The Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting

The deadline for postmark is tomorrow. Time to get it on the page, bound with brass and packed in a manuscript box.

Your wildest dreams may begin tomorrow. Good luck!

Protosevich on 'Poseidon' trip from Hollywoodreporter.com

Mark Protosevich has been hired to write "The Poseidon Adventure," the remake that Wolfgang Petersen's Radiant Pictures and reality TV impresario Mike Fleiss are producing for Warner Bros. Pictures. The original movie, released in 1972 by 20th Century Fox, told the story of a ragtag group of survivors trapped on a passenger ship after it is capsized by a monster wave. Produced by Irwin Allen, it was part of a cycle of big-budget disaster movies that proved popular in the 1970s.

Write Now by David Michael Wharton

"Mea culpa, I confess. As a writer, I have, on occasion, used the phrase 'His blood ran cold.' I know, it's a clich?d phrase, overused and robbed of most of its power. But now, that phrase crackles with renewed vigor, because for the first time in my life, I completely understand what it means."

What gets you to take a stab at that blank screen day in and day out?

Zach Braff tending 'Meadow' for Parker, TCF from Hollywoodreporter.com

The "Scrubs" star is teaming with his brother to adapt D. Burn's novel "Andrew Henry's Meadow" for 20th Century Fox. Braff and his brother, Adam Braff, will co-write the screenplay and serve as executive producers on the John Davis-produced project. "Meadow," for Hutch Parker's TCF division, is the story of a boy inventor who escapes suburbia to a beautiful meadow where he builds a child's utopia in the trees. There he becomes a reluctant hero who leads a band of fellow outcasts on a mission to awaken their families before it's too late.

From ComingSoon.net ...

Val Kilmer has joined the cast of Robert Towne's Ask the Dust, an adaptation of John Fante's Depression Era novel. Kilmer joins Colin Farrell, Salma Hayek, and Donald Sutherland in the film, written and to be directed by Towne.

Hayek will play the fiery Mexican beauty Camilla who hopes to rise above her station by marrying a wealthy American. That is complicated by meeting Arturo Bandini (Farrell), a first-generation Italian hoping to land a writing career and a blue-eyed blonde on his arm.

Principal photography on the drama, produced by Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner, starts on May 3.

Written and directed by Towne? I'd line up right now if I could get tickets!

USATODAY.com - A remake by any other name

Not only are 60s and 70s TV sitcoms the genesis for big screen stories so are 80s movies. Although this time there is more "borrowing" than remaking.

Don't be surprised if you get deja vu this summer. You just may have seen that movie before.

It's a Mac Mac Mac Mac World

In the movie industry, even the writers use Macs

Would that I could. Maybe when I get one of these specs exchanged for $300K against $750K I'll be able to afford one.

To flashback, or not to flashback?

FilmThreat Forums - Flashback scenes in Screenplays: a weakness?

Here's an interesting discussion about the validity of flashbacks and dream sequences. We all know that all screenwriting gurus and their books tell us to avoid them at all cost. But why?

I personally have never written a flashback or dream sequence. Which, of course, doesn't mean that I won't. As with anything else, it's a matter of execution. Non-traditional timelines can be very powerful story devices. Memento anyone?

The problem comes when these devices become crutches that allow the writer the easy way out of moving the story along. As with anything else in a screenplay, if it doesn't contribute to story or characterization, it probably shouldn't be there.

Hollywoodreporter.com | Cagan, MGM are 'Dance' partners

MGM has purchased Josh Cagan's spec "Gotta Dance" for $300,000 against $650,000. The story is described as a male version of "Flashdance," with an overweight construction worker who finds out that he is the long-lost son of the greatest ballet dancer in history. The sale is Cagan's second in as many weeks.

Hollywoodreporter.com | 'Passion of the Heist' spoof fuels Carr's career

While Mel Gibson will profit handsomely from "The Passion of the Christ," which is heading into Easter with about $331 million, he's not the only one who's glad he made the film.

IFP.org - Screenwriters Lab Deadline Extended to April 19th

IFP/Los Angeles is now accepting applications for the 2004 Screenwriters Lab, held in June and July in Los Angeles. In this seven-week program, participants meet twice weekly to discuss their script as well as to meet with film professionals who will advise them on both the craft and business of writing. The application deadline has been extended to Monday April 19th. All scripts must be received in the IFP/Los Angeles offices by 6:00 pm on this day.

New Line makes 'Honeymoon' plans from The Hollywood Reporter

New Line Cinema has paid mid-six against low-seven figures for "Honeymoon With Harry," an unpublished first novel by screenwriter Bart Baker. Mike Karz will produce through his Karz Entertainment banner. The novel concerns a recovering self-destructive womanizer who loses his iancee in a car accident two days before their wedding and ends up going on his honeymoon with the fiancee's father, who detests him, so they can scatter her ashes. The novel is described as a drama with extreme comedic elements. "It's rare that you read a book that grips you from page one," Karz said. "It's also rare that by page 100 you are equally laughing and crying. It became quickly clear to all of us who read Bart's book that there's a powerful story here that can attract an equally powerful director, writer and cast."

To (Re)Catch a Thief

CHUD - Hitchcock's Thief Caught Again

Paramount to redo Hitch's "To Catch a Thief" with "2 Fast 2 Furious" producer Neil Moritz. This is the a latest in a string of redoes for Paramount. Others include "The Manchurian Candidate", "The Stepford Wives", and "The Longest Yard."

So much for new ideas!

gimmicky.org :: watch this writer die

Timelock: if by April 1st, 2005--one year from the formal launch of this site--I don’t sell a book, script, ten short stories, get a play produced or get a decent job writing, I will commit Hari-Kiri live on the net. Sounds gimmicky, doesn’t it?

This is the daily one-year journal of that gimmick.

Welcome to gimmicky.org.

This should be interesting.

Attention comedy writers!

Find The Funny Comedy Screenplay Contest

With a take on Frank Costanza's "Festivus," they bill themselves as a festival for the rest of us and the only screenplay contest dedicated to comedy.

It's hard to say that winning this contest will do anything more than put another notch on your keyboard, but the $2,000 USD grand prize certainly wouldn't hurt. With (good) comedy being one of the easiest ways to break into the industry, you've got nothing to lose by entering Find the Funny.

Overview:

• Early deadline: October 31, 2004. Fee $40
• Final deadline: December, 31, 2004. Fee $50
• $5 discount per script for mulitple submissions
• Grand prize: $2,000
• Second place: $1,000
• Third place: $500
• 10 finalist get Screenplay title, log line and contact information posted on Find the Funny website

As always Screenwritingsource.com recommends that you enter any screenplay competition at your own risk. Most contests are legit, but there are those that are just money grabs for the organizers. We make no claims, positive or negative, against any of them.

Hollywoodreporter.com | Knowles on Par's 'Mars' adventure

In what must certainly be seen as a conflict of interest, Ain't It Cool's Harry Knowles has signed on as a producer of Paramount's upcoming "Princess of Mars." It is a retelling of Edgar Rice Burroughs "Martian Tales" and apparently has been a favorite of Knowles's for a number of years.

When asked about the potential conflict of interest, Knowles replied,

"This is not about me coming on board as a publicist for Paramount. While I have been in talks for this, I've had test screenings of their movies, not all of which have been good. The site does what the site does. What I do creatively is a separate thing."

This certainly isn't the first time that Harry has been accused of a conflict of interest, but it surely seems to be the most blatant.

Script Magazine | Query Letters: The Hard (But Useful) Truth

"Life isn't fair. Screenwriting is even less fair. John Scott Lewinski examines the difficult truths and unfair rules of the industry and suggests practial ways to beat the system."