Anatomy of a Distribution Deal

If I had a dollar for every poorly-written, ill-conceived and unfair distribution deal that came across my desk, I could easily produce films instead of just writing about producing them! Too often, filmmakers are dazzled by the numbers that may result from an exceptional commercialization and so eager to land a deal that they leave common sense on the cutting room floor.

For those of you who are shopping your film project, read about some keys terms with which you should familiarize yourself. Understanding the acceptable parameters will prevent you from accepting a ”bad” deal and improve the efficiency of your legal counsel.

READ MORE - http://indiefilmlaw.wordpress.com/2009/10/20/anatomy-of-a-distribution-deal/

SCREENWRITING: The Hero's Journey Monomyth

The Hero's Journey pattern (also known as the Monomyth) is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based.

Our detailed deconstruction of hundreds of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters has revealed more than 510 stages of the Hero's Journey that writers and filmmakers should know about...

READ MORE - http://www.clickok.co.uk/index4.html

© All Rights Reserved kal [AT] clickok.co.uk

It's High Noon in outer space...

A writer hoping to interest a decision maker in the film, television, or publishing industries in his story faces a formidable challenge.

The target of his pitch is an extraordinarily busy person and will likely only be able to give the writer fifteen minutes of his or her time, tops. This person's job also requires that they listen to a large number of story ideas that are inappropriate and sometimes flat-out bad.

The writer must be able to sum up the whole essence of his story in a painfully short summary. The ideal is to be able to convey the entire concept in one short sentence.

Probably the more famous example of this was the pitch for the 1981 movie OUTLAND: "It's High Noon in outer space."

High concept indeed --- take a classic Western that almost everyone knows the story of even if they've never seen the movie (forsaken by the craven, cowardly townspeople, the sheriff of a Wild West town must stand alone in a showdown against the bad guys) and recycle it as a science-fiction movie.

LEARN MORE - by Quizro - http://everything2.com/title/It%2527s%2520High%2520Noon%2520in%2520outer%2520space

All content copyright © original author unless stated otherwise.

FREE pre production software for Indie Filmmakers

Not only is the software FREE, but it's easy to use and great!

Integrated Media Pre-Production for: Film, Theater, AV, Audio, Comics

First, it correctly formats your screenplay into a professional standard (allowing you at the click of a button to create a .pdf format or a word format) and it allows you to format your screenplay for the theater.

In addition to helping you correctly format your work, it will upload and organize storyboards as well as create schedules and callsheets. I first started singing its praises and using CELTX two and a half years ago and the latest version of this great and easy-to-use program is better than ever. Iy's available for FREE as a download.

Throw away whatever you had to pay for; CELTX will also let you share your work with co-writers and/or collaborators over the Internet. Since I've had great results working with writing partners, I can't help but give this a solid two thumbs up.

Celtx is the world's first all-in-one media pre-production software. It has everything you need to take your story from concept to production. Celtx replaces 'paper, pen & binder' pre-production with a digital approach that's more complete, simpler to work with, and easier to share.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO AND TO DOWNLOAD THIS FREAT FREE PROGRAM - http://www.celtx.com/

3 Common Film Script Errors

The number one offender is: The film’s central idea isn’t good enough.

How can you know for certain if you’ve got a weak central idea for a film?

Actually, this is a simple question to answer. Ask yourself the following question, "Is there one visual image that sums up the movie, a great ten word tagline and a hundred words of text that can sell the story?"

You’d be amazed at how many people don’t even look at this issue until their film is in the can. Most people also have very weak sale’s pitches. If you can’t persuade someone to rent your movie based on a DVD cover image and a hundred words, then it stands to reasoon that your central film concept isn’t strong enough. To take it a step further, your cover image has to be strong enough to persuade someone to read the one hundred words.

READ MORE by Clive - http://www.1000dollarfilm.com/3-common-film-script-errors/news/2008/08/19/#more-376

Copyright © 2008, 1000 Dollar Film