HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!

They say it's your birthday-ay-ay!!!! It's MY BIRTHDAY TOO!!!!

That's right! This site has now lived for a whole year, and during that time there have been:

• 379: Queries emailed to me.
• 207: Scripts I accepted to read.
• 36: Scripts I read from beginning to end.
• 6: Scripts I reviewed.
• 5: Scripts I felt deserved a smaller mention.
• 1: Book review.
• 1: Contest.
• 0: Cease and desist orders received. (Take that, Michael Wilde!)

We now have just ONE MONTH to go before our first annual contest ends! Queries must be submitted no later than by midnight on September 30th to qualify for the contest!

Following up with Angela Schultz

One of the bigger stories involving this blog concerned writer Angela Schultz, whose screenplay PROGGER was one of the top selections of last year.

Since the review was posted, a lot has and has not happened with Angela's project. PROGGER came very close to production earlier this spring, with Angela also sitting in the director's chair, no less! But alas, the project was placed on hold due to circustances beyond her control...

"To make a long story short," Angela writes, "the documentary film producer, who originally expressed interest in making the movie, has been very busy working on several docs, so I took the opportunity to pitch the project to an Academy Award winning producer who is looking for films to produce for his new company. He and his partner seemed to like the music aspect of the story and asked lots of questions with regards to the Prog Rock music market. It looks like they may be interested in developing the project, but it's really too soon to tell yet.

"Currently, they are evaluating the script and its potential, so I'm patiently waiting to hear back from them. It may be a while before they get back to me."

Angela, I have and shall always keep my fingers crossed for you. And I can relate. More than once, a project of mine has come very close to actually happening, only to fall apart at the 11th hour...and linger for months or years on end. For anyone who has achieved their big break, rarely does it come overnight; it's usually after years of toiling, waiting, broken deals and broken promises.

But that doesn't mean one should give up.

"In the meantime," Angela adds, "I am busy writing and pitching and enjoying the sun while it lasts..."

Amen, girl. While you're at it, let me take a look at that new script you're working on!

Next week I'll be checking in with Adam McDaniel, the author of IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THADDEUS THACKERAY. Adam's faced his share of highs and lows this past year, some of them extraordinary, some of them heartbreaking, all of them fascinating.

Countdown to our first birthday!

This blog hits the big "01" at the end of August, so to celebrate this profoundly astonishing achievement (for those easily astonished) I asked the writers featured in my reviews to update me about their experiences, writing, struggles, etc...

Ian Goh, whose BORN IN THE RAIN was reviewed just last May (and remains the my only bona fide selection for 2007 so far), told me that soon after the review was published, an independent producer from L.A. contacted him. "It was the whole shabam with release forms and e.t.c." Ian wrote. "Now you may say that, hey, it happens all the time, but to this aspiring screenwriter this was the first!"

Ian is currently working on two new screenplays. Based on the quality of his first, I'm looking forward to what he has in store.

Dave Shailer got several queries for his script THE JEWELER'S WIFE as a result of the review. He has since rewritten it, completed a new Japanese-style horror script called DOKURO, and has been busy developing other script ideas dancing inside his head.

Shailer is also "working on a book for the UK scene," and while that sounds a bit cryptic to me, I'm all the more curious to read it.

Chris Woods writes, "I am currently writing that long awaited sequel to Hamlet... FORTINBRAS: SOUNDTRACK TO A NIGHTMARE. It is a medieval morality play which explores the dangers of absolute patriarchal power. Just as Shakespeare is considerably more complex than the Brothers Grimm (Hansel and Gretel), this is more complex than THE WITCH AND THE GARDEN and quite daunting to write because of the language. The two leads from that work, Luna & Terra, reappear as Princess Miranda and the witch, Clacinda. If this is successful as a drama, I will adapt it to screenplay form although I realize it would be an incredibly difficult script to market."

Mark York, whose AGAINST A RAPID STREAM gave the blog its first book review, has received some interest in the manuscript from book publishers. He's considering reworking it, a la a "novelization," in the future. Currently, York is writing a follow up novel about global warming, in collaboration with an editorial partner.

Be you a history buff or someone who appreciates nature, you owe it to yourself to check out Mark's website and blog. He's a man who has travelled extensively all over the country, a jack-of-all-trades who is part adventurist, part scholar and Renaissance man. Many writers (aspiring or otherwise) would do well to get off their collective asses once in a while and step out into the open world; Mark's got the right idea, and is already well ahead of us.

Next week I'll be checking in with two other writers, both with some pretty fascinating and exciting, heartbreaking but hopeful stories to share. Until then, keep those submissions coming! The screenwriting contest ends on SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 30th!


T.U.C.