Some New Resources and Pre-Expo Round-Up

I've got a lot of great information for you about Screenwriting Expo this weekend.

First, whether you are going to be at Expo or not -- I would like to invite you to sign up for:

Our new Million Dollar Screenwriting & Content Career: Daily Dialogue which offers you a daily screenwriting resource tip that you may want to investigate further. www.creativecvg.com/connect.php

Our new Your Signature Story Quote of the Day from notable artists, authors and thought leaders designed to keep you inspired on your journey as a writer and content creator. www.creativecvg.com/connect.php

We're finally getting our new Your Signature Story membersite site up. It's still in Beta but you are officially welcome to come check it out at http://www.yoursignaturestory.com/ and set up your user profile so that you can connect with other writers and content creators in the community.

Plus, our friends at the San Francisco Writers Conference are hosting a teleseminar with our client and colleague Chris Soth of Million Dollar Screenwriting (see full bio below in Expo info) on Wednesday, November 19th at 5:30PM Pacific / 8:30PM Eastern. He'll be talking about what it takes to write compelling and cinematic stories. Feel free to share this with any of your screenwriter or fiction writer friends. You can register at http://www.sfwriters.org/ask4/index.php.

And -- if you're going to be at SCREENWRITING EXPO this weekend we'd love to connect with you in person.

I'll most likely be at the party of Thursday night, at the Expo on Friday for part of the day.

I'll be teaching:

Million Dollar Screenwriting Career: Picture the Deal on Saturday at 11AM

My colleague Brad Kushner will be on an Agents & Managers Panel on Saturday at 4PM.

Since I'm a huge fan of Heroes, I'll probably go check out the Heroes panel on Saturday at 6PM and I'll be at the party on Saturday night and back for a get together with Chris Soth, his mentees and my Million Dollar Screenwriting & Content Career alum on Sunday night.

I also suggest going to learn from some of our friends and colleagues including:
Pilar Alessandra: the director of the popular writing program 'On the Page' http://www.onthepage.tv/. Her screenwriting podcasts - with guests from within the industry - regularly appear in the film and TV top 100.

She'll be teaching:

Pitch in a Minute on Friday at 9AM

Beyond the Chick Flick -- Writing The Female Driven Screenplay on Friday at 11AM

Surviving Rewrite Hell on Friday at 2PM

Dynamic Dialogue on Friday at 4PM

Behind Their Eyes -- Creating Memorable Characters on Sunday at 9AM

Genre Tricks & Trends on Sunday at 11AM

You Had Me at Page One on Sunday at 2PM

Ellen Sandler: an Emmy nominated television writer/producer. She was Co-Executive Producer of the CBS hit Everybody Loves Raymond, and the popular ABC series Coach as well as 25 prime time sitcoms. Ellen has created pilots for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox Family, Disney, Oxygen and the Australian Broadcasting Company. She is the author of The TV Writers Workbook: A Creative Approach to Television Scripts, published by Bantam/Dell.

She's teaching:

What Can I Say?- A Dialogue Workshop on Friday at 2PM.

Turning your Screenplay Into a TV pilot on Friday at 4PM.

Devorah Cutler-Rubenstein: a former studio exec who has produced films, plays, and television including the feature franchise The Substitute and most recently Tattoo U for FX Channel. Her writing credits include a variety of genres for indie and major companies, including ABC and Columbia Pictures. She also recently published What's the Big Idea: Writing Shorts.
Together Ellen and Devorah they will be running a pitch coaching salon. They're really terrific and worth getting to know.

Danny Manus: a Hollywood by Phone guest and most recently the CE at Clifford Werber Productions ("Cinderella Story," "Sydney White"), where he set up and will co-produce a larger budget family fantasy/adventure project at United Artists. Daniel is also attached to produce a teen comedy starring Emily Osment ("Hannah Montana") and is currently developing other scripts to be produced independently.

He'll be teaching:

The Other Side of the Table: A No B.S. Guide to Pitchfests for Writers on Thursday at 6PM

Exploring the differences between Indie Film and the Studio World on Friday at 4PM.

Chris Soth: sold his first screenplay, Firestorm, for $750,000, while still a graduate student in the USC screenwriting program. The movie was made, starring football star Howie Long, Scott Glenn, William Forsythe, Barry Pepper, and Suzie Amis, and was released in January of 1998. (“Firestorm rages with adventurous appeal.” - LA Times.) Chris was also paid $200,000 by Universal Studios to adapt the novel “A Fall of Moondust,” by Arthur C. Clarke of “2001” fame. In 2003 Chris sold his own original pitch, MEET JANE DOE to Signpost Pictures and Mosaic Media in a low-against-mid-six figure deal, with Hopscotch Pictures attached to produce. Chris guided the script through several stages of development and the film is expected to shoot in Australia this coming year. Chris's pitch THE CITIZEN was optioned by Escape Artists (Pursuit of Happyness) with Chris attached to produce. Chris also has written for independent investors, creating such screenplays as WASTELAND, HAUNTED HIGH and STAGE ONE, gathering knowledge used to craft DEAD MAN'S HAND as the perfect independent film project. His latest screenplay, OUTRAGE, starring Michael Madsen, Natasha Lyonne and Michael Berryman, was filmed in Georgia last spring and is in consideration for The Sundance Film Festival. In 2005, Chris founded the website MillionDollarScreenwriting.com to share his screenwriting expertise with aspiring screenwriters. His companion networking website, HollywoodByPhone.com, holds interviews with agents, studio executives, managers and filmmakers every week, and through ScreenplayByPhone.com, Chris mentors screenwriters around the world. He has taught at USC and UCLA and authored over 28 screenplays as well as the internet best-selling book "Million-Dollar Screenwriting: The Mini-Movie Method" and the best-selling pitch DVD: "SOLD! How I Set Up Three Pitches in Hollywood". Chris holds an MFA with distinction in screenwriting from the University of Southern California and a BA in Dramatic Literature from Vassar College, with highest honors.

He'll be teaching:

Million Dollar Screenwriting: Mini-Movie Method on Satuday at 9AM.

You may also want to learn more about:

Karl Iglesias: teaches at UCLA Extension's Writer's Program and Writers University. He is the best-selling author of The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters and Writing for Emotional Impact. He writes the regular column on the craft for Creative Screenwriting magazine. Passionate about great storytelling he specializes in the reader's emotional response to the written page. He can be reached through his website at http://www.karliglesias.com/. He's got several terrific sessions on emotional impact.

Steve Kaplan: the industry's most sought-after expert on comedy for almost 15 years. In addition to having taught at UCLA NYU Yale and other top universities Steve Kaplan created the HBO Workspace the HBO New Writers Program and was co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan's Punch Line Theatre. He's a MUST ATTEND if you're writing COMEDY!

Billy Mernit: author of Writing the Romantic Comedy (Harper/Collins) novelist (Imagine Me and You published by Shaye Areheart/Random House) and popular blogger (Living the Romantic Comedy) serves as both a private script consultant and a story analyst at Universal Studios while teaching at the UCLA Extension Writers' Program. He's a MUST ATTEND is you're writing ROM COM!

Blake Snyder: has sold or been hired to write dozens of scripts for film and TV in his 20-year career including co-writing Blank Check for Disney and Nuclear Family for Steven Spielberg—both million-dollar sales. Blake is the author of the popular Save the Cat! series. http://www.blakesnyder.com/. I was on a panel with him last year and he's just got terrific energy, experience and insights.

Heather Hale: has over 45 hours of produced television including The Courage to Love a $5.5 million dollar Lifetime Original Movie that starred Vanessa Williams and is now available on DVD and four series: The Evidence which won 'Best New Series Pilot ' Lifestyle Magazine that won two Tellys and two PBS edutainment series that both won Emmys. Heather's 'Navigating Hollywood' DVD is a best seller and her business bio book Nirvana in a Cup was published last year.

Have a great weekend, and a fantastic Expo if you're here in LA for the event.

To your success,

Philippa