Story Notes Contest?

[Carson Parker]

Anyone heard anything on results? Site mentioned results by the end of January.

[StoryNotes]

I'll be posting the results here, amongst other places, when I'm finally finished. I'm reading and sending feedback on several a day. It's the feedback that is slowing me down.

However, I have found someone with experience in screenplay analysis who will be giving me some help ... those she rates highly I will also read.

I'll be including 16 articles, totalling almost 200 pages, along with the feedback.

I don't want to give a firm day for when it will be finished, since sometimes things come up that slow me down. For instance, I spent two weeks working with a Korean producer who said he was looking for high-quality screenplays he could acquire inexpensively, and I thought this could wind up being a good opportunity for some of the contest entrants. I gave him a private course in screenwriting and analysis. We'll see if this leads to anything (he's lining up financing now).

I also helped a young producer with a project, because if it goes, he'll be looking for several screenplays from non-pro's (if they are of pro quality, and commercial in nature). He has some great contacts, including a new one of a major exec who is starting a new company soon. New companies don't have a stockpile of scripts, and are more open to submissions from non-pros, especially if they come recommended.

For the time being, I'm not accepting evaluations from non-pro's for my screenplay services, so that I can concentrate instead on the contest. But I don't want to turn away work from producers, due to the opportunities that could result.

By the way, one of the articles I'm including started out as a 7-pager, but after reading a number of the entries, I expanded it to a 30-page article. It's on the crucial 1st 10 pages. I've noticed many a screenplay where, if readers had the choice of opting out after ten pages (as many do), they probably would have, but then the screenplay gradually -- or sometimes suddenly -- starts getting better around p. 15, 20, or so. So I expanded the steps from 20 to 25, and elaborated more, cited more examples, etc. I think many will find it very helpful.

Another thing I've noticed: how pleasant it is when the scene description/action has some personality, imagination, and color. Many pro writers make sure their description is really well crafted. And while it doesn't affect the content, it really does contribute to the reading experience and helps to convey the desired emotions.

So while the main thing is to keep it lean and clear, I'm more convinced than ever that that's not enough. Bland, flat, lifeless prose tamps down the emotional response to the content.

Jeff Newman, StoryNotes