Tag Archives

 BEAT THE LAST-MINUTE STAMPEDE

DON’T DELAY: SUBMIT YOUR ENTRY TODAY!

REGULAR SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MAY 30

For your best chance to win, send in your entry early!

LATE SUBMISSION DEADLINE: JUNE 30

See our submission categories HERE!

Read our submission guidelines HERE!

Entry Form HERE!

Moondance now also accepts scripts for judging in these languages:

FRENCH, SPANISH, GERMAN, DUTCH & AFRICAANS.

Our foreign-language readers are award-winning screenwriters!

Withoutabox for Moondance International Film Festival is now fully active for this season’s call for entries: www.withoutabox.com/login/1240.

MOONDANCE ALSO ACCEPTS SCREENPLAY SUBMISSIONS WRITTEN IN:

SPANISH, GERMAN, DUTCH & AFRICAANS!

Contact Elizabeth at [email protected] for more info.

Moondance International Film Festival dates:

September 7^th & 8th,, 2015

Boulder, Colorado USA

Check out the website for more info:

WEBSITE: www.moondancefilmfestival.com

NEWS-BLOG: www.moondancefilmfestival.com/blog

EMAIL: [email protected]

A NEW ZEALAND MOONDANCER’S GOOD NEWS:

 “In 2013 my stageplay ‘Stitched Up’ was awarded a finalist placing in the Moondance International Film Festival 2013, and now that play is going to be staged at the Christchurch Centre of Performing Arts from October 1st – Oct. 10th. Auditions are being held now and the booking office for my play is already open!!

I am so excited, Elizabeth, and I want to thank you and Moondance so much for believing in my work and giving me the confidence and support to push it out there to a wider audience. To finally hear actors speaking my lines….there are no words for that.

Once again, many, many thanks to you and Moondance – it’s the Moondance name and the significant prestige that it carries with the name that has got me this far. Be assured Moondance will be given all the recognition and fanfare it deserves when my play steps from the curtains and takes centre place of stage.” ~ Celine Gibson, North Otago (the headquarters of Steam Punk), New Zealand

A MOONDANCE WINNER’S GOOD NEWS:

“We have finished our film The World Is My Country!  We are having a WRAP PARTY weekend at our beach house in Playa La Mision in Baja California, Mexico, only an hour’s drive south of San Diego.” ~ Arthur Kanegis, director, producer, Moondance award-winning screenwriter for the script to this film

“This film is a must see for anyone who believes in personal freedom” —Rowland Perkins, Founding President, Creative Artists Agency

“Elegant and delicious storytelling!   A riveting heroic tale with resonance for our time:  a troubled war veteran using his thespian skills in a nonviolent battle to save his soul, the planet, and all humanity.” — Mimi Kennedy, actor in “Midnight in Paris,” “Dharma & Greg,” Erin Brockovich

“I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen … wow! … inspiring & entertaining, the direction & production values are very good & it has fine editing. At the end of the film I just had to rush online to order my own World Passport.  This film can inspire us all to join together to build a better world.”  —Elizabeth English, Founder, Moondance International Film Festival

Our successful crowd-funding campaign raised $42,000 from 149 donors – enabling to further improve and finish the film.   Now we are seeking further funds for our film festival run and to line up a distributor so we can bring this important story to a wide audience. Check out www.1worldcitizen.com to see few short clips, & to catch the vision.

NEWS FROM A MOONDANCER:

The film “10 Days in a Madhouse” will have its world debut at Cannes. I play police officer Tom Bockert. It is the story of Nellie Bly, an investigative journalist who feigns mental illness so she can get inside Blackwell Island insane asylum for women and record the abuses. I escort her to her sanity trial and then the nut house! ~ Mark Lysgaard, 2012 Moondance winning screenwriter

INSIDER TIPS ON WRITING FOR ACTORS:

“An actor, entering the room through a door…you’ve got nothing. An actor, entering the same room through a window…now you’ve got a situation!” ~ Billy Wilder

You should always write your scripts for the actors! The actors, directors and the audiences will appreciate it. Give them action, give them crises and conflicts to deal with, give your lead roles the best dialog and actions, write visually, giving them interesting and memorable things to do. Make each actor’s role and character distinctive, and have them react and relate to each other in the way that particular character would do, in that situation. Give each lead and secondary actor a specific personality and back-story. And show it; don’t just tell it! Actors and directors despise exposition and explanations in dialog. Have them act it out, in real time or in flash-backs.

Get briefly into the actor’s character, situation, personality, circumstances, needs, problems, fears, preferences, style, past, demeanor, and so on, and why he or she is in this role, in this story…and do it early in the first scene in which the actor appears. A good actor, such as Anthony Hopkins, Meryl Streep, or Dustin Hoffman, can create (and become) this unique character in a flash, sometimes with just a glance, an accent, a grimace, a smile, body language, or a slight twitch.

Keep the physical description of the actor simple, though. You may want to have a character be in his late sixties, for example, and tall, thin, elegant, neatly bearded, wearing a designer tuxedo, speaks with a British accent, and having blue eyes and handsome. This limits whom the director can select for that role. Maybe you were thinking of the late Peter O’Toole for the role? But perhaps Tom Cruise, Samuel Jackson or Bill Murray (or even Julia Roberts or Linda Hunt!) have expressed great interest in the role!

Create unique, but relatable, situations for your actors.

If writing a comedy, like a Western, you might have an actor, instead of riding his or her horse up to the saloon and tying it up at the ol’ hitchin’ post, have him or her ride the horse right through the swinging doors of the saloon and up to the bar!

In a drama, what if the character, male or female, walks alone and sadly along a boardwalk by the ocean, but is wearing a wedding dress, and it’s raining cats and dogs?

How about this: it’s a thriller, and the character fearfully walks down the stairs of a dark and gloomy old mansion, and as he or she passes the ancient family portraits, each one speaks to him or her with a dire warning, but the character just laughs, and goes out into the brilliant sunshine of the beautiful spring garden.

In a character-driven film story, again, show, don’t tell. Let’s say a character is severely depressed, and maybe even suicidal; He or she paces the floor, and then looks into an old, ornate mirror, and the mirror (symbolically) cracks!

Make your characters unique! A child is in the scene, but in a wheelchair, and is playing with his toy airplane, swooping it in the air and making airplane engine sounds. A blind teenage girl is having a tea-party with her dolls, or an obese and homeless old woman is wistfully listening to a twirling-bride music box at the Salvation Army store. A young black boy plays jazz on an out-of-tune upright piano that’s been abandoned on the sidewalk in a slum area. A ragged and dirty homeless person planting flowers in the park where she sleeps.

Are you writing a script for a documentary film? (Yes, doc films always need a script!) Limit “talking-heads” to an absolute minimum, or, preferably, none at all. Script mostly voice-overs while showing whatever the person is talking about. Audiences relate to and remember more of what they see, not as much as what they hear spoken.

Writing for an animation film? The lead character, an altruistic green dolphin, sees a rowboat capsize in the stormy seas, and silently enlists other dolphins, sea turtles and a Mermaid to help save the floundering person from drowning.

Writing for the stage? What if it’s the 1890’s, the character is a playwright, too, and sits typing away at a big black typewriter in an old Victorian mansion? As he writes, he speaks the lines and different characters walk into the scene & act out the role, but, frustrated, the writer then rips the paper out of the typewriter, balls it up and tosses it onto the floor, while the character disappears from the stage.

Writing a story for radio, comedy or drama? Make sure each character speaks distinctly from the others, sighs, laughs, interrupts, slurs, has an accent, groans, hesitates, clears his or her throat, is sarcastic or sweet, or whatever…since radio is an audio play, and the listener must visualize each character.

Writing a short script for a music video? Don’t just show the band playing and singing, and with the audience reactions. Even close-ups and odd camera angles can get boring. Tell an interesting and visual story that works with the band’s style and lyrics!

But don’t tell the actor how to play his or her role (in parentheses below the character’s name) in the script. That’s the job of the actor and the director. 

Each of these visual, cinematic scenarios show the audience who the character is, and without a single word of dialog or exposition. As the late, great director, Billy Wilder, states, above, create interesting situations for your actors!

 “Being a writer is a strenuous marriage between careful observation and just as carefully imagining the truths you haven’t yet had the opportunity to observe. The rest is the necessary, strict toiling with the language; for me this means writing and rewriting the sentences until they sound as spontaneous as good conversation.” ~ John Irving, intro to “Trying to Save Piggy Sneed”

A MOONDANCER WRITES US:

“For anyone who has never attended a Moondance–it’s very special! Small town style, with top-of-the-line people both running the event and there to provide guidance, teach classes and hear pitches, coach novices and seasoned screenwriters into production. Elizabeth Engllish did a session on TITLES! How a Title can make or break a script, and we workshopped titles until something that works happened! It’s more casual with more interaction with great people–I’ve had breakfast, lunch and dinner and “socialized” with dozens of the best in script coaches, trainers, teachers, producers, directors, agents, and all facets of the FILM BIZ, but all the while having a wonderful, relaxing time in a country setting. I have volunteered to help out a few times, and thoroughly enjoyed the feedback on my scripts and the entire event. ~ Vera Holman

SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER:

“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, one discovers that it is attached to the whole world.” ~ John Muir

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“While you are dreaming of the future, or worrying about it, or regretting the past, the present, which is all you have, may slip away from you and then it is gone.” ~ Hilaire Belloc

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done at all.” ~ Arnold Palmer

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Life is nothing less than telling stories. We are hard-wired to communicate. Hard-wired to listen, participate, exchange ideas, and entertain. When we stop telling new, fresh, stories…we cease to engage in the “mix”. Our lives become smaller…Hyperbole? Hell yes. But sometimes only hyperbole suffices to speak the truth… breathe, be alive and keep telling stories.” ~ Duncan Payne, screenwriter/ & lawyer, LinkedIn.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“People do not seem to care how nobly they live, only how long, despite the fact that it is within their reach to live nobly, but within no-one’s reach to live long.” ~ Seneca

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Silence becomes cowardice when the occasion demands speaking out the whole truth, and acting accordingly.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

Please forward this news-blog to your creative artist colleagues!

 QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

[email protected]

[email protected]

WEBSITE: www.moondancefilmfestival.com

BLOG: www.moondancefilmfestival.com/blog

No trees or natural habitats were harmed

in the creation of this news-blog!

 

For your best chance to win, send in your entry RIGHT NOW!

REGULAR SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MAY 30*

LATE SUBMISSION DEADLINE: JUNE 30*

 See our submission categories HERE!

Read our submission guidelines HERE!

Official Entry Form HERE!

Withoutabox for Moondance International Film Festival is now fully active for this season’s call for entries: www.withoutabox.com/login/1240

Moondance International Film Festival dates:

September 7^th & 8th,, 2015

Boulder, Colorado USA

The Moondance International Film Festival, featuring its distinct cinematic visions and bold film selections, has distinguished itself around the world as much more than an annual film festival! The Moondance is a unique community, a supportive, productive, and creative year-round collaboration between independent filmmakers and movie audiences, between writers, composers and the world of top-quality filmed entertainment.

Check out the website for more info:

WEBSITE: www.moondancefilmfestival.com

NEWS-BLOG: www.moondancefilmfestival.com/blog

EMAIL: [email protected]

 “I had a look at your festival and it’s great! It’s amazing to see that there are still completely open-minded film institutions out there.” ~ Ally Shina, Screenwriter, Port Saint John’s, South Africa

INSIDER TIPS:

WRITING A SCRIPT TREATMENT THAT SELLS!

Excerpted & edited from these recommended resources:

http://www.wheresthedrama.com/thetreatment.htm

 http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/how-to-write-a-treatment.html

http://www.lightsfilmschool.com/articles/treatments/

http://www.filmmakers.com/features/screenwriting/treatment.htm

Writing a treatment is a skill that can help any screenwriter succeed, at any point in the creative process. There are at least three parts of getting a screenplay sold or financed. Learning to write a treatment can jumpstart a writer’s career because it allows a screenwriter to communicate his or her screenplay idea in a brief but compelling way. It also can be a powerful diagnostic and creative tool.

This document should read like a short story and be written in the present tense. It should present the entire story including the ending, and use some key scenes and dialogue from the screenplay it is based on.

What Should Be in the Treatment?

• A Working title
• The writer’s name and contact information
• WGA Registration number
• A short logline
• Introduction to key characters
• Who, what, when, why and where.
• Act 1 in one to three paragraphs. Set the scene, dramatize the main conflicts.
• Act 2 in two to six paragraphs. Should dramatize how the conflicts introduced in Act 1 lead to a crisis.
• Act 3 in one to three paragraphs. Dramatize the final conflict and resolution.

A treatment may be defined as a prose narrative (five to twenty-five pages long) that presents the characters and events of a proposed script, movie or television series, in a way that allows the reader to enter far enough into the drama to understand the ways in which the story and characters will be treated, including a vivid sense of the characters’ and story’s attitudes as well as the movement of the emotional energy and its relationship to what the story is about (theme). 

Generally speaking, a film’s treatment is similar to that of an overview or synopsis of the film idea. It usually ranges from 8 to 15 pages and includes all the important conceptual elements, structured in 3-5 acts, each with a beginning, middle and end. When you submit your script, your treatment will often be the first document to be glanced over. If the main concept is enjoyable and your treatment is well written maybe, just maybe, your script will make it into the hands of the “professional script reader”. This is an important element of screenwriting which you should know about. When you submit your script to producers, you will not be submitting your scripts to the major decision makers first. Your script will first have to pass through a filter that these large production companies have put in place.

A film treatment states how the audience will experience the film. It’s important to write treatments in an active voice and avoid the use of hyperbole (such as “this unique film will explore” etc). When writing treatments you want your audience to be able to visualize your film. You will want to write in present tense and provide an overview of the characters, locations and details of the film. You can write your treatment creatively. The purpose of a treatment is to allow your audience to smell, taste and experience your environment. Reading a treatment (second only to reading a full script) is the closest written equivalent to the look of your film.

If a screenplay focuses the story for a film, the treatment does the same thing for a screenplay. A treatment could be considered a written pitch; something that catches the buyers attention and makes then want to see more.

One big difference between treatments and screenplays is that treatments are written in paragraph form where as screenplays have a very technical format. Keep the language simple yet forceful and declarative. The purpose of the treatment is to describe the events of the story so that it can be visualized and brought to life. This should be done using the least amount of words possible.

There are several aspects of a treatment that must be in place in order for a treatment to be effective. These include a solid opening that takes hold of the reader from the very beginning. There must also be a climax to the film that strikes and satisfies them. In between, there must be a protagonist (or main character) that the reader can relate to in some way. This does not mean that the main character will always be a hero or someone that the audience likes, only that the protagonist is someone that stands out and draws the audience in. The story must also contain a central conflict around which all the action in the story revolves.

MOONDANCE RECOMMENDS:

HELP STOP THE SLAUGHTER OF AFRICAN ELEPHANTS!

Craigslist‘s own policy prohibits the sale of animal parts, including ivory on its sites. And yet, right now, the sale of ivory is rampant on Craigslist.

Do they know that all ivory comes from dead elephants?

Craigslist’s policy is humane and simply the right thing to do. But they need to follow through and enforce their own rules.

The Wildlife Conservation Society just conducted a joint investigation with their friends at the International Fund for Animal Welfare and what we found was shocking. A sample of Craigslist sites, in cities both large and small, yielded hundreds of postings for ivory – valued at well over one million dollars!

Send a letter to Craigslist –

tell them to end the sale of all ivory products!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

QUIET ON THE SET!

TEEN FILMMAKERS PROGRAM

QUIET ON THE SET! Is a unique, no-cost filmmaking program for inner-city & at-risk teens. These teens will have the opportunity to progressively develop their education and knowledge of filmmaking and build their life skills here. Our mission: Make a positive, lasting difference in the lives of these teens. Our workshops most effectively meet the needs & criteria of communities through educational enhancement, life-skills development & recreational style technical training in filmmaking. Please support this vital effort to help the next generation of filmmakers:

https://www.crowdrise.com/quietontheset

SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER:

Soak up the sun


Affirm life’s magic


Be graceful in the wind


Stand tall after a storm


Feel refreshed after it rains


Embrace each changing season


Provide shelter to strangers



Stay deeply rooted while reaching for the sky


Be still long enough to
hear your own leaves rustling

Sink your roots deep into the earth

Reflect the light of your true nature

Go out on a limb

Remember your place among all living things

Yield your abundance to others

Rest in winter

Emerge renewed at the first signs of spring

Feel the rain, the wind and the sun with delight

Look up at the moon as it shines upon you

Seek nourishment from the good things in life

Be content with your own natural beauty

Drink plenty of fresh, clean water

Be flexible

Remember your roots

And enjoy the view!

“If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.” ~ Hal Borland

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“It is the province of knowledge to speak, and the privilege of wisdom to listen.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Rowing harder doesn’t help if the boat is headed in the wrong direction.” ~ Kenichi Ohmae

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“There are three ways of acting wisely. First, by meditation; that is the noblest. Secondly, by imitation; that is the easiest. Thirdly, by experience; and that is the bitterest.” ~ Confucious

MOONDANCE ALSO RECOMMENDS:

MORE THAN 25 MILLION BARS OF SOAP RECYCLED

FROM 500,000 HOTEL & MOTEL ROOMS

DISTRIBUTED TO 99 COUNTRIES!

How Clean the World is changing the world: According to the World Health Organization, millions of young lives could be saved with access to bar soap and family hygiene education. Saving lives requires a holistic approach that integrates soap with a comprehensive water, sanitation and hygiene program. By recycling soap and other discarded hygiene products, Clean the World saves lives with items that traditionally end up in landfills. Clean the World has a two-part mission: Collect and recycle soap and hygiene products discarded every day by the hospitality industry and other sectors that generate environmental waste.

An estimated 1.9 billion school days could be gained if safe water, sanitation facilities and hand-washing with soap & clean water were standard across all schools. Our Soap in Schools program aims to help learning performance and health by reducing the incidence of water and sanitation related diseases. Special emphasis is placed and teaching hygiene and creating a habit that will be sustained into adult-hood. Through the distribution of these and other donated products to impoverished people, prevent millions of hygiene-related deaths each year, reduce the morbidity rate for hygiene-related illnesses, and encourage healthy, vigorous childhood development. LEARN MORE: https://cleantheworld.org

Or Zimrah

at the Boulder Theater 2015

https://youtu.be/79_XpwM9jbM

OUR MOONDANCE WEBSTER,

Norm Strassner, the man on the far right in this video,

plays electric bass guitar in this local soft-rock/spiritual band!

(“Or Zimrah” in Hebrew means Make a Joyful Noise or melody)

Please forward this news-blog to your creative artist colleagues!

  QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS?

[email protected]

[email protected]

WEBSITE: www.moondancefilmfestival.com

BLOG: www.moondancefilmfestival.com/blog

No trees or natural habitats were harmed in the creation of this news-blog!