Similar plotlines
I’m a great fan of movies. After so many years of watching films I decided to write something. One day I conceived a subject. I developed it in my mind until I decided to write it down. But, unfortunately or fortunately, I saw VANILLA SKY. My main story and character is very much like that film. Even some details are exactly the same. What would you do if you watched a movie that is very close to the story you’re writing?
–Anonymous
A philosopher who’s studied up on the nascent field of memetics might argue that people don’t actually think of ideas. The ideas are already out there, competing with each other to get people to think them.
In the case of your movie, there was an idea floating out there about a guy who was experiencing life strangely because, it turned out, he was already dead and dreaming. This idea came to you. Unfortunately, it also came to Cameron Crowe, in the form of the Spanish director Alejandro Amenabar’s movie ABRE LOS OJOS.
Back in college, I kept thinking about doing a movie or TV series about an asteroid headed for Earth. I wasn’t the first person to come across this idea. I opened the trades one day to find that ARMAGEDDON and DEEP IMPACT were suddenly racing into production. I was a little bummed, but reassured to think that at least I was capable of a commercial idea.
If you’re halfway through a script and you see a movie that is almost exactly your story, then you have fair reason to moan and cry and tear your hair out. In general, though, writers who abandon one of their projects because "it was too much like" whatever, were just looking for an easy excuse to stop writing it.
Big Fish Release Date Changed
Now that it’s in the trades, the BIG FISH release schedule appears to be getting closer to final. The movie will be debuting in three cities (New York, Los Angeles and Toronto) on Thursday, December 18th. Yes, it’s odd to open on a Thursday, but RETURN OF THE KING is opening on that Wednesday, and MONA LISA SMILE on that Friday. So we’ll have one day (one whole day) to ourselves.
The movie will expand to fifteen cities on January 1st, then add more screens on the 9th, and finally go wide on January 23rd.
Writing a biography
I’m submitting a script to a screenplay competition and to an agent that accepts unsolicited material. Both ask for a biography. Common sense says to keep it short and sweet–and spell everything correctly. But I’m finding it very hard to write anything other than a two or three sentence summation of my education and career (none of which is entertainment related and all of which is surely boring). I suppose I could add something about my interests or goals as a writer, but does anyone care? Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.
–MA
Answer is here.
Using CUT TO:
Can you specify how to use transitions while writing a screenplay? I’m referring to all those “cut to”-s and other transitions. I never know if I should actually use one, or just move to the next scene.
–Lior
Answer is here.
Naomi Foner on How I Got My Agent
I was a producer at Sesame Street. And then The Electric Company. And then I spent a year in the UK researching an American version of Upstairs Downstairs. It got funded but they dumped me for a more experienced producer. (In those days age meant wisdom. Now it means dinosaur.)
I spent a lot of time working with writers during those years, but was afraid to pen anything myself because I didn’t want to find out that I couldn’t do it. Finally, a friend insisted and since it coincided with the birth of my daughter, I tried. It was produced on PBS Visions series.
Set in the NYC blackout, it was, of course, filmed in LA. That producer introduced me to an agent. Sent her my Vision’s script and I soon had representation and more work. Seems too easy, but I did spend many years working with writers first.
Naomi Foner’s screenwriting credits include RUNNING ON EMPTY, A DANGEROUS WOMAN and LOSING ISIAH. She was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Screenplay for RUNNING ON EMPTY.
Tom Smith on How I Got My Agent
ACT I
I went to a book signing at Samuel French, a Hollywood bookstore. Three writers were there with their screenwriting books. I had them sign my books and I talked to all of them. I read their books and wrote a fawning fan letter to two of them, Linda Seger and Carl Sautter. Hidden amongst the gushing I asked them the same question, how do I get an agent?
Carl Sautter read my stuff, said he liked it and suggested I send it to his agent. I did. She was…well, really rather cunty about it. But he and I continued to correspond, and proved to be a good source of advice and encouragement.
Linda Seger read my script. Of course, I paid her to do it. Script analysis. Which sounds like a rip-off, but it was actually quite helpful. Her notes and her insight helped make the script better and she passed the script onto several agents and some development people. And that’s how I got my first agent.
Moral: Get to know people who have agents.
ACT II
My agent wasn’t getting me any work. I entered a new spec script in the Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship competition – a script my agent didn’t like, a script that had gotten an insulting pass on at Universal. (The executive was looking for something more like BIRD ON A WIRE!) I won the Nicholl, firing my first agent as soon as I became a finalist. I got over fifty phone calls the week I won and one of those was my new agent.
Moral: Enter any (reputable) contest.
ACT III
My second agent became a manager. The next agent I got was through someone I ran into at a New Years’ party. We’d met years earlier. She was in development and had luckily attended the party with her ex-boyfriend. I listened to her heartache and she listened to me talk about a script I was writing. Later, she read it and recommended me to my next agent.
Moral: Be nice to people who can be nice to you later.
Tom C. Smith wrote BEVERLY HILLS FAMILY ROBINSON and the infamous short ERNEST & BERTRAM. He has also developed several television projects.
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