Comic book movie exec on Aug. 12th

Our next Sunday's ScreenplayLab event (Aug. 12th) with creative exec Jeanne Thompson of Sunrise Entertainment will be full soon. Want to find out how to get ahead with films based on comic books? Don't miss it! Free with RSVP using the form at www.ScreenplayLab.com. By the way, please don't try to RSVP to me by email or phone. It doesn't get you on the gate list!

Not one, but two great events coming up next week! On Wednesday (Aug. 15th) ScreenplayLab presents manager-producer Jon Brown of Ensemble Entertainment. I'm excited to hear Jon because he reps both writers and directors. Want to find out how to get your career in gear on the directing side? Don't miss it! Special weeknight event at a new host theater, the Comedy Central Stage in Hollywood. Thank you, Comedy Central! Free with RSVP at www.ScreenplayLab.com.

Continue reading for invitations to more events, my review of BECOMING JANE, and an update on my life.

Sunrise Entertainment executive Jeanne Thompson on Aug 12th...

ScreenplayLab presents Sunrise Entertainment Creative Executive Jeanne Thompson [IMDB]. Sunrise has a deal with Peter Guber's Mandalay Entertainment. Jeanne looks for comic book and family film projects. Our ScreenplayLab workshop will be a reading by actors of 30 pages from the martial arts comedy feature BOOK OF Z by Robin Rowe. Raleigh Studios, 5300 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Sunday, Aug 12th, 2007, 3pm to 6pm. Networking at 2:30pm. Free with RSVP online at www.ScreenplayLab.com.

Ensemble manager-producer Jon Brown on Aug 15th...

ScreenplayLab presents Ensemble Entertainment Producer Jon Brown [IMDB]. Jon Brown has been a literary manager for fifteen years and was an agent at APA for five years. Comedy Central Stage, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd.,Los Angeles. Wednesday, Aug 15th, 2007, 8pm to 9:30pm. Free with RSVP online at www.ScreenplayLab.com.

Panasonic HPX3000 HD camera demo on August 18th...

The Digital Cinema Society and Birns and Sawyer present the Panasonic HPX3000 camera. Representatives from Panasonic will demonstrate the new HPX3000 1920x1080 10-bit camcorder with AVC intra codec and explain the P2 workflow. Birns and Sawyer, 6381 De Longpre, behind the ArcLight Cinema in Hollywood. Saturday, August 18th from 10am to Noon. RSVP to Mathers@digitalcinemasociety.org

Los Angeles Motion Graphics meeting on Aug 21st...

MGLA presents Plug-in Night #2. Billy Garfield Woody showing Imagineer's new motion tracking tool mocca. Jim Tierney will show Digital Anarchy's new plug-in ToonIt! that converts video into cartoons. Peder Norrby from Sweden will show Trapcode's new plug-in Flux. Sean Safreed from Red Giant Software will demonstrate Magic Bullet, a set of plug-ins to give video a film-like look. The Gallery Theatre, Barnsdall Art Park, 4800 Hollywood Blvd. (between Vermont and Normandie), Hollywood. Free parking in lot at bottom of hill. FREE. www.mgla.org

Los Angeles Final Cut Pro meeting on Aug 22nd...

LAFCPUG presents author Brian Gary and Apple's Brian Hoffman on a tour of Apple Compressor 3. Senior Product Manager Randon Morford will show Sorenson Squeeze 4.5. Brian Dalton will show clips from his popular video podcast, MR. DEITY. Wednesday, August 22 6:45pm-11pm. Gallery Theatre. $5. www.lafcpug.org

Robin Rowe reviews BECOMING JANE...

I've joined the British Weekly newspaper as film reviewer. My review of BECOMING JANE will be in the Monday edition of the paper. Here's an abridged version.

In Becoming Jane, the year is 1795 and Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) is a feisty 20-year-old aspiring writer who dreams of marrying for love. Her parents (Julie Walters and James Cromwell) notice Mr. Wisley (Laurence Fox), nephew to local aristocratic dragon Lady Gresham (Maggie Smith). Jane prefers the roguish Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy). Jane Austen is one of the most loved authors in English literature and there's much to like about the juicy premise of this movie.

The movie trailer would have you believe this is a cheery romantic comedy, but there's a deliberate melancholy to Becoming Jane. The middle is cheery and fun certainly, but the beginning is slow and dark, and the ending more so. This isn't the kind of consistently cheery upbeat tale that audiences expect of a modern Jane Austen film. More in keeping with Charles Dickens than Jane Austen, fans are unlikely to appreciate that this movie is on the dark art house side. Becoming Jane feels more like the movie Miss Potter, a movie about the unrequited love of a later popular British author, Beatrix Potter. Be prepared for as much of Austen's gothic novel Northanger Abbey as of Pride & Prejudice.

Jane Austen was more fun-loving than some think. "In some of her own letters she wrote about how she was hung over after attending a ball and that's not something that we necessarily think of when we think about Austen", says Anne Hathaway. Ultimately, it isn't that the movie strays too far away from what we expect of Jane Austen, rather that it strays from what we expect of a Jane Austen movie.

Robin Rowe seeks new hyphen, writer-director...

I really appreciate those who take the interest to ask me what's new, although I often give the short answer, "the usual". Actually, the usual is pretty unusual with me. For anyone interested, here's a quick note to bring you up to date.

Stepping back for a moment to 2003, I'd moved into an office at DreamWorks Animation to work on a renderfarm R&D project. While at DreamWorks they encouraged me to write a feature and to get an agent. Although I'd written for years as a journalist, I didn't know how to write a feature. It took me two years to get an agent and to complete my first real screenplay. It took three months for me to write my second screenplay.

Now in 2007, those first two screenplays are being considered for big budget studio projects. THE CORSET DIARIES, based on the best-selling novel, is a comedy about a genealogist who's a substitute wife and step-mom for a month. The script is being recommended by the manager of a top actress-producer as a project for 2008. FIRE BEAR is an original animated comedy about a bear who starts a forest fire and seeks redemption. It's being read everywhere.

My partner Gabrielle Pantera and I co-wrote THE CORSET DIARIES. With another writer, she co-wrote A MORE PERFECT UNION, an original comedy about an unemployed lawyer who masquerades as a Congressman. Gabrielle wrote THE GLAD GAME, a post-911 retelling of the bestselling classic novel POLLYANNA. That's being read at major production companies. She wrote a spec GREY'S ANATOMY episode that she submitted to the ABC Disney Fellowship and is being read at a major TV production company. She has an agent, too.

My current writing project is BOOK OF Z, a low budget martial arts action comedy. I will direct BOOK OF Z in 2008. I've directed before (music video, broadcast news, arts), but this will be my first feature. My change in focus toward directing means I'm inviting more ScreenplayLab speakers involved in directing or distribution. We always have fabulous speakers at ScreenplayLab, and I'm excited it just keeps getting better.

Thank you for all the referrals for doing comedy punch-up on scripts, producing, and journalism. If you need a director for your short let me know. I'm looking for practice before I shoot my first feature.

What's ScreenplayLab?

ScreenplayLab is more than 1,800 screenwriters, actors, and filmmakers. We're a group of working artists on a studio or network track creating upbeat commercial films and television. Each week we have fabulous industry speakers, workshops, and networking. It costs nothing to join and our events are mostly free. To join send an email to info@screenplaylab.com with the subject 'subscribe'. To enter a script for evaluation and possibly be read by actors in our workshop series costs $39.

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