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What's New, BlueCat? The Official Newsletter of the
BlueCat Screenplay Competition
August 8th, 2012
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All Over The World
While the BlueCat Screenplay Competition is headquartered at the center of the American film industry in sunny Los Angeles, California, we don't discriminate when we're reading your screenplays. BlueCat is about finding the best screenplay in the world, and even though the majority of our entries come from the United States, we're always eager to see what the rest of the world has to offer us in the screenplay department. Talent knows no borders.
We're always looking for more contributions from our foreign friends, and it's in that spirit that we're dedicating today's newsletter to our international program - the awards we offer to international screenwriters, our overseas workshops, and international writers who've had success with BlueCat. There's a whole world of screenwriters out there, and we want to read more of their scripts every year.
So if you're an international writer thinking about sending us something, take a look at what we've got to offer and send away! And if you're a regular old American writer, go ahead and read anyway - and if you like what you see, be sure to tell your foreign friends about what we do!
-The BlueCat Team
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BlueCat Workshops: Australia That's Not A Workshop... THIS Is A Workshop!
Last year's Joplin award winner Guy McDouall lives and works in New Zealand (more on him later in the newsletter), and his success inspired us to head to a land down under this month for some workshops and shrimps on the barbie. We've scheduled four workshops in both New Zealand and Australia throughout the month of August and they're filling up fast. Take a look - if you're in the neighborhood, we'd love to have you!
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BlueCat Alumni Corner: Nick Luddington Where Are They Now?
If Nick Luddington's name sounds familiar, it's because he's one of our most recent alumni - he's the winner of the 2012 Cordelia Award for outstanding script from the UK. Since winning the prize for his script Life In A Box, Luddington has gone on to find success in the world of short film. His short script Unbearable, the story of the stress placed on two teddy bears when the couple who owns them breaks up, won the grand prize at the London Screenwriters' Competition. Smashing work, Nick!
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READING: Random Acts Of Violence BlueCat Takes The Stage
We mentioned Kiwi Joplin winner Guy McDouall a little earlier - it was his script, Random Acts of Violence, that inspired our trip to New Zealand and Australia. In the wake of his success at BlueCat, McDouall is putting on a staged reading of his script in New Zealand on August 20th. Interested? Keep reading for the synopsis and location info! Seven volunteers for a trial of a new cold medication find themselves isolated and imprisoned in their test facility after being injected with the drug. One by one, the test subjects begin to have unpredictable episodes of uncontrollable, psychotic violence. Protagonist Moonchild Anderson and his companion Zoe must find a way out of the facility before their intermittently homicidal companions get the better of them, but without any way of telling who among them is predator and who is prey, they can't trust anyone - even themselves. Monday, August 20th, at 7:30 PM Te Whaea National Dance and Drama Center 11 Hutchinson Road Newton 6021 New Zealand ADMISSION IS FREE
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Selected Script: Slumdog Millionaire All Kinds Of International
Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire was written by Englishman Simon Beaufoy and directed by Englishman Danny Boyle, but shot in India as an homage to the vibrant colors and epic love stories of Indian Bollywood cinema. It's a sort of film synchronicity between Boyle's energetic and streetsmart English directing style and the aesthetics of Bollywood, right on down to the huge dance scene at the end. Give it a read!
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UPCOMING DEADLINES The Clock Is Ticking - Yes, Already
AUGUST 1ST Title Contest Deadline
Scripts submitted by Aug1st, 2012 will receive their written analyses by September 1st, 2012 and will be automatically entered in the Title Contest. $60 entry fee. OCTOBER 15TH Regular Deadline Our Regular Deadline is October 15th with an entry fee of $65.
NOVEMBER 15TH Final Deadline Our Final Deadline is November 15th with an entry fee of $70.
SUBMIT YOUR SCRIPT
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Gordy Video: Translation Are We Speaking The Same Language? BlueCat only accepts screenplays written in English - so if your masterpiece is in another language, you'll have to look into translating it if you want to enter it in our competition. Fortunately, BlueCat founder Gordy Hoffman is here to talk to us about translating your script..
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The Cordelia
Pip Pip, Cheerio
We can thank the United Kingdom for any number of contributions to storytelling - from Danny Boyle and Alfred Hitchcock to Shakespeare, the anonymous author of Beowulf, and the very creation of the Germanic language Anglish, which would come to be known as the English you're reading today.
It's in recognition of these works that we created the Cordelia Award - a $1000 prize for the best screenplay from the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland). Cordelia winners are still eligible for all of BlueCat's other prizes, right on up to the $10,000 grand prize. It's just one more incentive for Britain's historically talented writers to ply their craft in our competition.
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The Joplin You Stay Classy, Planet Earth
Of course, Great Britain doesn't have a monopoly on great writing - to say that they do would be to overlook the creative contributions of Japanese theater and Greek tragedy, just to name a few. That's why we created The Joplin to recognize the best script from any country except the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Joplin winners will pick up a $1000 prize in addition to whatever else they win in the course of the competition - so if you're eligible, why not enter? We'd love to see what you have to offer!
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Quote
"A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it."
Alfred Hitchcock
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BlueCat Interviews
Miss an interview? Don't sweat it! All of our interviews with 2012's winners - along with some other interviews from BlueCat's past - are available on our website. It's a great opportunity to tap into the psyches of our winners and figure out what makes them tick - and, more importantly, what makes them write good screenplays!
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Worth Reading: The Story Department It's From Australia, So You Know It's Good!
Karel Segers used to be an international movie buyer, but now he teaches, writes, and works as a freelance script consultant in Australia and internationally. He's also got a great blog, called The Story Department, where he and his staff talk about good scripts, great stories, and pretty much whatever else strikes their fancy. No matter what country you're from, it's definitely worth a look.
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Interview: Guy McDouall The Author Of Random Acts Of Violence
Guy McDouall is doing a staged reading of his Joplin winning screenplay, Random Acts of Violence. If you want to know more about our latest Joplin winner, you can find his post-award BlueCat interview here.
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Free Entry To BlueCat 2013! Details Below!
The 2013 BlueCat Screenplay Competition is getting closer and closer, and to celebrate we're going to be giving away free submissions to a few lucky contest winners over the next three weeks! Keep an eye on our Facebook page and Twitter feed, where we'll be announcing the contests and giving you a shot at entering BlueCat, getting two pieces of feedback on your script, and a shot at a $10,000 prize all for free!
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BLUECAT WORKSHOPS
Our New Zealand and Australia Tour
Inspired by our recent Joplin Award Winner (Best International Script outside UK, Canada and USA), BlueCat is traveling down under to lead a few workshops and have a staged reading of our Joplin winner in Wellington, NZ.
US SUMMER / FALL SCHEDULE
September Online Workshop
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)
SCRIPTS DUE: September 6, midnight PST
COMMENTS RELEASED: September 23rd, 6:00 PM PST
FOLLOWUP QUESTIONS DUE: September 30th, 6:00 PM PST
FOLLOWUP ANSWERS RELEASED: October 3rd, 6:00 PM PST
Register NowPhoenix
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)Saturday, September 15th, 9:00AM-6:00PM
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)Saturday, September 29th, 9:00AM-6:00PM Register Now
New Orleans
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)Sunday, September 30th, 9:00AM-6:00PM
Register Now
Orlando
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)Saturday, October 6th, 9:00AM-6:00PM
Register Now Austin Full Script Workshop (SOLD OUT) Tuesday, October 23rd, 6:30PM-10:30PM Register Now Austin Full Script Workshop (Limit 4 writers) Wednesday, October 24th, 6:30PM-10:30PM Register Now Austin Full Script Workshop (SOLD OUT) Tuesday, October 23rd, 6:30PM-10:30PM Register Now Austin Full Script Workshop (Limit 4 writers) Wednesday, October 24th, 6:30PM-10:30PM Register Now Austin Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers) Tuesday, October 23rd, 6:30PM-10:30PM Register Now
Austin
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers - one spot left!)
Wednesday, October 24th, 6:30PM-10:30PM Register Now
Wichita
First Ten Pages Workshop (Limit 10 writers)
Sunday October 21st, 8:00AM-5:00PM
Register Now
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers) Saturday November 3rd, 9:00AM-6:00PM
Register Now
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers) Saturday November 3rd, 9:00AM-6:00PM Register Now
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers) Saturday, November 3rd, 9:00AM-6:00PMRegister Now
San Francisco Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers) Sunday, November 10th, 9:00AM-6:00PM Register Now
San Francisco
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)
Sunday, November 10th, 9:00AM-6:00PM
Kansas City
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)Sunday, November 18th, 9:00AM-6:00PM
Vancouver
Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers)
Saturday, December 1st, 9:00AM-6:00PM
New York Full Script Workshop (Limit 7 writers) Saturday, December 15th, 9:00AM-6:00PM
Where should we go in 2013?
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