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What's New, BlueCat? 
                                        
The Official Newsletter of the

BlueCat Screenplay Competition   


June 24, 2014

IN THIS WEEK'S NEWSLETTER:
  • NEW WORKSHOPS: Pittsburgh, San Francisco, LA, and online!
  • 2015 Movie Title Contest!
  • BlueCat founder Gordy Hoffman on finding a great title for your script
  • 3 SCREENPLAYS: The Empire Strikes Back, Caddyshack, and The Thing
  • Writer/director Ava DuVernay on her writing process
  • Advice from Federico Fellini
  • Bob Gale on screenwriting and Back to the Future
  • A 25 minute BAFTA screenwriting lecture from Scott Frank
  • A massive collection of screenwriting advice compiled by Buzzfeed
 

MOVIE TITLE CONTEST

 

Every year, BlueCat holds a Movie Title Contest for our early submissions. 

 

All entries submitted by AUGUST 1st will be automatically eligible. 

 

Our TOP 3 favorite titles will each receive a cash prize of $250! 

 

All scripts submitted by August 1st will receive their written analysis by October 1st.   

 

SUBMIT HERE 

 

  
ADVICE FROM GORDY HOFFMAN 
How To Find A Great Title


BlueCat founder Gordy Hoffman tells you how to create a killer title for your script.

 

READ THE ARTICLE


AVA DUVERNAY ON WRITING
From The Academy
 

Ava DuVernay (writer/director of Middle of Nowhere and the upcoming Martin Luther King biopic Selma) discusses her creative process in this clip from the Academy.

 

WATCH THE VIDEO

BOB GALE ON WRITING
co-writer of Back to the Future 
 

Bob Gale discusses the structure of Back to the Future and gives some great advice to aspiring storytellers.

 

Hey, Whaddya Say? 

 

"I'm just a storyteller, and the cinema happens to be my medium. I like it because it re-creates life in movement, enlarges it, enhances it, distills it. For me, it's far closer to the miraculous creation of life than, say, a painting or music or even literature. It's not just an art form; it's actually a new form of life, with its own rhythms, cadences, perspectives and transparencies. It's my way of telling a story." 

 

- Federico Fellini

 
SELECTED SCRIPTS
Three Screenplay PDFs

 

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
by Leigh Brackett (early draft)

 READ THE SCRIPT

 

 
CADDYSHACK
by Brian Doyle-Murray, Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney
 
 
THE THING
by Bill Lancaster
SCOTT FRANK LECTURE
From BAFTA
 

A fascinating 25 minute screenwriting lecture by Scott Frank (Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Minority Report) from BAFTA.

 

MASSIVE COLLECTION OF SCREENWRITING TIPS
From Buzzfeed

 

Check out this fantastic collection of screenwriting wisdom compiled by BuzzFeed, featuring Richard Linklater, Paul Feig, Diablo Cody, Richard Curtis, and tons more.

 

READ IT HERE

 

Advertise With BlueCat
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BlueCat Screenwriting Workshops
 
BlueCat Screenplay Workshops are an intensive opportunity to certifiably improve your script in a small group environment, led by award winning screenwriter and BlueCat founder Gordy Hoffman.

Your script will be read in advance both by Gordy as well as the other workshop participants; everyone receives in-depth feedback on their script from a number of different perspectives.

Winner of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival for LOVE LIZA, Gordy Hoffman has taught screenwriting at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles, as well as led workshops all over North America, Poland, Australia, New Zealand and the UK. He has served as a panelist for the IFP Script to Screen Conference in NYC, Women in Film's Script DC Conference in Washington, DC, and the George Eastman House Film Festival, as well as a judge for the McKnight Screenwriting Fellowships in Minnesota. Gordy Hoffman founded the BlueCat Screenplay Competition in 1998 and remains its judge.

  

THE FULL SCRIPT WORKSHOP

Participants read all screenplays in advance of the workshop. 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.

  

Each writer will leave with a great sense of what they can do specifically to improve their screenplay, as well as a better awareness of where they might properly develop as a professional screenwriter as a whole. Writers benefit from the direct focus placed on their screenplays by the workshop, along with the analysis of the other scripts.

  

Screenplays can be first drafts or rewrites, incomplete or partial, with first time writers and veterans all welcome. Scripts are due 10-14 days prior to the date of the workshop.

  

Note: Screenplays submitted to the workshop are not eligible to be entered into the BlueCat Screenplay Competition.

  

  

Regular Registration Option

Do you want to participate, but do not have a script to submit at this time? Regular registration for the workshop allows you to attend without submitting written material, read the scripts in advance and still participate in the discussion.

  

  


UPCOMING WORKSHOPS: 

 

Los Angeles - June 29th - REGISTER

 

Los Angeles - July 19th -  REGISTER

 

Portland - July 31st -  REGISTER

 

Pittsburgh - August 4th - REGISTER

 

August Online - August 14th -  REGISTER 

  

Los Angeles - September 14th- REGISTER

 

September Online - September 25th - REGISTER

 

San Francisco - October 25th - REGISTER   

 

Please let us know if 

 

you'd like the BlueCat Workshop 

 

 to come to your town!

 

See you soon.  

 
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