18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Sunday
Best Acting Awards, voted on by only peer actors in the union, SAG awards show for 2011 best acting in TV and film airs this Sunday January 29, 2012, 8:00 pm Eastern Standard Time, 5:00 pm Pacific Time California. Screen Actors Guild Awards shows on channels TNT and TBS.
Specials to watch on the Internet: red carpet and stuntman / stunt woman honors at 6ET/3PT on TNT.tv, TBS.com, and People.com.
Read more at:
SAG Awards
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THE HELP cleans house at the awards. See WINNERS here: http://www.sagawards.org/awards/nominees-and-recipients/18th-annual-screen-actors-guild-awards
YouTube & Your Chance at the Venice Film Festival
The one thing I am always pushing on Screenwriting for Hollywood is that screenwriters make their own movies and show them wherever they can, especially on YouTube where the world is your audience.
Now YouTube has partnered up with Scott Free, the Venice Film Festival, and Emirates Airlines to award someone, anyone, a great unknown filmmaker from anywhere in the world, $25,000 director salary and $475,000 to make a film!
50 finalists will be voted on YouTube and the top 10 will be shown at the Venice Film Festival; one will win the grand prize.
This is the longest shot of long shots, but if you believe in yourself and you were uploading your films to YouTube already, why not go for the gold?
There are few requirements. It has to be new since January 1, 2010 and it has to be under 15 minutes. You must be over 18 years old.
Free, no entry fee.
Remember what I talked about in Make a Movie with No Money? It is extremely important for this competition that you SAY SOMETHING, that your story develops and surprises viewers, and that your character goes through some kind of change. If you don’t have story arch and development, if you just have some nonsensical pretty footage, I can assure you, you will not win this competition. This is about storytelling, first and foremost, and then your acting and visuals need to also be stunning.
Watch the above video about some filmmakers who have launched their careers through YouTube. They each have very different styles and tales to tell, but the public liked what they had to show.
Read more about the film festival competition here: http://www.youtube.com/user/yourfilmfestival
HollyShorts Fun This Friday Dec 2 in Hollywood
PRESS RELEASE
What: HollyShorts Monthly Screening
Program:
We will screen 6 short films, followed by a Q and A, raffle, and free drinks!
-Processus 5 by Emilie Flory [French film featured on ScreenwritingforHollywood, click title to read more about it and the filmmaker]
-Home Run King by Mathew Nelson
-Cerise by John Trigonis
-The Misadventures of Cholo Chaplin by Kenneth Castillo
-Before Breakfast by Paul A. Levin
-Firemount by Daniel Denegre
- 5SECONDFILMS.COM presents an Xmas Compilation of seasonal satire
Where: Showbiz Store and Cafe
500 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Ground Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90049
When: Friday, December 2nd, 7pm-11pm
Note: The audience will be voting on their favorite film for the evening….so the film with most votes will get an automatic spot in the 2012 HollyShorts Film Festival!
From: Daniel SOL www.hollyshorts.com
HollyShorts is an organization devoted to showcasing the best and brightest short films from around the globe, advancing the careers of filmmakers through screenings, networking events, and various panel and forums. The HollyShorts Film festival showcases the top short films produced 30- minutes or less. For more information, please visit www.hollyshorts.com. Filmmaker news available at www.hollyshortsfilmfestival.blogspot.com
Buy advance tickets: HollyShorts Tickets
Connect: http://decemberhollyshorts-eorg.eventbrite.com/
Sponsors: Showbiz Store and Cafe, Martini Crew Booking, Movie Forms Pro Software, and Final Draft
Show Your Films to the World on YouTube
by Jaden
If you want to be a screenwriter or filmmaker, you need to have your material seen.
Film Festivals can be expensive to enter and maybe you don’t have that kind of money to spare. Or maybe you don’t have high quality film or digital footage. Maybe you have great snips, clips, and funny moments, but not a full story. Maybe you have tried to enter film festivals, but none have accepted you. There are lots of reasons that film festivals might not be the best outlet for your films.
YouTube.com is one of the best creations that have come out of the Internet to promote any kind of business or share entertaining personal footage, and YouTube is especially exciting for filmmakers. It’s like one big Global Film Festival, welcoming to all. Never before have you been able to show your films to the entire world! That’s exciting.
Some young people may never remember a time without YouTube, when the world was a different place, so they don’t know how lucky they are.
The more opportunities the Internet gives us to access a global audience, the more competition there is to get that audience. Even though the outlet is easier to find, you might have to work harder or have better material to get a dedicated audience.
If you are going to build an audience for your material, you have to do some self-promoting; perhaps sending out emails to friends and family, creating a website with a blog that will draw keyword searches, making friendships with people online who are interested in what you have to offer, having social networking accounts, and so on.
We all have to draw our own boundaries and limits as to what we will and will not do to promote. I do not like being a part of social websites that bombard me with advertising or give out my private information, so I am picky about those.
Last month, I bought a cheap film editing program, so I have been going to town pulling out all my fun old footage and putting up small portions of it on YouTube. You can see all my videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/jaden33sfh#p/u.
The most informative thing that has happened by putting up my short films on YouTube is that I have learned what people are interested in and what they can easily find, which is really helpful to me when deciding what films to produce and publicize.
For instance, I thought my film school short that features singer Jack Johnson would be a big hit because he is so well known, yet that video is getting very few hits. This was a big surprise to me. It could be because there is just too much footage of him on the Internet already and people who search for him don’t find my video. I don’t know.
Videos that are doing well of mine, oddly, are my Lightening clip, a video on Daguerreotypes, the Money Dog Mascot for the 100%, and my most popular video is Fight Night at the East Bay Rats Motorcycle Club in Oakland (includes a girl fight and band The Corruptors) featured above. These are all of course very short clips, only recently uploaded, so I don’t know which ones will withstand the test of time.
Some of the clips are part of my feature film documentary about Oakland Music and Art. I just wanted to practice editing and get a response from people to help me decide which direction to go. These videos were all quickly edited in a few hours and are not completed works and do not necessarily show the best footage.
The most important thing I have learned so far by using YouTube as a film testing ground is that when it comes to making movies, follow your heart! Don’t make something or put something out there because you think other people will like it and it will go viral. Put out screenplays and films to the world that resonate in your heart and soul, material that you really love, and don’t worry about what other people think. Whatever you really like, there is a good chance that others will like it too.
What old films are in your closet?
Calling All Independent Horror Thriller Sci-Fi Fantasy Filmmakers & Screenwriters !
Shriekfest Film Festival
CALL FOR ENTRIES!
Late entry date July 10
PRICES: Original Songs Early: $5.00 Regular: $10.00, Late: $15.00
Super shorts/Webisodes (10 min/pages & under, including credits) Early: $20.00 Regular: $25.00, Late: $35.00
Regular shorts (11 min/pages-49 min/pages, including credits) Early: $30.00Regular: $35.00, Late: $45.00
Features (50 min/pages & up) Early: $40.00 Regular: $45.00, Late: $55.00.
These same prices apply to the screenplays too.
If you would like 2 pages of script coverage by a script doctor, please add $60.00 to your entry fee.
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If you like this article, here are some other articles you may like:
Interview with Screenwriter Boaz Yakin, Writer/Director/Producer of Death in Love
