Hey all, if you haven’t already checked out our newsletter, our twitter page, or our FB page, please note that we’re putting on a cool competition! Here’s what we sent to our users yesterday:
Scripped will award the winning writer $500 for his or her short script.
Please sign up for the contest email list for instructions on how to enter on this page, and here are the highlights:
Write a 5-10 page script relevant to the current financial crisis
Entry fee is $10, and your script is due by August 1st (we encourage you to submit earlier)
We will buy the winning script for $500 and publicize it heavily to our user-base. We will also send your script to the entire Harvard Kennedy School current student and alumni list-serv. There is a chance your script will be produced, though financial constraints do apply
Good luck in the competition, and please contact us with any questions. Let us know what you think about the changes we’ve made to the dashboard section of our site….
In association with management/production company BENDERSPINK (A History of Violence, The Butterfly Effect, Just Friends) Cowrite (www.cowritescript.com) has launched a truly innovative screenwriting competition. The contest provides a unique opportunity to those who have always thought they could write a screenplay to play an essential role in a potential Hollywood blockbuster.
A fun movie premise has been posted on the Cowrite website and writers now have the opportunity to contribute to the developing story. The script is being written in ten page increments by aspiring writers throughout the world and is currently on page 85.
Every other week, the best ten-page script submission will be added to the developing story until the script is finished and ready to be sold. For their ten-page contribution, each winning entrant will receive money and prizes totaling $3000, a pitch meeting with Benderspink and a chance to win the grand prize of a paid rewrite of the script. Winners will also share in any potential script sale proceeds.
Another exciting aspect of the Cowrite website is the “Pro’s Take” section where professional screenwriters and industry professionals are offering comments and suggestions on the developing story. Guest mentors have already included screenwriters Andrea Berloff (World Trade Center), Jesse Wigutow (Irreparable Harm) and Josh Schaer (TV’s Jericho).
Cowrite is believed to be the first screenwriting competition where the end goal is to try to sell a collaborative screenplay. In true Web 2.0 fashion, Cowrite utilizes social networking and the “wisdom of the crowd” to create a community-sourced product. Cowrite believes this method of art creation will become a widely accepted, and, in fact, sought out way of finding new talent while producing blueprints for major motion pictures. After all, what better market research tool for studios trying to figure out what audiences want to see at the theaters than letting the audiences provide the content?
Cowrite has already been featured in The NY Daily News and Script Magazine’s newsletter.
We hope you are having a terrific 2009! I wanted to extend a special invitation your way. We have the distinct honor of hosting a “Hollywood 2.0″ panel at the UCLA Anderson School of Management on April 15th at 7:30pm. We have three very, very impressive speakers lined up: Keith Richman (CEO of Break.com - the Internet’s first profitable web video site), Alex Albrecht (Co-host of the most popular video Podcast on the net, Diggination) and Chris Jacquemin (Head of Digital Media for Endeavor). The panelists will be asked questions related to the future of the Hollywood studio system in light of the rise of digital media. Audience questions will be welcomed/encouraged. Below are the event details - we hope you can make it!
Sincerely,
Sunil
Where: UCLA Anderson School of Management
What: “Hollywood 2.0 Panel” The distinguished panelistswill talk about the future of the Hollywood studio system in light of sites like Youtube, Hulu and Break gaining ground in the mass-market. When: Wednesday April 15, 2009 at 7:30pm - 8:30pm. Korn Hall, UCLA Anderson School of Management Who: The event will be co-sponsored by Scripped.com and the UCLA Anderson School of Management Entrepreneurs Association. The panelists are Keith Richman, Alex Albrecht and Chris Jacquemin. The panel will be moderated by Sunil Rajaraman, President and CEO of Scripped Inc. Students from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and UCLA Film School will be present. Other LA-Area media entrepreneurs will also be invited to the event.
Keith Richman, a recognized industry leader and successful entrepreneur, is chief executive officer of Break Media. Keith is responsible for providing the company’s overall strategic direction and leading the company in the areas of business development and marketing.
Break Media is the Internet’s premier entertainment community for men. Its nine wholly owned branded properties and the 100-site Break Media Network reach over 60 million unique visitors each month. Founded in 2004, Break Media offers advertisers unrivaled opportunities to market directly to a young, male demographic.
Prior to co-founding Break Media, Keith was the Co-Founder and Vice-President of OnePage (Acquired by Sybase 2002) and Co-Founder and Director of Business Development for Billpoint Inc. Keith was integral in developing the business plan and raising venture funding, which ultimately led to the company’s successful acquisition by eBay in 1999.
Previous posts also include Business Development Manager at Excite and Classifieds2000, as well as director of Corporate Planning at the Walt Disney Company, where he focused on consumer products, cable and emerging media.
A sought-after panelist at top industry conferences, Keith is considered an leading expert in marketing to the coveted young male demographic; he was recently included in The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Gen 2007 New Media list of the most talented executives in film, television, representation, legal and new media, all age 35 and under, recognized in the prestigious annual “40 Under 40″ by Multichannel News and was named one of the “10 to Watch” by Television Week in 2006.
Keith holds an MA and a BA from Stanford in International Policy Studies and resides in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter.
Alex Albrecht
Alex Albrecht is an Internet content and site creator based in Los Angeles. He created and hosts one of the most popular weekly webshows Diggnation produced by Revision3. Alex is also a founding member of the production company Team Awesome, LLC that produces and owns the Totally Rad Show, which Alex also co-hosts. In mid 2008 Alex founded the popular World of Warcraft website Project Lore.com and currently hosts its daily web show. Yes that’s right Alex is hosting three different webshows right now! He was also recently a guess on NBC’s new late night show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Chris Jacquemin
Chris Jacquemin is the head of Endeavor’s Digital Media and Video Game practice. Jacquemin joined Endeavor in 2000, and created the agency’s media research division - the first of its kind at any talent agency. Among Jacquemin’s innovations within the agency was the creation of a series of research oriented newsletters that provide the clients of the agency with detailed metrics and analyses which aided clients make decisions about development opportunities. In 2006, Jacquemin worked to establish an internal team of agents from each division of the company which now serves as the Endeavor Digital group. This new division, comprised of twelve members, is responsible for working with the agency’s clients as they innovate in new media. The group is additionally working with and advising platform based and service oriented technology companies. New media series have been set up for a number of clients including Seth MacFarlane, Rob Corddry, Ali LeRoi & Orlando Jones, Lisa Kudrow, Aardman Animations and others.
Just prior to joining Endeavor, Jacquemin was overseeing the primary research group within the entertainment and marketing divisions of the ABC Television Network. He worked with the network as it launched Who Wants to Be A Millionaire. Previously, he oversaw a ten person research team at CBS Enterprises and was responsible for numerous first run and off-network distribution and marketing research presentations for the launches of series that include Everybody Loves Raymond, Martha Stewart Living and the Howard Stern Radio Show for broadcast television stations and basic cable networks. The team also maintained oversight of the development, launch and maintenance of the web sites for all of their television series. He began his career in the television distribution research group for the Walt Disney Company before moving to Rysher Entertainment, where he built an international research unit focused on television and motion picture distribution and marketing research.
Sunil Rajaraman
Sunil Rajaraman is the President and CEO of Scripped Inc. As President and CEO of Scripped Inc., Sunil oversaw the growth of the site to 15,000 users in one year. He is currently working on releasing a “producer services” component to Scripped, which will be unveiled in calendar year 2009. Actor/writer/producer Edward Burns joined Scripped’s Board of Advisors, to help Scripped define its producer services offering. Scripped has sold two screenplays “on spec” since January 2009.
Sunil is a 2008 graduate of the UCLA Anderson School of Management where he was the 2008 winner of the Young President’s Organization Scholarship. Sunil graduated from Claremont McKenna College in 2001 with a degree in Economics and Accounting, where he was Class President and Captain of the NCAA 11th ranked Division III tennis team. He was born in Northern California, but has lived in Cleveland,Atlanta, Seattle and Los Angeles.
Hey everyone - every once in a while, a competition comes along that we just have to promote. The Monterey Teen Film Festival is one such competiton. To all you young filmmakers out there, you absolutely need to enter this contest. You can enter here, and it should only take a few minutes of your time. To our young Script Frenzy entrants, this is a terrific opportunity for you! Please check it out when you get a chance - special thanks to Rebecca and Enid for passing this along!
All - we at Scripped have a special offer for you: Aaron Lubin, producer of Purple Violets and four other feature length films , has offered to read a limited number of Scripped users’ scripts! Aaron will provide notes/coverage service for a fee for between 1-3 people during the month of April. Aaron is Ed Burn’s production partner, and was the first producer to release a feature length film straight to iTunes. Aaron has a terrific reputation in the industry, and is an all-in-all nice guy. Since demand for this service will be high, we will provide this service on a first-come, first-served basis. Aaron will interview you individually, and determine whether it makes sense to move forward in the process. We hope you take advantage of this wonderful opportunity!
Email us at contact@scripped.com with subject - “Aaron Lubin Coverage” to participate in this offer.
Today is the one year anniversary of my iPhone. I have been on the phone for 34 days and 9 hours in that time. I am both shocked, and mildly depressed at that fact. What could I have done during those 34 days instead of being on the phone? I suppose Scripped wouldn’t be where it is today without all that phone time!
This is certainly a difficult question to answer because of the sheer number of choices and the vagueness of the criteria. Everyone who you ask will give you different answers, and I thought long and hard before narrowing my list down to these five (actually six) individuals.
Any great screenwriter list must start with Woody Allen, who remains prolific to this very date. His work in the seventies remains seminal with films like Annie Hall and Manhattan deftly blending comedy and drama into one tight package. His work since then has been more hit-and-miss, but has always included strong movies like Deconstructing Harry, Match Point, this year’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and the crown jewel of his screenplays: 1985’s Hannah and Her Sisters. It may be hard to remember now, but Allen’s work was and still is revolutionary.
One of the founding fathers of Allen’s best work was the great Billy Wilder, who will go down as one of the great directors of all-time, but should not be ignored for his writing capabilities. He had a hand in penning almost all of his classic oeuvre: Sunset Blvd., Some Like It Hot, Double Indemnity, The Apartment – do I need to continue?
It may be cliché, but I would add Quentin Tarantino to the list as well, if only for his rat-a-tat-tat dialogue and use of non-linear structure in his writing. His script for the upcoming Inglorious Bastards is some of his best work, and maybe the misstep of Death Proof is truly behind him. The Coen Brothers – Joel and Ethan – have proven to be masters of finding comedy is the darkest of places and with last year’s No Country For Old Men, finally proved that they could also make a deadly serious film.
Finally, no list of great screenwriters is complete with William Goldman, probably the only individual who almost everyone can agree should be included here. His adaptation of All the President’s Men is legendary, but it’s the feel-good buddy story Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and the timeless charms of The Princess Bride that will be his legacy. He is simply the best.
They are too green to be included, but I wouldn’t be surprised if two individuals who are doing their best work right now find a way to be mentioned in this space a decade down the line: Peter Morgan and Christopher Nolan.
I also would like to make special mention of two television writing duos, who revolutionized the medium in their own times. Larry David & Jerry Seinfeld helped turn “nothing” into entertainment, and Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant who’s work on The Office inspired countless copycats – both on the big screen as well as the small.
Blog Questions - Ask Eddie and Aaron and Creative Screenwritng Magazine!
Scripped on Facebook
Contact us any time at: contact@scripped.com
Dear Writers:
Well, we promised you some big announcements, and here they are.
- Scripped has partnered with the makers of Movie Magic Screenwriter, an Academy Award-winning professional product that is the official software ofthe WGA-East. Get your coupon below!
- Two top professors from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television have offered to read scripts from the Scripped community. Details below!
- Scripped is also working with WordHustler, a fantastic new service that gives you FREE access to over 3,000 markets for your material.
- Eddie Burns wants your questions! Creative Screenwriting Magazine wants some too. Send your queries directly to Sunil, our humble CEO, at sunil@scripped.com.
- Want to know more about us? Join us on Facebook. And become a friend of Sunil.
Read on to get the skinny on these exciting developments.
Movie Magic - A Match Made in Hollywood
What if you could write online AND offline? What if it was easy to transfer your material between Scripped and professional packaged software?
We thought this would benefit writers tremendously, and so did the Write Brothers, makers of Movie Magic Screenwriter.
To get started, they created a coupon just for Scripped users. Click here and then click “Add to Cart.” Enter SCRIPPED01 in the Coupon or Gift Card field and receive an immediate discount on Movie Magic Screenwriter. If you’re a student or educator, call 1-800-84-STORY for academic rates and mention the coupon code.
We’re now working out how to forge ahead together, and the possibilities are very exciting. The [http://www.scripped.com/submission] Horror Collection we hosted last month was just one example of how our submission platform could be useful to movie studios.
This is an exciting moment for the screenwriting industry. We are proud to be leading the way!
UCLA Professors will Read Your Script
Richard Walter, the head of the UCLA screenwriting program, and another top professor agreed for a limited time to read your scripts and give detailed notes or in-person coaching!
Despite our haggling, they won’t work for free, but they are anxious to see what you’re made of. If you’re ready to be read by the best eyes in the biz, send an email to Sunil at sunil@scripped.com. Put “Richard Walter” or “Script Coach” in the subject.
The UCLA faculty will soon participate in other ways as well. We want to provide you with the means to succeed, and they can help you make it in Hollywood.
WordHustler - A New Button on My Scripts.
You may have noticed a new little W on your My Scripts page. The more adventurous of you may have even clicked on it. Here’s the scoop:
Scripped and WordHustler teamed up to allow seamless transfer between your account on Scripped and your portfolio on WordHustler. When you click on “Submit to WordHustler” for the first time you’ll be prompted to confirm your request to link accounts. If you don’t yet have a WordHustler account, you will be asked to create one.
From that point on, you can easily move PDFs between Scripped and WordHustler with just the click of a button. Once you’re in WordHustler, you have access to thousands of opportunities to submit your work!
And as always, for additional security, don’t forget to Vault it before you submit.
Questions? - Our Bloggers Want You.
We have new posts up at Eddie and Aaron’s blog and the Creative Screenwriting Magazine blog. For their next posts, both want to answer questions from you, the writers on Scripped.com. Send your questions to Sunil at sunil@scripped.com today!
Finally, Facebook.
Yes, we too have a Facebook page, and we’d like to add to the 100 “fans” who already joined us. If you have a Facebook account, please click here and then click “Become a Fan.”
To be Sunil’s friend on Facebook, you can click here and then click “Add as Friend” but make sure you mention Scripped. You’ll then join the throngs of other business school and college and various other friends. You can also peruse the pictures of Sunil with famous people at weddings.
Sorry this was a long one, but we have a lot going on. We hope you’re enjoying this ride as much as we are!
We noticed a hiccup in the Horror Collection submissions and need some of you to resubmit. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.
If you submitted on 7/18, 7/19, or 7/20, please go to http://www.scripped.com/submission and submit
your horror treatment again.
For everyone else, the Horror Collection ends today, 7/31!
Also, thanks to those of you who are already using our new Vault screenplay security service! We improved it based on your feedback and you can now secure your scripts with ease.
Start registering your material at http://www.scripped.com/vault.
For other updates or just to see what Sunil ate for lunch, check our blog at http://www.scripped.com/blog. We’ll try to keep it tasty.
Hey all, below is a press release that we issued this morning. We’re very, very excited to work with The Write Bros!
SCRIPPED AND THE WRITE BROS ANNOUNCE JOINT MARKETING AND TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP
Partnership will extend Best of Breed Features and Technologies from Leading Web-based and Packaged Screenwriting Software
LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Scripped, a new provider of Web-based screenwriting software and services based in Los Angeles, and Write Brothers® Inc., a Glendale-based publisher of the award-winning screenwriting software, Movie Magic® Screenwriter, today announced a strategic technology and marketing partnership that will change the way that screenplays are written and submitted to Hollywood.
Scripped.com and Write Brothers® will partner to provide aspiring writers both an online and an offline solution for their screenwriting software needs. Additionally, the two companies will leverage existing partnerships to help screenwriters take their works from concept to completion. The new partnership will entail:
Joint marketing/promotion of Scripped Writer and Movie Magic® Screenwriter
The ability to submit scripts via Scripped Inc.’s submission platform to proper Hollywood end destinations
Both companies will combat piracy – Scripped Inc.’s users, generally aspiring young writers, will have the ability to quickly transition to Movie Magic® Screenwriter at a lower cost.
Providing content that will be useful for aspiring screenwriters (both professionals and non-professionals).
“This is the first collaboration between a Web-based script writing company and a traditional scriptwriting software company and we’re excited to have the Write Bros’ as our client-side software partner,” said Sunil Rajaraman, CEO, Scripped.com. “Partnering with Write Brothers will dramatically shorten our time to market with new modules that enhance the screenwriting process and help both companies better connect all of the elements of the screenwriting value chain.”
“Expanding opportunities for Write Brothers clients and Scripped.com clients is at the heart of the partnership. We see a lot of potential,” said Chris Huntley, V.P., Write Brothers® Inc. “We’re excited about teaming up with Scripped.com. We think there are terrific opportunities to join the desktop generation with the Internet generation. It is win-win all around.”
In addition to joint technology development, Scripped and Write Brothers® will develop co-marketing programs to expand the use of their technology from screenwriters to other markets outside of the traditional Hollywood screenwriting value chain. The new integrated technology solutions are expected to be released by next year.
About Scripped.com
Founded in 2007, Scripped’s goal is to make screenwriting accessible to writers of all levels and provide the tools and community writers need to bring their ideas from inception to completion. Scripped aims to encourage and support the needs of all scripted content writers.
Scripped Inc. promotes the art of screenwriting by providing Scripped Writer, the first completely free web-based screenwriting software for writers. Scripped Writer is an innovative text editor that functions like a standard word processor but automatically formats and catalogs each screenplay element according to industry standards. Since its launch in January 2008, Scripped Writer has amassed a user-base of over 8,000 writers from all 50 states and over 50 countries. To try Scripped Writer, visit http://www.scripped.com. For additional corporate info and biographical information on the management team, please email us directly at contact@scripped.com.
About The Write Brothers
Since 1982, Write Brothers® Inc. (formerly called Screenplay Systems) has been a world leader in film and television screenwriting and production software. Since 1993, more than 80 percent of the Academy Award® nominations and 95 percent of the Emmy® awards went to companies and individuals that used Movie Magic Screenwriter or other software originally created by Write Brothers®.
Writer Brothers® is the first and the only creative team ever to receive an Academy Technical Achievement Award for screenwriting software. Thousands of Hollywood films and TV shows have been written and produced with Write Brothers®’ software.
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