Tammy Meadows's Lounge Discussions

Go for it Tammy. May the Force be with you. :-)

Congratulations! Every step you make is important.

Congratulations, Tammy Meadows! It is a big step to put your work out there.

Congrats Tammy Meadows! Keep it up

I have, but heard nothing from them.

You can search for a writing partner in the Browse Members Section, Kevin Hager (www.stage32.com/people?name=&location=&roles=Screenwriter). I suggest adding a profile picture. I think it'll help you find a writing partner.

As for a manager or agent, I suggest building a portfolio of strong scripts that'll help you land a manager or agent. You can also enter Stage 32's contests (www.stage32.com/scriptservices/contests). Stage 32 sends the winners' loglines to over 500 industry executives, including literary managers, agents, and producers.

Congratulations! That's amazing!

Congratulations, that must have been one exciting email to receive!

Yesssssss!!! Congratulations, Robert. You should be EXTREMELY proud of yourself.

Shannon K. Valenzuela I'd say bladder control for my puppy just so that I don't have to walk away from my keyboard so often. However, I do suspect she knows what she's doing and likes the attention. Am I being played?

Oops, Maurice. Sorry Renee Brack!

To answer your question: actually give me a foot in the door after literally half a lifetime of trying. :) In reality, though, I'll keep on trying until the day I die.

An Academy Award so I can convince myself I did all I could and spend the rest of my days wasting time like normal people do...

Shannon K. Valenzuela well, for me it would be finding a Producer with whom I could forge a long-term creative relationship.

The weather in North Carolina is up and down too, Tammy, but no snow in Greenville. Your creature feature sounds exciting. "Jaws" with a twist. Are you preparing to pitch it?

Thank you Douglas for the encouragement!

Maurice I am getting closer, working on correcting a few things I decided I didn't like but then yes it will be ready to pitch. That scares me as I have never done that before.

Great to meet you here in the community, Tammy! I’m the Director of Education here at Stage 32. If I can ever recommend any of our education or be of any help on your Stage 32 journey please email me at edu@stage32.com.

You're welcome, Tammy Meadows. I second what Sam Sokolow said. Stage 32 has great education on pitching. Hope your pitch goes great! I'm cheering for you! :D

Thank you, Inky! Truly appreciate all the good words and thrilled the content hit the mark. For those of you who missed the AMA or would like to view again, it's available in its entirety here: https://www.stage32.com/webinars/Ask-Me-Anything-with-Stage-32-CEO-Richa...

@Deborah Jennings Thank you Deborah for taking the precious time to help the cause. I very much appreciate it. We are all in this together and I honor your generosity. I will reach out to Alexia per your recommendation, if I can figure out how to contact her!

Thank you and blessed be,

Matteo

Question

If you are discussing project priorities or order, which to finance first and you are already working on all six trailers, please provide tips.

If anyone who participated in the AMA, after hearing and reading the comments, could complete a read through of my Funding for Internship and Scholarship Programs ebook today or tomorrow, less than 70 pages, technical and substance review, I would greatly appreciate it. There’s compensation for it. Ask for details when you contact me.

Based on some information obtained this week, in addition to a read through, I will have to conduct a complete edit and research of my ebook (examples bank closures, 100s of businesses closings, government budgetary issues, etc.). Almost completed. Here’s a resource to keep everyone motivated http://www.freedomwithwriting.com .

In the meantime, I will keep sharing the first edition. If you would like to assist, please advise me. On the bright side, both budget challenges were diverse resources so no worries with them.

This question is for

RB, please review my AMA messages and dm messages as well. Time sensitive. Thank you in advance.

Amanda, please respond to my direct messages that I sent in the messaging section. Thank you in advance.

How to have your projects permanently on my Stage 32 Wall? In case, they end up being on pages over 10 plus. To ensure that they are seen daily on the project and wall pages.

Thank you in advance!

Matteo - ask Stage 32 help how you can get in touch with Alexia. She might have some paid consultant availability. I'm not sure.

@Deborah Jennings. Thank you so very much for your kindness and generosity.

Its difficult to keep sub-plots in check. Mapping out your A,B and C story lines is always a good way to keep a handle on everything and make sure none of the sub-plots get out of hand.

Kiril has the most accurate take, : ) especially if alternately extended. If you are still a Nobody, go ahead, you should try it and find out if you aren't like (Googling Mayakowski next). I feel one always thinks with an outline sooner or later, whether you are a pantser or outliner. For lazy folks like me, seems less work to do that before writing anything. I might have a different opinion in an year, so fwiw.

I find when I am in this position that something in the subplots is disconnected. Your subplots should have a thematic, at least, connection to the A story and then they can criss-cross or converge.

Right on, Louisa.

Whoa! Never thought about Sub-plots and the 3-Act structure in this light. Thank You So Much Guys :D

BTW I really like Sarit's idea of mapping the story line and then writing C in. I was overwhelmed doing all at once. :)

I'm currently working on a series adapted from a novel. A series is a little different then a feature, but the process is similar IMO.

I would suggest you start by finding the "beats" in the novel, identify the inciting incident (the beat that kicks the story into gear) and then layout the story's three act structure.

Once you have a rough structure, identify any gaps, some novels already have a well-defined 3 act structure, others are a little harder or more subtle to uncover. The gaps you'll be looking for are drama and conflict based - do the beats increase the tempo, the drama, move the story forward, or do they feel repetitive, or flat. How are the characters impacted emotionally to the story and how do they react to every change? If the emotional response is a little lacking then you need to look at what can heighten the drama? Can this be done with existing characters/situations, or do you need to add/condense characters and/or create/remove existing situations and/or create new ones?

Depending on the story, this process can be a lengthy one. For example, the novel I'm adapting now had 2 female roles that performed similar functions and neither had a relationship with the male character. In order to add some drama and conflict, we merged both female characters and setup a backstory where she had a previous contentious relationship with the male character. This personal baggage if you will adds to the conflict between them, an issue they try to ignore but that becomes a barrier between them and one they will need to resolve. None of that is in the book.

We also added some new characters; an investigative reporter who's fighting a custody case and a policeman suffering from sleep deprivation. These characters help us move the b story forward and tie into the main story in different but dramatic ways.

For a series, or limited series; you need to break down the main beats you've laid out above with their own 3 act structure. Depending on the type of show you want to make, a feature, limited series (4-6 1 hr episodes) or a series with x number of episodes, you'll need to build your beats around that.

Hope this helps.

My suggestion would be to read Babette's Feast (Karen Blixen) and then watch the movie (Bille August). It is a close to perfect transfer of a book to a movie.

One more thing to consider, my opinion only.

Ever story has its perfect form. Perhaps it is meant to be a novel

I've adapted plenty of self-published novels. Not getting into too much but like Dan said characters will have to almost always be cut and combined, scenes/settings, etc. It kind of is a whole different ballgame. Much of the great prose and flowery description of every detail of everything will have to be cut and are not necessary for screenplay form.

I need to know how to do the opposite - screenplay to book.

Hi Paul,

Yeah...the one you mentioned is of the homophone typo variety. I critique/proofread scripts for some people and usually find at least 100 homophone typos, and sometimes over 200. "An, and", "hear, here", "to, too, two", "their, there", "steal, steel", "duel, dual", etc...etc. There sure are a lot of homophones in the English language.

Best fortunes in your creative endeavors, Paul, and stay safe!

Never rely on spell check. I worked as an editor for years, and still find it difficult to catch my own typos.

Yes! I've read my script a 100 times and am still missing typos. That is why I have it proofread.

I noticed that I put the wrong character's name in dialogue. She was basically commenting about herself when it was suppose to be someone else. I've submitted it so it kinda sucks. I'm hoping that the story is strong enough for them to overlook this error.

Thanks Dan!