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Vol. 4, Ed. 5 - Spring is here and the market place is finally gearing back up. That being said, selling specs is tougher these days are a little tougher than it used to be. The focus is less on spec deals and more on writing assignments. That means this spring you have to be more on top of your craft than ever! Join us this month as we take another look at the screenwriting industry's ins and outs! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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MARCH 1 - JUNE 30, 2005
MORE THAN JUST MONEY!
ScriptShark KNOWS talent discovery |
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JOHN WELLS Having achieved his greatest success to date developing and nursing series on the small screen, John Wells could seemingly be described as a "TV producer". But his previous accomplishments in a wide variety of media and his ever-broadening slate of projects has made him difficult to pigeonhole. Certainly his academic training and professional experience prepared him to be a jack of all possible trades in the entertainment industry. As a young man he worked as a "roadie" for the likes of Elton John, Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles and he served the Denver County Dinner Playhouse in a capacity he had always aspired to fill, that of stage manager. Wells' later experience, in retrospect, is a very wide extension of that early ambition. After completing a BFA at Carnegie-Mellon in production design, Wells went through the university's MFA program in directing. Desiring to carry his arts education still further, he enrolled in the Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program at USC and received a second MFA in cinema and business law. During this time, Wells worked in marketing and advertising for Paramount Pictures on such productions as "Reds", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "S.O.B." and "Ragtime" (all 1981) and "One from the Heart" (1982). He also kept active in the theater, producing a number of acclaimed stage productions in L.A., including "Tanzi", "Battery", "Balm in Gilead" and "Steaming". Wells also took an initial stab at feature film producing with the minor yet sometimes engaging, if silly "Nice Girls Don't Explode" (1987). 1987 also marked a breakthrough for Wells into the medium which would gain him the most prominence: several scripts he wrote for the CBS comedy-drama series "Shell Game" were realized. Soon thereafter, he served as executive story editor for the short-term ABC series "Just in Time" (1988) before his first major success in TV with "China Beach" (ABC, 1989-91). Joining the series midway through its run, Wells helped the Vietnam-set drama garner considerable critical acclaim (if not huge ratings). His technical and managerial expertise and sympathy for actors helped him maintain the complex storylines and gritty, detailed realism he has increasingly favored in his work. He set up a production company, John Wells & Friends, which co-produced with Warners TV, his follow-up series, the intriguing and hard-hitting detective saga "Angel Street" (CBS, 1992), but it only lasted for three episodes. Juggling many irons, though, Wells also first ventured into TV-movies with "The Nightman" (NBC, 1992), which he co-executive produced and co-wrote. Wells' interest in TV and screenwriting would grow through the 90s, gradually combining with his increasing success as a TV producer. He achieved great success with both viewers and critics with his next series, "ER" (NBC, 1994- ), an involving hospital saga which gained considerable respect for its medical detail, its tapestry of complex characters and its avoidance of sugar-coating. "ER" was a hit from the start and in 1995 Wells signed a deal with NBC to develop five more series for the network After some years away from the cinema, Wells also stretched his time and talents back to one of the few media he had not really conquered. His screenplay biography of one the twentieth century's most remarkable social activists "Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story" (1996) was produced, but the results were unfortunately little seen. Wells did, however, nail a production deal with DreamWorks SKG around that time, and he also set in motion several projects in development with Warners and Fox. Having worked together with director Mimi Leder on "China Beach" and "ER", the two again collaborated when he served as one of the executive producers of Leder's "The Peacemaker" (1997), starring George Clooney (of "ER" fame) and Nicole Kidman. Wells and Leder teamed up again at DreamWorks as she filmed his screenplay for "Deep Impact" (1998). All data from Baseline-StudioSystems. For more information on writers, directors, actors, and producers, please visit BaselineFT. |
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=============================================== If you seek financing, sales, completion funding, An essential networking opportunity, it attracts Comprised of more than a thousand targeted pitch IFP Market's track record as an "incubator" of =============================================== Cash & awards (including two $5000 awards for -Emerging Narrative: Feature-length Scripts, -Spotlight on Documentaries: Shorts, features, -No Borders International Co-Production Market: =============================================== May 2 May 16 June 3 =============================================== -Submission: $40-$50 =============================================== -September 18-23, New York City |
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QUERY LETTER EDUCATION Looking for great sarcasm in the screenwriting industry? Well, ladies and gentlemen, that is exactly what the wonderfully sardonic "Query Letters I Love" blog provides. A very simple site, two bloggers, under the veiled identities of "Manager Guy" and "Empress" take actual query letters and post them for people to view. Allowing anyone to view the different sales pitches of so many aspiring writers, this technique tends to create a true dissidence while engaging with it - the letters are funny... but often sad. After the letter is up for members to view, the comments follow. Like the old guys in the balcony on the "The Muppet Show", one-liners, opinions, and brutal analyses tear into the author's sales pitches. While they often take aim at the story idea, most of the comments focus on the letter itself. Was there style? How well did they sell the script to the exec? How could someone who wrote that letter deliver a good script? With so many scripts in the market place and so many writers aiming to break in, queries have become a way of life. And like the screenplay that defines the content behind them, the variety and style of pitches can be overwhelming. Additionally, the few paragraphs taken from the letter may not always be contextually correct. But does it matter? The excerpts are funny. Even so, like all comedy, the humor lies in the ritual. But not all query letters make for great comedy. As if they were their own piece of art, some are written with grace and style. They deliver central story and character ideas concisely, and genuinely intrigue the reader - ultimately leading to a request of the material. But like all art, some of it misses, and that's where this web site takes aim. Are these queries truly representative of the material they are pitching? Guess you'd have to request the script to find out. But maybe the more important question is: Is your query letter listed? You can check out "Query Letters I Love" at: http://queryletters.blogspot.com |
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NASHVILLE SCREENWRITING CONFERENCE
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Television Crossover is becoming more and more popular with screenwriters who have hit it big in the feature market. With more creative control and much more money to be made, creating and show-running a television show is in vogue. Additionally, alternative outlets such as HBO and Showtime allow for some genre-bending that's otherwise hard to come by on the networks. Below are a few of the biggest writers to cross over from a successful screenwriting career and break open the episodic landscape.
All data from Baseline-StudioSystems. For more information on writers, directors, actors, and producers, please visit BaselineFT. |
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The entertainment industry's ultimate searchable archive of intellectual property. With thousands of professionals using Baseline for their daily business needs, the stage is set for The Spec Market to become the most important new talent discovery system available to writers.
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