The Thickened Plot: Screenwriting in the Shadows of the Green Mountains

8:21:15 AM EDT

* 7/21 - Attended Lake Champlain Access Television's "Introduction to Adobe Premiere Pro" class.

* 7/15 - I just found out that I can use a special code for my hotel reservation for the 2008 Screenwriting Expo. It will save me $69 per day - that's a savings of $345 over the five days that I am there!

* 7/9 - Attended Lake Champlain Access Television's "Digital Camcorder" class.

* 7/3 - Updated Save the Cat! from version 2.1.0 to 2.1.1.

* 7/2 - I had lunch with Mike Turner. We caught up about Dead Creek and future projects. Primevil also got a decent review in Microfilmmaker Magazine.

Written by jsmiley530 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

5:54:48 PM EDT

* 6/30 - Attended Lake Champlain Access Television's "Introduction to the Studio".

* 6/27 - Ordered my 2008 Screenwriting Expo Gold Pass. Also found out that guests this year include Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, Writers and Executive Producers/Creators of ABC's Lost! (Note: Damon is also a Producer of the new Star Trek film). Nice!

* 6/25 - Attended Lake Champlain Access Television's "Access Orientation".

* 6/21 - Acted as Script Supervisor for a day on Dead Creek (Production Day 1).

* 6/19 - Hawk Ostby called ME!

* 6/18 - Reserved my flights for the 2008 Screenwriting Expo.

* 6/13 - Visited the set of What Light Remains (Production Day 10).

* 6/6 - Visited the set of What Light Remains (Production Day 4). I got to meet Courtney Gains.

* 6/6 - I had coffee with Edmond Stevens.

Written by jsmiley530 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

8:25:05 PM EDT

* I have started to reach out to my contacts at NBC Universal about my projects. Senior executives at the SCI FI Channel and Chiller are interested in meeting with me!

* The dates of the 2008 Screenwriting Expo have finally been revealed: November 13 - 16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Time to start making reservations.

* Champlain Motion Pictures - Production is approaching fast with a shooting schedule coming together for June.

* Mike Turner - Mike's projects are still moving forward. Mike is also at work on a new film from Edgewood Studios.

Written by jsmiley530 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

7:53:32 PM EDT

* I got the May/June 2008 issue of Script Magazine today. There is an article about Iron Man featuring the film's writers - including Vermont-based Hawk Ostby.

* Read and heard several interviews with John Fusco (another Vermont screenwriter) discussing The Forbidden Kingdom. Very cool guy.

* 4/17 - I had lunch with Mike Turner at La Villa Bistro. Things are moving quickly on his latest short film Dead Creek. He held auditions this past weekend.

* I happened to run into Steve Maas of Champlain Motion Pictures at the grocery store earlier this week. They recently had audtions also and their project is rapidly moving closer to the production phase.

* Finding Providence makes another big screen appearance on Saturday, May 10th at the Roxy. For tickets go here: Champlain Motion Pictures.

Written by jsmiley530 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

10:32:19 AM EST

* Rewrite work on Unwholesome is on temporary hold. I am awaiting word on obtaining permission to mention Delta Green in the script.

* I will immerse myself in Savage this April as part of the 2nd Annual Script Frenzy.

* I had lunch with Mike Turner on Thursday. I gave him some feedback on one of his upcoming short film projects.

* Thursday evening I went to the first meeting of The Haunted Forest Writers Group. I met some cool people and am looking forward to writing a skit for this year's event.

* Unfortunately I missed attending Thursday evening's taping of Jayson Argento's appearance on Tim Kavanagh's Late Night Saturday. The show will air on March 15th on WCAX.

* Tomorrow night I will be at a Champlain Motion Pictures meeting. I have been working as a Script Consultant on their current project.

Tags: Unwholesome, Delta Green, Savage, Script Frenzy, Mike Turner, The Haunted Forest, The Haunted Forest Writers Group, Jayson Argento, Late Night Saturday, Tim Kavanagh, Champlain Motion Pictures, ScriptConsultant, script consulting

Written by jsmiley530 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

10:52:04 PM EST

I will have another big announcement coming soon (Spring). More on this later.

In other local filmmaking/screenwriting news:

* My friends Jayson Argento, Steve Maas, and Ben Little have recently announced the formation of their new company: Champlain Motion Pictures. It sounds like they have quite a few ideas in the pipeline.

* The concept of the Vermont Screenwriters Association continues to grow. We will start to have official meetings this year.

* Mike Turner, Writer/Director/Producer also has some interesting ideas for projects in 2008 after the success of the award-winning short film, Primevil.

* Work continues slowly on planning the 1st Annual Vermont Horror Film Festival.

Written by jsmiley530 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

9:58:01 PM EST
On Wednesday I downloaded the upgrade from Movie Outline 2.0 to 3.0. This is a MAJOR upgrade...lots of enhancements! I'm just glad I'm not paying full price. I also tried to download the upgrade from Save the Cat! 1.1.4 to 2.0.1. I'm having some trouble on the Save the Cat! upgrade...it doesn't recognize my serial number. Waiting to hear back from a support person now.

Written by jsmiley530 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

9:42:26 AM EST

It looks like the WGA (Writers Guild of America) strike is going to happen at 12:01 a.m. tomorrow morning. What does this all mean for me? According to Friday's Los Angeles Times article, The Writers Guild stated that if a nonunion writer crosses the picket line it "can and will bar that writer from future Guild membership." 

In the meantime check out these funny (and timely) videos by Alex Perez: Scab Writer.

Written by jsmiley530 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

10:30:47 PM EDT
I went to a "Rally Party"/Fundraiser Cruise this past Friday night (10/26/2007) aboard the Spirit of Ethan Allen III on Lake Champlain. It was to support my good friends (Jayson Argento, Steve Maas, and Ben Little) as they move ahead with their new film project. I also had the opportunity to meet Larry Holden and his wife Hanne Kristiansen. Very nice people. A group of us (including Larry and Hanne) went to The Vermont Pub & Brewery afterwards for beers. We were joined by Damien Diette of 3 Below Productions and Jerry Wood of Zen & Chaos Studios. It was pretty cool to hear Larry talk about his work on Batman Begins, Insomnia, and Memento. I'm not sure yet what my involvement will be in this project, but I always have fun with Jayson, Steve, and Ben and will help them in any way that I can.

Written by jsmiley530 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own

9:57:08 PM EDT
Feeling Hopeful

Edmond Stevens called me this morning about the screenwriting documentary to schedule my interview. It will be held on my 37th birthday on Monday (10/29) in Vergennes. More on this later.

Written by jsmiley530 Permalink | Blog about this entry |  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this This entry has 0 comments: Add your own