Tuesday, December 31, 2013

writer interview (part 2)/ Screenwriting Goldmine



Dec. 27 Writer interview (part 2): I have written an interview where I imagine a host is interviewing me about my writing.  It’s mainly professional.

http://badcb.blogspot.ca/2013/01/writer-interview-contract-lesson-bobbi.html

I remember watching Tyra Banks talk show and sometimes she does kind of sound like a psychologist talking to a guest you know like the teen pregnancy episodes.  Here’s the episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_huMNaUQ8Q

Well here’s part 2 of my writer interview.  It’s going to get personal.

Blogging

Host: Why do you blog?

Tracy: Because I want to produce my script The Vertex Fighter and get it produced to be a TV movie.

Host: How long have you had these blogs?

Tracy: Tracy’s Blog has been here since Jan. 2008, so 6 yrs.  My The Vertex Fighter has been here since Jun. 2011, so 2 and a half yrs.

Host: Do you have any followers?

Tracy: No, but I do keep track of my page views.  In Tracy’s Blog, I get 100-200 page views a day.  In The Vertex Fighter blog, I get 0-20 page views a day.  My Fighter blog is about writing, TV, and movies.  That post is usually on Tracy’s blog too.  On Tracy’s blog there are lots of topics like jobs and news.

Host: Do you intend to get a book published?

Tracy: I would like to get from blog to book, but I haven’t figured it out.  I have thought of turning my script into a fictional book and then self-publish it on Amazon.  But I don’t want to write a fictional book.

I’m brainstorming, because The Book of Awesome writer Neil Pasricha made a book that is compiled of his blog posts.  I could, but how would I make it?

Tracy’s Blog: Business edition: All the job, career articles and tips, job interviews, job experiences that I went through.

Tracy’s Blog: Writer’s edition: All the TV and movie reviews, synopsis’s, writer/ author interviews, articles, and tips.

Tracy’s Blog: Jokes edition: Daily Silly jokes, comedy comparisons.

Host: What if you never become famous?  Your blog never becomes a book?  You don’t win any awards?  Then what?

Tracy: Then I’m going to keep blogging.

Script

Host: So are you getting any closer to getting your script produced?

Tracy: I was so busy working, especially in the first half of the year Jan.-Jun. 2013, that I haven’t been pitching my script much.  I only had one producer read it and he rejected it.

Host: So what now?

Tracy: I don’t feel motivated to pitch my script.  I’ve been writing scripts since I was 14 yrs old.  So from 14-22 yrs old, I’ve been writing scripts for 8 yrs.  I had to graduate out of high school and Professional Writing in college, and then I started pitching my script.  I was 22 yrs old when I started pitching it.  In 2008-2009, I was constantly looking for production companies and pitching to them.

In 2010, I was laid off so I only pitched for 4 months of that year.  In 2011, I was working and looking for an office job all the time.  In 2012, I did the same, but I worked more temporary jobs that year.

In 2012, I applied to get jobs at TV production companies, but that only lasted a month.  There are some in Edmonton.  I did apply to them back in 2008 and got one interview.  

I was just going through my notes of all the places I pitched to and when.  There isn’t a lot that I did this year.  I did join the Edmonton Film Makers Group in Meetup and read some member’s scripts when I joined the Edmonton Screenwriter’s Group.

Host: This sounds like you lost steam.

Tracy: Yeah.

Host: So have you thought of finding ways to motivate yourself to getting your script produced?

Tracy: Yeah.  There is the route of typing up inspirational quotes.  Or maybe I should go into the direction of blog-to-book, if I can find a way with that.

Maybe I need to make myself more creative like watch something to inspire me.  I did watch the movie In Time and it did make me think on how to write my script.

Or I need to put up some articles about Canadian TV shows being produced in Canada.  It’s gotten too hard getting this script produced.  I gave 100% effort in 2008-2010 in pitching.  I’ve tried to get an agent, but couldn’t.   

Dec. 29 Screenwriting Goldmine: I unsubscribed to them yesterday.  It turns out I’ve been subscribing to them since 2007.  They asked why I unsubscribed and I said that it’s in the UK and I’m in Canada.  Here are some interesting excerpts from them:

ONLY
ONE IN FOURTEEN UK FILMS MAKES A PROFIT

News that only around 7% of British films make a box-office profit
is dispiriting. (That said, some might be astonished that that many
actually do...)

Of the 613 British films produced or co-produced in the UK from
2003-2010, only 3.1% of those with budgets under £500,000 made a
profit. 

The bigger the budget, the more likely the profit, suggests
ScreenDaily's Michael Rosser who was reporting on statistics
released by the British Film Institute at the Screen Film Summit


A POSITIVE UPDATE ON UK WOMEN SCREENWRITERS

While statistics can be used to say anything, let's not overlook
some more BFI data for the period 2010-12. It says that "a high
percentage of the most successful and profitable independent
British films had a female screenwriter and/or director attached."

The news points out that women are underrepresented in writing and directing
roles in the film industry. 


"For all UK independent films released between 2010 and 2012, just
11.4% of the directors and 16.1% of the writers were women.
However, for the top 20 UK independent films over the same period,
18.2% of the directors and 37% of the writers were female. And for
profitable UK independent films, 30% of the writers were female."

Commenting on the data, BFIO CEO said: "Women are creating stories
and characters that resonate with audiences in the UK and around
the world, and it's encouraging, and absolutely no surprise, to see
films from women writers in particular really making an impact. 

"Frustratingly, overall the numbers of women in writing and
directing roles remains low and there is still much work to do to
ensure female voices can come through."

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