A-List Screenwriting Blog

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  • A-List Screenwriting Blog

    My first ever blog...And it's an answer to the A-List Quiz of the Week found on A-List Fan Page. The Dark Knight, Heath ledger and more...

    Enjoy!

    Jim

    http://a-listscreenwriting.blogspot.com/
    http://www.facebook.com/pages/A-List-Screenwriting/163162392801

  • #2
    Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

    FREE NEWSLETTER: BEST OF CRAFT & CAREER

    I had to compile some of the highlights from the first 3 issues for an e-blast, so if you haven't tried my newsletter, check it out. I will put its content up against any screenwriting journal or magazine out there.

    Cool topics: Exploitation of Concept, Spec/Blech Market and the only screenwriting article tangentially related to cunnilingus (Yes, seriously).

    David Gillis' column Style Matters: 10 Common Mistakes is in there and he returns with a two-part column in this month's issue out in a few days, so sign up if you want more.

    Life Coach Rhona Berens, Ph.D. also has a cool article that deftly combines career advice with writing advice.

    http://www.championscreenwriting.com/eflyers/alist_screenwriting_eblast.html

    Sign up to get it every month: www.A-ListScreenwriting.com

    Have any suggestions for articles? Email me.

    Peace,
    Jim Mercurio

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

      New Blog! BLOCKBUSTERS: Take the Best, Leave the Rest....Return of the King, Writing Action, Beats for action scenes....

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

        Hi Jim,

        Thanks for this blog, good stuff. I've followed some of your work for a few years now as a columnist, you've been a helpful supporter of the screenwriting community and it's appreciated by many.

        With that said, I hope this next question doesn't come off as offensive, that's not my intention. I'm just curious, what scripts have you written? Any sales or options? I can't find any on IMDB. Do you have a feature spec (or sold) somewhere that's available to read? Maybe I missed it, but I'd love to check out a script you've written so I can see the abundance of knowledge you have at work. I mean that sincerely.

        That would be cool.

        Link?

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

          Originally posted by Telly View Post
          Hi Jim,

          Thanks for this blog, good stuff. I've followed some of your work for a few years now as a columnist, you've been a helpful supporter of the screenwriting community and it's appreciated by many.

          With that said, I hope this next question doesn't come off as offensive, that's not my intention. I'm just curious, what scripts have you written? Any sales or options? I can't find any on IMDB. Do you have a feature spec (or sold) somewhere that's available to read? Maybe I missed it, but I'd love to check out a script you've written so I can see the abundance of knowledge you have at work. I mean that sincerely.

          That would be cool.

          Link?
          Thanks, Telly. I consider myself more of a filmmaker. I have managed to stay active in getting a film made one way or another every other year for the past decade: director, co-producer, producer, exec producer x 2. I would like to be making more films, bigger films, films I have more control over AND films I have written on my way back to the directing chair. I just did 34 pages of notes on an 88-page film I am attached (99%) to direct next summer. And the structure was bulletproof. ;-)

          I am the guy who wants to make the next Annie Hall or Scenes from a Marriage but I got hired in the 90s to write Legend of the Chupacabras, which never got made. I have a few non-WGA assignments and I get a ghost rewriting gig once a year, but I often turn that sort of work down. It's pretty depressing to spend months on someone else's work if you are not passionate about it and are not getting paid very much.

          I have found out that it's a lose-lose scenario for me to post my own personal writing to prove my story analyst skills. My A-List clients and clients who write for A-List filmmakers don't give a crap about my personal screenwriting. Nor do I expect them to. And my best writing is not very commercial.

          I don't see any point in making my scripts more publically available than any other screenwriter. If someone reads my script and likes it, then that's expected. But if someone doesn't like my script, then it's feeding frenzy on me. I got lambasted here just for entering a script into Scriptshadow's contest. I don't see McKee, Truby or Walter posting their scripts at their sites.

          Other than 18 hours this year tutoring some neighbors in Algebra and Calculus for $10 per hour as a favor, I am full time at watching movies, writing about them, teaching screenwriting, writing, developing projects to be made, working on my company A-List Screenwriting and consulting with writers. But there was a thread on moviebytes that somehow argued it was fraudulent for me to be charging students to take my class.

          This might even be more than I wanted to share, so I may edit it later.

          Peace,
          Jim

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

            Jim, it may be that "A List Screenwriting Blog" makes it sound like you are claiming to be an A list screenwriter...

            Of course, my blog is called "Sex In A Submarine", so I really can't say a danged thing.

            - Bill
            Free Script Tips:
            http://www.scriptsecrets.net

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

              Originally posted by wcmartell View Post
              Jim, it may be that "A List Screenwriting Blog" makes it sound like you are claiming to be an A list screenwriter...

              Of course, my blog is called "Sex In A Submarine", so I really can't say a danged thing.

              - Bill
              I have A-List clients and many clients who write for A-List filmmakers. Let me make an announcement: I am not an A-List screenwriter. ;-)

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

                who reps you?
                "I hate to break it to you but there is no big lie. There is no system. The universe is indifferent.- - Don Draper

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

                  Originally posted by joe9alt View Post
                  who reps you?
                  Why does it matter?
                  https://twitter.com/#!/moviewriterJeff

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

                    Because I'd think somebody with the credentials and track record that Jim touts -- credentials he uses to sell his wares -- would attract a top rep. So I was curious.

                    That okay with you, Jones? That I was curious and asked a question?
                    "I hate to break it to you but there is no big lie. There is no system. The universe is indifferent.- - Don Draper

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

                      Originally posted by joe9alt View Post
                      Because I'd think somebody with the credentials and track record that Jim touts -- credentials he uses to sell his wares -- would attract a top rep. So I was curious.

                      That okay with you, Jones? That I was curious and asked a question?
                      It's fine by me, Joe. But the guy himself said he doesn't write high concept stuff, isn't an A-List screenwriter and has done only non-WGA assignment work. So chances are he's not repped by CAA. But even if he comes back and says he is repped by CAA, it's not going to change your mind on paying for script critiques. I think you asked that question because you probably know the answer and are looking to take him down a peg. If I'm wrong, sorry.
                      https://twitter.com/#!/moviewriterJeff

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

                        I am not universally opposed to paying for script consultants.

                        I'm just opposed to most.

                        As I stated in another thread (before it was locked), one of my best friends paid a script consultant that specializes in TV. Her price was high and I was skeptical. She had verifiable credentials, though, and legit contacts at all the agencies. She developed a pilot and a spec MAD MEN with my friend and his writing partner, liked their work, and showed it to her contacts at all the major agencies. They got signed by UTA and almost immediately got staffed on Fox's LIE TO ME. They're in their second season now and doing well. It worked out for them. I was proven wrong. It could work out for others.

                        So if Jim were to say, "I'm repped at CAA" it would add credence to what he's doing for me. For one, I'd know he had contacts at CAA and could potentially expose his clients to the agency if he deemed it appropriate.

                        I'm not against script consultants across the board. The lady my friend hired is very legit (and expensive by the way). Her contacts are verifiable. She doesn't hide who she is and what she's done. There is a transparency there that a lot of these consultants don't have.

                        You hear the term, "I have A list clients" but you never hear who those clients are.

                        I want to know about Jim's success stories. Who has he helped get repped?? Whose career has he helped advance? What did he do for $1000 fee or whatever he's charging now? That would make him more legit in my eyes if he had good answers to those questions.
                        "I hate to break it to you but there is no big lie. There is no system. The universe is indifferent.- - Don Draper

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

                          Originally posted by joe9alt View Post
                          Because I'd think somebody with the credentials and track record that Jim touts -- credentials he uses to sell his wares -- would attract a top rep. So I was curious.

                          That okay with you, Jones? That I was curious and asked a question?
                          I don't understand why you'd think that a screenwriting consultant would have any agent, much less a top level one. On what basis would an agent rep Mercurio? As a writer and director he's probably not making much money, and would anyone rep him as a consultant?

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

                            Originally posted by SBScript View Post
                            I don't understand why you'd think that a screenwriting consultant would have any agent, much less a top level one. On what basis would an agent rep Mercurio? As a writer and director he's probably not making much money, and would anyone rep him as a consultant?
                            I know many talented writers not making any money who have great agents working hard to get them their first gig. The agents repped them based on their talent and what they project them to make in the future.

                            Mercurio positions himself as a critically acclaimed writer/director on his site and even quotes a gushy review for one of his films. He directly references his filmmaking and screenwriting background as a way to tout his qualifications and convince people he's worth paying as a script consultant.

                            Since he does all of the above and tries to use his writing and directing career as validation for his script consulting career, I felt that asking him who he was repped by was certainly a fair and relevant question.
                            Last edited by joe9alt; 11-09-2009, 08:44 PM.
                            "I hate to break it to you but there is no big lie. There is no system. The universe is indifferent.- - Don Draper

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: A-List Screenwriting Blog

                              Originally posted by Jim Mercurio View Post
                              I have found out that it's a lose-lose scenario for me to post my own personal writing to prove my story analyst skills.
                              I know nothing about Jim's writing or his service, but writing and analyzing are two different skills and should be treated as such.
                              "Your intuition knows what to write, so get out of the way.-
                              ― Ray Bradbury

                              Comment

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