Grand Prize winner of The ISA’s inaugural Fast Track Fellowship Competition, Martin was a professor of law at UC Hastings College and professor of psychiatry at UC Medical Center, and the Langley Porter Institute. As a career forensic psychiatrist he has interviewed over 300 killers in his multiple decades of work, often just hours after the crime had been committed. Dr. Blinder lives in Marin County, outside of San Francisco, and though he entered the screenwriting world late in his career, he is already making strides with his multiple historical and thriller-based projects.
Despite Lucy’s young age, she has been lucky enough to learn directly from the “big ones” such as, Syd Field, Robert McKee, Linda Seger, Michael Hauge, and John Truby. As well as from the Mexican Academy Award nominee, Guillermo Arriaga, and was Paula Markovitch’s former student. Lucy recently graduated from the New York Film Academy’s Screenwriting Conservatory, and is currently working on a few projects while her script, Sophie & Valentina, which was a Table Read My Screenplay Contest Best Drama Winner.
With her script Mouth, Kimi won the Grand Prize at the prestigious 2015 Blue Cat Screenplay Competition. MOUTH explores the notion that in a sense, all relationships are somewhat transactional. The title is derived from Sam Shepard and Patti Smith’s play Cowboy Mouth, which is featured in the script, about two alcoholic lovers disintegrating in the Chelsea Hotel. Kimi was drawn to the idea of two people who were irrevocably in love, yet at war with one another. That was the main impetus for the script––examining relationships that, despite their toxicity, were also nourishing. A rising star, Kimi is currently repped by Industry and pushing multiple projects out around town.
Edward Klau is from Miami and has lived in Los Angeles since 2000. When not working as a producer in reality television, he has written twenty six screenplays including Brights, the Grand Prize Winner of the Table Read My Screenplay Sundance contest. Other scripts including Invisible Scars, Criminal Element, Pyramid and Plan have also placed highly in other screenwriting contests. Klau has developed screenplays with different production companies around town and reliably writes multiple scripts every year. His interview is an insightful one as we discuss the ins and outs of working freelance, and how to find a job in this crazy industry.
A Harvard grad, Derek Asaff pursued a general business degree in college but quickly realized that writing and literature was his real passion. Eventually gravitating toward the screenwriting realm, Derek focused nearly all of his time on educating himself on the craft and improving his own writing ability through mentorships and continual classes. His focus on education and practice lead him to win the Table Read My Screenplay Contest, London. Winning Table Read opened up numerous doors for Derek, eventually getting him signed to the Gotham Group for management, and recently signing a development deal with Original Film (Furious 7) for his Table Read winning comedy script, The Wheelman. His comedy feature is now considered as a possible vehicle for Melissa McCarthy. It’s onward and upward for Derek and The ISA is proud of his recent success.
As an actress, she recently recurred as Trixie in season 3 of FX's Emmy-winning show Justified. She works frequently in independent film, and projects she's appeared in have screened at dozens of festivals, including Tribeca, AFI, New York International Film Festival, Starz Denver, etc. She is attached as a large supprting role in the upcoming drama/thriller Chagrin. Valerie sold her first feature screenplay to Sunrise films at age 22, and joined the WGA immediately after. Her scripts have been honored by the Nicholl Fellowships, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the Scriptwriter's Network, and many other organizations. Valerie's feature-length directorial debut, Lola's Last Letter, was recently an official selection at Dances With Films, and the LA Film Review nominated her for best actress for her leading role in Lola’s.
Crushing to learn: Nobody wants to read your stuff, unless it's your mom. You are duty bound to give the reader a document that is 1.) clear and 2.) easy to read. Will Akers will show you how to clean up that first draft. Will has written scripts and series television for studios, independent producers, and television networks.
There are many ways to get noticed in Hollywood. Spielberg started working in an open office on the Universal lot. Trey Parker and Matt Stone got South Park on the web. Diablo Cody wrote a funny blog. However you do it, you have to get yourself out there, even without an agent, a manager, or so-called "connections." Producer/Writer David Silverman will delve into real-life example of how famous writers and some of his friends got jobs writing in Hollywood.
There are many ways to get noticed in Hollywood. Spielberg started working in an open office on the Universal lot. Trey Parker and Matt Stone got South Park on the web. Diablo Cody wrote a funny blog. However you do it, you have to get yourself out there, even without an agent, a manager, or so-called "connections." Producer/Writer David Silverman will delve into real-life example of how famous writers and some of his friends got jobs writing in Hollywood.
Writer/Producer/Literary Consultant Brad Brad has written for all media, done consultations for worldwide clients when he was V.P. at Chris Vogler’s Storytech, and has been writer-producer for PBS. Brad created the series North Mission Road, which ran six seasons on truTV.
A five-minute pitch meeting is plenty of time to impress an executive as long as you don't pitch for the full five minutes. In 90 Pages/90 Seconds, the founding team behind the Great American Screenwriting Conference & PitchFest will discuss how to maximize your time to deliver an effective and efficient pitch.
In this insightful teleconference, Dr. Melody Jackson, founder and Chief Smart Girl at Smart Girls Productions, will break down a variety of distinctions in screenwriting that have always been thought to be subjective. She turns them into a list of measurable checkpoints for evaluating your script's "saleability".
In this interview, some of the points she will cover are:
So many writers are seeking a formula for success, but don’t know the truly essential ingredients. Combine a powerful concept with self-knowledge and industry awareness for a real recipe for success. Discover and develop these components and then harness the extraordinary power of using them in concert to advance your career to the next level in this teleconference with producer Barri Evins.
From the industry's top stars to first-time comedy screen and TV writers, producers, directors and performers, Steve Kaplan has worked with and coached the best. His Comedy Intensive offers proven and practical methods and principles that help you reveal and understand comedy from the inside out.
There have been enough prequels, sequels, reboots and remakes. It is time for new, authentic screenplays to be written for the collective consciousness. Laurie Scheer has a writing method that assists you in successfully preparing, writing, and pitching your screenplay. The secret is learning how to master your genre.
Listen to this webinar with Candace Kearns Read and learn how to: Identify the theme of a true story; Use a story’s themes as a springboard for the development of plot and character; Translate real life into dramatic action; Develop engaging characters from real people; Choose what to leave out in the interest of dramatic craft.
There are different kinds of creative blocks and kinds of cures. Special guest David Silverman - writer, producer, LMFT - and ISA Teleconferences host Laurie Lamson discuss what writer’s have done in the past and what they can do now using psychology.
Linda's job as a script consultant, seminar leader, and author is to guide writers to make their script the best script it can be. She has an objective professional eye to help solve elusive script problems and to help writers become better writers. The author of one of the most widely known book on screenwriting, "Making A Good Script Great", Linda Seger is the best of the best.
Join Novel Consultant, Leslie Lehr, for a talk about why now is the best time in history for screenwriters to work on a novel, and why screenwriters are uniquely qualified to succeed. As a prize-winning novelist, produced screenwriter, and NY Times Essayist, Leslie knows whereby she speaks. She applies the Truby Writers Studio 7-Step Structure method to fiction and screenplays alike.
John Truby has been one of the world's leading story theorists, as well as one of Hollywood's most respect script doctors. In this free teleconference, Mr. Truby covers some of the most important elements of the writing process. The Importance of a Good Story. Why Writers Fail at the Premise. The Importance of Genres. The #1 Most Important Element in Developing Character and the stark difference between Professional and Amateur Writers.
Having worked with James Cameron, Wes Craven and Martin Scorsese, to name just a few, you would think writers of such a caliber would simply be too busy to spend time on a podcast, but the writing team of Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier joined the ISA for one of our favorite interviews to date. The writing team is eagerly awaiting their upcoming installment of the Terminator series – Terminator: Genisys - which releases on July 1, of which they give some fun tidbits about their experience working on set with Schwarzenegger. They’re currently working on more projects with David Ellison’s team at Skydance.
They’re a powerhouse team of writers, but we were especially thrilled with how down-to-earth and just plain real they were on the call. If there is anyone who can give advice to screenwriters, it’s these two. Patrick with an extensive career working with auteurs like Craven and Guillermo del Toro, and Laeta with, as stated, Scorsese and Cameron – their insights into the business of writing, working as not just a team but true collaborators, and the special advice they give at the end of the interview, is enough to make this podcast a must-listen. We can’t thank Laeta and Patrick enough for taking the time out of their busy schedules to join us – Laeta was even ready to take notes and brainstorms in case anything spurred her creativity on the call. They were consummate professionals with a no-bull approach and they’ve found a new fan in the ISA. We're excited to see what’s next for them. So take a listen, and feel free to spread the word about our Curious About Screenwriting podcasts. Enjoy.
The term “young writer” doesn’t necessarily mean “young in age”. A young writer is simply someone who is still early in his or her career and pushing forward in their own creative growth process. Technically speaking, we as writers and filmmakers are always growing, but the more experience we gain from writing our seventh or eighth script, or shooting our tenth or eleventh film, the more we grow in a personally creative way. Melissa Hoppe joined me to talk about her recent short film STEALTH about a transgender 11-year old and the challenges she faces as a young girl simply fighting to come into her own. Melissa graduated from AFI in December of 2014 and was awarded the Bricker Award for her work on STEALTH, as well as received a College Television Award in Children’s Programming. Her career is well on its way, and from her work on STEALTH, it is clear that we have future star on our hands.
In our conversation, we talked about the importance of staying practical in an incredibly creative world, how important education is, and the true value of friends and your personal network. In a long line of educational interviews, this is another back-and-forth that will inspire you to grab a pen or a camera, take that story you’ve been daring yourself to create, and just do it. Enjoy, and we wish Melissa the best of luck in her future projects.
A veteran TV comedy writer and producer, Gloria Calderon Kellett joined me to talk about…well, to talk about so many things! A comic and performer at heart, Gloria’s personality shined while chatting with her about the highs and lows of the TV writing world, her experiences writing on How I Met Your Mother, Devious Maids, and iZombie, but most importantly she gave us some valuable insight on how a writer’s room works. Her experience speaks for itself, but she reminds us that experience is only gained through hard work and a dedication to your passion.
Our podcast guests always give fantastic advice, but Gloria’s advice on how to become a working TV writer was inspiring and quite frankly, a lot of fun to listen to! She was fun, open, honest, forthright and answered my questions with enthusiasm. If you’re looking to enter the world of TV writing, Gloria is a perfect model of inspiration. Give it a listen, take some notes, and we hope you get something from this. Enjoy.
Another in a long line of extremely informative interviews, Max Timm, the Director of Community Outreach for the International Screenwriters' Association (ISA), invited Leigh Savidge to discuss a rather vast array of industry elements and tidbits. From his upcoming movie, the 90’s hip-hop biopic, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON (set to release in August of 2015), and his experiences writing that movie, to his work as the Founder and CEO of his distribution company Xenon Pictures. Founded in 1986, Savidge has taken Xenon from a small upstart to what in 1998 the LA Times proclaimed, “a pioneer in the video market for films geared toward young African Americans.”
A former stand-up comedian, freelance journalist and film editor, Mr. Savidge built Xenon from an under-financed pipe dream with one program and no major customers, into one of the film industry’s most successful independent distributors.
Leigh was gracious with his time, patient with his answers, and offered up fantastic insights into the writing world as well as the importance of approaching your screenwriting career with a business mind. We hope you enjoy, and thanks for listening.
SEINFELD producer/writer Peter Mehlman discusses different types of humor and various comedy genres, how to find the humor in a situation, what he learned from working with Larry David on Seinfeld, and more.