Have you ever wondered what it would be like co-writing movie & TV scripts around the world using technology? If so, join Canadian screenwriter Orlanda Szabo and myself for my new show, Star Xpose TV, going live soon …

Have you ever wondered what it would be like co-writing movie & TV scripts around the world using technology? If so, join Canadian screenwriter Orlanda Szabo and myself for my new show, Star Xpose TV, going live soon …

GHOST WRITING? WHAT NEXT?

I think every screenwriter should ghost write a few times.
Not only to learn to adapt and patience,
but also to pinpoint what you’ve done in your own script/s
that you are telling others not to.

So, the contract is signed, payment made, and deadline set.

 And you are tempted to post online all about it…

– STOP –

 This is huge – Restraint is critical to your career.

You will not get first posting, and rightly so. This is not about you.

 It is about the client, the project, and how they plan to market the project.
You will be required to acquire permission to post about their story.
This is at the discretion of the individual or company that has hired and paid you
to set a time and place to promote.

If you must,
think of it as the mother of all surprises that will be revealed at a much later date.

Most of those doing the hiring will be pleased that you want to
help them promote the project.

 It’s better than free advertising!

Why?

Whatever endeared you to the story in the first place will come through in your posts.
And write them when you’re in the thick of the story work.
They will be fabulous, heart-felt and emotional.
Awesome! Show them to your client.

 Now, file them away until the appropriate time when you are given
the go ahead to post them.
This will also give you the opportunity to revise with the depth and changes
you have added to the story before posting.

CO-WRITERS – WAYS ABOUT IT

I have had a few co-writing partners for different types of writing projects.
I am always amazed at the challenges this presents.
On the one hand, you could have a co-writer who must control everything
and yet bring out your best.

Or my favorite, my current a co-writer Kaz Drysdale out of Australia. She is not only willing to challenge my mind, but comes and explores with me.

About partnership agreements:
You and your writing partner will be assumed to be 50/50 regardless of the agreement you have written up.
For screenwriters, this should be the ideal. It ensures a true team effort,
it promotes equal and mutual respect between co-writers.

The same is at stake for both, the rewards equal.

First though, be sure you wish to be discovered as a co-writer.
Because the industry will forever see the two of you only as screenwriting partners.

There is no going it alone later without starting from scratch again.

Your agreement is the place to put in writing who does what.
And yes, that includes copyright, marketing, consultants
and both using their networks to see your script optioned, sold, produced,
marketed again and ultimately shown.

Don’t forget to discuss what will happen to the rights if one or both should perish.

Speaking of marketing, make sure you both agree on how you wish to promote your script
or you are going to have a hard splitting of the ways further along,
with no hope of your hard work ever being seen or possibly even being completed.
That is a lot of wasted time and talent that could have been avoided.

Do yourselves a huge favour.
On every step of the process from outline to final draft, set deadlines for yourselves.
It will help keep you both on track.

BIRTH OF AN IDEA

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

No, I’m not talking about your next tailgate party, college entry choices, checking out your next ride,
or even hunting for the true meaning of human existence.

This is life.

Or rather the life of an idea. Just that tiny seed that is to grow into a movie, a book, a song,
and though some would not agree, a blog.

It all comes down to what we do with our ideas.
What makes the difference between a living breathing, heart thumping chart topper, the sweet heart melting ballad,
the raunchy boot-stomping tune?

EMOTION

With movies it is a set vision. Books have always been about depth. Even Richard Scarry books.

The driving force of all three has historically been opinion from readers to distributors, to producers, to critics.
In our high tech era, this quite often comes from blogs. Individual opinions.

Many leap ahead of their predecessors, refusing to be trapped within boundaries.
We love to get the hot new indie movies. We drool over the seemingly new abundance of web series.
And hunt out the singers and bands that belt out a different tune far from the safe commercialized ideal.

We delight in the hidden self-published gems of authors whose only dive from fame was that their genre
was out of fashion with the industry, but not out of fashion with fans craving something new.

The ‘surprise’ hit has always been just that.
Away from the norm, which is then chased until the next brave publisher, promoter or producer takes a chance.

SELO wins 1st place!

Selo wins First Place in Dan Poynter’s 2012 Global Ebook Award for youth literature.

http://globalebookawards.com/fiction-teen-literature/selo-by-doug-setter/

This is one of the books I have proudly adapted to screenplay. A Quicksilver vs Karate Kid coming of age.
~ Orlanda Szabo, Screenwriter ~

Thanks, Orlanda, for your input and encouragement. Let’s see that screenplay go places.
~ Doug Setter ~

Selo

By Doug Setter ~ 2^nd Wind Body Science

Paperback, 195 Pages

Les Kingsley is sixteen, skinny and scared. He spends his days dodging bullies at school, work and home. When he befriends a hospital patient, he is guided into new found strength, confidence wealth that he never knew before. But his mentor is wanted on both sides of the law. Soon, Les has to make hard choices about right, wrong and loyalty.
~ Doug Setter, Author ~

“Brings back what it was like growing up and dealing with bullies in the 70’s. Great story. I look forward to the sequel.”
~ William Bell, Ex Vice Squad, Winnipeg PD ~

Doug was born with a club foot and hobbled around until corrective shoes fixed the condition.  He had pneumonia three times before the age of six and spent most of adolesence underweight.  Raised by a single mother in Surrey, B.C., Doug took his share of bullying throughout his teenage years.  Through study and training, he was able to increase his body weight from 120 to 150 pounds, become a military paratrooper, run full marathons and compete in kick-boxing.  At 39 he went to the University of Manitoba to earn his Bachelor of Foods and Nutrition.  At age 40, he won a welter weight title belt in kick-boxing. Doug is the author of Stomach Flattening, Reduce Your Alcohol Craving and One Less Victim.  Selo is his first work of fiction.

SELO IS ALSO AVAILABLE AT

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/137572

http://www.lulu.com/shop/doug-setter/selo/paperback/product-20535233.html;jsessionid=0DD8BAABA007EF51EF32CA5103F920FD?mid=social_facebook_pubsharefb

WEBSITE UPDATE

My screenwriting website redesign and update is finally done. And this one I can update myself. Major crash course still has the head spinning with tweaks and modifications. So, if anyone would like to check it over, I’d love to hear any ideas for changes.

http://www.orlandaszabo.com/

ANGENI WITH MARS ROVER

What a thrill!

What action!

After 8 long years of preparation, the Mars rover has landed! But it’s not alone.

Most of you know of Crystal Shade: Angeni, the epic fantasy book Istvan Szabo and I co-wrote. Well our guardian angel’s name, Angeni has landed on Mars with the Rover.

Her previous experience has been in travelling with the last two space shuttles to the space station before the shuttles were decommissioned.

Our little Angeni has brought another vessel down safely.

At least, that is what I’d like to think.

Check out the link to see the authentic documentation from Nasa.

https://www.facebook.com/IstvanSzaboIfj/posts/354139684663894?ref=notif&notif_t=close_friend_activity

FATHER ROCK GOES WIDE

I wrote the original screenplay adaptation of Father Rock. The author, heavy metal musician,Terry R Brooks has now released the promo material.

And it is a blast!

We would really appreciate any pointers on how to improve the writeup. And of course, we’d love to have your comments and/or reviews on Father Rock.

To make the read even more enjoyable listen to the way out there tunes, including Terry’s music at:

http://aural-innovations.com/blog/2012/03/terry-brooks-call-me-mr-strange/

Father Rock (Novel, Trafford Publishing 2007)

Terry’s novel Father Rock is an action-adventure, rock ‘n roll battle between the forces of Good and Evil, with nothing less than the survival of the universe at stake.

Robert, a high school student, wonders why the world can’t be full of people who do good things and help one another, and bemoans the pervasiveness of hunger, homelessness, and crime. Robert has a booth at a fair, displaying his artwork with representations of dimensional symbols. He meets a man, Dr. C, who is fascinated with the symbols, pointing out that they are a quantum math form, and assembles others to help Robert decipher the symbols.

Robert sees a vision while in a trance in which he learns that he is Father Rock, who represents all good and positive forces in the universe. But Robert also sees figures in black satanic robes surrounding a sacrificial table, reciting chants to summon the evil Demos, who will face Father Rock in battle on planet Earth. Father Rock’s parents had been killed in an earlier battle with Demos when he was a boy.

To prepare for the battle, Father Rock and his growing group of followers form Team United Worldwide (TUW), whose mission is to unite good people around the world to right all evil. Father Rock is a white-haired robed wizard with a long white beard, described to the members of TUW as, “The ruler of the universe. He is the most dynamic guitar player that ever existed. He has always been and he will always be the force of all good that exists. He has great psychic powers. He is a philosopher, a genius of mathematics, a person who has come to Earth to defend the good forces of all existing things against the evil demon Demos. Father Rock’s weapon to save the world from evil forces is his laser guitar. It shoots laser beams and rockets and creates the sounds of the universe. He shall use his universal music to destroy all evil, and all that is evil in the universe comes from Demos.”

Heavy stuff indeed. So armed with his sonic cyber guitar, Father Rock goes into battle against Demos, whose weapon of choice is a keyboard. But the battle isn’t just mano-a-mano. Father Rock and Demos are each based on their own “stage” on either side of a mountain, and each is supported by his “band”, Father Rock’s TUW members and Demos’ various demons. After a raging battle Father Rock and TUW defeat and kill Demos, or so they think. The story then picks up 15 years later with the return of Demos and a new battle. Who will win this time? Read and find out.

Father Rock is a fun book and in many ways reads like a Power Rangers script. There are lots of colorful characters, like the Muzoids – Spark, Zap, Tink, Zon, and Electro, who are playful and childishly pranksterish, but highly intelligent, fierce warriors. And then there’s Goodtor, the Muzoid’s 60 foot tall robot (of course Demos has his own robot, Eviltor).

But while the story reads like a Power Rangers or some similar youth market tale, it’s important to understand that the book represents much of what has occurred in Terry’s life. As he explains, “75% of my life has been a conflict to survive. Father Rock had conflict to survive. Demos killed his mother and I look at Vietnam as Demos. My father killed himself for my part of a war that I did not want to be in. It hurts me every day and at night it is really bad. So I still fight the battles.” This is a book written by a man who experienced the horrors of war, and was saved, in part, if not wholly, by his music. And at least one of the characters is based on a friend of Terry’s – Dr C is the real life Dr Chisholm. Just as Dr. C studied Robert’s mathematical symbols, Dr. Chisholm studied the math language that Terry wrote.

Good vs. evil is among literatures most common themes, but it’s at the forefront of the entire story. The members of TUW are described as being unified in caring and love. “You are part of a team that cares about the salvation of our world and our universe and all existing things.” One character, Frankie, who Father Rock appointed as operations manager for TUW, is described at length: “He was trained in security, counter-terrorism, and combat. He was a black belt in several martial arts. But Frankie’s most appealing quality was his great compassion for humankind. He had dedicated his life to making the world a better and safer place to live. His moral integrity was unquestionable and he loved to work with young and old people.”

We also learn that Terry’s concern with good vs. evil is absolute, even extending to a willingness to destroy the world should evil triumph. “If Demos won the battle, a built-in termination switch inside Goodtor would automatically obliterate the entire world and everything in it. The team knew instinctively that if Demos ruled the world everyone would be better off dead.”

It’s interesting to read the descriptions of Father Rock, who comes across as a God-like figure. In battle he is able to heal the wounds of his team members and himself. When asked how old Father Rock is, the response is, “They say he has always been and he shall always be, he is the infinite one. He is timeless.”

In summary, we have a fun good vs. evil action-adventure, with more underlying meaning and insight into the author’s life than the writing style would suggest. Terry has been actively trying to get the book made into a film. I can envision it being handled in a number of ways. Just make sure the CGI budget is BIG.

For more information about Terry Brooks, which includes links to purchase digital versions of his albums and the Father Rock novel, visit his web site at: http://www.terrybrooksandstrange.com

Another option endorsed by Terry for purchasing digital copies of the albums is at: https://play.google.com/store/search?q=terry+brooks&c=music

Ebay is the best bet for those wishing to track down the vinyl albums and CD reissues. As I worked on this article I periodically searched Terry Brooks and several sales came up. (Just make sure you select Music as the category or you’ll be inundated with books by the Terry Brooks who wrote the Shannara series).

Tumbling Books Crystal Shade Review

Thank you, David and Tumbling Books for your honest approach and review that takes us beyond the very short YA segment
into the real story of an adult kickass quardian angel.

For the full review check out…

http://tumblingbooks.blogspot.com/2012/03/review-crystal-shade-volume-1.html