of a film to distributors, whereas the tagline comes to the fore during the actual theater run. Writers and producers fret over loglines because they are so important in getting the support they need to make their films successful. Taglines, on the other hand, are the concern of the advertising and marketing staff. But both loglines and taglines have gone through a gradual transformation during the history of cinema, as writers have become more adept at finding the formulas that work. The New York Public Library currently has an exhibit at the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center called the Birth of Promotion, Inventing Film Publicity in the Silent Film Era. There are displays of movie posters, newspaper articles, lobby cards and publicity tie-ins of various types, with taglines in prominent display. In a handout made to look like an industry broadsheet there are some examples of taglines from the days of the silents. Looking at them you can get an idea of how much the craft has changed since those hit-or-miss early days of publicity. Some examples:……”
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The Tagline – It intrigues them! It hooks them! It draws them in!

Source: Dominic Ambrose

#screenwriting #film #screenplay

“Marketing of a film is an important aspect of the film industry. One foolish mistake in the pitch to the public can mean millions of dollars in lost revenue. For this reason, certain marketing strategies which were once casually thrown together are now executed with military precision. Such is the case of the creation of a film’s taglines or catchphrases. These are sentences which are used in publicity to entice the passerby to come into the theater. Traditionally they were seen on diagonal bands pasted across a film’s poster, in plastic letters on the theater’s marquee or spoken (always by a male voice) in voiceover during a theater preview or trailer. They are snappy one liners that tease the public rather than inform. Perhaps the most famous one is “Be afraid. Be very afraid,” from the 1986 film, The Fly . They are not loglines – those are one or two sentence descriptions of the story that succinctly give the essence of the plot, setting or conflict. Loglines are important during the pitch of a script or during the sale of a film to distributors, whereas the tagline comes to the fore during the actual theater run.

Writers and producers fret over loglines because they are so important in getting the support they need to make their films successful. Taglines, on the other hand, are the concern of the advertising and marketing staff. But both loglines and taglines have gone through a gradual transformation during the history of cinema, as writers have become more adept at finding the formulas that work. The New York Public Library currently has an exhibit at the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center called the Birth of Promotion, Inventing Film Publicity in the Silent Film Era. There are displays of movie posters, newspaper articles, lobby cards and publicity tie-ins of various types, with taglines in prominent display. In a handout made to look like an industry broadsheet there are some examples of taglines from the days of the silents. Looking at them you can get an idea of how much the craft has changed since those hit-or-miss early days of publicity. Some examples:……”

Hooks, Loglines, and Pitches: What Every Writer Needs to Know Source: @RuthHarrisBooks #screenwriting #writer #film “If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to start sending that masterpiece out into the marketplace, you’re going to run into words like “hook,” “logline,” and “pitch.” The terms come from the film industry, but they’re becoming standard in publishing as well. So what do they mean? Are they just sexy terms for a synopsis?  Not exactly. The distinctions often blur, but here are the basics: LOGLINE is a term that once applied only to screenplays, but has been creeping into the literary world. It consists of one or two sentences describing the story’s premise, like a film description inTV Guide: Here’s the basic formula for a logline: When______happens to_____, he/she must_____or face_____. “When Dorothy Gale gets tornadoed to Oz and accidentally squashes an unpopular head of state, she must find a wizard to help her get home to Kansas, or be killed by the ruler’s evil sister and some nasty flying monkeys.” A HOOK is longer—a paragraph or two giving the characters, premise, and conflict, like a book jacket cover blurb. (Skipping the cover blurb accolades. Self-praise doesn’t just sound narcissistic, it screams “clueless amateur.”) The hook should be the main component of a query letter to an agent, editor, or reviewer and is essential for your back copy or Amazon blurb…..”
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Hooks, Loglines, and Pitches: What Every Writer Needs to Know

Source: @RuthHarrisBooks

#screenwriting #writer #film

“If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to start sending that masterpiece out into the marketplace, you’re going to run into words like “hook,” “logline,” and “pitch.” The terms come from the film industry, but they’re becoming standard in publishing as well.


So what do they mean? Are they just sexy terms for a synopsis? 

Not exactly. The distinctions often blur, but here are the basics:

LOGLINE is a term that once applied only to screenplays, but has been creeping into the literary world. It consists of one or two sentences describing the story’s premise, like a film description inTV Guide:

Here’s the basic formula for a logline:

When______happens to_____, he/she must_____or face_____.

“When Dorothy Gale gets tornadoed to Oz and accidentally squashes an unpopular head of state, she must find a wizard to help her get home to Kansas, or be killed by the ruler’s evil sister and some nasty flying monkeys.”

A HOOK is longer—a paragraph or two giving the characters, premise, and conflict, like a book jacket cover blurb. (Skipping the cover blurb accolades. Self-praise doesn’t just sound narcissistic, it screams “clueless amateur.”)

The hook should be the main component of a query letter to an agent, editor, or reviewer and is essential for your back copy or Amazon blurb…..”
5 Useful Habits of a Beginning Screenwriter Source: @Raindance #screenwriting #film #screenplay “At birth we are encouraged by our parents and teachers to develop habits that will benefit us in life as well as discouraged from developing habits that will have adverse side effects.  Truth be told we do not have screenwriting parents to encourage or discourage habits while writing.  What we do have is our brains, one of the most flexible weapons in our arsenal…..”
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5 Useful Habits of a Beginning Screenwriter

Source: @Raindance

#screenwriting #film #screenplay

“At birth we are encouraged by our parents and teachers to develop habits that will benefit us in life as well as discouraged from developing habits that will have adverse side effects.  Truth be told we do not have screenwriting parents to encourage or discourage habits while writing.  What we do have is our brains, one of the most flexible weapons in our arsenal…..”