26 Screenplays

Please join me in congratulating Mrs. Denton from Rugby Middle School in Hendersonville, North Carolina. She received an educational donation of ’26 Short Screenplays for Independent Filmmakers’ for her 8th grade filmmaking class.

With a little luck, we will feature some videos from the class on our web page.

Remember that every month we give away one copy of ’26 Short Screenplays for Independent Filmmakers’ to an educational institution or library. For more information, see our educational donation page.

We are proud to announce that, once a month, we will be donating a copy of the book for educational purposes. If you are instructing a class and would like a sample book, simply visit the Educational Donation page of the web site, and complete the form. You will be submitted in our monthly drawing for a free book. All you have to do is complete the application form once, and you will be entry will carry over to the next drawing if you do not win.

The form asks your position, how many students you plan on having in your class, and how you plan on using the book in a classroom setting.

‘26 Short Screenplays for Independent Filmmakers‘ is an ideal workbook for a film or drama class. If you are an instructor who wants to incorporate the book into your classroom, please apply for a donation. We will even feature the resulting films on the 26 Screenplays when your class concludes.

In keeping with the theme of providing free fake trailer scripts on the bulletin board and blog, the MacGuffin script makes its debut.

A MacGuffin is a term coined by Alfred Hitchcock, meaning the object of the film that everyone is pursuing. Sometimes the object can be a big pile of money and sometimes the object can be an abstract concept. For example, in North by Northwest, the villain makes his trade in “secrets.”

These fake trailers use the same format and information that is in the book, giving everyone a free sample.

This MacGuffin fake trailer (and all the fake trailers, for that matter) are also available on Docstock and Scribd.

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.