Screenplay Grammar and Other Common Mistakes

New article on how to get rid of pesky errors in your screenplays.

http://screenplaylab.com/screenplay.grammar.html

Lew Hunter at ScreenplayLab on March 4th

'Screenwriting 434' author Lew Hunter on screenwriting. Despite living in a small town in Nebraska, Lew is Chairman Emeritus of the screenwriting department at UCLA. Steven Spielberg has described Lew as "the best screenwriting teacher going". Lew will describe his background and thoughts on screenwriting, then we'll open the dialog to questions from the audience. Also, workshop reading of Fire Bear. At The First Baptist Church of Beverly Hills, 9025 Cynthia Street (south of Sunset on Doheny), West Hollywood. March 4th, 3pm to 6pm. Mingle starting at 2:30. Free. RSVP at http://screenplaylab.com to get on the guest list.

Presidents Day ScreenplayLab Mixer on Feb 19th

Join us for a fun get-together. At our last mixer we had 35 guests. Mingle with working screenwriters, actors and filmmakers. Inexpensive Mexican food. Cheap margaritas. No cover charge. From 6pm-9pm. Cocktails at 6pm. We order food at about 7pm. Everyone is encouraged to mingle...meet as many people as you can. At Acapulco Mexican Restaurant, Cabo backroom, 385 N La Cienega Blvd. (north of Beverly Center), West Hollywood. RSVP at http://screenplaylab.com to get on the guest list.

First Baptist Church of Beverly Hills to host ScreenplayLab

It's a lot of work to make ScreenplayLab events happen, but it wouldn't be possible to offer events free without the support of our host theaters. First Baptist Church of Beverly Hills is the latest to join us in our mission to make the world a better place through comedy in motion pictures and television. Special thanks to pastor John Stringfellow. Our host theaters include ACME Comedy, ACMT Gleason, The Fine Arts, First Baptist Church, The Lillian, Raleigh Studios and Write Act. Thank you!

Networks look to lighter TV drama

From a story at Broadcasting & Cable by Ben Grossman,"With light-hearted dramas like Grey’s Anatomy and rookie Ugly Betty boosting ABC on lucrative Thursday nights....analysis of the 45 drama-pilot pickups from the five networks indicates that this fall’s new crop of dramas may bring more laughs and less serialization than in years past." http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6413123.html

West Hollywood Park Pet Adoption first three Saturdays of the month

Bunnies, dogs, cats...at 647 N. San Vicente Blvd., West Hollywood. 323-934-6655 or 310-837-6888. ScreeenplayLabber Elisabeth Granli asks that you come help.

'Inside Private Lives' show on Feb 18th

NBC will be at 'Inside Private Lives' on Sunday night. We can support ScreenplayLabber Adam LeBow with a full house of gung-ho folks in the seats. More info at http://www.myspace.com/insideprivatelives. Sunday, Feb 18 at 7:30pm. Tickets $15 at www.plays411.com/insideprivatelives or phone reservation at (323) 960-7792.

Women In Film Speaker Series on Feb 28th

Special Guest: Vance Van Petten, Executive Director, Producers Guild of America. Wednesday, Feb 28, 6PM-8PM. McCormick and Schmick’s, Two Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. $20. RSVP: 310.657.5144.

Relax and have fun on Presidents Day on Feb 19th

Join us for a fun get-together. At our last mixer we had 35 guests. Mingle with working screenwriters, actors and filmmakers. Inexpensive Mexican food. Cheap margaritas. No cover charge. From 6pm-9pm. Cocktails at 6pm. We order food at about 7pm. Everyone is encouraged to mingle...meet as many people as you can. At Acapulco Mexican Restaurant, Cabo backroom, 385 N La Cienega Blvd. (north of Beverly Center), West Hollywood. Please RSVP at http://screenplaylab.com so we have you on the guest list.

TV sucks because of the writing

Interesting story by Joel Stein at the L.A. Times about the challenges in writing for TV: "WHY DOES TV suck? I had always read that it was because clueless studio executives take good scripts and screw them up..."

http://www.calendarlive.com/tv/cl-oe-stein6feb06,0,5178032.story?coll=cl-tv-features

Get Final Draft for 25% off

Special limited time offer: 25% discount on Final Draft software! Final Draft for $169 (regularly $229). Final Draft AV for $149 (regularly $199). Go to: https://www.finaldraft.com/specials/ and enter code [email me for code]. Includes a $19.95 subscription to Script magazine. (Final Draft bought Script Magazine.)

Gallery Opening presents Motown photography on Feb 17th

Retrospective of the 70s R&B/Funk/Reggae explosion that brought superstar status to the greatest black musicians of the time. Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Bob Marley, Chaka Khan, Earth, Wind & Fire, George Clinton, James Brown, Donna Summer, and many more. World premiere exhibit focuses on Los Angeles photographers Jim Britt (photographer for Motown Records) and Bruce Talamon (Bob Marley photographs in his book ‘Spirit Dancer’). Meet the photographers at an opening night wine reception on Saturday, February 17, 2007, 6–10pm. At Morrison Hotel Gallery, 7517 W. Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, 323.874.2068.

ELECTRIC CITY political comedy live show on Feb 18th

Comedians, pundits and politicians collide in laughter celebrating Presidents' Day. Comedians with shows on HBO, Comedy Central and Air America. Marc Maron, John Fugelsang, Paul Gilmartin, Jennifer Rawlings, Rick Overton, John Vargas, Brad Friedman of Bradblog.com, Cartoonist Patrick O'Connor, Host Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks (www.theyoungturks.com) and featured do-gooders from the Rainforest Action Network (www.ran.org). At Montmartre Lounge, 6757 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Sunday, February 18th, 8-10pm, doors open at 7pm. $20 includes dinner. $2 parking at the H&H mall. Cash bar. www.ElectricComedy.com

How to Get an Agent or Manager Panel on March 20th

Panel of top Hollywood literary agents and managers including Evan Corday (Manager and Head of Television Literary, Evolution Entertainment), Justin Killion (Literary Manager, Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment), Bayard Maybank (Partner, Hohman Maybank Lieb Literary Agency), Brad Sterling (Literary Agent, Innovative Artists Agency), and Max Kisbye (Literary Agent). At The Learning Annex. Get $20 off with coupon code [email me to get the code], $39.99 instead of $59.99. Call 310-478-6677 or enroll online at http://www.learningannex.com.

The Best Place to get scripts printed or OCRed

This is where we get our scripts printed... ScriptCopier.com, 6404 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 105, Los Angeles, 323.655.2639.

Actors Headshots Online

Our new actors headshot system is live. If you're an actor please check your headshot online:

http://risingcast.com/actors.html>http://risingcast.com/actors.html

There are hundreds of actors in our old database who aren't in our new online system yet. To add your headshot to the system go to the upload page and use the secret code [to get this code email me] for access. You create your own password.

http://risingcast.com/upload.html

We're "relaxing" in February

Due to the many Hollywood awards shows in February, ScreenplayLab won't be back to it's usual format of workshops/speakers until March. I don't expect the pace of my life to slow down, but maybe I can catch up on the 300 unanswered emails in my ScreenplayLab inbox. Sorry if one of those is your email. Wish I had an assistant.

What Jim Belushi said

I met Jim Belushi this week at a class he taught for The Learning Annex. That was a lot of fun. We're both from Chicago. He reminds me a little of my brother. Jim Belushi has a book called, "Real Men Don't Apologize", that I'd recommend you check out as a guide to how to how to get the best from people.

While chatting with Jim Belushi I mentioned that I'd recently written a script and that it's out being read at several studios. Clearly impressed, he said, "That's hard." He talked about how much more difficult it is to get a picture made today, that studios are making fewer films. It was with some jealousy that I listened to him say how much easier it is to launch a television show. Maybe, if you're Jim Belushi. 'According to Jim' is his show because he hired the writers rather than joining later as the star.

For the benefit of any of our actors looking to guest star on 'According to Jim' I should mention that Jim Belushi said he loves actors who have worked with Second City Chicago. If you've got that angle, work it.

Our screenplays are getting read at studios

With the capable assistance of our agent Karl Sanger, our scripts are being read at Castle Rock, Working Title, The Robert Evans Company, DreamWorks Animation, National Lampoon, and Lionsgate, to name a few. We're grateful to everyone in ScreenplayLab for making so much possible for us. We met our agent through ScreenplayLab. We've honed our skills as writers by testing our work through ScreenplayLab workshops. The ScreenplayLab speakers have helped us a lot, too.

Gabrielle Pantera and I have two new scripts out being read at studios. 'A More Perfect Union', is a political comedy Gabrielle wrote with NYC speech writer Jason Haber. 'The Corset Diaries' is a romantic comedy Gabrielle and I adapted from the bestselling novel by Katie MacAlister.

Important Films ('Team America') was the first company to finish reading 'The Corset Diaries'. Our fluffy rom-com isn't their type of movie. But, they liked our writing and invited us to a meeting. When you submit a script to a studio, both the script and the writer are being evaluated. They can't buy every good script that comes along. They're looking for great scripts that match their mandate, but also looking for great writers. At the meeting, which is really more of a casual get-to-know-you than a pitch, you learn first-hand what type of stories they want.

You may remember DreamWorks Animation exec Karen Foster talked about the get-to-know-you meeting process when she spoke at ScreenplayLab. The development director wants to cultivate good writers. For the writer being invited to take a meeting it's flattering. It feels nice being told they want to read anything you write. Even with the guidance of a studio mandate, they only really know what they want when they see it. Even if you don't get invited to a meeting you may still hear the encouraging words that they want to see your next screenplay. That happened for us recently with MTV Films ('Jackass 2') and Summit Entertainment ('Mr. & Mrs. Smith').

Party Monday Feb 5th in Hollywood 6-9pm

Join ScreenplayLab co-founders Robin Rowe and Gabrielle Pantera for a fun get-together. Informal ScreenplayLab mixer. Mingle with working screenwriters, actors and filmmakers. Eat inexpensive Mexican food. Cheap margaritas. No cover. Monday, Feb 5th, 2007, 6pm to 9pm. At Acapulco Mexican Restaurant, Cabo Room, 385 N La Cienega Blvd (north of Beverly Center), West Hollywood, CA 90048. RSVP online at www.screenplaylab.com to get on the guest list.