Category Archives: Training and Networking

Summarizing Coverage on 12,000 Screenplays

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Stephen Follows has just released a report that all writers should download immediately.

“Judging Screenplays by their Coverage” co-authored by Josh Cockcroft with Liora Michlin, is a free 67 page PDF analysis of over 12,000 feature film screenplays and their scores by professional readers.

There are three sections: How to Impress Script Readers, The Average Screenplay and Screenwriters and The Act of Screenwriting.

You owe it to yourself to download it and read it fully (no email address required!) but here’s an executive summary from Stephen:

  1. Know thy genre. Your priorities should rest on the particular nature of your chosen genre. For example, Family films place the highest premium on catharsis, while for Action films it’s plot.
  2. Some stories work better than others. The vast majority of scripts can be summarized using just six basic emotional plot arcs – and some perform better than others.
  3. If you’re happy and you know it, redraft your script. Film is about conflict and drama and for almost all genres, the happier the scripts were, the worse they performed. The one notable exception was comedy, where the reverse is true.
  4. Swearing is big and it is clever. There is a positive correlation between the level of swearing in a script and how well it scored, for all but the sweariest screenplays.
  5. It’s not about length, it’s what you do with it. The exact length doesn’t matter too much, so long as your script is between 90 and 130 pages. Outside of those approximate boundaries scores drop precipitously.
  6. Don’t rush your script for a competition. The closer to the deadline a script was finished, the worse it performed.
  7. Use flashbacks responsibly. Scripts with more than fifteen flashbacks perform worse than those with few to no flashbacks.
  8. VO is A-OK. Some in the industry believe that frequent use of voiceover is an indicator of a bad movie, however we found no such correlation. We suggest that any complaints on the topic should be sent to editors, rather than writers.
  9. Don’t worry if you’re underrepresented within your genre – it’s your superpower. Female writers outperform male writers in male-dominated genres (such as Action) and the reverse is true in female-dominated genres (such as Family).

My take: I love everything Stephen does! The correlations he reveals here are fascinating. For instance, films (except comedies) with negative sentiments score better.

Indie filmmaking tips

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Although experience may be the best teacher, the next best is learning from someone who’s been there.

Noam Kroll has just released 126 Lessons On Independent Film Directing, Cinematography, Post-Production, Distribution, And More… that I find invaluable.

Noam is a filmmaker based in LA and he’s distilled his experience in producing, directing, writing, cinematography, editing and sound. He concludes with career advice. Seven nuggets:

“See your limitations as advantages, and look for ways to leverage them to make your film more unique in some way.”

“Write the movie that you want to see. The one you would stand in line for on opening weekend.”

“You can’t expect to achieve a nice color balance in post if there is no color contrast in your raw footage. Always use lighting, props, or wardrobe to achieve color contrast on set.”

“Color and sound can completely transform your film. They aren’t just technical tasks, they are also creative opportunities to entirely change the mood of your film. Capitalize on that.”

“You will be judged on the font you use for your title and end credits. Poor font choice can knock down your production value as fast as anything else. When in doubt, white sans serif on a black background will work just fine.”

“It’s critical for filmmakers today to build an audience for their work. Start now. You have an opportunity to sell your content directly to the public and don’t need to wait for permission. But you can only do it if you have an audience that’s hungry for your next project.”

“The only way to learn how to make a film is to make a film.”

My take: I love reading filmmaking advice and I sometimes try to imagine the trying circumstances behind them. By the way, Noam has great suggestions for micro-budget features too.

Discoverability guide published

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Andra Sheffer‘s Independent Production Fund just gave everyone an early Christmas present.

It’s a PDF entitled ‘Be Discovered!’

Download this right away and learn a new strategy to help your work find its audience on the web — one that goes beyond Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

To summarize, the strategy is:

  1. Create an IMDb page
  2. Create a Wikipedia article
  3. Add JSON-LD Schema to your website pages

I know you’ve heard of IMDb and Wikipedia, but you might be scratching your head when it comes to the third thing.

Simply put, schema is one way of adding metadata (tags) to your data (content) so search engines will understand it better and index it properly. This is known as the semantic web.

Luckily there are a couple of free tools from Google to help you:

You use the first one to quickly tag an existing page to create movie schema code you can add to the page, and the second one to double check that the new code is working without errors.

Andra says if you follow this strategy:

“Ideally, all those ‘knowledge cards’ that pop up on the right side of your search screens or as the priority recommendation on mobile devices, will be Canadian web series, resulting from the use of these techniques and the metadata relationships that are discovered by search engines.”

My take: I love it when I learn something new, and the code for semantic indexing of your web content is new to me. Looks like I’m gonna be busy updating my webpages this holiday.

CMF lists support for Canadian exports

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Amidst a background of reflection on Canada’s cultural place in a digital age, the Canada Media Fund has published a list of federal and provincial support for audio-visual exports.

The 10-page PDF list 6 national and 19 provincial programs, ranging from 1 in Yukon to 4 in Ontario.

For instance, Telefilm Canada‘s International Marketing Program:

“…seeks to support the marketing of Canadian feature length and short films that have a huge potential for success. Supports the international promotion and marketing strategy for Canadian productions officially selected to be presented during a recognized international festival. Nature of the assistance: Non-reimbursable contribution that can reach 100% of eligible costs, up to a cumulative maximum of $40,000 per eligible production.”

My take: as we look beyond our borders, this is handy information.

Zapruder Films seeks Canadian female feature writer for dev deal

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Because they don’t feel the Canadian feature film industry is doing enough to bridge the gender gap, Matthew Miller and Matt Johnson of Toronto’s Zapruder Films have launched a program to help support the development of one emerging female screenwriter.

They will be giving all of their $12,000 Telefilm development funds to one woman to develop a treatment into a first draft narrative feature script.

The rules:

“The contest opens September 8, 2016 and closes September 18, 2016.
The winner will be announced on Friday, September 30.
Applicants must not have written a produced feature length screenplay.
Scripts must be the original work of a female writer and must be written originally in English. Adaptations and translated scripts are not eligible.
The writer must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
The writer must agree to option the material to Zapruder Films for a 24 month period.
The writer must not be a member of any screenwriting unions or guilds.”

Your single PDF application must be at least seven pages:

“One page synopsis of the film
A short treatment of the film (5-10 pages)
A short brief addressing what your film means to you (300 word maximum)”

I asked Matthew and Matt what sort of response their program has received:

“The response has been really encouraging. There have already been several submissions and dozens of inquiries as to the specifics of the rules and regulations. For the most part, it is very hard for young writers without an agent to get their foot in the door. Most companies don’t accept unsolicited works so we think that alone has provided a breath of fresh air. And it is trying to help address the issue of gender disparity in our industry and that has helped to spawn a healthy and spirited debate on social media. We couldn’t be happier with where things are at this early in the program.”

My take: I applaud Zapruder Films for this program. It’s smart on two counts: firstly, they’re addressing the gender imbalance in the Canadian feature film industry. Hey, it’s 2016 already. Secondly, these guys want to encourage new, as-yet-unheard voices, with new, interesting stories to tell. As we all know, story is king, or in this case, queen.

Flowchart: What to do after film school

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MovieMaker has put together a funny flowchart for film school grads.

It asks a series of questions and depending on your answers, steers you to one of nine occupations.

For instance:

“I went to film school so that I could one day…

Express my original vision

How original?

Well, sort of original

I survived film school…

By stealing ideas from classical films

I want to live:

In Austen —

Indie Auteur!“

My take: I think this is hilarious, particularly as we get ready to relaunch the Short Circuit Film Festival. The convo goes something like this:

“I went to film school so that I could one day…

Work with my cinematic heroes.

I survived film school…

By buttering up my profs

I like to work:

Irregularly —

Festival Director!“

10 Things to Never Say to a Filmmaker

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It’s an old post, but I recently stumbled upon The Blue Streak‘s 10 Things to Never Say to a Filmmaker.

Gwydhar Gebien lists and discusses:

  1. Oh, you’re an independent filmmaker.
  2. So what’s your favorite movie?
  3. What do you mean you’ve never heard of (name of filmmaker)?
  4. Can you really call yourself a filmmaker when you just shoot digitally?
  5. Everyone is a filmmaker these days.
  6. But what’s your real job?
  7. You should start a YouTube channel!
  8. Why not just make a video and post it online and make it go viral?
  9. Hey my [kid/niece/nephew/neighbor] is a filmmaker…
  10. So when are you going to Cannes/Sundance/Tribecca/SXSW?

My favourite is Number 4: can you be a filmmaker if you shoot digital? As if you have a choice.

My take: too funny! See also, 24 Of The Worst Things You Can Say To A Writer.

The Disapproval Matrix

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Natalie Sejean of Mentorless.com recently pointed me to Ann Friedman‘s Disapproval Matrix.

There are four quadrants: Critics, Lovers, Frenemies and Haters.

And two axes: Rational/Irrational and Know You/Don’t Know You.

“The general rule of thumb? When you receive negative feedback that falls into one of the top two quadrants—from experts or people who care about you who are engaging with and rationally critiquing your work—you should probably take their comments to heart. When you receive negative feedback that falls into the bottom two quadrants, you should just let it roll off your back and just keep doin’ what you’re doin’.”

My take: I love 2×2 matrices! As a visual learner, I love how a simple diagram can bring clarity to a complex concept.

Review: Steal Like an Artist

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I just read Austin Kleon‘s short book Steal Like an Artist.

It’s short at 140 pages, with lots of pictures, so it’s an easy read.

There are ten ‘chapters’:

  1. Steal like an artist
  2. Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started
  3. Write the book you want to read
  4. Use your hands
  5. Side projects and hobbies are important
  6. The secret: do good work and share it with people
  7. Geography is no longer our master
  8. Be nice (the world is a small town)
  9. Be boring (it’s the only way to get work done)
  10. Creativity is subtraction

Austin begins:

“All advice is autobiographical. It’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past. This book is me talking to a previous version of myself…. These ideas apply to anyone who’s trying to inject some creativity into their lives and their work.”

It’s peppered with quotes by famous artists like ‘Art is theft.’ Pablo Picasso.

Austin’s central tenet is that since no ideas are original we are free to remix or mashup other ideas to create new ones.

He then explores ways to do that.

Austin’s call to action:

“The manifesto is this: Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to read, build the products you want to use — do the work you want to see done.”

My take: I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Would make a great gift. Hint hint.

Writersandfilmmakers.com uses the crowd to produce films

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Toronto-based Writersandfilmmakers.com has a different approach to short and feature film funding.

I call it a mashup of merit and crowd sourcing.

They’re running two competitions, one for shorts and one for features. Up to 1,000 writers or filmmakers sign up to judge each other’s work. The top filmmaker then gets to select one of the ten top scripts, pays the writer and makes her film.

I asked Jonathan Krimer, via email, why he started this venture:

“As a writer, I recognized that the number one barrier to making a film was funding. Sitting down and writing isn’t too expensive. But making a film is. No matter how much gear you or your friends have, you still need funding. I thought if people could come together and assess each other’s work we would be able to decide which projects to move forward on as a community. Let’s create a community where the participants want the best of the other group. Its a Win-Win-WIN. The last win is the funding.”

The funding comes from the entry fees. When each competition reaches 900-1,000 entrants, fees of $50 for the short film competition and $100 for the feature film competition become payable. The winning short film-maker gets $10,000 to pay the writer of the script they select, $15,000 for principal photography and $10,000 for completion. The winning feature film-maker gets $20,000 to pay the writer of the script they select, $30,000 for principal photography and $20,000 for completion. Writersandfilmmakers.com keeps the remaining fees to cover their overhead.

When each competition begins, each entrant must complete assignments. Filmmakers read and judge scripts. Writers watch and rate films. Writersandfilmmakers.com crunches the numbers to determine the winning filmmaker and the top ten scrips.

Which competition will happen first, short or feature? Any idea when?

“I am predicting the short film competition will occur first because the funding is absolutely insane! 10K for a short script and 25K for a short film?! THAT’S AMAZING! In addition, we have a two to one ratio of short film entries versus feature film entries. As for when, that’s a difficult one to predict. Our current rate of entries is seeing incredible spikes here and there. One day we have 20 entries, the next day we have one. What’s interesting about this competition is the more the word spreads, and the more the community helps spread the word, the faster we can start assessing each others work and funding a film.”

My take: I applaud this venture because it relies purely on writers and filmmakers, and not on funding bodies. Using the crowd to create a meritocracy is laudable. I like that it totally sidesteps issues of commercialization and focusses wholly on scripts and indie filmmaking. The writer prizes are very rich! Given the low entry fees (which are not payable until the competitions reach critical mass) I say go ahead and enter! I only wish there was a way to create communities of writers and directors through this who could collaborate on future projects, perhaps by location, as this is garnering entrants from cities around the world.