KarmaCritic gets a makeover

K here.

Looks like KarmaCritic has a new look, and I like it, a lot! It's much lighter than the older version, and it's easier to read, which I'm sure everyone else loves, too.SUBLIM, the screenplay contest held by the good folks at KarmaCritic, seems to be getting a fair number of scripts, but from the loglines, I wonder how distinct they will be from one another? So far, we've got a couple of romances, some comedies, some fantasy, and (at least) 2 supernatural screenplays.

Interesting. At any rate, neither M nor I have joined KarmaCritic, but I'm going to try to join today or sometime soon when I get the chance to get everything together.

The deadline is October 2007. I wonder if more people are going to wait until then to submit? They won't get very many votes, though.

New Blogs!

K here.

I was browsing through BlueCat, checking out their scriptwriting lab deadline, and I found links with blogs from writers in the industry. Here's a list I've compiled. Check it out!

Scriptwriting and Scriptreading in the UK

Danny Stack, fellow libra and scriptwriter: "Practical advice and insights about screenwriting, how to build a career and what the process is actually like, in front and behind development lines. A place to pitch, moan and share."

Vodka-Yogurt

Adam Deich gives critiques and reviews of films. It also has a good interview up of Gordy Hoffman, founder of BlueCat.

Development Hell

Christina Ferguson does it all: Screenwriting. San Francisco. Ashtanga yoga. Bass guitar. Short fiction. Reviews of music, movies and books. And other random topics.

Neal Romanek, words + images

I don't even really know how to explain this website, but from what I've seen so far, it looks like it's going to be an interesting ride.

DIY Film Explosion

Sujewa Ekanayake likes to do it himself. Experience the ultra-low budget, real independent filmmaking & self-distribution adventures of a Washington DC scriptwriter and filmmaker.


The Happy Existentialist

Join the Screenwriting Revolution Today! Includes 1 page excerpts from various screenplays written by the blog's author.

Happy reading!

Marty Martin Comes Clean

Taken from Zoetrope which was taken from IMDB.com

MartyMartinOnTheLot aka Marty Martin writes:

To everyone out there,

I have purposefully chosen not to respond to anything on these forums. I hate getting mixed into this kind of stuff, but at this point I have to say a thing or two.

First off thank you for everyone who has supported me. Secondly, for those who literally HATE me, get a life and realize this was a reality TV show and not everyone on the show was represented acurately. I am an outspoken guy and came across like a jerk, but this is TV guys. I am not THAT guy and you can choose to believe it or not. But the kind of hate I see in these forums is just sad. You are tearing apart real people who have real lives, families, etc... based on certain things that may or may not be true about them. I really hoped that I had had the opportunity to stay on the show longer to show the real me; a nice and humble family man with a lovely daughter and wife who has been struggling to make it for the past couple of years. I unfortunately didn't get the chance to get that message across.

Aside from that, I will tackle another little criticism I keep seeing around. I didn't follow the rules by making a trailer....? Every piece of work we produced from home and submitted for the show had to obviously be approved by the show before it could air. If I actually hadn't chosen to follow the rules, do you think they would have allowed me to show my short/trailer on national TV? I just chose to take a completely different angle on the 1 minute short concept. I actually wrote an entire treatment for the Big Bad Heist before I broke it down into a 1 minute trailer, and filmed in 12 locations with a large number of actors. No simple task. I was hoping I would stand out as the guy who really took a big risk, and it went the other way around. Oh well, that's life. But being criticized for not following the rules? No way. I'm not stupid, I followed the rules. I just wanted to try something different. Still not sure why Carrie had said I didn't follow them because that wasn't the case. I am sure that if she hadn't had said that, people watching the show wouldn't have thought I violated any rules. But who knows?

As for not being able to take criticism... For those who know me, this is one thing I actually take very well. I came to Hollywood with my first short film 4 years ago and wanted criticism from real producers who were making films. And I got it. And this is how I got better. The only way I can improve on my work is by comparing it to high standards and taking in criticism and learning from it. My issue with Carrie Fisher was blown out of proportion, and being on TV in front of so many people didn't help my judgement all that much. But you know what? I learned from it. If anything, the people who know me know me as a super confident guy, but also one who is humble. And if I came across anything but humble on TV, I can blame some of it on editing, but I also have to take responsibility for stuff I did LIVE on TV. So maybe I got a bit carried away, but no one is perfect, you mistakes, you fall down, then you pick yourself back up and brush yourself off and start again.

I just want to set the record straight on this stuff once, then you guys can continue to tear me apart and I'll leave it at that. The show was a great experience for me in a lot of ways. I've taken a lot from it. Ultimately though what I got out of it was a bunch of great friends. Believe it or not, we were ALL fantastic friends on the show and still are. Which is a pretty rare thing to find in life. So many of these guys are so talented, and it is awesome to be able to stay in contact with them, hang out with them, share ideas, etc...

So it's easy to judge.... To type expletives about contestants and how they are bad, stupid, great, mean, idiots, etc... But it's also kind of sad you need to spend your free time tearing apart people you don't really know. On one hand we all signed up knowing this could happen, and I don't think any of us really take it to heart, but we all do feel it is so over the top. However, thanks for caring enough about the show to get so involved. It's cool to know that you were really following everything so closely. Stay tuned for who wins next week! We can't wait to find out as well!

Marty Martin
Director/Producer/Editor
www.imagenfilms.com
www.marty-martin.com

---

So I guess Marty Martin really wasn't the asshole we all thought he was, right? I don't know. Reality TV can make people seem meaner than they are, but no one who wasn't even a little bit arrogant would get on stage and disrespect the judges as many times Marty did.

But, that's the nature of things, right?

Congratulations Will

On winning the cool $1 million development deal with DreamWorks. How far does a million go, anyway?

We're under the firm belief that Zach Lee got snapped up long ago.

Would You Support Cinematic Racism?

The sis has just completed her award-winning research on images in American film. Included in her research was a question that asked, quite frankly, if a person would "recommend or see a filmn that slightly stereotyped African American women".

A high percentage said that they would.

And that's the type of thinking that boggles my mind. Has Hollywood wrapped our minds so much that we're just letting them do anything? I mean, seriously. First, you've got Eddie Murphy and the lot dressing up like Neo-Mammies, then we see Frank Miller changing the history (can someone please explain to me how Persians are black again??) to one of the most important battles of the ancient world and now, with this new 10,000 BC movie coming out with what, two or three people of color all swarthied up, we've got even more blatant disregard for historical and cultural accuracy.

JEEZ! Is it too hard to just do it right? Just this once? What could you lose?! Wouldn't it be awesome to be THAT studio who totally went against the inane materialism and blind assimilationism that Hollywood encompasses to created THE MOVIE of the century. That movie (which has yet to be made) that was truly color-blind and STILL had actors of color. That movie that didn't stereotype, that tried to get history right, no matter how hard or pointless it seemed?

No, I guess not. Cuz it surely hasn't happened yet.

(Or maybe I'll stop being lazy and make it myself).

So, I guess what I'm asking you, all of you out there in the land of Ones and Zeroes..Would you support cinematic racism?

It's Been A While

M Here,

So...its been a while, and folks "out there" are probably wondering what the hell has happened to the films we promised we would be updating about.

Well, it just so happens that when you live in the real world, as much as you try to block it out, real stuff happens. So, we've had to pospone our lovely film adventures until September.

I know, I know, I to, follow the mantra of "never slow down", but this time, its unavoidable.

But never fear! There are still tons of things we will talk about, INCLUDING our screenplays and the contests we WILL be entering. See, you don't really need 2,000 dollars, a dolly and final cut pro to spit out your baby on Final Draft...

So, the sis and I are planning to submit to as many screenplay contests and our dear, neglected wallets will let us.

So far, I think the closest screenplay contest coming up is the Zoetrope Screenplay Competition.

We'll update later with more contests that YOU can apply to!