Spread the word—GT has teamed up with *IMPACT (a local production company) and the Santa Cruz Film Festival to host Take One: A Screenwriting Competition.
Rules: Submit a short script of any genre, two pages maximum (for a one to two minute movie) to cm*****@gt******.com by Aug. 31. Also submit a one paragraph synopsis of your film and your contact information. Use PDF only formatting. The film must be low budget and able to be filmed in one day, locally. The contest is open to anyone living in Santa Cruz County. Screenplays will be submitted for blind judging by a panel including staff from GT, *IMPACT, and SCFF. Films will be shot between October and Feb. 1, and final cuts of the films turned in to the SCFF staff by Feb. 29, 2012. A public casting call for actors will be hosted by *IMPACT in the fall. Stay tuned for casting information. Only winners will be notified and unfortunately we cannot provide feedback on your script.
Prize: Three winners will have their short scripts published in Good Times on October 6. The winning films will be produced and directed by The Impact Media Group and screened at the Opening Night Gala of the 11th Santa Cruz Film Festival on May 10, 2012. See more...
Any local people or businesses interested in donating free locations, music, clothing, props, food, etc., for filmmaking purposes, please contact cm*****@gt******.com
Below is a list of screenwriting resources supplied by local screenwriter Rebecca Leekley:
For a first time writer who has never written a screenplay, I would recommend Syd Field’s book “The Foundations of Screenwriting”
If you are a writer who has been working in the trenches and want to take your craft further, I would recommend Robert McKee’s book “STORY: Substance, Structure, Styler and the Principles of Screenwriting”
If you want to get all mythic, I would recommend Chris Volger’s “The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers”
If you’re feeling a little existential, you may want to try Richard Krevolin’s “Screenwriting From the Soul,” in the style of Rilke’s classic work, “Letters to a Young Poet”
If you want to go totally Hollywood and write a very commercial film—romcom, bromance, road trip flick, etc. I would recommend you check out Blake Snyder’s “Save the Cat”
Maybe you want to go back to the beginning of dramatic structure. I would recommend Michael Tierno’s book “Aristotle’s Poetics for Screenwriters”
Or maybe you’re looking for that spark of inspiration from some of the best that came before him. Then I would recommend Joel Engel’s “Oscar-Winning Screenwriters on Screenwriting”
Are you interested in adapting a “Based on a True Story” to the big screen? I would recommend Jonathan Vankin and John Whalen’s book “Based on a True Story” to see how true stories were adapted into some 100 favorite movies.
