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What's New, BlueCat?
The Official Newsletter of the
Bluecat Screenplay Competition
April 29th, 2012 |
HEY, YOU!
Still interested in the BlueCat Short Screenplay Competition?
If you submit your short screenplay by TOMORROW, MAY 1ST, at MIDNIGHT PST, you'll get your feedback by MAY 15TH!
For full details, check below the interview!
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 If we had to describe Nick Luddington in three words, we'd probably say 'dashing, talented, English.' Of course, then we'd be leaving out that his script Life In A Box won the most recent Cordelia award for outstanding script from the United Kingdom. So let's just say that you're about to read an interview with Nick Luddington, Cordelia winner and all around good chap.
When did you start writing screenplays?
I have been playing around with a number of screenplay ideas for a few of years now, but only seriously starting writing a year ago. Before this I was concentrating on other writing mediums and had to learn the format of proper film writing etiquette before starting out.
Why did you start writing screenplays?
For me I've always had these other worlds inside my head, I know that sounds cheesy but for as long as I can remember I would immerse myself in an idea and create whole storylines within it. This led me to writing short stories, a book, short films and eventually into the world of feature screenplays. Without this outlet I'm pretty sure I would have gone crazy, or at least people would have thought I was crazy if I ever told them what was in my head.
How many screenplays have you finished?
LIFE IN A BOX is actually my first completed screenplay, so in a way I feel like I've cheated in getting this recognition. However, I am on the verge of completing my second and I have a number of others and two TV series that I'm now writing.
How do you find time to write?
It's a struggle I'm not going to lie, but I generally try and write late each evening, starting around 10pm. This way I get the quiet and solitude I need.
What aspects of the writing process do you struggle with the most?
The planning of a screenplay is something that I always struggle with. You have to be meticulous in the structure of your acts, know the backstory of every character and understand what it is you are trying to tell the audience. However, I'm always over eager. I get this great idea and straight away I'm ready to write the first 15 pages, but unless you take the time to plan, I guarantee you'll hit a brick wall. I know I have many times.
What do you feel like you do well as a screenwriter?
I believe that I can create a world that engages a reader; submerging them into a story that takes them somewhere they haven't been before.
How does screenwriting make you happy?
Ha that's a good question! Screenwriting for me is something that provides massive highs and lows, that initial idea springing into your head and driving you to write page after page of concepts and story arcs or the completion of a first draft is truly amazing! However, there are days when you are in the midst of your screenplay and you just don't know what you're doing, sure you carded the script, wrote a treatment, but until you start writing you never know where you'll end up. It is a daunting and challenging thing, but the personal sense of achievement at the end is incredible.
What do you think is the biggest problem with storytelling in Hollywood?
For me Hollywood is all about "tentpole" films, those blockbusters they pour hundreds of millions of pounds into and hope they create a franchise. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, as I've paid my money to watch a fair few, I always feel that this limits the cinema experience. It is a rare occurrence that I can go to my local cinema and find something truly inspiring or engaging to watch.
How can you improve in how you handle feedback?
Feedback is one of those strange things that every writer needs to make their work better. I know this and actively ask people for it, yet there is always that brief 30 second period when you get criticism where you immediately want to defend your work. As time has gone on I've become a lot better at receiving it, swallowing my pride in order to make something I love even better. Without feedback I wouldn't have got where I did in Bluecat.
What are your greatest fears about screenwriting?
Every time someone reads my work I fear that they will come back with a generic "yeah it's good". I want to connect with people and create a reaction; if I don't then I'm doing something wrong.
What is your highest screenwriting goal for yourself?
To sit in a packed cinema and experience an audience's reaction to my work on screen. Hopefully it won't be awful.
What do you do to achieve that goal?
I constantly play around with new worlds inside my head, re-working ideas, characters and backstories. Above all I continue to write.
Do you feel that life in the United Kingdom has uniquely affected your writing and creative output, and if so, how?
Naturally my life here in the UK can't help but influence my creative output and give me a certain perspective, but to say exactly how it has been affected is difficult to say. Everything that I write, like all writers, comes from something I've experienced, seen, read or connected with; none of which might be British. Writing is an incredible thing that can lead you anywhere and more often than not I use it to go somewhere else other than the UK.
Thanks, Nick! Wherever your writing takes you, we hope the weather is better than England's. |
BLUECAT'S SHORT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION
ANNOUNCED!
Grand prize: $2000
Two Finalists: $500 each
Have you got a great idea for a screenplay that just doesn't happen to be feature length? Maybe you've already written a short screenplay - between five and forty pages long - but you're not sure what to do with it. Maybe you're looking to get some perspective on your short before you try to produce it, and maybe pick up a little extra cash for the budget while you're at it. If so, then submit your screenplay to BlueCat Short Screenplay Competition! Think of it as a smaller version of the annual Feature BlueCat Screenplay Competition - shorter scripts and a shorter timeframe, but just as equally lucrative and beneficial to your development as a writer.
THE DETAILSEntry fee is $20, or $35 if you want feedback by a BlueCat reader. Enter by April 15th and receive analysis by May 1st All analysis will be sent by June 15th. All eligible screenplays - original works between five and forty pages long - must be submitted before May 15th, 2012 at 12:00 AM PST.
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HEY! FINISH YOUR SCRIPT!
Why? Well, because...
THE 2013 BLUECAT SCREENPLAY COMPETITION
will start accepting submissions on
JUNE 15TH, 2012!
New year, new scripts, same $20,000 in prizes!
So
GET TO WORK! |
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BLUECAT
SCREENWRITING WORKSHOPS
Heads up! There's two spots left for our May 12th South Florida workshop - register now!
Please check the list below for complete information on all upcoming workshops.
About Our Workshops
We write screenplays for people. The relationship between the story on the screen in the theatre and the people sitting in the seats makes or breaks the artistic and commercial success of the movie.
What does a screenplay do to authentically engage an audience? What compels a reader to keep turning the pages? Why do specific elements elicit stronger emotional reactions to our stories? How does a writer write this into their screenplay? Where does this come from within the writer?
An award-winning screenwriter, Gordy Hoffman founded the BlueCat Screenplay Competition in 1998, having since presided over the evaluation and adjudication of over 10,000 screenplays. This unique combination of writer and reader of screenplays has allowed Gordy to develop and evolve a keen eye and feel for how a screenplay works successfully, and the intuitive, personal ways to address the problems of a screenplay through a writer's approach.
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 Writers)
Participants read seven screenplays in advance of the workshop. Screenplays can be first drafts or rewrites, with first time writers and veterans all welcome. During the workshop, Gordy provides direct and in-depth feedback on each screenplay, with everyone encouraged to contribute his or her own thoughts and concerns. Gordy provides brief written notes to each writer after the workshop. Audit option available.
The First Ten Pages Workshop (Limit 12 writers)
Each writer submits the first ten pages of their screenplay to the group before the workshop day. On the workshop day, we read the ten pages out loud, providing each writer the valuable experience of hearing their script, followed by a discussion of the pages by the workshop. Audit option available.
What if I don't have a script ready, but I'd like to attend?
Do you want to participate, but do not have a script to submit at this time? You can audit the workshop, which allows you to attend without submitting written material, read the scripts in advance and still participate in the discussion.
Note: A workshop may sell out in regards to full registrations, but the audit option is always available.
New York City
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers) Saturday, May 5th, 9:00 AM-6:00 PM CRS 123 4th Ave, 2nd FL New York, NY 10003 Full Registration $245(SOLD OUT - AUDIT SPOTS AVAILABLE ONLY!)Audit $60
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)
Sunday, May 6th, 9:00AM-6:00PM
Space on White
81 White Street
New York, NY 10013
Full Registration $245 (SOLD OUT - AUDIT SPOTS AVAILABLE ONLY!)
Audit $60
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers---2 spots left)Saturday, May 12th, 9:00AM-6:00PM Hilton Garden Inn 180 SW 18th Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33004 Full Registration $225
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)Saturday, May 19th, 9:00AM-6:00PM Inn By The Sea The Sand Dollar Room 7830 Fay Avenue La Jolla, CA 92037 Full Registration $225
Audit $45Register Now
Full Script Online Workshop
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)
Thursday, May 24th, Midnight PST: Scripts due
Sunday, June 10th PST: Gordy releases comment videos
Sunday, June 17th, 6PM PST: Followup questions due
Wednesday, June 20th, 6PM PST: Gordy releases followup videos
Full Registration: $180
Audit: $40
Washington, D.C. Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers) Saturday, June 2nd, 9:00AM-6:00PM Dupont Circle Business Incubator 1638 R Street Northwest #120a Washington, DC 20009 Full Registration $225 Audit $45
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)Saturday, June 16th, 9:00AM-6:00PM The Donatello Hotel 501 Post St.
San Francisco, CA 94102
Full Registration $225 (ONLY THREE SPOTS LEFT)
Los Angeles
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)
Saturday, June 23rd, 9:00AM-6:00PM
Hollywood Production Center
1149 N. Gower St.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Full Registration $175
Audit $45
Register Now
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)
Saturday, June 30th, 9:00 AM-6:00 PM The Walnut Theatre 825 Walnut St. Philadelphia, PA 19107 Full Registration $225 Audit $45
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers---5 spots left!)
Saturday, August 25th, 9:00 AM-6:00PM Metro Screen Paddington Town Hall 249 Oxford St. Paddington NSW 2021 Full Registration $395 USD Audit $75 USD
First Ten Pages Workshop (Limit 12 writers)Sunday, August 26th, 9:00AM-6:00PM Metro Screen Paddington Town Hall 249 Oxford St. Paddington NSW 2021 Full Registration $150 USD
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)Saturday, September 29th, 9:00AM-6:00PM Creative Studios of Atlanta 500 Bishop Street Northwest Atlanta, GA 30318 Full Registration $225
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