Posted on 9/30/2011 at 5:10:08 PM
I is for Intellectual Property. Intellectual property is the stuff we, the writers, produce. It is also the stuff that movie directors and producers treat as their own as soon as they get their greedy little hands on it. I’ve been approached so many times by directors/producers who want to make a film, have no idea what to make a film about so they want an idea from me. As a writer, like all of you are, you’ll understand that ideas are meat and drink to me. That’s what gets me up in the morning. So they want ideas? I have more than enough ideas to keep me going for the next fifty years.
I therefore give them my ideas in the form of a script and within minutes it’s become “their” film. Most directors/producers barely remember my name once they have the script. In fact, one director from hell actually removed my name from the script entirely as he went into the shoot and put a large “Adapted By A-Hole” title on the front of it. All he’d done was little more than adding a comma to one sentence! Did I mention at the start of this blog that I am as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore? Well, that’s still true.
Another director and I talked for a bit about the story I’d given her – remember she had NOTHING before I came along – and we decided after a conversation on the phone that I would add a small sub-plot. The idea came about after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing between us and resonated strongly with something I was going through personally. So I took it and wrote a sub-plot into the script. Of course it was a matter of seconds before she came back to tell me that the script should read “Written by Me and Herself.” Dammit, she already had the director credit as well as the producer credit and hadn’t actually touched the script in any way at all. I refused to add her as a writer because writers, well, write. I gave her a “Script Editor” credit instead.
So the question I want to ask you is this: why do writers have to fight so bloody hard to be given the rightful credit due to them? It’s unheard of in any other part of the industry and, remember, they would have NOTHING to work on if it wasn’t for your script. Somehow, the egos in the film industry are enormous, and the higher up the hierarchy you go, the less credit you give to anyone else around you.
In case I haven’t made myself clear, your simple little script is the foundation on which all their egos are built. The Actors would look rather silly without your lines. The Director couldn’t throw his/her weight around without your script. And the Producers couldn’t drive snappy little sports cars if it wasn’t for your words. This is what I mean when I talk about Intellectual Property. Just because everyone can write an email, people in the film industry more than any other, underestimate the amount of skill it takes to put written words into the right order. Also an idea from a gifted writer is just that: a gift, an inspiration. It is not an email. A director who is not a writer would NEVER come up with the same idea as you have. A producer, unless he or she is also a writer, wouldn’t be able to write the same script you have written. Not in a million years.
So here’s my advice. When I heard that the A-Hole director mentioned above had taken my script and put his own name on it after removing mine, I became very good friends with a lawyer. I then sent a very sweet and “feminine” letter (see Pushy Women above) to the director and the producer asking them to clarify for my lawyer’s sake exactly what my credit on the film would be as it was my script alone which green-lit the film. I cc-ed the lawyer and told the Dirs/Prods that this was just a formality and wasn’t meant in bad faith at all. After all, I wasn’t trying to be confrontational at all… ( I got my credit in the end. It wasn’t where it should have been according to filmic conventions but hey, after the blood bath of the long production which had heads rolling throughout its torturous shooting schedule, I’ll take it.
So, in case you didn’t get it the first time: You own the INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY to your film. It is your legal right. Without it, the film would not exist.
Get a lawyer, read Joe Eszterhas’s book The Devil’s Guide to Hollywood to man up, even if you are a woman. And get TOUGH. After all, writers have rights too.
And here is a quote from the book mentioned above. Elia Kazan, who ended up directing his own work as well as writing it, said: “Writing, in case you don’t know it, is much harder than directing films. It may be the reason why I, perverse I, do it.”
South African writers must no longer be soft about owning their own work.
Next week: S is for SALARY.
“Hollywood is a showman’s paradise. But showmen make nothing; they exploit what someone else has made. The publisher and the play producer are showmen too; but they exploit what is already made. The showmen of Hollywood control the making – and thereby degrade it. For the basic art of motion pictures is the screenplay; it is fundamental, without it there is nothing. Everything derives from the screenplay, and most of that which derives is an applied skill which, however adept, is artistically not in the same class with the creation of a screenplay. But in Hollywood the screenplay in written by a salaried writer under the supervision of a producer – that is to say, by an employee without power or decision over the uses of his own craft, without ownership of it, and, however extravagantly paid, almost without honor for it.” Raymond Chandler http://www.openculture.com/2011/07/raymond_chandler_theres_no_art_of_the_screenplay_in_hollywood.html
I is for Intellectual Property. Intellectual property is the stuff we, the writers, produce. It is also the stuff that movie directors and producers treat as their own as soon as they get their greedy little hands on it. I’ve been approached so many times by directors/producers who want to make a film, have no idea what to make a film about so they want an idea from me. As a writer, like all of you are, you’ll understand that ideas are meat and drink to me. That’s what gets me up in the morning. So they want ideas? I have more than enough ideas to keep me going for the next fifty years.
I therefore give them my ideas in the form of a script and within minutes it’s become “their” film. Most directors/producers barely remember my name once they have the script. In fact, one director from hell actually removed my name from the script entirely as he went into the shoot and put a large “Adapted By A-Hole” title on the front of it. All he’d done was little more than adding a comma to one sentence! Did I mention at the start of this blog that I am as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore? Well, that’s still true.
Another director and I talked for a bit about the story I’d given her – remember she had NOTHING before I came along – and we decided after a conversation on the phone that I would add a small sub-plot. The idea came about after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing between us and resonated strongly with something I was going through personally. So I took it and wrote a sub-plot into the script. Of course it was a matter of seconds before she came back to tell me that the script should read “Written by Me and Herself.” Dammit, she already had the director credit as well as the producer credit and hadn’t actually touched the script in any way at all. I refused to add her as a writer because writers, well, write. I gave her a “Script Editor” credit instead.
So the question I want to ask you is this: why do writers have to fight so bloody hard to be given the rightful credit due to them? It’s unheard of in any other part of the industry and, remember, they would have NOTHING to work on if it wasn’t for your script. Somehow, the egos in the film industry are enormous, and the higher up the hierarchy you go, the less credit you give to anyone else around you.
In case I haven’t made myself clear, your simple little script is the foundation on which all their egos are built. The Actors would look rather silly without your lines. The Director couldn’t throw his/her weight around without your script. And the Producers couldn’t drive snappy little sports cars if it wasn’t for your words. This is what I mean when I talk about Intellectual Property. Just because everyone can write an email, people in the film industry more than any other, underestimate the amount of skill it takes to put written words into the right order. Also an idea from a gifted writer is just that: a gift, an inspiration. It is not an email. A director who is not a writer would NEVER come up with the same idea as you have. A producer, unless he or she is also a writer, wouldn’t be able to write the same script you have written. Not in a million years.
So here’s my advice. When I heard that the A-Hole director mentioned above had taken my script and put his own name on it after removing mine, I became very good friends with a lawyer. I then sent a very sweet and “feminine” letter (see Pushy Women above) to the director and the producer asking them to clarify for my lawyer’s sake exactly what my credit on the film would be as it was my script alone which green-lit the film. I cc-ed the lawyer and told the Dirs/Prods that this was just a formality and wasn’t meant in bad faith at all. After all, I wasn’t trying to be confrontational at all… ( I got my credit in the end. It wasn’t where it should have been according to filmic conventions but hey, after the blood bath of the long production which had heads rolling throughout its torturous shooting schedule, I’ll take it.
So, in case you didn’t get it the first time: You own the INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY to your film. It is your legal right. Without it, the film would not exist.
Get a lawyer, read Joe Eszterhas’s book The Devil’s Guide to Hollywood to man up, even if you are a woman. And get TOUGH. After all, writers have rights too.
And here is a quote from the book mentioned above. Elia Kazan, who ended up directing his own work as well as writing it, said: “Writing, in case you don’t know it, is much harder than directing films. It may be the reason why I, perverse I, do it.”
South African writers must no longer be soft about owning their own work.
Next week: S is for SALARY.
“Hollywood is a showman’s paradise. But showmen make nothing; they exploit what someone else has made. The publisher and the play producer are showmen too; but they exploit what is already made. The showmen of Hollywood control the making – and thereby degrade it. For the basic art of motion pictures is the screenplay; it is fundamental, without it there is nothing. Everything derives from the screenplay, and most of that which derives is an applied skill which, however adept, is artistically not in the same class with the creation of a screenplay. But in Hollywood the screenplay in written by a salaried writer under the supervision of a producer – that is to say, by an employee without power or decision over the uses of his own craft, without ownership of it, and, however extravagantly paid, almost without honor for it.” Raymond Chandler http://www.openculture.com/2011/07/raymond_chandler_theres_no_art_of_the_screenplay_in_hollywood.html
Posted on 9/30/2011 at 4:57:48 PM
All the local screenwriters I know blame and rant as often as possible. Why we
do is no mystery. The regime we type under is archaic. The working conditions
are Dickensian. But this is not the only problem. Tragically, self-pity has become
our elixir, preventing us crawling out from our cave into the sunshine.
On a lighter note, I also rolled down the hill and sat through Robert McKee’s
performance. How eager we all were to believe that listening to the V.O. of Story,
might improve our turgid second act. Bob, like Rick in Casablanca, was bloody
fantastic – cynical, dry and of course, never stuck his neck out for nobody. The
defining moment of the three days, apart from his serenade, was this:
Close on McKee: Do you have a writers’ guild in South Africa?
Of course some fools in front of me, whom I gather didn’t have to sell their
little sisters to pay for the event since they had already sold their soul’s to the
organisers, turned and smiled, or rather, smirked at me. Clearly, in some circles,
being associated with a guild is a bad rap.
Back on McKee: Have you ever had a writers’ strike? (A beat) No? (A longer beat)
Then you don’t have a writers’ guild! (Strolls) In America the writers’ guild strike
for no fucking reason (scans the room) other than to show who’s got the power.
(Drinks water – cue laughter)
I’ll venture an educated guess that no more than 3% of those who came to listen
to the gospel according to Bob are signed-up members of the WGSA. Now if
you’re one of those smirking bastards who do not believe joining the WGSA helps
anyone, please stop reading and retract your head back up your rectum.
I thank you; the air is improved by your leaving…
For those who are undecided, short of cash and just too damn busy or stressed-
out to get it together to join the WGSA, we understand! It’s not easy being a
screenwriter. The Guild also faces huge challenges. Council battles the beast
of cynicism everyday. But we exist. And, we are starting to thrive. If you come
on board, in the next few years, the WGSA will be a structure not to be smirked
at. We will be able to offer you the services you need, like helping collect
your royalties, improved rates and all the blah blah that is utterly vital to your
immediate-short-long term survival.
I offered to sit on council not because I want to be a hero. Heroes don’t sit
through council meetings drinking goddamn awful coffee. I joined simply
because I know how vital it is for our screenwriters to win the same rights fellow
writers have won in other countries. I believe we can shift the current imbalance,
in this lifetime. Hell! I want to tell my grandkids that we went on strike. I want
to meet a writer who handed a local broadcaster a contract and told them to
take it of leave it? I also have a dream, I guess, that one-day writers are able to
afford to drive the type of wheels and earn the type of money broadcasters pay
themselves!
Ok fool, stop dreaming – we cannot handle the monthly instalments. We are
only screenwriters. We only create the magic others own. We need to suffer –
penance is good for the typing! We are affirmed when we are ripped-off. We like
being demeaned for our art. We need to write against blame. And if we allow
ourselves to be defined by those who steal from us, self-pity actually inspires us.
Forgive my exposition. I’m sure you got the subtext a while back that we are to
blame for our abysmal lot.
Now, according to Father Bob, a story needs a climax or three. I guess if this
were a swashbuckling adventure staring you the oppressed local screenwriter,
the first might be (on page 23): Timid screenwriter ventures out of cave! Then,
apparently answering the dramatic question is required, at the final climax (on
page 81): Screenwriter is bending over about to yet again take it up the ass from
broadcaster but turns (A very meaningful beat) and says ‘Hang on…’
The resolution? Writer joins the WGSA, falls inAll the local screenwriters I know blame and rant as often as possible. Why we do is no mystery. The regime we type under is archaic. The working conditions are Dickensian. But this is not the only problem. Tragically, self-pity has become our elixir, preventing us crawling out from our cave into the sunshine.
All the local screenwriters I know blame and rant as often as possible. Why we do is no mystery. The regime we type under is archaic. The working conditions are Dickensian. But this is not the only problem. Tragically, self-pity has become our elixir, preventing us crawling out from our cave into the sunshine.
On a lighter note, I also rolled down the hill and sat through Robert McKee’s performance. How eager we all were to believe that listening to the V.O. of Story, might improve our turgid second act. Bob, like Rick in Casablanca, was bloody fantastic - cynical, dry and of course, never stuck his neck out for nobody. The defining moment of the three days, apart from his serenade, was this:
Close on McKee: Do you have a writers’ guild in South Africa?
Of course some fools in front of me, whom I gather didn’t have to sell their little sisters to pay for the event since they had already sold their soul’s to the organisers, turned and smiled, or rather, smirked at me. Clearly, in some circles, being associated with a guild is a bad rap.
Back on McKee: Have you ever had a writers’ strike? (A beat) No? (A longer beat) Then you don’t have a writers’ guild! (Strolls) In America the writers’ guild strike for no fucking reason (scans the room) other than to show who’s got the power. (Drinks water – cue laughter)
I’ll venture an educated guess that no more than 3% of those who came to listen to the gospel according to Bob are signed-up members of the WGSA. Now if you’re one of those smirking bastards who do not believe joining the WGSA helps anyone, please stop reading and retract your head back up your rectum.
I thank you; the air is improved by your leaving…
For those who are undecided, short of cash and just too damn busy or stressed-out to get it together to join the WGSA, we understand! It’s not easy being a screenwriter. The Guild also faces huge challenges. Council battles the beast of cynicism everyday. But we exist. And, we are starting to thrive. If you come on board, in the next few years, the WGSA will be a structure not to be smirked at. We will be able to offer you the services you need, like helping collect your royalties, improved rates and all the blah blah that is utterly vital to your immediate-short-long term survival.
I offered to sit on council not because I want to be a hero. Heroes don’t sit through council meetings drinking goddamn awful coffee. I joined simply because I know how vital it is for our screenwriters to win the same rights fellow writers have won in other countries. I believe we can shift the current imbalance, in this lifetime. Hell! I want to tell my grandkids that we went on strike. I want to meet a writer who handed a local broadcaster a contract and told them to take it of leave it? I also have a dream, I guess, that one-day writers are able to afford to drive the type of wheels and earn the type of money broadcasters pay themselves!
Ok fool, stop dreaming – we cannot handle the monthly instalments. We are only screenwriters. We only create the magic others own. We need to suffer – penance is good for the typing! We are affirmed when we are ripped-off. We like being demeaned for our art. We need to write against blame. And if we allow ourselves to be defined by those who steal from us, self-pity actually inspires us.
Forgive my exposition. I’m sure you got the subtext a while back that we are to blame for our abysmal lot.
Now, according to Father Bob, a story needs a climax or three. I guess if this were a swashbuckling adventure starring you the oppressed local screenwriter, the first might be (on page 23): Timid screenwriter ventures out of cave! Then, apparently answering the dramatic question is required, at the final climax (on page 81): Screenwriter is bending over about to yet again take it up the ass from broadcaster but turns (A very meaningful beat) and says ‘Hang on…’
The resolution? Writer joins the WGSA, falls in love and slays the dragon.
Epic, I know…
Brent Q
WGSA Member
Posted on 9/28/2011 at 12:36:05 PM
NEWSLETTER – SEPTEMBER 2011
In this Issue:
· From the Hot Seat
·
Member Contributions
·
Guild News In A Nutshell
·
Industry News
·
Writing Tips
·
Advertisements
·
The Last Laugh
—oOo—
Beware of
self-indulgence. The romance surrounding the writing profession carries several
myths: that one must suffer in order to be creative; that one must be
cantankerous and objectionable in order to be bright; that ego is paramount
over skill; that one can rise to a level from which one can tell the reader to
go to hell. These myths, if believed, can ruin you.
If you believe you can make a living as a writer, you already have enough ego.
David Brin
—oOo—
FROM THE HOT SEAT
September has certainly been an interesting month with the start of
spring, a spit of rain, a couple of law suits, some good networking,
interesting workshops, a link-up with sponsors and international movie stars
and – here’s the big downer – our local broadcasters once again showing WGSA
and every person who has ever set pen to paper the finger.
After the whole Robert
McKee workshop debacle, WGSA and
M-Net reached an agreement to “start fresh” and keep the communication channels
open. So when WGSA heard that M-Net was offering English TV titles from its library – ranging
from soaps and films to short films as well as documentaries – available to
Cote Ouest (a distributor in French-speaking Africa who’s expanding into the
English market) for distribution, WGSA immediately contacted representatives of
the broadcaster. In the spirit of mutual collaboration we requested that formal
negotiations are now started to work out a process whereby a broadcaster pays
royalties to writers, actors and production houses in the event of commercial
exploitation.
Our contact was made 2 weeks ago, and we have only just been informed
that our letter has been forwarded to the people and/or department who are
dealing with these issues. Apparently they will be in touch with WGSA shortly. Somehow,
I’m not holding my breath… We’ll keep you updated.
This brings me to another interesting matter. For those of you who
don’t know, a GUILD is defined as an association of persons of the same trade
or pursuits, formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards. An ASSOCIATION is an organized body of people
who have an interest, an activity, or a purpose in common; a society.
I could carry on defining SOCIETY and whatever comes after, but I
think you’ve caught my drift by now. What it boils down to is that we are A
GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE JOINED TOGETHER TO LOOK AFTER OUR SHARED INTERESTS. In
my book that reads as “everybody working together”, but apparently I’m
wrong. Our SGM has once again proven
that most of our members think that a couple of bucks guarantee them the
services of Council and the right to sit back and relax until – suddenly – THEY
need help.
May I remind you that your Council pays membership fees like all our
members are supposed to. And they don’t get paid or get any special privileges
for doing all the work. The least you, as a member, can do is to respond when
your Council calls – be it to a SGM, for a vote, a proxy, some ideas, a helping
hand, a workshop or a get-together. Or even a strike!
As Robert
McKee intimated while he was here,
a Guild must have the power to black out the TV screens. At this stage we may
be heard by the broadcasters, but they won’t listen until we show them that
we’re strong enough to take them on. And for that we need each and every one of
our members, not just Council. Let’s
make it happen, guys. Let’s unite to write!
Harriet
MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS
Inspiration for
Writers
Theodor Seuss Giesel: Today nearly every
child has read The Cat in
the Hat or Green
Eggs and Ham, yet 27 different publishers rejected Dr. Seuss’s
first book To Think That I
Saw It on Mulberry Street.
Jack London: This well-known
American author wasn’t always such a success. While he would go on to publish
popular novels like White
Fang and The Call
of the Wild, his first story received six hundred rejection slips
before finally being accepted.
Zane Grey: Incredibly popular
in the early 20th century, this adventure book writer began his career as a
dentist, something he quickly began to hate. So, he began to write, only to see
rejection after rejection for his works, being told eventually that he had no
business being a writer and should given up. It took him years, but at 40; Zane
finally got his first work published, leaving him with almost 90 books to his
name and selling over 50 million copies worldwide.
Stephen King: The first book by
this author, the iconic thriller Carrie, received 30
rejections, finally causing King to give up and throw it in the trash. His wife
fished it out and encouraged him to resubmit it, and the rest is history, with
King now having hundreds of books published the distinction of being one of the
best-selling authors of all time.
J. K. Rowling: Rowling may be
rolling in a lot of Harry
Potter dough today, but before she
published the series of novels she was nearly penniless, severely depressed,
divorced, trying to raise a child on her own while attending school and writing
a novel. Rowling went from depending on welfare to survive to being one of the
richest women in the world in a span of only five years through her hard work
and determination.
And, 54 tips for writers
from writers:
http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com/2009/05/24/54-tips-for-writers-from-writers/
Many thanks, Rob Demezieres
All contributions can be mailed to admin@writersguildsa.org on or
before the 25th of every month.
Guild News In A Nutshell…
MEMBERSHIP
This month the WGSA gained 11 New Members, among
them some Capetonians and one from KZN and one from Eastern Cape. We now have a total of 104 members – WELL
DONE!
RECRUIT NEW MEMBERS COMPETITION
WGSA competition! The
member who signed up the most new members during August and September is HEDY
KOHL from Pretoria,
who will receive a lovely book prize. Congrats Hedy, and well done.
WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS
·
Mpho Osei-Tutu
·
Leo Donaldson
·
Benjamin Kekana
·
Meg Rickards
·
Rethabile Ramaphakela
·
Ginny
Pamboukian
·
Tinus
van Antwerp
·
Thandiwe Gaobepe
·
Percival Gumbi
·
Gugu Sibandze
·
Wandisile
(Lloyd) Kekana
WGSA SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING
The current order of meetings allow for one Annual General Meeting per
year, normally after the closing of the financial year. During this meeting the outgoing council
reports on the activities of the past year and touch on the activities planned
for the new year – plans that were already set in motion during the third
semester of the previous year.
On the 21st of September 2011, WGSA scheduled a Special
General Meeting to allow members to interact with council, voice their wants,
needs and desires and become part of the planning process for the next
financial year. Only TWO members and one observer showed up in Johannesburg,
and one Cape Town
member joined us on Skype! BUT, we will
not give up – next year we’ll do it again and hopefully more members will make
use of the opportunity.
The SGM also gave Council the chance to make some necessary changes to
the Constitution. Any changes to the
Constitution require a quorum and two-thirds majority vote. A quorum was not reached due to the poor
attendance, and virtual meetings for a further seven days were needed to finally
reach a quorum. The results of the
voting were published in the minutes and distributed to all members. Minutes may be obtained from the WGSA
Administrator.
WGSA PROGRAMMES
On 17 September, our own Brent Quinn,
master storyteller and head writer of the popular “Intersexions” drama series,
captivated the crowd at BIG FISH School of Digital Filmmaking with his take on
how to write a drama series. The eager
group could not stop asking questions – a clear sign that our members want
MORE…
Thanks Brent! And to
BIG FISH, who welcomed us with such grace and open arms – we really enjoyed
working with you, and in future will host more of our workshops at the BIG FISH
premises.
Later
that evening Tracey-Lee and her
Communications team gathered at the ODD Café in Greenside to socialize and network
– once again a fun and productive occasion.
See you all at the next one.
Check out our
face book pages for photos of the previous workshops and the social and
networking events! Follow the link to
see photos:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?created&&suggest¬eid=274843987744#/pages/pages/Writers-Guild-South-Africa/67898498664?ref=ts
Some changes and additions to our WGSA Workshop and
Activities Schedule:
Date
|
Activity
|
Notes
|
|
1
October
|
Salmon Barnard: Your Right to be Rich
(This workshop is a fundraising event
and open to all, including the general public. Funds will be used to
develop a website where writers can
market their projects)
|
AFDA, JHB: 9h00
Cover charge: R150
|
|
3
October
|
PDP / CRP
WGSA members who would like to
participate in our programmes are welcome to attend meeting
|
WGSA Offices, JHB: 10h00
|
|
15
October
|
Entertainment
Law Workshop
A
Must for everybody in the Entertainment Industry
|
AFDA, JHB: 9h00
Members: Free of charge
Non-Members: R300
|
|
20
October
|
WGSA Council meeting
|
WGSA Offices
|
|
22
October
|
Beginners class: Pieter Lombaard
talks about “Our House” reality show
|
BIG
FISH, JHB: 9h00
Members: R20
Non-Members: R40
|
|
12
November
|
Beginners class: Final Draft – Anthony Akerman
|
BIG
FISH, JHB: 9h00
Members: R20
Non-Members: R40
|
|
19
November
|
Master Class: Brent Quinn
– The In’s and Out’s of Comedy Writing
|
AFDA,
JHB: 9h00
Members: R150
Non-Members: R300
|
|
14
January 2012
|
Master Class: Writing for Reality Shows – Levern Engel
|
AFDA,
JHB: 9h00
Members: R150
Non-Members: R300
|
|
25
February 2012
|
Master Class: Writing
for Corporate / Educational programming – Ingrid Bruynse
|
AFDA,
JHB: 9h00
Members: R150
Non-Members: R300
|
|
|
WGSA BIRTHDAYS
Happy birthday to:
·
James
Whyle – 5 October
·
Amor
Tredoux – 6 October
·
Babs
Naidoo – 18 October
·
Owen
Salmon – 23 October
·
Clare
Cassidy – 26 October
Have a great day and a fantastic
year!
INDUSTRY NEWS:
Jameson Irish Whiskey join Kevin Spacey
and TriggerStreet Productions to launch new international short film
competition
-
Winner of Jameson First Shot will receive a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to direct Kevin Spacey
and work with his award winning production company
On 21 September 2011 in Johannesburg, Jameson Irish
Whiskey proudly announced the launch of a new short film competition with
highly acclaimed actor, Kevin
Spacey, and his company, Trigger
Street Productions. Designed to discover talented screenwriters and directors
from Russia, South Africa and the USA, Jameson First Shot comes with
an incredible prize where one winner from each country will have their script
made into a short film by Trigger Street Productions, starring Kevin Spacey.
Kevin Spacey commented:
“I want
to give talented people out there a shot at reaching their goals for the first
time. Jack Lemmon once said to me – ‘If you’re doing
well, send the elevator back down’. I’ve done incredibly well and it’s because
the material I found early in my career was from first-time writers, first-time
directors, first-time playwrights. If it weren’t for that talent I wouldn’t
have a career. So if one person gets a break then the competition has been
successful.”
Talented film-makers
looking for their big break are invited to submit a script up to seven pages
long onto www.jamesonfirstshot.com. Inspired by the theme of a legendary,
humorous or very tall tale, the shortlist will be judged by an expert team
including Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti, President of Trigger Street
Productions (‘The Social Network and ‘21’). The nominees will then go through
to the next round, where they will show their directing skills by shooting a
scene supplied by Trigger Street.
One winner from each
country will then enjoy a prize like no other as they fly to LA to shoot their
script and direct Kevin
Spacey, all with the backing of
his award winning Production Company. The final three films will be voted on by
the public to decide the overall winner of the Jameson First Shot competition.
Howard
Southern, International Marketing Director, Irish Distillers Pernod Ricard added:
“We are delighted to
be working with Kevin
Spacey and Trigger Street
Productions on such a unique film project. Jameson First Shot perfectly
embodies our attitude towards film; whereas public perception is of a closed
and exclusive world, we want to open it up and give emerging talent the
opportunity to be mentored by some of Hollywood’s
biggest names. It’s a truly exciting proposition and we look forward to seeing
three fantastic films.”
Genevieve Hofmeyr, Founder, Partner and Producer
of Moonlighting Films, one of South
Africa’s leading film production companies
commented:
“I am delighted that South Africa
has been selected as one of the participating countries in this competition.
Too few opportunities are given to emerging screenwriters to have their work
recognized in an international arena and this is a wonderful platform for our
South African writers. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity to possibly have
someone of Mr. Spacey’s stature perform their work. This
competition will certainly encourage and help develop our local scriptwriters
boosting our content development which in turn I believe will be of huge
benefit to the future of our local film industry”
Thandi Brewer, Chair of the Writers’ Guild of
South Africa as well as Screenwriting Chair for AFDA added:
“This is a fantastic opportunity for South African
screenwriters and the Writers’ Guild of South Africa is delighted that South
African writing talent will be showcased in this way. On a personal level, as
both a writer and Chair of the Writers’ Guild of South Africa, I’m enormously
excited by the chance that this will give both established and upcoming writers
to get their work into the International arena. Particularly with an
actor of Kevin
Spacey’s stature attached.”
Seth Pereira, Brand Manager for Jameson
South Africa
concluded:
“We are very excited
to launch the Jameson First Shot Project. Film has proved to be a very
successful vehicle for Jameson both in South Africa
as well as abroad. The brand has always had a footprint in film in South Africa
with past sponsorships such as the Sithengi Film Festival, Encounters Film
Awards and tactical TV sponsorships with The Emmy Awards, Golden Globe Awards as
well as the Academy Awards. Internationally, Jameson
is a partner in the Dublin International Film Festival, the Empire Awards in London, The Spirit Awards in L.A.
with numerous other partnerships across Europe.”
TOP TIPS
DO
§ Write with good structure – try and write a script
with a beginning, middle and end
§ Come up with a good story that you will be able to
make into a short film
§ Make sure your short film has good shots and good
sound
§ Enter your script by the deadline – this business
is all about making deadlines
§ Create something that makes you stand out
§ Write something you think will entertain and engage
the audience
§ Write from your heart – write the story that you
want to tell
Don’t
§ Don’t make it too grandiose – car chases and big
explosions might not be doable within the parameters of this competition
§ Don’t try to force your script out in one sitting –
take your time
§ Rush yourself – if you have a great idea and you go
to put it on the page and it doesn’t come out the way you want it to, put it
down and come back to it
For full details on how to enter, the rules
and all the T’s & C’s plus
exclusive videos and tips from Kevin Spacey and Dana
Brunetti, visit www.jamesonfirstshot.com
Thandi
Brewer, WGSA Chair, attended the official announcement of the competition. She
made the following speech on behalf of WGSA and all its members:
“A people are as healthy and confident as the stories they tell
themselves. Sick storytellers can make nations sick. Without stories we would
go mad. Life would lose its moorings or orientation…. Stories can conquer fear, you know. They can
make the heart larger.”
Ben Okri
Stories are at the heart of humanity. Stories are how people make sense
of themselves; celebrate their experiences and their world. Stories are
political. They address the ways in which people’s identities — their beliefs,
attitudes, and values — are created and maintained. These identities determine
how we live together. People make stories, sure, but stories make people. And
stories make a People. Stories are a National Asset. They acknowledge our heroes, create social
cohesion, interrogate the past, provide a vision for the future and generate
significant economic benefits. This competition provides a chance for South
Africa’s many talented writers to tell local stories: stories of our
experience, that reflect our people and their language, stories that show our
people and our cultures are as important as any other in the world. We need to
send our stories out into the world, letting other people learn from our
stories, the way we learn from other countries.
In an environment dominated by stories set in America, written, and directed by
Americans, it’s fantastic that South African voices will be given a chance to
be heard in an international arena by this competition.
I became a writer because I want – possibly I need – to write the
impossible script, not just the possible one that can be turned out relatively
easily, with a three-act template. I believe we all want to do work we’re proud
of that will change the world. And that
we have a responsibility to do that. I’m a writer… because I have no choice.
I had a voice that I wanted to be heard. I needed to tell
the stories of this extraordinary and dearly loved land. And I started training
other writers in the fiendishly difficult art of screenwriting, because I kept
on hearing other voices that needed to be heard. As chair of the Writers’ Guild of South Africa, as an editor, as a
mentor for the Spark programme for the NFVF, and as screenwriting chair of
AFDA, I work with writers all the time, and I am constantly awed by the
remarkable talent that I keep meeting.
Yes, sometimes it’s raw and unhoned, but that unique voice is there, and
it’s screaming to be heard, and I’m hoping that many of them will enter this
competition – not only for their own sake, but for Kevin Spacey’s – because I
bet like all good actors he’s just dying to get his teeth into a great role.
A short film like this is a huge challenge. To tell a story in five to seven minutes
requires discipline, creativity and ingenuity.
I was asked to give the writers entering some tips:. All I can really say is “You have a brain and
a keyboard. Apply one to the other.” Hopefully a fantastic local story comes out
the other side. Be honest. Speak from the heart, write from the gut. Don’t try and second guess the judges. They are looking for a unique voice. A unique POV.
Write about something that moves you; write about South Africa and your
experience. Keep it tight. Be lean and
mean. Don’t be afraid of being emotionally confrontational. Take it to the end of the line. Don’t censor yourself. And remember your budget constraints. Remember that something that is emotionally
engaging is far more powerful that a bomb blast (even though the boys in the
room may not belief that). And of course
be professional. Read the guidelines carefully, work to brief. To get a chance
to write for and direct one of the top actors in the world is the kind of leap
into an international arena that only comes once in a lifetime. The exciting thing is that local content is
drawing more and more viewers: more and more international awards,
with real breakthrough series and films that challenge and raise the
quality bar. And this kind of competition will give another kick to local
talent and get it into the international arena
In the beginning is the Word, and we are the caretakers of that word,
and that story. That is an incredibly
powerful thing to be, and we writers have allowed ourselves to give away that
power, so that now writers frequently are at the bottom of the TV and Film
Industry food chain. Somewhere between
catering and runner… A competition like
the Jameson First Shot Initiative changes that mindset and puts writers exactly
where they should be – right at the heart of the Industry. I’ve never been prouder to be a writer. If I wasn’t already a writer, I’d immediately
become one.
So to you – the writers, the dreamers, the seers of visions, the word
slingers, the makers of scripts, the creators of story. Get those keyboards smoking. The world’s waiting to hear your stories.
Thanks,
Thandi, for those inspiring words. Come on, members of the WGSA; let’s show the
world what we’re made of!
And
here are more winners among our members:
UGA CARLINI’S short film “Good Planets are hard to find”
has been chosen from more than 5000
entries to this year’s Interfilm 27th International Short Film
Festival, which will take place in Berlin, Germany from 15 – 20 November 2011. 500 short films
have been selected to be shown in diverse competitions and programmes – and
Uga’s film has been chosen for the Special Programme “Reality
Bites”.
FAZILA WAHAB and OLIVER KOHL’S
short film “Karoo” (this year’s SAFTA winner) has been chosen as part of
the official selection for the Aesthetica
Short Film Festival, which takes place in York in England from 3rd
– 6th November 2011.
CONGRATULATIONS to
all of you!
Minister of Communications looking at
establishing a broadcasting panel to assist with new broadcasting policy for South Africa.
By Thinus
Ferreira
The minister of communications, Roy Padayachie,
is looking at establishing a broadcasting panel of experts to help with
creating a new broadcasting policy for South Africa.
In November last year, the
minister of communications withdrew the highly controversial Draft Public
Service Broadcasting Bill that looked to overhaul the entire South African
broadcasting landscape.
With the beleaguered South
African public broadcaster in upheaval, the community television and radio
industry struggling, the massive complexity and challenges of the advent of
digital terrestrial television (DTT) in South Africa, new and growing
commercial TV and radio competition, and a myriad of public broadcasting issues
that simply didn’t keep up with the times, the department of communications is
now planning to start a brand-new and comprehensive public broadcasting review
to change broadcasting legislation in South Africa.
The department is promising a
new, comprehensive White Paper looking at South Africa’s broadcasting sector
as a whole, including the public, community and commercial sectors which the
department wants to complete by 2013. To this effect, the minister wants to
establish a broadcasting panel with international and local experts to help.
”The SOS Support Public
Broadcasting Coalition believes that this process is both urgent and important,
given the deep-seated problems across the broadcasting and communications
sectors both at the level of the public broadcaster and the community media
sector,” says Kate Skinner, co-ordinator of the SOS Support Public
Broadcasting Coalition, the public pressure group representing a broad array of
interest groups including academics, trade unions, institutes and organisations
and federations within the South African broadcasting industry.
SOS says it’s important that
new legislation focuses on ”ensuring a sustainable and stable public
broadcaster and community media broadcasters in our rapidly changing
broadcasting landscape”.
Charlie Sheen’s Making A Movie! Is This Winning?
(Seriously, Is It?)
This is not a joke: Noted
troll hater and former sitcom star Charlie Sheen
has found a new job. In the movies. And it’s not porn. Sheen
is attached to lead “A Glimpse Inside the Mind of Charlie Swan III” opposite Jason Schwartzmen.
Again, not a joke. Written and directed by Roman Coppola
(son of Francis Ford Coppola), film would follow a “graphic designer (Sheen)
whose fame, money and charm have made him irresistible to women.” Trouble
strikes when his current girlfriend dumps him, causing a “downward spiral” —
though likely one without goddesses, Adonis DNA and tiger blood.
http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/09/08/winning-charlie-sheen-attached-to-star-in-charlie-swan/
MasterChef South Africa on M-Net will
be co-produced for the pay broadcaster by Curious Pictures and Lucky Bean Media
By Thinus
Ferreira
M-Net will be showing a local
version of MasterChef, MasterChef South Africa,
and has now confirmed that MasterChef SA will be a co-production between
Curious Pictures and Lucky Bean Media.
M-Net auditions for MasterChef
South Africa will take place in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.
And here’s another secret: Donald
Clarke, one of the creator/producers at Lucky Bean, was of course the director
of Survivor SA on M-Net for the first 3 seasons. Curious Pictures are
responsible for TV shows such as The Lab and Top Shayela.
Before deciding on Curious
Pictures and Lucky Bean Media to put South African contestants and wannabe
chefs through their paces in a South African version of the reality food frenzy
show, M-Net asked 14 production companies to pitch for MasterChef SA.
Entries for MasterChef South Africa
have not opened yet. When ready, M-Net will announce it officially and inform
people what to do and how to go about it to enter.
The
“Thin Man” Remake Gets A Writer
Super-writer David Koepp
has signed on to write “The Thin Man,” a remake of the 1934 movie, for Warner
Bros., TheWrap has confirmed. The movie has some fancy attachments: Johnny Depp is starring as
Nick Charles,
the part made famous by William
Powell. Rob Marshall
will direct. The original movie, based on the Dashiell Hammett
novel, was a big enough hit that producers made five sequels. It’s about Nick, a retired detective, and his heiress wife, Nora Charles.
For fun, the two solve crimes. Depp, Christi
Dembrowski and Kevin McCormick
are producing.
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/jurassic-park-writer-david-koepp-tackle-thin-man-wb-30583
Facebook Feature Films
FlickLaunch, the first movie distribution platform built on Facebook for
independent filmmakers, will premiere the horror thriller “The Perfect House”
on October 1, 2011 as a 7-day rental on the film’s Facebook fan page. The film
is directed by Kris Hulbert
and Randy Kent
and stars Monique Parent,
Felissa Rose,
Will Robertson,
Andrea Vahl,
Chris Raab,
Jonathan Tiersten,
and John Philbin. This new platform enables
independent filmmakers to market to and access a global audience through
Facebook without the prohibitive costs of traditional and outdated
distribution. For a $5 “ticket price,” the movie will be viewed in its entirety
and in full screen.
https://www.facebook.com/ThePerfectHouseMovie
Ben Stiller’s Getting Fake To Maybe Make It For Real
Ben Stiller’s “Fake Trailer
Project,” debuting soon on MTV.com, will serve as a Petri dish for possible
movies. If any of the dozen planned trailers catch on virally, Stiller and his
partners may develop them into movies. Stiller will star in the first parody,
according to TheWrap. He is producing the fake trailers with his Red Hour
partners Stuart Cornfield
and Mike Rosenstein. They will be similar to the
ones that appeared in Stiller’s movie “Tropic Thunder.”
http://www.thewrap.com/media/article/ben-stillers-funny-fake-trailer-project-serious-business-30823
What a great way to get real audience reaction
before making the movie! Maybe we should look at doing something similar in SA?
New
South African Co-production Treaty
The Australia/South Africa Film Co-production
Agreement has now come into force. We have been informed that Screen Australia is
updating their Co-production Guidelines with specific reference to the new
treaty.
Karen Son … gone?
After only 5 months as CEO the National Film and Video Foundation
(NFVF) is looking for a CEO!
By
Thinus Ferreira
It
appears as if Karen
Son could be out as CEO of the
National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) very soon. It would appear that Karen Son
is, or will no longer be, the CEO of the NFVF – a position she took over a mere
5 months ago.
In February the NFVF announced with
great fanfare the appointment of Karen
Son as the new CEO to replace Eddie Mbalo.
The NFVF made special mention that parliament’s portfolio committee on arts and
culture ”welcomed Ms
Son to the position and
congratulated the NFVF council for appointing a woman to the position.”
On being asked what is going on,
the NFVF’s communication officer was only willing to say ”[NFVF] council can’t
comment now”.
The NFVF has issued no statement,
nor indicated in any form or capacity that Karen Son,
previously the NFVF’s chief financial officer (COO) is leaving the NFVF,
stepping down as CEO, or returning to her previous position – yet her job is
suddenly being advertised.
While the NFVF isn’t commenting
or willing to explain what is going on, insider sources are exclusively and
immediately telling “TV with Thinus” that it all has to do with the new NFVF
council which has decided ”to advertise for a CEO”. A source tells me Karen Son ”is still with
the NFVF, but we don’t know what is going to happen or what she will do” when
asked if Karen
Son might be returning to her
former COO position.
”It’s the new [NFVF] council
that came in this year; they have other plans for the NFVF,” said a source. ”We
were just told the NFVF is now looking for a CEO,” said a source.
The NFVF is suddenly looking
for people to apply to become the NFVF’s new CEO for a period of between 3 and
5 years, which it calls a ”renewable contract”, and who will be responsible
to ”ensure that objectives of the NFVF are achieved”. The NFVF says ”if you
have not heard from the NFVF by end of October 2011” your application has been
unsuccessful.
Free television in South
Africa gets a new name for digital
terrestrial television (DTT).
By Thinus Ferreira
No MultiChoice? Then get ready for Multiview. The SABC and e.tv have
decided to call their free digital TV offering, which will include several new
TV channels, Multiview – a name that might end up creating a lot of confusion
among consumers during South Africa’s switch-over to digital television
broadcasting in April next year.
South Africa’s public
broadcaster, the SABC, as well as the commercial broadcasters e.tv and M-Net
have to switch from current analogue broadcasting to digital DVB-T2 television
broadcasts and digital terrestrial television (DTT) – a process known as
digital migration.
This means that ordinary South
African television viewers and households in which daily local soap operas like
Generations, 7de Laan, Muvhango and Rhythm City have become cultural
touchstones with a combined daily viewership of millions, will have to buy a
special set-top box (STB) and in many cases also a new antenna. Viewers who
don’t buy a STB (at an estimated cost of R700) will no longer be able to watch
their shows once broadcasters conclude the digital migration process and switch
off their analogue signals within a few years’ time after a period of ”dual
illumination”, during which they will be broadcasting both their current
analogue signals and the new digital signals.
”The SABC has devised a channel
line-up that will include the following channels: a health channel, sport,
education and SMME channel and children’s channel. The other possible channels
are the 24 hour news channel. We’re also supposed to have two regional
channels, a regional north channel and regional south channel, and certainly in
terms of the opportunity presented by DTT we will be able to add those regional
channels into our bouquet,” Lumko Mtimde, chairperson of the technology
committee of the SABC board, said.
”The SABC will also use the
functionality of DTT to provide the following services: closed captioning
(on-screen subtitles) in multiple languages that can be accessed by the set top
box’s remote control, multiple language soundtracks up to four different audio
tracks which can be provided per programme, audio description to provide
contextual information in programmes, interactive applications which will
assist with e-government services,” Lumko Mtimde told parliament.
”The SABC is on track and we’re making good progress,” Richard Waghorn,
the SABC’s chief technology officer said. ”The SABC is working and preparing
for a soft launch of DTT in April 2012. We will have content ready for April
2012 for a soft launch.”
The free-to-air commercial South African broadcaster e.tv plans to
launch its digital terrestrial television service in April 2012 – a soft
launch, followed by a full commercial launch between July and September 2012
”the date to be confirmed when we are more confident.”
“We don’t want to raise expectations
yet again and not be able to fulfil those,” Lara Kantor,
senior e.tv executive, warned. ”Meeting those deadlines will require focus
from e.tv and strong collaboration of industry and government. e.tv is
committed to work with all other role players to make sure our pans are aligned
and that the free-to-air platform will be successful,” she said.
”We are committed to launching
DTT in 2012. We need leadership [from government and the regulator [Icasa] to
resolve those matters speedily,” Lara Kantor
implored. The broadcaster said it is in advanced planning stages for the
commercial DTT launch next year, that it’s building control studios and is busy
with content development for the new channels.
M-Net is likewise planning a pay-DTT offering for next year. M-Net is
set to expand its analogue broadcast which currently only consists out of the
M-Net channel, a sports channel cobbled together from various feed of
MultiChoice’s SuperSport channels, and the Community Service Network (CSN).
M-Net will run multiple new M-Net TV channels, presumably single genre thematic
channels such as comedy, drama and movies.
Place for Freelance Writers to Grow
Following
his humorous attack on editors two months ago, Eugene
Yiga has launched Bon Journos,
a local online community for good writers doing great work.
“I was
really surprised at the positive response,” Yiga recalls. “I thought
it would just be a sarcastic rant that would make some people smile. But so
many writers emailed to commend me for having the courage to say what they all
felt. That’s why I knew I had to take things a step further.”
Bon Journos
is designed to be a place where writers can showcase their work and get the
attention of editors who traditionally don’t give them much consideration.
“Anyone who has a completed article or just an idea they’d like published
can email me and let me know. I’ll then post this on the website and promote it
via social media. The goal is to find an appropriate ‘buyer’, which should
become easier as the community grows.”
But editors
won’t be left out of the cold. “As writers and editors are both trying to
get great work in front of readers who will appreciate it, I see no reason why
we can’t work together to achieve our common goal. The site is designed to make
the process easier for everyone so we can get on with our core work. That’s
something everyone wants,” he concludes.
Posted on 9/1/2011 at 4:43:14 PM
NEWSLETTER – AUGUST 2011
In this Issue:
· From the Hot Seat
·
Member Contributions
·
Guild News In A Nutshell
·
Industry News
·
Writing Tips
·
Advertisements
·
The Last Laugh
—oOo—
“Words are sacred…
If you get the right ones in the right order,
you can nudge the world a
little.”
TOM STOPPARD
—oOo—
FROM THE HOT SEAT
As the winter slowly winds down and we look forward to the first day
of spring, the August newsletter of WGSA is once again pecking at its shell,
anxious to be hatched. I guess it’s got a surprise coming, as mommy writer has
once again changed shape, form and style. A sincere thank you to our poster
girl Tracey-Lee
Dearham for all her work on the
previous WGSA newsletters, and we still look forward to the occasional
contribution from her “write and ready” iPad.
I must say, we’re living (or barely surviving, as the case may be) in
interesting times. On one hand we have what was once our public broadcaster and
is now a self-devouring monster with a penchant for tax payer money, and on the
other the creative outcasts, who have pulled together and are doing the
broadcaster’s job of entertaining, educating and reconciling the country and
its people. I’m talking not only about the writers, but the directors,
producers, artists and crew, who are out there creating their own work and
making sure that South
Africa’s stories are told by our people and
not some rich but clued-up strangers from distant shores.
Interestingly enough, a number of people not normally associated with
the entertainment industry have also come to the party, and we at WGSA have had
the good fortune to meet several of them and bring them into the fold. A case
in point is a young man called Salmon Barnard, who is what I would call a
strategist – perhaps because a quick meeting over a latte turned into a 2 hour
marathon on taking WGSA into the future.
But what is probably even more important is that you, the WGSA member,
will get to meet Salmon as well. On 1st October he will present a
workshop in Johannesburg
on – wait for it – “Your Right to be Rich”.
And trust me, this is no BS. We’ve tested him, and you can ask Natasjé, Tracey-Lee and Thea, who
were all at the meeting with me, about their opinion. And best of all, this
workshop is a fundraising event open to all, including the general public, with
the moneys raised earmarked to develop a website where writers can market themselves
and their projects.
We’ll all be there. Hope to see you there as well. Until then, let’s
all Unite to Write.
Harriet
MEMBER CONTRIBUTIONS
THE STATE OF TRANSFORMATION
By Fabian Rainers
Since the advent of democracy 17 years ago a great debate has
been raging on the direction our country is heading in and the changes that
need to happen in society as a whole. In the year 2011 this debate has been
reborn in the concept of transformation which can be briefly summed up as our
country’s unsuccessful efforts to level the racially unbalanced societal
playing fields. The debate has however been dominated by economic opinion and
framed in a “who gets what, when and how” context. The consequence of this thinking
has resulted in a deadlock in vision and perspective on a holistic approach to transformation.
This deadlock shows us that the time has come for a shift of emphasis, for the
formulation of an alternate strategy that asks “What are we transforming to
exactly?” This mental shift requires an immense amount of imagination and
perceptual driving power, a force that sketches the reality of where we are
going as vividly as possible. Film and specifically the role of the screen
writer have a substantial part to play in guiding the transformation of ideas
in South African society through the art of story.
The art of story like the art
of painting or sculpting is a product of human imagination. Through story we
have the capability to create new worlds, show old worlds as new and shed light
on everyday realities. Stories carry
immense influence because they give us a simulated glance at our own world and
the alternative possibilities that exist.
So how do we paint the kind of picture that gives us a broader view of
the past and the prominent figures that have been left out of popular
imagination? In other words when do we get to see a war story depicting the
legendary conquests of Khoi Khoi warriors such Maqoma or the bravery of the
mounted Cape Corps of World War 2 as opposed to stories of Greek myth like Troy
or Clash of Titans? Giving preference to stories about our past is fundamental
part of transformation.
Transformation is not only the ability to correct the past
but also a mechanism to determine the future. This dreaming of the future is
the task of the storyteller, the screenwriter, the novelist. We need to know
that it is our responsibility to construct what we would want to see. We need
to transform the South African imagination and instil in it different
possibilities of the future.
In conclusion it is the duty of
“imagination workers” especially filmmakers and screenwriters to champion the
cause of transformation of ideas. It is imperative that we broaden our
perception of transformation beyond the material into the realm of concepts,
ideas and characters. Only then can we transcend the racialized world view that
has dominated the South African psyche for centuries.
All contributions can be mailed to admin@writersguildsa.org on or
before the 25th of every month.
Guild News In A Nutshell…
MEMBERSHIP
This month the WGSA gained 18 New Members, among
them some Capetonians. And three members finally
renewed their membership! We now have a
total of 97 members – WELL DONE!
Our next target -
that beautiful 100!!!
RECRUIT NEW MEMBERS COMPETITION
WGSA is running a competition! The member who signs up the most new members
during August and September will receive a lovely book prize. New members, if
you get four new members to sign up, your membership is FREE!
WELCOME TO NEW MEMBERS
·
Tina Kruger
·
Hamish Pillay
·
Oliver Kohl
·
Hedy
Kohl
·
Fazila Wahab
·
Asma Ayob
·
Ben Engelbrecht
·
Jan Engelen
·
Nico Steyn
·
Jenny
Hicks
·
Ian
Rijsdijk
·
Gavin
Sher
·
Thuso Masikhwa
·
Kay Brown
·
Jenny
Verwoerd
·
Anneke
Villet
·
Ceridwen
Morris
·
Cate
Wood-Hunter
·
Patrick Paki – renewal
·
Sonwabile Mfecane -
renewal
·
Tess Fairweather – renewal
WGSA COUNCIL MEETING
The WGSA council meets on a monthly basis to discuss, plan and report
back on their activities. The council meeting
this month took place on 17 August 2011 and was a very high spirited affair –
and we’re not talking alcohol. Should you like to obtain a copy of the minutes,
please contact the WGSA Administrator.
WGSA PROGRAMMES
On the 26th of August Thandi and
Thea set out in the very early hours of the morning to hop on a flight to Cape
Town, only to be bumped of the flight and spend hours on the airport to get another
flight. With all the confusion and
searching for luggage, Tess Fairweather managed to get Thandi at the radio
station for an interview, but we did miss our appointment with Denis Lillie of
the Cape Film Commission – a pity! Later
we met with PANSA (Performing Arts Network of South
Africa) and build some great relations.
That evening the first Cape Chapter Meeting took place (minutes
available on request) and the first Cape Chapter Council was elected. The following people were
elected to the Cape Branch Council:
Bongi Mbongwe – Chair person
Tess Fairweather, Jenny Hicks, Anneke Villet,
Shervaan Baros, Vicky Bawcombe, Wandisile (Lloyd) Kekane.
Congratulations and all the success for this
tremendous challenge that lies upon you all.
On 27th
of August, Thandi once again delivered her “kick-ass” pitching workshop in
Cape Town with the necessary passion to keep all engaged and fascinated. To our fairy godmother, Tess Fairweather, who
made all the arrangements and drove us from point to point through the extreme
narrow streets of Cape Town – we owe you big time!
Check out our
face book pages for photos of the previous workshops and the social and
networking events! Follow the link to
see photos:
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?created&&suggest¬eid=274843987744#/pages/pages/Writers-Guild-South-Africa/67898498664?ref=ts
Some changes and additions to our WGSA Workshop and
Activities Schedule:
Date
|
Activity
|
Notes
|
|
5
September
|
PDP / CRP meeting
WGSA members who would like to
participate in our programmes are welcome to attend
|
WGSA Offices: 17h00
|
|
17
September
|
Beginners class: Brent Quinn
talks about Intersexions
|
Venue
to be announced: 9h00
Members: R20
Non-Members: R40
|
|
21 September
|
WGSA SGM
Your chance to have your say in
what WGSA
should be doing for you next year
|
WGSA Offices: 19h00
If
you’re unable to attend in person, you may also send your suggestions per
email or join us via Skype – just inform us before the time
|
|
24
September
|
Master Class: Writing
for Corporate / Educational programming – Ingrid Bruynse
|
AFDA: 9h00
Members: R150
Non-Members: R300
|
|
1
October
|
Salmon Barnard: Your Right to be Rich
(This workshop is a fundraising event
and open to all, including the general public. Funds will be used to
develop a website where writers can
market their projects)
|
AFDA:
9h00
Cover charge: R150
|
|
3
October
|
PDP / CRP
WGSA members who would like to
participate in our programmes are welcome to attend meeting
|
WGSA Offices: 9h00
|
|
8
October
|
Beginners class: Pieter Lombaard
talks about “Our House” reality show
|
AFDA: 9h00
Members: R20
Non-Members: R40
|
|
15
October
|
Entertainment
Law Workshop
A
Must for everybody in the Entertainment Industry
|
Members: Free of charge
Non-Members: R300
|
|
20
October
|
WGSA Council meeting
|
WGSA Offices
|
|
22
October
|
Master Class: Writing for Reality Shows – Levern Engel
|
AFDA: 9h00
Members: R150
Non-Members: R300
|
|
12
November
|
Beginners class: Final Draft – Anthony Akerman
|
AFDA: 9h00
Members: R20
Non-Members: R40
|
|
19
November
|
Master Class: Brent Quinn
– The In’s and Out’s of Comedy Writing
|
AFDA: 9h00
Members: R150
Non-Members: R300
|
|
|
WGSA BIRTHDAYS
Happy birthday to:
·
Ian Rijsdijk – 28 August
·
Robert De Mezieres – 5 September
·
Favourite John
– 7 September
·
Natasjé
van Niekerk – 7 September
Have a great day and a fantastic
year!
INDUSTRY NEWS:
WORLD
ACCLAIMED FILM EVENT FOR JOHANNESBURG
Sourced from ScreenAfrica
The Good Pitch, the brainchild of Channel 4 BRITDOC
Foundation and The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program that brings the
makers of social justice films together with leading NGOs, foundations,
philanthropists, brands and media, is holding its African premiere in Johannesburg on 13
September.
This, the first satellite event to be held outside
of Europe and the United
States, is called Good Pitch² (Good Pitch
Squared). Seven African filmmakers have been invited to pitch their projects at
the one-day event to be held at the Alex
Theatre, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. They are:
Dawn of a
New Day – Ryley
Grunenwald
Dirty Money – Peter Goldsmid
(WGSA member)
Ntsika – Dinah Arnott
Dreams of
Shahrazad – Francois
Verster
Devil’s Lair
– Riaan Hendricks
Guardian of Uganda’s Gentle
Giants – Mike
Hutchinson
The Men From
Atlantis – Jo
Higgs
Anita
Khanna, Good Pitch Squared
Outreach Director, describes the South African premiere as “a massive
endorsement” of the local film and documentary industry. “In New
York and London
this platform has become one of the most sought-after events on the filmmaker
and NGO calendar. Now South Africa
has the exciting opportunity to not only support good film but to educate the
world about issues that impact Africa.
“This is the future of documentary film as it’s
about creating a coalition of support around each film that brings in new
partners to support film production and distribution to ensure that important
social justice messages are being talked about to the right people.”
Good Pitch director Beadie Finzi
adds: “The Good Pitch has had massive success in Europe and North
America and has helped the best social justice documentary films
go further. We are very excited about the potential that Good Pitch Squared
Johannesburg can unlock in South
Africa.
Since the Good Pitch inception in 2008, over 80
films have been presented at events in London, Oxford, New York, Washington DC, Toronto and San
Francisco. In that time more than 700 organisations
have attended – varied organisations from different sectors all bringing something
unique to the table: expert knowledge, research and archives, membership
networks and mailing lists, campaigning and lobbying expertise and access to
policymakers as well as production and outreach funding.
“Films are the best medium for changing hearts and
minds and lives, by bringing stories and issues to the widest possible
audiences. Films inspire people to engage and act, but it’s often making links
that you would not normally see such as inviting Puma to back a film on gender
violence,” comments Khanna.
Link to SA Good Pitch films: http://www.goodfilm.org
Website address: http://britdoc.org/real_good/pitch/
The following (slightly shortened) letter
was received from Monica
Rorvik, the assistant manager of
the Durban
International Film Festival:
Dear Thandi
Warm thanks for all that you did during
the DIFF 2011 festival. I’m hearing so much about the Friday workshop and of
course I was able to see your work on the Saturday. The support of WGSA was and
is seminal to the industry and DIFF.
Best and warmest thanks
Monica
Hey, Monica, it was our pleasure, and we hope to be back
at Diff 2012.
LOOK OUT, WORLD! ENDEMOL’S GETTING
INTO THE SCRIPT BUSINESS!
Reality TV powerhouse Endemol is
opening up an in-house branch named Endemol Studios to focus on scripted
television production. The LA-based division will be headed by CEO Philippe Maigret,
most recently Endemol’s exec VP, North America
acquisitions. Maigret will continue to oversee North American rights
acquisitions for the group. Endemol Studios will be charged with developing
current Endemol USA
projects while also adapting Endemol programs from around the world. The
operation is resourced to finance the development of projects; deficit-finance
the production of pilots and series; and to oversee all related activities, the
company said. Co-production partners will become involved on a case-by-case
basis.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/endemol-launches-la-studio-scripted-224354
NATIONAL
CORRECTIONAL TV STATION ENVISIONED
With thanks from “TV with Thinus”
Could South Africa’s
“Prison Broadcast Network” (PBN) currently serving Cape Town grows to become a TV service for
the national correctional department in future? That seems to be the hope of Marius Boaden,
founder and CEO of the “Prison Broadcast Network” in South Africa.
Marius Boaden met on 17th August with the Correctional
Services National Commissioner Tom Moyane and the minister’s spokesperson Sonwabo Mbananga
to talk about the possible establishment of a dedicated national TV station for
the Correctional Services department.
”We received a very favourable response,” says Marius Boaden.
”I believe this will open the doors to extend our partnership with
Correctional Services in a big way.” The envisioned dedicated Correctional
Services TV station will initially broadcast to an estimated 8 000 offenders
and once the pilot project has proven successful, it will be extend to
approximately 66 correctional centres in South Africa. That means an
estimated viewership of approximately 100 000 offenders nationally.
”There is now a process that needs to be followed,
but at least we are off the starting blocks,” says Marius Boaden.
”This has been a project on our hearts for the past decade and I am so
grateful that we now have a listening ear. We are convinced that this project
will totally transform the entire ‘prison’ culture,” he says.
Once an official endorsement has been received from
the National Commissioner, Prison Broadcasting Network will be looking to the
general public to assist with financing this project. “Correctional
Services have provided the platform through the installation of TV networks. It
is now up to us as society to take this to the next level and to transform these
networks into the most powerful rehabilitation tools.”
WEBSITES TO WATCH
http://www.getmopix.com/
You want to distribute your own movie online? It’s
been getting easier and easier, what with YouTube and Vimeo and iTunes and so
on, but now there’s something that might make it even easier, especially when
it comes to actually, y’know, making some money off your digital distribution.
This site puts everything in the filmmaker’s hands, from price control to how
you might package your DVD extras to repurposing rights. We stumbled over the
site and thought it looked pretty fascinating, so we signed up to be alerted
when the beta program becomes available. No word yet, but needless to say,
we’re waiting with baited breath.
MAJOR
SCHEDULE SHAKE-UP AT SABC
On Tuesday, 23
August, TV with Thinus exclusively
broke the news of a major schedule shake-up affecting SABC1 and SABC3. The most
shocking news was that from Monday 3 October long running SABC3 weekday soap Isidingo will move an hour later to its
new timeslot of 19:30 – permanently.
Sources at SABC say
the reason d’etre for the Isidingo
move is twofold: Firstly, Isidingo
has struggled in its present timeslot against growing soapie competition from
other channels, and secondly, SABC planned to move the American soap The Bold and the Beautiful from SABC1 to
SABC3 straight into the current Isidingo
timeslot, a move which has been postponed indefinitely in the meantime.
Top Billing, SABC3’s weekly entertainment magazine
show, which has been all over the schedule from TV1 to SABC2 to SABC3, back to
SABC2 and back to SABC3 on almost all days of the week and a plethora of
timeslots, is set to move on the broadcaster’s schedule yet again from October.
It will be moving to Tuesdays at 20:00, half an hour later that the current
19:30.
Also from
Monday 3 October, All My Children
will move from 09:30 to 14:00 and will be followed by The Oprah Winfrey Show at 14:50 – its new timeslot until December,
when the show ends its repeat cycle. This pushes Dr Oz,
currently on SABC3 at 14:30, to a later timeslot at 15:45. Dr Oz
will also be repeated on SABC1 from Tuesdays to Fridays at 10:30.
This
cascading effect means that Three Talk
with Noeleen Maholwana-Sangqu, currently on SABC3 at 15:30 on weekday
afternoons, will move to an hour later at 16:40. It will be followed by Days of Our Lives -currently at 16:30
and perennially the most popular SABC3 show viewership wise – at 17:40, pushing
Oprah to its earlier timeslot (although
the midnight repeat of Oprah remains
as is).
At SABC1,
execs plan to move Real Goboza from
Saturdays at 18:00 to Tuesdays at 19:00 while Dance Your Butt Off will park on Saturdays at 17:30. Skeem Saam
is a new local drama scheduled to start in October on SABC1, while Zoned will be a new reality magazine show
starting on Tuesdays at 18:00.
WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA IS GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS
The Writers Guild of America has become the latest
Hollywood Guild to announce the timeline for its 2012 awards, which will take
place on Sunday, Feb. 19 in Los Angeles and New York. The schedule
will make the WGA the last of the major Hollywood Guilds to present its awards,
exactly one week before the Academy Awards. Under a timeline released on
Wednesday by the Writers Guild of America, East, and the Writers Guild of
America, West, submission deadlines begin in October and run to the beginning of December,
depending on the category; nominations will be announced on Dec. 7 for
television, radio, news, promotional writing and graphic animation, on Jan. 5
for theatrical features (including documentaries), and tentatively on Jan. 11
for new media and videogame writing. The awards will be handed out
simultaneously at ceremonies at the Hollywood Palladium in Los
Angeles and a yet-to-be-determined location in New York.
How about it, guys? Don’t we deserve
something like this as well? With the unfortunate SAFTA awards losing
credibility, there’s nothing left to pat our hardworking writers on the back.
Between you and I, I’ve had a little bird whisper something in my ear about a
“Writers’ Ball and Awards Ceremony”. Do I hear shouts of “yay” or just the
usual lack of response? We need backing from our members to make this happen,
so tap those keyboards and mail us.
SATI ENTRY WINS FIT AWARD FOR
TRANSLATION FROM LANGUAGE OF LIMITED DIFFUSION
SATI proudly announced that, at
the closing ceremony of the XIXth World Congress of the International
Federation of Translators (FIT) in San Francisco on Thursday 4 August 2011,
SATI member Prof. Daniel Kunene received the Karel Čapek Medal for translation
from a language of limited diffusion. The award was made to him for My Child!
My Child!, his translation from Zulu into English of CLS Nyembezi’s novel
Mntanami! Mntanami!, first published in 1950. The translation was published by
Maskew Miller Longman in 2010.
The fact that Daniel Kunene was a
contemporary of Sibusiso
Nyembezi (1919-2000) makes the translation
all the more interesting. This classic Zulu novel, now available for the first
time in English, explores many issues still relevant today and offers readers
valuable insights into life in both rural and urban South Africa during the early years
of apartheid. Mntanami! Mntanami! Was usually the first novel read by Zulu
readers in South Africa
in the 1950s. Its intellectual power and critical realism have not diminished
since its publication over half a century ago. Sibusiso Nyembezi belongs to a
group of Zulu intellectuals such as HIE Dhlomo, Benedict Wallet Vilakazi, EHA
Made and Jordan Kush Ngubane, who revolutionized South African culture in the
1940s, comparable to what Xhosa intellectuals
had achieved in the 1880s.
Among the
comments made in the citation for the award were that the translation is a “commendable
effort to bring literature written in Zulu … to other South Africans … as well
as to the international English-reading public.” The jury chairperson felt that
Kunene was the most deserving candidate because “apart from his very large
experience in translating literary works and the awards he [has] received, Kunene translates from African languages into English.
This means that he is opening these languages and cultures to the world via
English.”
Comments on
the translated work show Kunene’s resourceful
thinking on how to convey linguistically foreign concepts in the target
language. My Child! My Child! was seen as an ambitious translation that not
only effectively bridges the gap between extremely dissimilar languages, races
and cultures in general, but also deftly revives a milieu of decades past for a
gratifying presentation to today’s diverse worldwide readership. The translated
work has an almost global reach in terms of bringing together both the nations
of the world and the different communities within the country of its origin.
The translator’s career and professional exploits tell a story of avid
pioneering and capable stewardship in the field of literary cross-cultural communication.
Daniel Kunene is Professor Emeritus
in the Department o f African Languages and Literature at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and
has an honorary DLitt et Phil degree
from the University
of South Africa. He is an
honorary lifetime member of ALASA (African Languages Association of Southern
Africa).
We
congratulate Prof. Kunene on this achievement.
FILM
FRIENDLY CAPE TOWN
ATTRACTS MAJOR INTERNATIONAL TV SERIES
By the Cape
Film Commission
A major TV series is set to start filming in Cape Town in the coming
year. This was confirmed by Denis
Lillie, the CEO of the Cape Film
Commission, who recently met with Africa HD producers, James Makawa (CEO) and
Kenny Christmas (COO), who are putting together Law & Order Cape Town. The
series, which will be shot on location, will follow the same theme as its
American and British counterparts.
According to Commissioner Denis Lillie: “Africa HD has secured the
format rights to a South African franchise of Law and Order. They intend to
start filming the first 12 part series in May of 2012. The series will be
entirely based in Cape Town
and will feature a South African cast. In addition, the majority of the crew
will be sourced locally. To facilitate this, the producers have partnered with
local production company DO Productions. The Cape Film Commission has promised
to give them hands-on assistance with securing locations, permits and any other
aspects to do with filming that they will require.”
The series, which will feature
street scenes of Cape Town,
presents a rare opportunity to showcase the City to watchers around the world:
“With its wide audience base, this show will tap directly into the homes
of potential tourists. In addition to tourism revenue, each of the twelve
episodes will generate around R3 million for the local economy, and create much
needed jobs in the film industry. The road closures and minor inconveniences
associated with the shoot will be offset multiple times by the gains that the
region will incur”, said Lillie.
Also, there is also the prospect
of spin off business from this new venture. Africa HD is planning a new global
satellite and cable channel which will be dedicated to African content in high
definition.
The Western Cape Government and
City of Cape Town,
which both fund the Cape Film Commission and view the sector as an important
catalyst for economic growth, have given their full support to the project.
Western Cape Minister of Economic
Development and Tourism, Alan
Winde, said: “This is a major
coup for our region which will create jobs for the local film industry, and
give a much needed boost to the region’s economy. We wish the producers all the
best, and commit to partner with the CFC in giving them full support with
anything that they may need.”
City Councillor for Economic
Development, Alderman Belinda
Walker, said the City would do its
part to assist the Cape Film Commission and the Producers to ensure that the
permitting process runs as smoothly as possible. Tourism, Events and Marketing
Councillor, Alderman Grant
Pascoe, added: “The City of Cape Town is fully behind this project, and we will ensure
that the producers experience Cape
Town as the film friendly city that it is. The
decision to film this series here in Cape Town
will strengthen Cape Town’s
brand both as a tourist- and film destination.”
While the
first series will be Cape Town based, we hear that it will be followed by a
local version of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” to be shot in Johannesburg
and surrounds. DO Productions have informed WGSA that they intend to start the
script development process with one head writer and 3 staff writers, who will
create episodes with a South African flavour while still conforming to the
format and formula of the original series.
As usual, WGSA will keep its members informed when the call for writers
on this prestigious series is put out.
ONLY
5 MILLION SET-TOP BOXES WILL BE SUBSIDIZED BY GOVERNMENT AS SA TV VIEWERS HAVE
TO SWITCH TO DIGITAL
By “TV with Thinus”
The Department of Communications announced on Monday 22 August that only 5
million set-top boxes (STBs) will be subsidized for poor families in the
switch-over from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT) in South
Africa, a process known as digital migration.
With only 5 million STBs that will be subsidized by
the South African government in a country where there’s many millions more TV
households, a new DTT crisis is clearly looming. It means that millions of TV
households will not be able to make the switch-over to DTT, or won’t want to,
or won’t do it fast enough because they won’t be able to afford it.
At a press conference in Sunninghill, the deputy
minister of communications Obed Bapela said adequate policies need to be put in
place to determine whether a TV household will quality for a STB subsidy.
Previously the government has stated that an amount of R780 million has been
allocated to subsidise STBs to help fund the cost of DTT receivers for
low-income families. The government previously said it will subsidise up to 70%
of the STB cost which is expected to be about R700 to R800 per STB.
So far the Department of Communications has failed
to say exactly how the subsidy process will work, whether new aerials/antennas
will be included in the subsidy, and have not yet started the process of
appointing manufacturers to even make the STBs, which the industry and
broadcasters actually want to be available by April 2012. It takes a minimum of
3 to 4 months to manufacture once specifications are approved.
WRITING
TIPS:
THE BUSINESS OF SCREENWRITING:
SURVIVING A SCRIPT NOTES MEETING
By Scott
Myers
Filmmaking, they say, is a
“collaborative” effort. To a screenwriter, what this effectively means
is that everybody gets to screw with your script. Of course, you know this
going in because you understand that “auteur” is French for “the
director gets to screw with your script in whatever goddammed way he wants.”
But there’s a whole lot of screwing with your
script that goes on before the commencement of principal photography. Most
notably – and painfully – in the form of script notes meetings.
A script notes meeting – or notes meeting as it’s
usually called – can be anything from a hellish experience to a gruesomely
hellish experience.
Okay, okay.
I’m being Mr. Negative.
[Takes deep breath]
The fact is that, yes… there are times when what
emerges in a notes meeting actually benefits the story. That can happen. I mean
the Mets have won the World Series twice, right?
Damn. I’m coming off as a bitter old fart. Let’s
try this again.
[Clears throat]
The script development process is a wonderful
opportunity to dig into a story, bring the attention of the best and brightest
minds in Hollywood
upon it, surfacing all of its hidden mysteries and deepest secrets, enabling
the True Script, the screenplay qua screenplay to emerge into the light of day.
[Downs shot of Jack Daniels]
The truth lies somewhere in between.
There are many sorts of notes meetings. Notes
meetings with directors. With talent. With producers. Here is what to expect in
a typical notes meeting with a studio executive:
* You show up at the studio.
* You sip flat water while waiting for the meeting
to begin.
* You nervously fan the pages of your script hoping
against hope they won’t have many notes.
* You enter the exec’s office and your sphincter
tightens as you see your script on their desk, bulging with dog-eared pages.
It’s going to be a long meeting.
* You schmooze for five minutes while a symbolic
anvil hangs over your head.
* Then you, the exec, junior exec, and usually some
unnamed person who sits taking copious notes, start in on the script.
* Page by dog-eared page, they provide their
comments. These comments may include the following:
“The Protagonist could be more sympathetic in
the setup, don’t you think?”
“This scene is supposed to be funny,
right?”
“That thing with the thing here? I don’t get
it.”
“I know it’s a key part of the plot, but does
it really have to be a funeral? What about a wedding?”
“I’m still not feeling much sympathy for the
Protagonist. Maybe give him a pet… a dog… a rescue dog… a rescue dog with
three legs.”
“I let my girlfriend read the script and she
thinks this would be a great idea…”
“What’s this? A payoff? Where was the setup?
Oh, page 5. Page 12. And page 35. I missed that. You should… make that bigger
or something.”
“Yeah, this scene… can you make it thirty
percent funnier?”
“… …. …. …. uh…”
“The Protagonist… I’m still not feeling
sympathy for him. How about giving him a dead wife? I mean a dead wife, that’s
like totally sympathetic, right?”
“Sorry, I gotta take this call.”
“… … … … …”
“Okay, where were we?”
“This feels slow. In fact, this whole, you
know… last… whatever… since that… you know… the thing back there…
it just feels like… you know what I mean.”
“I’ll tell you what this needs. Funny lines.
Something teenagers who see it on Friday will be saying on Monday morning in
school. Can you come up with some of those?”
“How about a rescue dog and a dead wife?”
And on and on and on it goes.
Look… sometimes it’s that bad. Sometimes it’s
worse. Sometimes it’s better. Script notes meeting are a given, a fact of life
for every screenwriter on every project.
How to survive notes meetings?
1: Go in expecting the worse. That way if it’s a
really bad meeting, you are prepared for it. If it’s a not so bad meeting, you
feel like the king of the world.
2: Pay attention to body language. If they’re
leaning forward, slamming their fist on their desk, and staring you in the eye,
they’re probably serious about that note. If on the other hand, they’re leaning
back, gazing at the ceiling, and checking the stock market quotes on CNBC,
there’s a good chance you can just avoid dealing with that point because it’s
likely they’ll forget about it anyway.
3: If they come up with a good idea or something
that will be easy to fix, make sure to give them a hearty, “That’s a
terrific idea.” They love to have their creative instincts validated.
4: Understand that a lot of notes arise from the
fact that development people need to justify their jobs. So they come up with
stuff just to come up with stuff. That doesn’t mean they’re right, it just
means you have to deal with them.
5: Pick your battles wisely. In theory at least,
they know writers understand story better than they do. So before you go into a
notes meeting, decide what aspects of your script are really important to you,
the ones you absolutely are willing to fight for. The other stuff? As the man
says, “There is always another way”.
6: Don’t take it personally. It’s a job. Be a
professional. Handle it.
7: Don’t ever pay attention to any note that arises
from someone’s girlfriend or boyfriend. Chances are almost 100% that by the
time you make those changes and return for your next notes meeting, the person
you’re dealing with will have broken up with said GF or BF.
8: Learn to smile, nod your head, and look like
you’re taking notes. Appearances are important.
9: Embrace this simple fact: If everybody can screw
with your script, then there’s no such thing as a perfect script experience.
And if there’s no such thing as a perfect script experience, then you don’t
have to worry about your story being… you know… perfect. So you do the best
you can.
10: Jack
Daniels.
Next week: Let’s do lunch!
About Scott Myers
Since selling his spec script K-9 in 1987, Scott has written nearly 30 projects for every major Hollywood studio and broadcast network. His film writing
credits include K-9 starring Jim Belushi, Alaska
starring Vincent
Kartheisher, and Trojan War
starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. In 2002, he began teaching screenwriting in his
spare time. He won the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program Outstanding Instructor
Award in 2005 and currently teaches at the University
of North Carolina in Chapel
Hill. From 2002-2010, Scott
was an executive producer at Trailblazer Studios, a television production
company. He is co-founder of Screenwriting Master Class, a unique online
resource for writers. Scott is a
member of the Writers’ Guild of America, West, and a graduate of the University of Virginia
and Yale University Divinity
School.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The
WGSA is selling branded T-Shirts at R100.00 each.
Now
also available in Cape Town!
Place
your order now!
admin@writersguildsa.org
|
WGSA has some DVD’s –
including South African productions – and some awesome books, available to
WGSA members only
Contact
admin@writersguildsa.org if
you want a list of the books and DVD’s available or visit the office in Linden
|
THE LAST LAUGH
1 The sport of choice for the urban poor is SOCCER.
2 The sport of choice for maintenance level employees
is RUGBY.
3 The sport of choice for front-line workers is ten-pin BOWLING.
4 The sport of choice for supervisors is CRICKET.
5 The sport of choice for middle management is TENNIS.
And….
6 The sport of choice for corporate executives and officers is GOLF.
THE AMAZING CONCLUSION:
The higher you go in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls
become. There must be thousands of people in Government playing marbles!
AND IF SOMEONE STEALS
YOUR KODAK MOMENT…
Don’t take it – or life – too seriously…
No one makes it out alive anyway!
(With thanks
to Oliver Kohl in CT)
Compiled and edited by Harriet Meier for the WGSA
Communications and Relations
Programme
WGSA NEWS reported by Thea Aboud
Posted on 7/25/2011 at 10:33:26 PM
(by Nico Steyn)
Some movies just don’t work out for me in the cinema. You know, the type where you feel like hurling popcorn at the screen, because of the filmmaker’s disrespect for any kind of audience sitting out there in the dark. A lot of those movies land up on the in-flight entertainment list on airlines, and they do come in handy when you need to plug an hour or two of screensaver during a ten-hour flight. These are movies to fly by…
I was recently on such a flight to India and it took only one look at the poster and blurb of The Adjustment Agency to know that I’ve seen it all before. The tagline reads: “Fight for your Fate”, and they’re not kidding. Hollywood is in trouble. With no popcorn to hurl at the screen, I settled in with some roasted nuts and a strong drink and gave it my best shot.
The movie stars Matt Damon and Emily Blunt, who both fought bravely too. But I’m not sure that it was enough. There are men in hats and lots of doors that remind me of a an off-broadway comedy I once saw, with constant slamming and running. The themes are all too familiar, and being a love story, we know how it must end. So there are few surprises, none pleasant.
You see, I don’t understand why Hollywood keeps making the same movies over and over again. I understand that it is a safer bet to go with something the audience would recognize. It is even more bankable if they buy into a genre or a strong theme. But I can’t imagine that this particular theme of “No fate but what we make” (Terminator), “Welcome to the Real World (Matrix), “You are not who you think you are!” (Dark City) or “Question reality” (The Thirteenth Floor) not having been exhausted by now. So if you’re going to go there, it had better have a new angle.
I fear that audiences are going to tune out in the biggest way, when movie plots and themes will eventually become all too ordinary. What happens when they start treating features like the throw-away medium of TV. I always flash back to the matinee audiences, who could only be described as “present” during the Lord of the Rings series. You’re not really IN the movie if you’re talking, sending text messages or going out to buy popcorn, are you?
And it is happening in movies these days: Huge tune-out begins to take place more and more in between the thin pots, recognizable themes, repeated special effects and extra long bits of unnecessary exposition.
But before I get readers to tune out too, I am going to close by saying that I try hard not to be a grumpy movie goer. In fact, I find my inspiration in these movies to fly by! After all, where else do you get to pause, replay or occasionally skip through large parts of irrelevant plot while you learn how not to do it..?
Posted on 7/18/2011 at 9:10:37 AM
(by Nico Steyn)
I wanted to begin by telling you that I really love movies! They have always been an enormous part of my life and I’ve wanted to make movies ever since that first time I sat watching the late night re-run of King Kong (1933) with Fay Wray. But even though there is no thrill bigger than watching a movie on the big screen, I have found that some of those simply do not deserve a chance in cinema. Moreover, I feel cheated by some of those filmmakers who manage to get me to part with some sixty bucks, only to find that their product just doesn’t live up to the expectation of the poster campaign!
Now, over the years I have developed a kind of Movie-Radar, which comes in handy (and I am often surprised by the accuracy of these instincts) to rather spool through some movies on DVD and enjoy my popcorn at home. Then there is another category of movie which doesn’t even deserve the chance of a DVD hire, as far as I am concerned. These are the ones I fly by!
You see, movies to fly by are part of the package of one of the most excruciating aspects of travel. I’ve never really enjoyed flying. The seats are uncomfortable. The food is simply awful. And I usually end up next to some or other despicable passenger with little regard for my space or my privacy. But it is a necessary evil for the kind of work I sometimes do and I get to enjoy seeing the most amazing places in the world.
Recently I was off to India. After I quick scan of the in-flight entertainment guide, it was clear that Hollywood is in trouble. There was a movie about a guy who takes drugs to improve his mind power – at the risk of great danger. Doesn’t sound like a plot. Then there was a kind of matrix cross-over about a guy who bumps into men with hats and coats who are the mafia of some type of alternative reality and they adjust events that will guide the lives of unsuspecting humans. Sounds all too familiar. By this time the man beside me was already snoring loudly and making strange fidgeting moves with his hands. Very disturbing…
Now, the flight to Mumbai is roughly 8 hours and that meant that I needed to find at least four movies to help me make it through the night! I was in trouble.
“Sucker Punch“, by Zack Snyder of 300-fame, makes you think that the cinematic genius and storytelling of that movie, was pot-luck! I mean, I simply LOVED 300. What was he thinking when he made this movie?
It is the banal story of a girl who lands up in an asylum of sorts after the death of her mother, when what seems like an evil stepfather, becomes disgruntle when he was overlooked in the will to becoming the next owner of a tiny shack of a house that would have made Norman Bates feel right at home. So there is little motivation when he kills the younger sister and blames the older sister, whose name is Baby Doll (honestly) and then delivers her to the institution for the inevitable frontal lobotomy. I’m sure he will end up not having one happy day in that house, since I think the roof already started leaking during the opening sequence for good visual effect. So good luck with that…
From there, the plot spirals down faster than any in-flight service I’ve seen and pretty soon the movie flashes from fantasy scene to fantasy scene as Baby Doll escapes her reality and it leaves one wondering how anyone got to pitch this to an investor.
My fears were confirmed when I visited the IMDB site this morning. The film cost more than $82 million to make and it has only grossed some $36 million thus far. I am sure the investors live in hope.
I am startled at the kind of movies that get a green light, and wonder if these very left-field “fly-by” projects don’t do much more damage to the market than anyone cares to consider. Understandably, “safe” means one has a better chance to recoup your money (The Adjustment Bureau, Limitless) while “out-there” (Inception) could be far more lucrative albeit risky if you get all the ingredients right. But so few get it right.
In the long run, the risk of producing “fly-by” movies might just make the fantastic experience of taking it all in on a big screen, a constant let down for audiences. There simply has to be more than spectacular visual effects or a loud soundtrack. I’m flashing back to the matinee premiere of the third “Lord of the Rings“, when I watched young audiences buying popcorn, sending SMSes and even talking through the boring parts of the movie. Is that just how it is going to be, or is it up to aspiring new filmmakers to make sure they engage with audiences again?
In the end I sighed, flipped to the music section and sunk back into my seat; listening to a wonderful new Diana Krall album (Quiet Nights, 2009). The song was “Too Marvelous for Words“, as my thoughts drifted off into uncomfortable slumberland, with fidgeting from the passenger beside me and an exciting new plot began to take shape in my mind. No special effects; simply good plot…
Posted on 7/17/2011 at 8:52:43 PM
The more I have to do with people, the more I love animals. There. I’ve said it. I also have to add that in the creative worlds of theatre, film and television, there are more backstabbers and thieves than there are on any dodgy street corner in Hillbrow. At midnight. On New Year’s Eve.
So for my first rant I’ve decided to tell you why I’m P-I-S-S-E-D off. Today I’ll focus on the P in pissed.
P: is for the phrase “Pushy woman.” This phrase is often used when referring to women who know what they want to do with their lives and who set out to get it done. Just recently I was told to interview a woman about the incredible work she’s done as part of an international organisation which goes into war zones to provide relief to victims. The editor told me that I had to beware as she was a “pushy woman.” It may surprise you to read that the editor herself is a woman and this isn’t the first time she’d used that term when describing another women. Once before she’d talked about someone who’d single-handedly started an organisation to care for children in need. It’s grown into an international body which now cares for millions of children affected by HIV-Aids. Now if you’re going to succeed at something as far-reaching as that, you sure as hell have to be pushy.
In our country, there are a few strong independent female filmmakers whom I’ve heard referred to as “pushy women” many times. In my own capacity as a film writer and producer, I’ve had middle-aged male directors telling me that they couldn’t understand why I was so concerned with making films. Surely I should be content to stay at home and knit booties for my future grandchildren? Usually I’m so gobsmacked by their utterances that I leave meetings in a daze and later work out the crushing things I should have said to these misogynists. Unfortunately, this category can be applied to both men and women.
I think Meryl Streep, one of my icons, said it best. When she thought about the outrage the behaviour of her character in The Devil Wears Prada provoked, she considered what would happen if the same words were put into the mouth of a middle aged, charismatic man such as Donald Trump for example. No one would’ve thought twice about his aggressive behaviour. He would have been admired as assertive and held up as an example of efficient business practice. The film The Devil Wears Prada demonised a fictional version of Anna Wintour, the legendary editor of Vogue, because she was as ruthless and determined in business as her male counterparts. Streep called this “the silent misogyny in the film world.”
So if you’re a woman who plans to make her ideas become reality, be prepared to hear the phrase “pushy woman” many, many times.
Meryl Streep said it first.
Next week: I is for Intellectual Property.
“Hollywood is a showman’s paradise. But showmen make nothing; they exploit what someone else has made. The publisher and the play producer are showmen too; but they exploit what is already made. The showmen of Hollywood control the making – and thereby degrade it. For the basic art of motion pictures is the screenplay; it is fundamental, without it there is nothing. Everything derives from the screenplay, and most of that which derives is an applied skill which, however adept, is artistically not in the same class with the creation of a screenplay. But in Hollywood the screenplay in written by a salaried writer under the supervision of a producer – that is to say, by an employee without power or decision over the uses of his own craft, without ownership of it, and, however extravagantly paid, almost without honor for it.” Raymond Chandler – http://www.openculture.com/2011/07/raymond_chandler_theres_no_art_of_the_screenplay_in_hollywood.html
Posted on 7/10/2011 at 10:48:25 AM
Greetings fellow scribes! Guess who’s back?! And yes, this time I will be sticking around so wipe the cynicism off your damn faces and pay attention! This time round, a panel of 5 (or is it six? Natasje?) will be running the blog together so there’ll be lots to debate, discuss and dismiss (if you want to be that way) so start swinging by again like you did in the good old days. There’ll be waffles and wombats for everyone! Promise!
Posted on 7/10/2011 at 10:32:32 AM
The very model of a manic modern (tongue-in-cheek) writer!
I am the very model of a manic, modern writer, y’all
I dabble hard and fast in prose, in dialogue emotional
In frothy soap, in sitcom or in drama educational…
I write all night, no end in sight and hope it’s inspirational!
To pay the bills with proper nouns and adjectives and all the rest
Sounds quite the treat but truthfully it’s treacherous terrain at best
You’d better have the stomach for the solitude and self-doubt, lest…
Your editor’s post-mortem comes back so much less than unimpressed!
Inspired yet embittered by Miss Rowling and that Danny Brown
A novel was attempted but my demons ran me out of town
I dabbled hard and fast in prose and tried for intellectual…
But wound up doubting I’m the manic, modern, writer man at all!
I told myself it’s not my fault, South Africa has failed me, right?
Apartheid came and went but still it’s propaganda’s burning bright
The censors bray for sentiment and sycophantic stereotype…
Oblivious to the fact that filmic fiction isn’t black and white!
Producers fret at new ideas then bolt politely for the hills
Think smart and pitch a good cliche, and they’ll invest their dollar bills
Not too smart though, think IN the box, resist that urge to flaunt your skills
Write glamour, glitz and gogo girls in favour of society’s ills…
You’ll coin it big, I guarantee, who cares if you can’t sleep at night?
Just focus on the paycheck man, it’s way more fun than wrong and right
Leave dabbling hard and fast in prose to suckers with integrity
And get out there and buy yourself that HD LCD TV!
Ryan Yamba 10/07/11
I am the very model of a manic, modern writer, y’all
I dabble hard and fast in prose, in dialogue emotional
In frothy soap, in sitcom or in drama educational…
I write all night, no end in sight and hope it’s inspirational!
***
To pay the bills with proper nouns and adjectives and all the rest
Sounds quite the treat but truthfully it’s treacherous terrain at best
You’d better have the stomach for the solitude and self-doubt, lest…
Your editor’s post-mortem comes back so much less than unimpressed!
***
Inspired yet embittered by Miss Rowling and that Danny Brown
A novel was attempted but my demons ran me out of town
I dabbled hard and fast in prose and tried for intellectual…
But wound up doubting I was manic, modern, writer man at all!
***
I told myself it’s not my fault, South Africa has failed me, right?
Apartheid came and went but still its propaganda’s burning bright
The censors bray for sentiment and sycophantic stereotype…
Oblivious to the fact that filmic fiction isn’t black and white!
***
Producers fret at new ideas then bolt politely for the hills
Think smart and pitch a good cliche, and they’ll invest their dollar bills
Not too smart though, think IN the box, resist that urge to flaunt your skills
Write glamour, glitz and gogo girls in favour of society’s ills…
***
You’ll coin it big, I guarantee, who cares if you can’t sleep at night?
Just focus on the paycheck, see? It’s way more fun than wrong and right
Leave dabbling hard and fast in prose to suckers with integrity…
And get out there and buy yourself that HD LCD TV!
Ryan Yamba 10/07/11
Posted on 10/26/2009 at 3:26:41 PM
Katleho “Katt” Ramaphakela
Most educators or literary works on the screenwriting art will be quick to tell you that a film-producer is sure to be easily blown away by a “High-Concept” idea. After all, this is in itself “larger than life” and a proven money spinner. But as far as exceptions to all rules go, I can safely come to the conclusion that South Africa is that broken law…
But is this a disillusioned predisposition on my part, living in a country with such vast stories waiting to be unleashed to the global community, or should I be content with the proven, simple fact, that “numbers don’t lie!” Truth is, I don’t even consider myself much of a writer; I guess I’m that good an actor that I’ve managed to convince so many that I can string a couple of sentences on paper. So who am I to even think I can comprehend the meaning of the term “High-Concept?”
I’m currently attempting my 3rd “unfinished” screenplay (and this time I’m striving towards a completed draft *cough-cough*). Yet even after all this “vast experience” *cough-cough* (must have something in my throat), I’m still trying to come to terms with this whole idea of “high-concept” in a South African story…
My impasse is what I call “The District 9 Dilemma.” You see, Neill Blomkamp (the-now-acclaimed-creator of this film-phenom, District 9) has managed to successfully set the global film-world alight with this South African based Science-Fiction tale; with the absence of a glorified American actor, yielding a butchered South African accent. Let’s face it, a story about a group of aliens whose spaceship gets stuck in Johannesburg and the consequences emanating from separating these creatures from humans, is as warped and as “high-concept” as you’re going to get, right?
So from this example, the sheer understanding of “High-Concept” should be quite lucid shouldn’t it? But let’s for one second, imagine that I, Katleho, aspirant writer and filmmaker, had approached every financing institution with this very same “larger-than-life” concept, of high-budget CGI and action sequences. With my relatively unknown producer in tow, the very first question a financier would want to know is: “How much is making this script gonna cost me son?” Now, not even my most deserving attempt at a Best Actor Oscar would help me pull off the line, “$30 million sir!” (Did you notice the dollar sign in front of the “30”? And that’s good-ol’-American greenback. Not to be confused with that printed by a neighbouring Reserve Bank).
Reality strikes! Unless you introduce yourself as a writer with the last name Cohen, or you’re backed by someone else whose last name happens to be Spielberg, Bruckheimer or Jackson (you get the drift) then this “High-Concept” script of yours will probably be in development “indefinitely.” You can then forget about the $30 bar South African script dream! But this is where Mr Blomkamp played his aces, with the right surname up his sleeve; his producer was little-known *cough-cough* (I really need to get this thing checked out) Peter Jackson!
Without discrediting Neil’s extraordinary achievement in the least, I think his accolades should go to the fact that he managed to turn a Hollywood Movie into a South African concept and not necessarily the other way around. (Yes, yes, I am fully aware that the film was based on his short, which was made in South Africa pre-Hollywood/Canada migration, but what qualifies it as a Hollywood film and not a South African one is that “$30 million pricetag”). If anything, this is where our lesson should be learnt from. In fact, this should be the starting point, and most of the time is, for all screenwriting lectures: Who are you writing the film for? If you’re writing this film for South African audiences, then I would think one would need to tread carefully around the “High-Concept” dance floor, but if you’re aiming to make millions internationally, then by all means be as wild and wacky as your keyboard’s desire (bearing in mind which surname you wish to have in your pack of cards).
A case in point: If Disctrict 9 was made for South African audiences, then it would most definitely go down in history as the biggest squander of Tito Mboweni signed papers on a film (and probably on any investment for that matter). As I said before, “numbers don’t lie.” Now, I’m not delusional to the fact that the film may be construed to be churning good figures at the South African Box office, having taken over R2 million in its first weekend and tallied over R4.5 million by the second weekend. But then again, when we do the maths, what are these figures (these Rand figures, I might add) being compared to? Ah! Off course! It’s recent South African hits like Tsotsi and White Wedding, which were made for about a minuscule fraction of the District 9 Budget! Or perhaps the Mr Bones sequel, which made more than District 9 in the same period on a reportedly mere 10% of this budget right?… Yes. By this stage of your film’s cycle, your financier is surely patting you on the back for the return on his investment (or perhaps his 200kg-weighing henchmen have been sent to do the patting for him).
In Hollywood, Neill Blomkamp may, after this phenomenon, be the most sought-after Director by film-studios, with his ability to recoup money on a fairly low-budget film (in Hollywood terms), within the first weekend of release. However, if this film had opened in South African theatres alone, with overseas territories only secondary to South Africa, Mr Blomkamp might have found himself on the wrong end of a producer’s favourite cliché: “You’ll never work in this town again!”
I’ll be the first to admit that the aforementioned South African flicks are far from being “high-concept” ideas. Let’s see: A small-time gangster hi-jacks a car, only to find an infant in the backseat; Two best friends take a road trip to the one’s wedding and lastly, a White Sangoma… (Well, I haven’t actually seen Mr Bones 2 to know what it’s about but I’m sure it’s not as High-Concept as I think). For the sake of transparency though, I will disclose that I saw the first one. So then what does “High-Concept” mean for a South African Film, because District 9 would suggest that I can go as wild as I want to, whereas the producers would tell me that I’ve lost my marbles…
Perhaps then, we shouldn’t be talking about “High-Concept” stories in a South African context and rather learn from simple ideas that films such as Tsotsi and White Wedding have taught us… Damn! I just realised that if that’s true, then I guess I’ll be moving on to my 4th “Unfinished” Screenplay. But then again, I’m not offering a solution really; just posing the question. Hopefully, the answer, whatever it is (Hey! I’m no guru! I’m not even a writer!) shall help South African screenwriters write films that eventually create a profitable film industry, without a film needing the South African surname Schuster to make sure that it earns its money back…
Peace, Luv and Nappiness,
“I am not a writer!” – Katt