Summer Production Script Workshop!

The results are in from the voting and there were ties for first and second, so we will actually be works hopping 4 scripts at this next meeting and voting again to pick one of those.

These scripts are:

Alex Thomas's "Chicken & Frittata"

Iris Blackburn's "Untitled / MockTrial"

Malina Panovich's "Cream Dreams"

Sarah Gonzalez's "Saturday Afternoon"

We will be reading and workshopping these four scripts and then have a live voting to pick the winning script. If you'd like to have vote and be apart of picking the script, come to this meeting.

Enjoy screenwriting?

Want to make a fully funded short film with us this summer?

Want to hear some humorously bad attempts at Spanish accents?

Either way, come to our Final Four Script Workshop this Thursday at 7pm, so you can watch your fellow members read aloud 4 awesome scripts, throw around some feedback and ultimately vote on which of these super scripts we will turn into a short film this summer!

Thursday, March 29, 2012

7:00pm until 10:00pm

Location: CMA 3.124

Screenwriter/Producer Suzanne Weinert will be in attendance to give her expert advice.

At the end of the meeting, all those in attendance will vote via ballot on their favorite script. to pick the winning script.

You have to be a member to vote...and to work on the summer production.

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SUZANNE WEINERT is a screenwriter/producer who previously served as Vice President of Julia Roberts’ New York film production company, Shoelace Productions, where she participated in the development and production of more than 25 projects, including Erin Brockovich by Susannah Grant and Gigi LeVange’s Step Mom, and produced the award-winning wildlife documentaries, Nature Series: Wild Horses of Mongolia for the Nature Channel and Orangutans of Borneo for PBS, as well as the award- winning short film The Call Back starring Sam Rockwell. Prior to that, she interned with director Ron Howard during the production of The Paper starring Michael Keaton, Glenn Close, Robert Duvall and Marisa Tomei. Recent screenplays include rewriting Shrinking Violet for Revolution Studios; Road Stories, directed by Steven Seebring and starring Johnny Messner; and Good to the Last Drop, a finalist for Best Comedy at the Austin Film Festival. Her most recent writing/producing project is the dark comedy Ex-terminators, starring Heather Graham, Jennifer Coolidge and Amber Heard, which had its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in 2009. It is currently available on DVD and Video on Demand. She also recently completed producing a Western, The Legends of Hell’s Gate, starring Eric Balfour, Henry Thomas, Jenna Dewan, Summer Glau, Robert Buckley and Lou Taylor Pucci. In Spring 2011 she will produce One in A Million Hero, a drama set in the world of NASCAR. Ms. Weinert holds an M.F.A. from the School of the Arts, Columbia University; a Graduate Certificate from The Writing Program, Columbia University and a B.A. in Writing from Columbia University. She is a Professor of Advanced Screenwriting at the School of Visual Arts and Fordham University, both in NYC.

Chicken and Frittata: A divorced couple introduce their new significant others at their 'multi-ethnic' dinner party.

Cream Dreams: A man and woman meet for a first date at a yogurt shop but can only keep thinking of what the other is like sexually based on their yogurt selections.

Sunday Afternoon: As a couple gets lost on their way to a wedding in a lower middle-class neighbor, they accidentally run over a family's dog, in front of the children who were playing. As the family and the couple fight over who's to blame, it becomes clear that there are no innocent parties in this situation.

Untitled : In a world where personal property is not respected, one girl/woman/whatever you want them to be, will stand against tyranny to bring forth justice! Little does she know, her actions will destroy life as she and her roommates know it.

RAD "Where Are They Now" Panel RECAP

Our UT Grad guests at last weeks "Where Are They Now" panel were quite an inspiring lot. None have been out in the "reel world" for more than 5 years, but they've all got major professional accomplishments under their belt and they had great advice to share with us anxious soon-to-be graduates.

One major theme that came out of their conversation was the importance of persistence, casting a wide net and going above and beyond what is asked of you. When production designer Ashlyn Fielder met someone she wanted to work for he told her, "keep emailing me, it's not going to bug me" - so she did and ultimately she got an internship on his feature and then got consistently hired by the featuere's production designer on all her subsequent projects. Editor Robin Schwartz said her first paid film job also came out of an internship: "I would show up and stay way later than I was supposed to and I would work on the weekends - which I still do - and he eventually hired me." Similarly: "anything that came my way I said 'sure!'- free, paid - 'I'll do it!,' said Producer/Director Carlyn Hudson (and Women in Cinema co-founder).

When asked what they wished they had known as a student, many of the paragon panelists encouraged us to take advantage of the free equipment (and labor) that is more readily available.
In terms of the value of Film Graduate School Robin wisely put it: "I don't think it matters whether your an undergrad or grad student in film, you can get the same benefits from both as long as you know what you want to do." As for most important thing she learned at school, Carlyn quoted our fearless faculty advisor Kat Candler as teaching her to "be nice, work your ass off and don't sit down."

And the power of the student-teacher legacy was echoed throughout the evening. Screenwriter and elementary school teacher Alex Thomas recommended finding work through your professors who are active filmmakers. DP/AC Kate Steinhebel stressed the importance of "keeping in touch with everyone you can" and "giving back" to the next generation. Alex is doing just this as she passes on her love of film to her students and introduces them to local film as much as possible.

A poignant closing message for filmmakers of all ages and at all stages was Carlyn's perspective on ambition: "so I shoot for the moon and I make it to the stars, that's pretty great."