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.
Guys, the last of the Jason Calacanis videos are up, and they look terrific. Be sure to check them out here. Jason is a terrific speaker, and his words are very inspiring (especially given the state of the economy). Check out the last couple of vids - should we change as Jason suggests?
On another note, we’ve posted more vids from the Jason Calacanis event we held at Anderson last Wednesday. Please check out http://www.scripped.com/jcal for more information. Happy Weekend!
Tina Fey, during her acceptance speech, made a few hilarious comments about the Internet. In any event, she was just joking around, but stated that “Cougarletter” and “Dianefan” were harassing her. I couldn’t help myself - bought the URLs tonight. Look for content on both sites soon…. Don’t worry Tina, I’ll be nice….. if you help promote Scripped!
I slept on the floor last night and shivered as though the 3 feet of snow on the ground in Boston followed me to San Francisco. It’s cooold in the foggy city. But I still miss this place.
With 3 moves in nearly as many days, it has been a busy return to California. First stop was Los Angeles where a loyal Scripped blog reader and mother of my someone special had a fantastic birthday party at a tapas restaurant in Ventura. Just one day prior, I loaded up a Zipcar and moved my crap from Cambridge to Boston, where I will sunset my days as a graduate student in a cozy new Beacon Hill apartment. From Ventura we took the 101 straight up to San Francisco and woke up early to help the movers load up a U-Haul. No more kitchen nook and views of Scott and Chestnut. It’s funny how much smaller an apartment looks when the furniture’s out. With hardly a moment’s rest, were back on the road to Davis for another apartment cleanout. Then half of us returned to the empty marina apartment and cuddled up on the bare floor next to the radiator that hissed and spat as it tried to keep us warm through the night.
And now I am back at the marina Starbucks. This place is like a friend that I couldn’t get along with for a while and is now back in my life. I credit it to the free wireless. I used to hate the fact that Starbucks, at the height of its cash hogginess, would charge obscene rates for Internet access. Finally, my old friend has come around. I’m loving the free Starbucks wireless, and I reward them by purchasing a soy mocha with my Starbucks card.
Today I am off to Napa for lunch and a visit to grandma. Sunil is traveling around Barcelona and Zak is currying it up in India. That leaves Josh and I to hold down the fort through the holidays. Were it not for my iPhone life would be much less pleasant and I’d have to duck into these cafes more often to keep up on your emails and other business. It’s such a treat how technology not only makes it possible to keep up with a virtual company, but also allows the possibility to be a student, a grandson, a boyfriend, and even an apartment mover, more or less all at the same time. I would not have it any other way.
Happy holidays, Scripped folks. We’re really looking forward to the new year. In the next big newsletter we’ll tell you why!
This NY Times article was sent to me by a good friend, my old pal from UC Berkeley who was the BMOC (you remember that term? “Big Man On Campus”) our senior year of college. Tall, tanned, handsome, charismatic Hawaiian athlete-turned-president of the student body, he couldn’t take a step outside of Eshelman Hall without a high five or hello.
Anyway, we still chat, but the conversation has matured a bit. We now talk about making money doing what you love, and he sent me this article. I’ll quote just a bit here:
Making videos for YouTube — for three years a pastime for millions of Web surfers — is now a way to make a living.
Granted, building an audience online takes time. “I was spending 40 hours a week on YouTube for over a year before I made a dime,” Mr. Buckley said — but, at least in some cases, it is paying off.
And no, Michael Buckley has no relation to me, unfortunately. But if you happen to know him, please send his email address over. Maybe a common last name is enough to get him to promote Scripped.
As selfless providers of free screenwriting software, we subsist on just your kindness, some generous donors, and the knowledge that we help people like you write more and better scripts.
But every once in a while, we have to ask a favor, and The Crunchies 2008 is one such occasion!
It takes just 5 seconds. This is an opportunity for Scripped to get noticed by some big names for being the scrappy yet awesome startup that we are. Please do the following between writing scenes of your next
masterpiece:
- Click here and click “Nominate” [link removed - contest is over!]
- Continue writing!
- But please do it today; contest ends tomorrow.
Thanks so much for your help, and if you have any favors of your own, you know how to reach us.
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