If you caught our blog last Thursday, then you know we gave our five finalists one last task: to rewrite their short script. With notes they received from the Celebrity Judges, and with FiLMLaB mentor Randall Jahnson to guide them, they were given five days to improve their scripts, with a deadline of midnight tonight.…
Tag Archive for Short Scripts
2015 FiLMLaB Finalists!
Oh, boy are we excited! After six weeks and three rounds of judging, we have our 2015 FiLMLaB Finalists! A very competitive set of eight scripts went through our Celebrity Judging panel where they were evaluated based on six questions for a possible 30 points (or 90 cumulative): On which page were you ‘hooked’ by…
Final Draft Signs On As Official FiLMLaB Sponsor!
Willamette Writers is excited to announce that screenwriting software giant, Final Draft, has signed on as an official sponsor for the 2015 FiLMLaB Contest! As such, all eight of our semifinalists have each won a gift certificate for a free downloadable version of Final Draft 9, valued at $250! “For over twenty years now, Final…
FiLMLaB 2015 Semifinalists Announced!
Bug Eyed Bill has tested a lot of writers in the 2015 FiLMLaB Contest. Integrating that character prompt into a seven page script has made the already difficult task of short form writing even more difficult. In the following eight scripts we see him as a blind art critic, a short order alien cook, a…
FiLMLaB Announces Quarterfinalists
What an interesting season it’s been for FiLMLaB. We mixed things up this year by adding required prompts to the contest for dialogue (“I understand the urge.”), props (a lock of some sort), and perhaps the most interesting, a character prompt for “Bug Eyed Bill.” It was a real challenge for the writers who took…
The Haunting of Sunshine Girl: Or How A Northwest Trio Hooked The Weinsteins
“Nobody knows anything…” William Goldman’s famous quote about Hollywood, may very well apply to the publishing industry as well; especially during this time of digital expansion and the resulting democratization of creative expression. The tools of production and marketing are available to everyone now, not just studios and publishing houses. What the long term net…
FiLMLaB:The Problem Of “You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know”
From Script To Short To Feature: Whiplash
My husband and I loved it. His mother hated it. A provocative, at times terrifying piece of filmmaking, you don’t have to like it to recognize the quality of Damien Chazelle‘s Oscar winning film, Whiplash: BLACK… We hear a HIT. A drumstick against a drum head. Crisp, sharp. Then a second hit. Then a third…
Randall Jahnson Talks Short Scripts
For those of you who couldn’t join us for the workshop, Randall has provided a few notes for you to think about as you work on your short script. Distill your story down to the essentials – the salient moment/scene Make sure your story has conflict Grab your audience’s attention ASAP – that usually means…
Call For Entries: 2015 FiLMLaB Is Open!
The 2015 FiLMLaB Contest kicked off Tuesday night at Portland’s Historic Old Church, when the final contest parameters were announced. In addition to limits on page count (7, not including title page) and characters (4 speaking roles with allowances for extras), three new limitations are in place this season. The thematic prompt from the first…