May Write On! Newsletter

NEWS
The first step in getting your project noticed is to have a dazzling and informative query. Enter the Write On! Online/The Write Environment Query Contest by June 22. The winner in each category – Screenplay, Teleplay, Fiction, and Non-Fiction – will have their query letter read by a literary agent, among other prizes. Sponsors include The Writers Store, iScript, Blake Snyder and Save the Cat, and more. For a complete list of prizes, as well as submission guidelines, read all about it here: https://writeononline.com/2009/ 05/11/write-on-onlinethe-write-environment-query-contest/

The May Extra Credit Assignment (https://writeononline.com/2009/ 04/17/may-extra-credit/ ) was to go out people-watching, and then post about it on the Write On! Yahoo Group or Facebook Page. The winner of May Extra Credit is Beth Howard. Beth will receive a DVD of The Write Environment Interview with Tim Kring. Beth’s story appears at the bottom of the newsletter.

Congratulations to Heather Hoffman, May winner of an iScript, for posting goals on Write On! Online. Join the Write On! Online Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/writeononline/) or Facebook group, post your goals, and be entered in the monthly drawing to win a FREE iScript.

Write On! member Laurie Dinnerstein has started her teacher accreditation program at Cal State TEACH, and is doing her student teaching in Woodland Hills. Congrats, Laurie!

Terri Freedman’s improv-based web series, EXIT Stage Left, is now available on TiVo: http://www3.tivo.com/tivo-tco/cds/info.do?mixId=tivo:mx.8644591.

Glen Golightly is directing a short comedy film June 5 – 7 in the L.A. area. He’s looking for three production assistants. The film parodies local TV news. There’s no pay, but good food (he promises), credit, experience and chance to be an extra. There’s a crew meeting and table read May 17. No experience necessary. Contact Glen at info@glengolightly.com.

Greg Le Duc is looking for a graphic artist to help him turn his circa 1920’s award-winning feature screenplay Gridiron (www.gridironthemovie.com ) into a graphic novel (like Road to Perdition ). He needs a graphic artist who can do gritty semi photo-realistic, black-and-white action. Interested? Contact Greg at greg@leducdesign.com

EVENTS
Writers Boot Camp will be hosting networking breakfasts on May 13 and May 27; breakfast starts at 7:45 am, speakers begin at 8:30 am.
– May 13 – Sandra Stern: The top legal and negotiation executive for Lionsgate TV has been responsible for the deals that have brought Weeds to Showtime, Mad Men to AMC and turned the film Crash into a TV series
– May 27 – James D. Stern: Chairman and CEO of Endgame Entertainment, will provide his unique insight into the status of film financing and the business today. Endgame has co-financed 22 films in the last six years, including Hotel Rwanda and last month’s Every Little Step, as well as three Broadway shows and a children’s television series.
Mention Write On! and receive the Write On! Breakfast rate of $15 (regular price is $25).
Also, anyone interested in enlistment in Writers Boot Camp will receive the Write On! discount.
For more information on Writers Boot Camp, go to http://www.writersbootcamp.com/29distinction.asp. To rsvp to the business breakfast, contact Christine Baroumand at 800/800-1733 ext. 313, or christine@writersbootcamp.com

In Our Own Voices, the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights’ longest-running event, is back. Featuring 8 different writers at each session, IOOV is a series of readings of short plays and excerpts from longer works–each can be no longer than 10 minutes, and the catch is that the playwright must be one of the readers!
– May 16 at 2 pm, Barnes & Noble at The Grove (169 The Grove Drive, Los Angeles – Park in The Grove structure and B&N will validate for 2 hours)
– May 18 at 7:30 pm, Barnes & Noble Encino (16461 Ventura Blvd, Encino – Ample parking in the lot)
For more information, email info@laplaywrights.org or go to www.laplaywrights.org.

Check out The Write Environment: Interview with Jay Kogan (writer/producer of The Simpsons, Fraiser, Malcolm In The Middle) on Thursday, May 28, from 7 pm – 8 pm. Hosted by Jeffrey Berman, the live interview will be conducted at The Writers Store, 2040 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles. For more information or to RSVP, please contact the Writers Store at 866.229.7483 or go to http://www.storylink.com/event/JayKogan.

On Tuesday, June 2, from 7 pm to 8:15 pm, editor Laurie Gibson presents “Book Publishing 1-2-3: From the Writer’s Fingers to the Reader’s Hands” in the Encino Room of the Holiday Inn Woodland Hills (21101 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills). The cost is $10 (no RSVP needed). For more information about “Book Publishing 1-2-3,” please call (831) 646-4610 or email eaglet5223@mypacks.net.

Want to hear your work read? AltScreenPlay meets on Thursdays 7:30 – 10 pm, at Beyond Baroque, 681 Venice Blvd., Venice, CA, and is moderated by Matt Byrnes, mbbyrnes@gmail.com. First reading starts at 8 pm; and readings begin in the order in which the author arrived. Bring 1-10 pages of your screenplay, and make enough copies for each role. No RSVP necessary. Feel free to sit in without bringing any material of your own. For more information: http://inscreenwriting.com.

The Los Angeles Public Library now has a Screenwriters Workshop four Saturdays of the month at different branches, from 10:30 am – 12 pm, and every Sunday in the Farmers Market community room from 3 – 5 pm, hosted by Sasha Karova. Learn format and workshop original material (screenplays, 1/2 hour sitcom, and 1/2 hour and 1 hour episodic) with an open reading or read-through. Open reading is on a first-come, first-served basis. Please RSVP to WritersUnblock@aol.com.

On Saturday, May 16, alumni from the University of Florida will pair up with Heal the Bay to clean up Santa Monica Beach. Please arrive at 10 am at Life Guard Tower 20 just south of the Santa Monica Pier. We will be cleaning until 1 pm, and then providing wings at Hooters Restaurant in Santa Monica afterwards. There will also be coffee, donuts, and water first thing in the morning. And, no, you do not have to be alumni to participate. Please bring change (for meter parking), a towel, comfortable shoes, and sunscreen. For details, email Laurie Dinnerstein: ayla687@aol.com.

WRITE ON!
Due to a scheduling conflict, our June Meeting will be on Wednesday, June 17. Please have newsletter items to me by June 15.

June Extra Credit: Enter the Write On! Online/The Write Environment Query Contest.

Write On! Online Author Q&As are now every Tuesday AND Friday. Check out the columns posted since the last newsletter:

Charles Horn, The Laugh Out Loud Guide: Ace the SAT Exam without Boring Yourself to Sleep

https://writeononline.com/2009/05/12/author-qa-comedy-writer-charles-horn/

Poet Jayne Jauden Ferrer

https://writeononline.com/2009/05/08/author-qa-poet-jayne-jaudon-ferrer/

Brian Schwartz, 50 Interviews: Entrepreneurs
https://writeononline.com/2009/05/05/author-qa-brian-schwartz-50-interviews-entrepreneurs/

Wendy Burt-Thomas, The Writers Digest Guide to Query Letters
https://writeononline.com/2009/05/01/author-qa-wendy-burt-thomas-the-writer%E2%80%99s-digest-guide-to-query-letters/

Karen Burns, The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl
https://writeononline.com/2009/04/28/author-qa-karen-burns-the-amazing-adventures-of-working-girll/

Teri Gault, Shop Smart, Save More
https://writeononline.com/2009/04/24/author-qa-teri-gault-shop-smart-save-more/

Dennis Palumbo, From Crime to Crime
https://writeononline.com/2009/04/21/author-qa-dennis-palumbo/

Pamela Redmond Satran, Suburbanistas and Cool Names
https://writeononline.com/2009/04/17/author-qa-pamela-redmond-satran/

Published authors: Share your knowledge by participating in a Write On! Q&A. Email writeononline@yahoo.com for more information.

Also, read “Jen’s Gems … for the Healthy Writer: Stand Up &Walk Away” by Seattle-based movement and fitness coach Jennifer Waak: https://writeononline.com/2009/04/30/jens-gems-for-the-healthy-writer-stand-up-walk-away/

MEMBER PROJECTS
Ask Al A Carte is accepting submissions for her upcoming anthology of Food Memories. Email your essays (up to 500 words) with a recipe if you have one to askalacarte@cs.com. By submitting, you are giving permission for your essay to be published.

Ladies, how have you met the men in your life? Any good stories to tell? Liz is writing a book about how to meet men and needs lots of good stories! Be sure to include both first names, how he asked you out, how your first date went, and what ended up happening to the relationship–even if it did end in tears! Email your story, 500 words or less, to liztunnell@hotmail.com with your contact information. Permission to print is implied in the sending!

Sheryl Sacchitelli (www.now-later-never.com) is still looking for volunteers (women, aged 40 and up) to complete a 15-minute survey to help with her work on women’s issues. Those interested in being interviewed, go to: http://www.now-later-never.com/Interviews.html

FINAL NOTE

Congratulations again to Beth Howard for her winning April Extra Credit Story:

What Not To Wear: Platform Boots in the Dog Park

I’m not sure what I noticed first, the woman or her boots. She was petite, sitting on a bench in the center of the dog park, the ocean breeze blowing her brunette tendrils off her button nosed-face, her short bare legs stretched out in front of her. Attractive, yes, but it was her boots that brought my eyes to a screeching halt. These were heavy metal rocker boots, baby. Knee-high black pleather with platform soles and heels at least six inches high. Hello? Which way to the Kiss concert? The casting call for a Stevie Nicks look-alike is in Hollywood, sweetheart, not here in the Santa Monica dog park. Her black shorts and a peasant top were not out of place among a jeans and sweat pant-wearing crowd, but what exactly was she thinking when she put on those shoes? Her brown poodle, a breed too big for this Small Dog Section (do we see a pattern here?), leaped toward her, stirring up a cloud of dust from the woodchip covered ground. Bet those boots are going to need a shine when she gets home. Hope she doesn’t slip on a tennis ball or step in anything on her way to the car.