From Erik:

No meetings today, although it was the official start of the conference for those of us with “half-market” badges. I attended a first-timers orientation in the morning (with my new friend and forum buddy, Allen) and picked up tons of material to help me zone in on which people we should set meetings with.

I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning updating our print material to include our new star, DOUG JONES, and headed over to the fine folks at FedEx Business to print lobby cards (basically large marketing post cards, as recommended by Bill Whitacre), updated Production Financial Offerings, and even a handful of scripts. I don’t know what I’ll need over the next few days, but now I’m prepared.

Tomorrow should be another busy day as I move through my list of target executives and attempt to schedule meetings for the rest of the week. I already know that Sunny and I have two BIG meetings awaiting confirmation, which could even lead to the attachment of ANOTHER STAR! We need more meetings though, so I better get to it.

Sunny has a Genre Writing seminar tomorrow put on by the Writers Guild of America, so I’ll try to get his thoughts and post them for you guys on tomorrow’s blog. Thanks for reading!

It is very important to protect your work as soon as it has been completed.  Here are a few steps you can do to protect your script:  Register your work with either the WGA West, WGA East (Writers Guild of America) the WGC (Writers Guild of Canada) or, with a Copyright Canada or US Copyright.   It’s unlikely a company will do this, but if possible, have a company sign a non-disclosure form (information on Google) before you submit your work to them.

An Intellectual Property (IP) lawyer could also be useful.  For the most part though they will tell you to get a Copyright.  If you can work out a deal where you send them your work so that it is “safe” with them, then kudos to you.

Another less sophisticated method is to send your work to yourself through the mail system.  Make sure it stays sealed.  It will have the date you sent the script to yourself, proof that your work has been written by you.  Please don’t count on this method as a tried and true one.  It is merely another method to use in addition to the others (Copyright, WGA, WGC, IP lawyer).  The more secure you can make your work, the better off you will be in the long run.

If you are lucky to have your script optioned or bought outright you will need an entertainment lawyer, and an agent to help with your agreement.

The 2010 Guide to Literary Agents  is one of the books you can use on “where and how to find the right agents to represent your work”.

Another book you might want to consider using is the 2002-2003 Writer’s Guide to Hollywood Producers Directors and Screenwriter’s Agents.  This book has “Hundreds of Insider Tips from Hollywood Veterans”.

Good luck and “May the Force be with you”!

Your creativity is a gift, and can easily be stolen. As we have completed finalizing our stories with beet sheets and treatments, we’ve learned its absolutely pivotal to safeguard your story ideas with the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Therefore, all of us 30+  media sophomores will be registering our stories with WGA this week before finals. Ahhh, with a sigh of relief, we can all enjoy break more soundly with our ideas safely guarded. Now, the fun part of writing begins next quarter as we breathe life and personality into our characters during the development of our first draft screenplays…

Hey all you TV writers, this is your chance to change the way you watch TV!

Scriptapalooza TV has seen major success in their 10 years.

Two writers won Emmys, numerous writers have gotten agents, managers and meetings.

The four categories include:
Existing one-hour shows like “True Blood” and “Merlin”
Existing half-hour sitcoms like “The Office” and “Two and a Half Men”
Original pilots and reality shows (for reality shows, Scriptapalooza would like a one- to five-page synopses only)

Supported by the Writers Guild of America west and the Writers Guild of Canada.

http://www.scriptapaloozaTV.com

Office: 323/654-5809
info@scriptapalooza.com

FINAL DEADLINE: October 15th, 2009

August 3, 2009, The Hollywood Reporter

UPDATED: More than 100 current TV writers are protesting the TV Academy’s announced changes to its primetime telecast format this year.

Top showrunners such as John Wells (“Southland”), Ron Moore (“Battlestar Galactica”), Victor Fresco (“Better Off Ted”), Ed Bernero (“Criminal Minds”), Carol Mendelsohn (“CSI”), Clyde Phillips (“Dexter”), Doug Ellin (“Entourage”), Seth MacFarlane (“Family Guy”), Jason Katims (“Friday Night Lights”), Shonda Rhimes (“Grey’s Anatomy”), David Shore (“House”), Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse (“Lost”) and others have signed a statement opposing shifting two TV writing categories out of the live Emmy telecast (writing for a dramatic series and writing for a movie/miniseries).

The TV Academy announced changes to the show’s format Thursday in an attempt to make the program more expedient by time-shifting eight of the 28 categories out of the live telecast. The moves will cut about 15 minutes from the three-hour program.

“Our job is to make an entertaining show that appeals to the maximum number of people but, most importantly, maintains the integrity of the Emmy brand,” executive producer Don Mischer said at a teleconference last week. 

Though the axed categories were split among directing, writing, acting and producing, writers point out that there were only four writing categories in the primetime telecast to begin with.

The news comes as CBS presents its press tour lineup in Pasadena today, which includes a TV Academy panel to talk about this year’s Emmys.

“I don’t think we’re being unfair to the creative community,” said CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler when asked about the issue Monday. “I think coming out of the telecast last year everybody knew we had to make a change and change is not easy. Even with the time shift, which is done in a very respectful way, it will have no impact on the integrity of the program. If ratings are up, more people are going to be watching the shows.”

Here’s the protest letter signed by more than 100 TV writers:

On Friday, the WGA issued a strongly worded statement of its own:

In honor of Comic-Con International, the world’s largest comic book and popular arts convention which runs through July 26 in San Diego, Write On! speaks with Animation Writer Brooks Wachtel. Wachtel has has written more than 100 episodes of animated television, ranging from Clifford the Big Red Dog to X-Men. He teaches animation at UCLA Extension and is on the Steering Committee of the “Animation Writers Caucus” of the Writers Guild of America. Wachtel also writes and produces documentaries for The History Channel and is a performing magician at The Magic Castle.

How did you start writing animation?
I was working in live action when my agent at the time sent me on an interview at Filmation Studio—they were looking for a writer for a planned feature version of Pinocchio. I had my doubts about any version competing with the Disney classic, but went and had a great interview with Robby London. He forwarded my material to Art Nadel, who was running their episodic division. I—and my co-writer at the time—was invited to pitch for Filmation’s Ghostbusters series and we made a sale. Before we knew it, we sold a She-Ra.

About that time, Robby London went over to DIC, told me to call several story editors, and said to mention his name. He was a well-known executive, so his name opened doors. (It is good to have friends in high places). I pitched for Dinosaucers and sold four episodes (by this time I was working solo).

They were fun and fast to write, so I thought I’d try more animation … and now several years and about 100 episodes later, it became a career.

How has animation writing changed since you got started in the business?
There is a lot less work today. When I first started, there were toy-driven shows that had 63 episode orders. That’s a lot of episodes that often had to be done very quickly. Now, the runs are a LOT shorter—usually around thirteen episodes. The syndication market is gone and with it, many of the smaller studios. Today, the business has consolidated into the majors. There are more staff-driven shows, so it’s much harder for a freelancer to make a living.

However, there’s more variety than there used to be and the boundaries of what you can and can’t do have been extended in both action and humor.

What is your favorite part about writing animation? The greatest challenge?
You can do just about anything in animation. It’s a great place to let your imagination run unfettered. And if you don’t get pigeon-holed as a specific genre writer, you can write in an amazing amount of genres and styles. I’ve done everything from soft pre-school shows such as Clifford the Big Red Dog to comedy-adventure like Tutenstien (which won me my Emmy) to hard-action X-Men-style shows to historical dramas like Liberty’s Kids. (Where I got to write for the great and missed Walter Cronkite).

There aren’t that many places that offer that degree of variety. It can be wonderfully stimulating!

Are there things specific to the animation format that writers need to know?
That’s not an interview, that’s a book! I teach animation-writing at UCLA Extension—it’s a ten-week course and I need every session to get the information out. Let’s just say that you need to be the best writer you can be—then you need to be the best screenwriter you can be, meaning the ability to think visually. It’s visual medium, so tell your stories with images—don’t turn in “talking heads”—that won’t play in animation.

How does someone break into writing animation?
Compromising photos on someone that can hire you is a help. Failing that, learn the format, go to the events where you can meet people who work in the field, listen to what they have to say. Have sample scripts on existing shows that you’ve polished and honed. And be persistent without being a pest (it’s possible). Animation is one of the friendliest parts of TV when it comes to giving new talent a chance.

What is your favorite part about going to Comic Con? Has it changed over the years?
There are few places where one can stand in a food line with a group of Klingons who order in their own language. Comic Con is one of them. I always feel no matter what strange things science discovers, it’s already been matched here at “The Con”. I love the exhibits, panels, costumes, energy of the fans, as well as getting out of town and getting together with my fellow scribes (they’re all here).

To me the problem of Comic Con is its success—it’s almost too vast, too crowded, too frenetic. It’s now a media event and far more commercial than I remember it.

What do you know now that you wish you knew when you started your career?
Something that’s not really related to the craft of writing: it is on the business end. I wish I’d known the script rates would stay stagnant, for as long as they did, widening the gap between live-action and animation. I wish I’d known how tough it would be to get the same benefits enjoyed by writers on live-action Writers Guild of America shows. In animation there are no residuals, no credit arbitration, no ancillary rights, no secondary use payments. I was hoping that would change—and still believe it will—but I was hoping for a little more alacrity.

Still, I’ve had—and am still having—a ball!

Speaks volumes about the future.

Michael Apted slams SAG president – By Dave McNary July 17. 2009

The Directors Guild of America has told Screen Actors Guild president Alan Rosenberg to shut up and go away.

That’s the sentiment expressed by outgoing DGA president Michael Apted in a blunt letter responding to Rosenberg’s request for a summit meeting of the town’s unions about the 2011 round of negotiations.

Rosenberg pledged he would make such an effort on June 9, in the aftermath of SAG members’ ratification of the feature-primetime contract. But, in a letter sent Wednesday, Apted made it abundantly clear that Rosenberg’s relentless criticism of the DGA has been so out of line that the DGA’s not remotely interested in any such get-together.

Apted noted that under “normal circumstances,” such a summit meeting to discuss negotiations could take place — but without public proclamations announcing the meeting first.

“Of course, these are not normal circumstances,” Apted said. “Since June 9, I’ve seen repeated statements in the press regarding your intention to call a meeting, yet Monday’s email is the first time you’ve made any effort to contact me in over 18 months. In addition, you’ve repeatedly, and in my opinion unfraternally, attacked the negotiations and contracts of the DGA and other unions in the press and other public forums. So, in the circumstances, I’m very surprised that you would consider yourself to be in a position to convene an event that requires trust and fraternity to have any chance of success.”

Apted concluded the letter by saying, “On behalf of the DGA, I respectfully decline your request.”

Rosenberg told Daily Variety he was disappointed over Apted’s response.

“It’s a shame that what had been a private communication has become public,” he said. “I’m disappointed that Michael Apted doesn’t share my belief in the importance of building unity among the unions because our collective efforts should be towards obtaining a decent deal in two years. What’s happened at past negotiations doesn’t really matter now.”

The SAG president’s power to speak officially on behalf of the guild was taken away in late January as part of the move by the board’s moderates to oust former SAG national exec director Doug Allen.

But there’s been bad blood between the guilds dating back to Jan. 29, 2008 — when Rosenberg and Allen blasted the DGA’s tentative contract agreement with the majors, which eventually served as the template for the WGA, AFTRA and SAG contracts. Rosenberg and Allen criticized many of the specifics of the deal in a message sent to SAG members.

Apted responded on the same day by accusing SAG of throwing a monkey wrench into the talks between the WGA and majors that would ultimately settle the scribes’ 100-day walkout.

“Their letter has one purpose and one purpose only: to interfere with the informal talks currently under way between the WGA and the studios,” Apted said at the time. “Simply put, their assumptions and arguments are specious. The DGA deal is a great deal for our members.”

AFTRA president Roberta Reardon said last week that there had been no movement toward a summit meeting. She had proposed the idea a year ago but said last Friday that she’d wait until after the SAG elections in September before exploring such a step.

The WGA said it has not been approached by Rosenberg about such a summit meeting.

An AFTRA rep said that Los Angeles Local President Ron Morgan received an invitation earlier this week from Rosenberg to meet at his home on Aug. 3 to discuss “building solidarity” between the entertainment labor unions. But she added that AFTRA leaders won’t be available.

“AFTRA National President Roberta Reardon never received an invitation,” the rep added. “The entire AFTRA leadership team will be in Chicago from Monday, August 3 through Sunday, August 9 for the Convention and other related union meetings, which have been scheduled for more than a year.”

WGA West spokesman Neal Sacharow said Thursday, “The WGA has not been approached by Alan Rosenberg about such a summit meeting.”

The Writing Tools page is now up and running on my website at: http://jbwrites.com/JBWrites/Writing_Tools.html.

There, you will find a handy assortment of links that every writer needs. From Creative tools and software (Mac, Windows, Adobe, Final Draft, Storyist, Visual Thesaurus), to bookshelf recommendations to stir your Muse,  to Print On Demand Websites in the US and Europe, Marketing, Networking, Press Release outlets, SEO/Keyword analytics, to script writing and information on joining the Writers Guild of America!

This is my way of trying to give back to the profession I love – being a Freelance Writer!

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