Advertisement
Can Scriptapalooza Launch Your Career?
Scriptapalooza prides itself on being one of the top screenwriting competitions currently active. But it’s not all about prize money with Scriptapalooza (though there is that; the first place winner gets $10,000). Scripts are read by producers, managers and agents, while writers with scripts that place in the semifinals and higher get promoted by Scriptapalooza for an entire year. In a time when it seems like most people even remotely interested in film are shopping a script around, the assistance Scriptapalooza provides can end up being invaluable. The competition has enabled many a scriptwriter to get their foot in the door and get their script to the next level.
Since placing as a semifinalist in Scriptapalooza, John Muscarnero has seen his film Dark Woods get produced. Rodney Johnson, who made it to the semifinals with his script The Understudies, has since gotten his film Queen Sized, starring Hairspray’s Nikki Blonsky, made by Lifetime. Since winning Scriptaplooza in 2004, Patrick Andrew O’Connor has gotten his film The Break-Up Artist made by Legacy Filmworks.
These recent Scriptapalooza top-placers have taken the time to answer a few of MovieMaker’s questions about their scripts, Scriptapalooza and how the competition has helped them get their screenwriting careers off the ground.
Rebecca Pahle (MM): Talk a little bit about your film. How did the screenwriting process go for you, and were there many rewrites?
John Muscarnero (JM): With Dark Woods, it was a different a method than my normal process. The director and I spent a few hours hashing out the basic story. We knew we would eventually shoot it ourselves, we knew we wanted a twisted sort of love triangle at the center of the story and we knew it was set in a secluded place. That same night, I literally sat down and wrote until a rough 80- to 90-page draft was done—about six hours and two pots of coffee later. Over the next few years as I worked on various other projects, and I would occasionally revisit and rework pages. So it got rewritten a lot. I also would use feedback from potential producing partners as a guide to tweak even more. Then of course when we started pre-production in 2008, I rewrote according to locations, budget and actor input. The basic story and many major scenes are identical to the first rough draft. I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing, though!
Rodney Johnson (RJ): My first film that I worked on as a producer and writer happened so fast that I’m still dizzy from it—and that was five years ago!
Basically, I was initially hired to edit a few action scenes on a script that was still being fleshed out, but I found that I couldn’t resist writing a bit of the prose and dialogue as I worked. The exec producer liked what I did and asked me to write the entire movie and to come on board as an associate producer. (Disclaimer: This never happens in Hollywood. I still don’t know how this happened to me.) I accepted and turned in a final script about two weeks before the casting process began. That gave me a bit of a vacation until the leads were cast.
More notes came from the executive producer and the director based on the names that were ultimately cast. They wanted the characters written just a bit tighter to play up the comedic talents of the individual actors. In fact, I wrote a throwaway line, a joke, with a celebrity as the punchline. The executive producer sent the script to that very celebrity without telling me, and guess what? The celebrity loved the script so much, she wanted to be a part of it. So I had to turn a joke into an actual character and part of the plot. I finished a shooting draft of the script about a week before cameras rolled.
I didn’t really have to do any rewriting during principal photography, but the director did take advantage of the gifted comedians in the cast and there are quite a few scenes in the final film that are heavily ad-libbed. But my feelings weren’t hurt—it was funnier than anything I had written.
Patrick Andrew O’Connor (PAO): The idea for The Break-Up Artist came after I helped the daughter of a friend break up with her boyfriend. I told her what to say to the guy to make it a quick and easy dumping. And it worked. Then I thought, what if there was someone who actually got paid to break people up? Since this movie is all about relationships, I had new material every time I met, dated and then got dumped by a girl. So there were probably 20 drafts before I sold the script, and another five to 10 drafts before we went into production. I also co-wrote the song that’s played over the closing credits. So it was a lot of writing in a very short period. Very exhausting… but I also learned that as long as you know your characters and what their goals are, rewrites can be easy.
MM: Where were you as a screenwriter before you entered Scriptapalooza? Were you a veteran of screenplay competitions, or was this your first one? If you had entered other screenplay competitions, how does Scriptapalooza compare?
JM: I had been writing nonstop for a few years and it seemed every six months or so something encouraging would happen—either an agent would actually call me back, or I’d get an offer for an option, or actually book an assignment. During that time I would occasionally submit scripts to the top two or three contests out there, including Scriptapalooza, in hopes of winning. But also, as a writer, I can’t really tell if anything I write is any good or not, so I would enter as a way to gauge industry response—and it worked. It’s a great feeling after months and years of rejection to finally have a script or two that other people say is worth reading. Or in this case, one that made the semifinals and a TV script that placed second in the Scriptapalooza TV competition. Scriptapalooza is not only a well-regarded competition, but also the most accessible one; every step of the way I got the feeling that they didn’t just want my entry fee, but that they really work to get the scripts out into the world. It also has a good track record of promoting winning material. I can’t say the same for some of the other competitions I’ve entered.
RJ: I was not a screenwriter before the competition, but I was a published novelist. I had told myself that I would never write a script because it was too hard! But I decided to give it a try when I read in the trades that a young actress I liked had been cast in a movie that was very much within the genre of books that I wrote (teen/young adult), I thought to myself, ‘I could write that girl a movie!’
So I wrote a script with that young actress in mind (by the way, it’s Hilary Duff—I wrote for the Website of her Disney Channel TV show at the time). That was my first script and I had no idea what to do with it, so I researched the Web to find out what to do. I immediately found script competitions and Scriptapalooza was everywhere. Submitting it to Scriptapalooza was kind of a no-brainer. Especially when I saw the great exposure a finalist and semifinalist got from the competition. None of the others could compare with the kind of exposure Scriptapalooza offers its winners.
PAO: Before Scriptapalooza I had a few studio/production company meetings, but nothing serious. I already had a great manager (Garrett Hicks at Will Entertainment) but no agent. This was the first screenwriting competition I entered, so I guess beginner’s luck was in play.
MM: Did you take any screenwriting classes before entering the competition, or were you self-taught? Was the script you submitted to Scriptapalooza your first?
1 of 2 |
Digg
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Del.icio.us
Reddit
YahooAdvertisement
COMMENTS | POST A COMMENT 
- Comment by Angie Comer on 3/20/10 at 8:00 pm
Enjoyed your article on scriptapalooza. I did win first place in 2005 in the TV pilot competition and unfortunately, I have not had any luck or opportunities with that. I don’t think its fair to plant that seed in a writer’s mind that great things will happen if you win this contest. Just like life...it’s different for everyone.
Thank you!
- Comment by Snow Goose on 4/28/10 at 6:34 am
I wasn’t aware of this, good to know for those looking for an in.
- Comment by Yemek Tarifleri on 5/04/10 at 11:31 pm
being an aspiring screenwriter, this is a very useful post and gave some idea on how the game is played,
thanks- Comment by best makeup brushes on 9/03/11 at 2:54 pm
It’s a 3-D movie with a 1-D script.
It’s boring, there’s no intrigue, and the action sequences were just business.
The people who think this film is good must be on kraken.
- Comment by sniper2 on 9/28/11 at 5:48 pm
This story was sponsored by
posted 02.10.12
posted 02.8.12
posted 02.7.12
posted 02.1.12
SITE DELIVERY OPTIONS
