Industrial Scripts is a London-based
story analysis & training organization, backed by major companies,
delivering a range of analysis, and support services to writers, authors
and filmmakers, globally.
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With
sales of metal polish, shelving units and fireplace mantelpieces reaching
their annual peak among the film community, it's finally time to start
looking ahead - to the 2016 Awards Contenders!
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IS Client sells script to Universal
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Congratulations
are in order to IS client Jared
Cowie, who way back in September 2012 received one of our
incredibly rare "Recommend" verdicts for his project BISMARCK,
and has recently sold the script to Universal.
We're
always thrilled when one of our own breaks through and we're looking
forward to tracking the film's progress towards production.
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The US
networks prognosticate on the fall season with their slew of pilot orders.
Among the highlights;
▪ Shonda Rhimes - showrunner of GREY'S ANATOMY - adds THE CATCH to her
portfolio, a crime thriller about a forensic accountant.
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Film
London's marketplace style offering 'London Screenings'
puts British Film on an international platform as sales companies
congregate to view the best of UK productions. Applications for the Breakthrough Strand,
supporting up-and-coming filmmakers, close March 25th.
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VOD
streaming service designed to connect filmmakers directly to sales agents
and distributors announced at Berlinale
- shifting emphasis from make-or-break festival screenings to long term
lobbying with ease of access for buyers.
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New study from San Diego State
University shows female roles account for 12% of protagonists
in top-grossing films of 2014 - a decrease over the past decade.
Situation is grim beyond headline parts - female characters making up 29%
of all characters and 30% of all speaking roles.
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Never miss an article - add our RSS feed to your browser
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Our site was designed
with content
in mind - and we roll out articles on film, TV and story craft on a
regular basis.
Never
want to miss an IS article? Add our RSS Feed to your
internet browser or email client, here.
View all
our articles here.
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Tamzin Rafn - Screenwriter of ALBATROSS
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"As
I have previously mentioned, many times, I love LA and this time was no
exception. I ate dinner on a table exactly next to Gwyneth Paltrow (she
drank martini and wine, and did not order the ‘steamed vagina’)..." read the full article
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Tom Williams, KAJAKI scribe
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"This
post started as a tweet, developed into a Facebook status and is now
finding full expression as a blog post. Recently I finished, in a
double-bill, The Newsroom Season 3 (and, by extension, The Newsroom).
Some observations..." read the full article.
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Miranda Fleming, Head of UK Film & Creative at
Indiegogo
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"The
Berlin International Film Festival was distinctly different this year...
there was something that I can only describe as a digital change in the
air. For the first time ever, there were multiple films that were funded
by crowdsourcing. By the end of the festival, I couldn’t help but wonder:
Are the walls of traditional distribution coming down?... " read the full article.
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"A
couple of years ago, I got ‘replaced’ on a job. It was a project I dearly
loved and had put my heart and soul into and, on top of the rejection of
being booted off whilst I was circus performing on that roll, the whole
thing wasn’t handled brilliantly either...." read the full article.
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SCREENWRITING OPPORTUNITIES
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A few
opportunities for screenwriters to keep their eyes on....
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FINAL CALL - Get 50% off our Script Reading Course
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The
course is on a short-term Creative
Skillset list of industry training that will fund 50% of
training costs for film employees. If an individual/freelancer wants to
do the training they need to have a company to be eligible. The fund will
cover the course dates that complete by the end of March 2015 - Saturday
21st March 2015 our remaining class.
The
course is ideal for all employees, assistants and interns who assess
scripts in any capacity, and helps improve script analysis skills, coverage-writing
and project assessment. The course also contains a post-course exercise
in which attendees write a test report which is then marked by Industrial
Scripts staff.
Eligible
course dates:
Saturday
21st March 2015
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The "Testimonial" Is Dead...
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We
formed Industrial Scripts to provide producers, writers and directors in
the independent TV and film sector with high-quality, industry-standard script development services
not usually available to them.
We take
what we do deadly seriously. Industrial Scripts is the 1st – and only –
story analysis organisation in the world to sign up to independent,
impartial, specialist reviews websites in order to allow its clients to
publicly reveal what they think of the company’s products and services.
We are unique in that we rely on “verified” reviews
rather than testimonials from friends and colleagues which, as most
people realise, are ultimately meaningless in a crowded, competitive
marketplace.
Our
consultants all have considerable experience working for and with the
very best companies, and are currently very active in development (we
don't believe in trading on past glories). We offer 20 different types
of script development service, some are listed below, but you can visit our website to
view them all...
If
you're developing scripts, in any capacity, you'd be hard-pressed to find
a more transparent service
than ours. Just sayin...
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Talk is Cheap. We're all about the hard data. Click to
read verified customer reviews about us.
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"Which Logline?"
Service - £40
"Should I spend 6...12...18...months of my life developing this
project?" is a question that haunts many writers, who have more
ideas than time. Here writers submit 10 loglines, and we put them in
order of excellence, advising writers to channel their efforts into
promising ideas rather than wasting time and energy writing developing
dud projects.
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Film Coverage Report
- £135 * eligible for TALENT CONNECTOR
This report on feature-length scripts consists of 4+ pages of notes and
feedback to help the writer move on to his or her next draft.
Film Forensic Notes
- £300.00 * eligible for TALENT CONNECTOR
Our Detailed Development Notes service delivers an extremely detailed
analysis of your feature script, together with lengthy suggestions on how
to move forward to the next draft. These reports run to 14+ pages, and
offer a truly forensic analysis of your script.
Script Doctoring -
Fees Vary * eligible for TALENT CONNECTOR
Through our resident Script Doctors we offer writers, producers and
directors the opportunity to have their project re-written, doctored,
polished, re-structured and significantly improved according to their
requirements.
View all 20 Script Development Services HERE.
Read 490+ verified customer reviews about us HERE
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Who's Hot & Who's Not - February
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Who had
a month to remember? Who’s waiting for the spring thaw to revive their
career?
Here’s
our run down of how industry figures fared in February.
GOOD
MONTH
1) Tom Williams
Industrial Scripts' columnist - writer of CHALET GIRL and KAJAKI -
attached to write £20m fantasy flick THE GIANT UNDER THE SNOW.
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2) Rob Schrab
COMMUNITY director hired as helmer for LEGO MOVIE 2.
3) Lauren Oliver
Novelist hired by Universal to adapt her own work for silver-screen -
read on for this month's opinion piece for 50 SHADES cautionary tale...
4) Neill Blomkamp
With CHAPPIE impending, and news that Blomkamp will helm new ALIEN film,
it's been a great February for the South African director.
5) Ewan McGregor
Actor to make directorial debut with Philip Roth adaptation AMERICAN
PASTORAL.
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BAD
MONTH
1) Sergei Bodrov
Director's tentpole flick SEVENTH SON tanks at US box office - will
talented Russian director get another shot at Hollywood?
2) John Travolta
Trying to repair damage from last year's Oscars performance, actor digs
even deeper hole with various female touching antics.
3) Neil Patrick Harris
Despite great opening number, reviews for new Oscars host generally
lacklustre.
4) Dreamworks Animation
PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR flop and restructuring sees massive
quarter-of-a-billion loss for studio.
5) J.C. Chandor
Director replaced by Peter Berg on Deepwater Horizon oil spill project.
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Amusing Snippet of the Month
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Ever
wonder why the Oscars are such a maddening experience? Wonder no more as
The Hollywood Reporter delivers a startling, unsettling and ultimately
hilarious insight into the psychology of Academy Voters.
On Best
Picture
"Whiplash is offensive — it’s a film about abuse and I don’t find
that entertaining at all. My kid would have told me if he had an abusive
teacher. I would have sat in on the class, talked to other kids in the
class and then said, “This asshole has to go.”
On Best
Supporting Actress
"I'm voting for Arquette. She gets points for working on a film for
12 years and bonus points for having no work done during the 12 years. If
she had had work done during the 12 years, she would not be collecting
these statues. It's a bravery reward. It says, "You're braver than
me. You didn't touch your face for 12 years. Way to freakin' go!"
On Best
Sound Editing;
"Birdman had a tremendous variety of sounds — the beating of the
wings and a lot of other things."
On Best
Picture
"I felt Birdman was a masterful work of filmmaking. The problem with
it is that its central character, played by Michael Keaton, is tormented
and unlikable, which is the same problem that sunk The Social
Network."
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Opinion: 50 SHADES OF GREY and Respecting Talent
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As
50 SHADES OF GREY opens to huge box office, massive week 2 drop-offs,
mixed reviews, and talk of desertion from key talent, Industrial Scripts
looks at EL. James' role in proceedings.
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Wanting
to maintain control over one's own creation is understandable, though not
necessarily advisable - especially when considering the role in the
creative process. Brit-rock band Kasabian recently touted boy-band One
Direction as "five no-ones who won the
lottery" - a fair statement regarding the casting call
nature of their audition genesis. No one member is bigger than the band,
and the band are only as big as the opportunities afforded them by TV
exposure and creative management.
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So what
does this have to do with 50 SHADES? EL James is the writer who won the
lottery - leveraging the popularity of TWILIGHT for fan-fiction, and
being lucky enough to hit the marketplace just as anonymous e-readers
made pseudo-porn like 50 SHADES more easily digestible, online shopping
reduced the embarassing over-the-counter transaction, and SEX AND THE
CITY left the throne for popular culture on female sexuality open. Right
place, right time, with very little distinguishing the books from the
mountains of competing romance / mommy-porn / erotica / chick-lit (delete
as applicable).
The
obvious difference comes in the financial leverage EL James commands -
dangling a cash-cow in front of hungry studios. Usually we'd decry a
vulturous studio ripping apart intellectual property for a few shekels
and defend the original writer - but in this instance, EL James appears
to be getting in the way of her offspring's success. Sam Taylor Johnson
and Kelly Marcel perhaps know considerably more than EL James on the film-making
front - it's not the novel writing, but the branding and timing which
contributed chiefly to 50 SHADES' success. With curiosity satiated for
many with the first instalment, and little in the way of gripping
storyline to attract cinema punters back for 2nd and 3rd editions, any
sequel has an uphill task - but to throw yourself into the ring as a
rookie screenwriter is ill-advised (F Scott Fitzgerald
among those who know just how tough the transition can be). Control? Yes.
Quality? Unlikely. If anything, the projects could even benefit from a
'spec' approach - re-imagining the storyline from parts 2 and 3 to create
a new and unique vision and give audiences a reason to make the trip.
Another uninspired re-tread of ropey novels is hardly going to excite the
rubberneckers to re-attend.
What's
the take-away for writers? Know your place - okay, that's a little harsh
- but know your current place given your experience, skillset and
credits. Taking concepts to big production companies, without much of a
portfolio, is likely to see you re-written as investors protect their
project. It's tough to work with A list talent when you're the D list
weak connection. Yes, we all punch above our weight at sometime to climb
the ladder, but try to climb that ladder one step at a time - shorts,
micro budget, indies, features. Even those with a multi-million cash cow
are likely to come unstuck. And remember that JK Rowling sat out the
first 8 Harry Potter films, before making her screenwriting debut
with the spin-off films.. Perhaps an example for EL James to
examine closely...
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Unheralded Scene o' the Month: WEST OF MEMPHIS (2012)
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In our
"Unheralded Scene of the Month" section, our consultants
nominate a classic film or TV scene, which in their view hasn't received
the admiration it deserves.
It might
be a scene from a classic movie, which has been crowded out by other,
more "showy" scenes and set-pieces. It might be a deleted scene
which is outstanding in its own right but wasn't quite in-sync or
critical to the final cut of the film. Warning: MAJOR plot spoilers below.
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The
film: Another change of pace
for Unheralded Scene after last month's examination of TV's TOGETHERNESS,
as we look at the world of documentaries - which yes, have scripts,
outlines and deep editing to present a story. WEST OF MEMPHIS tells the
tale of three wrongly imprisoned teens, accused of a Satanic triple
murder, and the 20 year fight for justice. You can see a trailer for the film
here.
The
plot: 1994 -Three Arkansas
teens are hounded by a blinded and incompetent police investigation which
asserts that the triple homicide of three eight year old boys was
ritualistic in nature. Despite flimsy evidence and a confession from a
mentally challenged defendant, the trio are imprisoned, with their
'leader' sentenced to death. HBO Films pick up the scent in 1996 with
their investigative documentary PARADISE LOST, raising interest from Fran
Walsh and Peter Jackson who co-produced WEST OF MEMPHIS - and suspicions
fall on step-dad to one of the victims, JOHN BYERS. Could he have
murdered his own step-son?
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The
scene: The documentary does a
wonderful job in recreating the chain of events for those who kept up to
date with the case as it progressed - accusations against the three
teens, before suspicion falls on step-dad JOHN BYERS - but the film has
skilfully avoided shining the spotlight on another step-dad to one of the
victims, TERRY HOBBS. Midway through the film, a stunning reveal is made
- a hair from the crime-scene, a new lead - and a new suspect.
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Why
it's unheralded: Documentaries tend
to receive little credit as being 'written', but Amy Berg and Billy
McMillin's narrative is expertly crafted to create a tragic, gripping
whodunit.
Why
it's great:
The culmination of the first half of the film, which has set up the
state's flimsy case against the teens, and then knocked it down one piece
at a time. Whilst this destruction takes place, the script skilfully
manoeuvres John Byers as a suspect - a great red herring to keep the
audience's suspicions satiated - before delivering a powerful twist to
reshape the tone and direction of the remaining material, which focusses
largely on Terry Hobbs, with film-making acting as criminal
investigation. Proof that great scenes are rarely isolated events, but
often the culmination of significant narrative threads. This brilliant
mid-point scene concisely concludes one major narrative direction, before
launching another.
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Spec-Spotter - Development Intel
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Information
is power in the film & TV industries, so here is our vital burst of
screenwriting-related intel for your mainframes!
WHITE BOY RICK for Studio 8
True life tale of informant turned drug dealer who has been behind bars
for 30 odd years, with script written by Logan and Noah Miller - project
in competition with Universal's take on the subject. Another CAPOTE vs
INFAMOUS style rumble?
HUNT, CAPTURE, KILL
REMEMBER THE TITANS scribe Gregory Allen Howard sells actioner
surrounding female president shot down in Amazon.
BOUNTY sells for a bounty
Sascha Penn sells script to Paramount, with Will Smith set to star, as
convicted killer who breaks out of prison to prove his innocence - but
comes up against widow of victim who offers $10m reward for capture.
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Anyway
that's about all from us for another month, but just scroll down for
details of our script development services and upcoming training courses,
not to mention our exclusive Insider Interviews series.
The
Industrial Scripts Team
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Industry Training Courses
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At
Industrial Scripts we run premium, high-quality training courses
which deliver serious value to participants. Our courses are tailored to
suit the requirements of the industry, and are led by professionals with
proven track records of success in their own individual area of the
business.
For 4
years we've been running training courses in
script reading, low-budget filmmaking and screenwriting. We currently run
2 courses:
HOW TO WRITE A SCRIPT - SCREENWRITING FOR
BEGINNERS is our first screenwriting course and has
been designed for creative individuals who possess great ideas for films
or TV shows, but don’t know where to begin. It delivers a huge amount of
information, condensed into one intense day, to participants new to screenwriting,
new to writing, or both. Focussing on both the writing process, and the
industry writers find work in, the course aims to heavily de-mystify the
process by which people become professional screenwriters, and help new
writers navigate the sometimes precarious early years of the
screenwriter.
Next course date:
Saturday 7th March 2015
Our EFFECTIVE SCRIPT READING 1-day
training seminar continues to go from strength to strength, winning
consistently stellar feedback from participants...:
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The
course includes comprehensive contacts documents detailing all the paid
script reading outlets in film and TV in the UK, and also offers
attendees indefinite, ongoing email and phone support once the course is
over. We can't turn you into a great script analyst overnight, but we can
speed you up and save you a lot of time and effort in the process. Click here to book.
Next course date:
Saturday 21st March 2015
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Industrial
Scripts brings you The Insider Interviews
- exclusive FREE content from leading industry professionals that you
can't access, anywhere else. Click here to listen to
these free interviews:
STORY
Guru Robert Mckee
"Charlie Kaufman...what an as*...he's Mr. Theory! He's not an
anti-theorist!"
Listen to the podcast...
Screenwriter
Kevin Lehane (GRABBERS)
"I think the horror-comedy is a really tough genre...I wanted to
write a monster movie, like TREMORS, or GREMLINS".
Listen to the podcast...
Head
of Development Sophie Meyer (Ealing Studios)
"If I had to boil it down to one thing it would be "does it
make you care?"
Listen to the podcast...
Writer-Director
Ben Wheatley (KILL LIST, DOWN TERRACE)
"Short films are a waste of time...I thought if I was going to put
in that much effort, I may as well try and make something I can
sell..."
Listen to the podcast...
Screenwriter
Jack Thorne (THE FADES, THIS IS ENGLAND '86, THIS IS ENGLAND '88, THE
SCOUTING BOOK FOR BOYS)
"I wrote 12 plays before I had anything produced..."
Listen to the podcast...
Producer
Richard Holmes (RESISTANCE, EDEN LAKE, WAKING NED, SHOOTING FISH)
“I thought to myself "this is filmmaking: doing something you don't
want to do and for which you will probably be punished by God!””
Read more...
Film
Journalist Nev Pierce (Editor-at-Large, Empire magazine)
"Interviewing directors is my favourite thing...it can be thrilling
if you're meeting someone you admire...to sit down for 2 hours with David
Fincher...I feel incredibly blessed to have that kind of
opportunity".
Listen to the podcast...
Producer
Gareth Unwin (THE KING'S SPEECH, EXAM)
"I'd done something a bit daft just through eagerness and I said to
someone within The Weinstein Co. - "I hear I'm not in Harvey's good
books anymore" and she said "Harvey doesn't have good books,
there's just people he hates less that week!"
Listen to the podcast...
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Actor
Tom Hiddleston (THE AVENGERS, THOR, WAR HORSE, ARCHIPELAGO)
"(when the THOR call) came in I was just about ready to sing and
dance...it was the longest audition process I've ever been
through...".
Listen to the podcast...
Literary
agent Rob Kraitt (Casarotto Ramsay)
'I once sold a book to Tom Cruise - it was before he and Michael Mann
made COLLATERAL. It was a big six-figure deal and doesn't happen very
often.'
[at the time of recording Rob Kraitt worked for AP Watt]
Listen to the podcast...
Literary
agent Nick Marston (Curtis Brown Group)
'There are these moments in agencies when one generation wants to leave
and the other generation has to somehow find the money to take over...
and in our case that came from the 'honey pot' of the Winnie the Pooh
estate.'
Listen to the podcast...
Ex
Studio Executive Alexei Boltho (Paramount Pictures)
'A typical working day for me? Smoking cigars, that's about it really!'
Read more...
Screenwriter
Stuart Hazeldine (EXAM, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, KNOWING)
'I had to keep the faith, and finally the phone rang and it was a big
agent from ICM in LA saying he had read my two scripts and wanted to take
me on...'
Read more...
Screenwriter
David Scinto (44 INCH CHEST, SEXY BEAST)
'GANGSTER NO.1 is one of the best scripts we ever wrote, sadly in other
hands it was ruined. Bastardised. Mutated. Amateur.'
Read more...
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