26 Screenplays

A good way to start thinking in visual terms is watch movies with an eye towards the cinematic storytelling.

Every once in awhile, this blog will discuss certain films that a filmmaker should watch and learn from.

A great documentary, truly one of the best on the subject, is Visions of Light. This overview of American cinematography is a wonderful way to switch your mindset from storytelling to visual storytelling.

What to watch for:

Color. Shadow. Information.

Listen to how cranky cinematographers can be. Visual storytelling isn’t easy or always rewarded. But it is important, especially when working in a visual medium like film.

If you want a free sample of the type of material that is in the book, I am posting fake trailer scripts throughout the year. These fake trailers use the same format and information that is in the book, giving everyone a free sample.

The latest fake trailer script is a Schlock Horror fake trailer with a working title of Zombie Prom Queen. It is released under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, so all you have to do is give credit to 26 Screenplays and you are free to create a film from it and keep all the profits for yourself. It doesn’t get better than that.

Download the script from the message board or directly from this link. This fake trailer script is also available for free on DocStoc and Scribd.

On this Planet Money podcast, the lead singer of OK Go about the music industry, or, rather, how the internet has changed the music industry over the past couple of decades.

Essentially, he says that we are living in interesting times.

The podcast discusses the traditional financial model of the music industry and comes to the conclusion that the traditional industry is no more. Instead of building your band to the point where a big company gives you a record contract, there are no barriers to entry. The internet has made it possible for every high school student with three chords and the truth to pick up a ukulele and make a music video. Many bands, including OK Go, are able to make a living managing themselves without the aid of the music industry.

Which is great, but it also means that the band is responsible for all of the cost as well as all of the profit. By removing the barriers to entry, we have also removed the protective financial covering from failure. The entire landscape has changed and no one knows exactly what to do to make both music and a living.

The music industry is a great way to see how the movie industry might change over the next couple of years. Internet entertainment like The Guild, Dr. Horrible, and Sita Sings the Blues show that it is possible to be both entertaining and to make a living off creative work.

No one knows exactly what will work, so we have to keep on trying.

There is now an electronic version of 26 Short Screenplays for Independent Filmmakers on the Lulu website. It costs $9.99, instead of the $26.00 price for the physical book.

You can use this file on your Kindle, Nook, iPad, or any device that reads .pdf files. There are currently no plans to release versions of the book specifically for each eReading platform. There are technical issues with screenplay formatting in the various eReader formats (see an example here), and until Final Draft adds an export to .epub feature, .pdf is the simplest way to go.

If you want the physical copy of the book (which is a large format designed for you to photocopy pages for cast and crew), Lulu is offering a $3.99 shipping credit through May 1st. Just use the coupon code FREEMAIL305 at checkout. Or you can order the book from Amazon here.

This weekend’s On the Media had not only one, but two stories about copyright.

Here they are:

You can’t copyright jokes, just like you can’t copyright cooking recipes.

You can, however, copyright performances and comedic personalities and collections of recipes. This means that people can steal jokes as long as they are not copying comedic personalities. This makes for a more robust and thriving creative environment. Even if someone “steals” another person’s work, the creative community enforces standards and keeps people honest.

Which leads to the discussion about Carlos Mencia. The reason comedians seem so upset with Carlos Mencia is that he doesn’t not give credit where credit is due. There are dozens of comedians who crib from each other, but they are honest about where they got the jokes from. Some comedians, like Milton Berle, even make jokes about cribbing.

This is one of the reasons the book was released under Creative Commons Attributions license is that I want people to steal the material in the book. Just put my name in the credits and everything will be fine. Don’t be a Carlos Mencia; be a Milton Berle.