Okay, so now we have someone to add to our list of great web curators: Marc Schiller:
Author: Ted Hope
David Bordwell had a great post on his blog pointing out both the historical precedents for transmedia storytelling and the problems inherent in it. You should definitely read the whole thing, but this gives you a nice taste:
At this point someone usually says that interactive storytelling allows the filmmaker to surrender some control to the viewer, who is empowered to choose her own adventure. This notion is worth a long blog entry in itself, so I’ll simply assert without proof: Storytelling is crucially all about control. It sometimes obliges the viewer to take adventures she could not imagine. Storytelling is artistic tyranny, and not always benevolent.
Another drawback to shifting a story among platforms: art works gain strength by having firm boundaries. A movie’s opening deserves to be treated as a distinct portal, a privileged point of access, a punctual moment at which we can take a breath and plunge into the story world. Likewise, the closing ought to be palpable, even if it’s a diminuendo or an unresolved chord. The special thrill of beginning and ending can be vitiated if we come to see the first shots as just continuations of the webisode, and closing images as something to be stitched to more stuff unfolding online. There’s a reason that pictures have frames.
Hmmm…. Is the Facebook community more activist, participatory, and just generally helpful than the blogging world? These comments came in on my FB page via my inquiry here on behalf of a filmmaker about other labs & colonies.
Producer Jack Lechner pointed out:
The colonies aren’t labs — they’re just places to write. There’s no mentoring or criticism involved, although colonists sometimes present their new work to each other.
Cornelia Ravenal made a comment that:
Waiting to be accepted by one of the more prestigious labs often takes 2 or 3 tries, as in years. Best guidance to get started immediately is John Truby’s book THE ANATOMY OF STORY: 22 STEPS TO BECOMING A MASTER STORYTELLER or his genre CDs. In fact, anything he offers at http://www.truby.com is useful.
Filmmaker Rodney Evens added:
Hi Ted- I just finished the Binger FilmLab’s Director’s Coaching Programme which was fantastic (http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.binger.nl). They also have a screenplay development program as well which is 6 months.
I can also recommend Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), Hambidge, the Vermont Studio Center and the Edward Albee colony (in Montauk during the summer). I have also heard good things about The Millay Colony, Ucross, Djerassi and Blue Mountain Center but haven’t been to those. Chateau de La Napoule in the south of France is great and people have also said good things about Sacatar in Brazil. http://www.facebook.com/l/;resartis.org is a good website for international residencies and here is a book for domestic places:
I write a lot at art colonies and residency programs and find it very helpful to get away from the distractions of everyday life. They definitely work for me.
Jade Wu these additional Screenwriting Labs & Colonies recommendations:
Film Independent (LA) – many projects graduate to production and festivals(LA Film Fest and Spirit Awards)
IFP Narrative Lab (NY) – a younger program, but has helped projects move to the next level and most have played the festival circuit
BlueCat Seminars (throughout U.S. cities) – the contest is run by Gordy Hoffman (Love Liza) and has garnered reputable status. Didn’t do the seminars, but I placed as Semi-finalist – no cigar in the reality scheme of things, but I was thrilled nevertheless. Ballast won a BlueCat Award.
Disney/ABC Writing Fellowship (and they pay you to learn). I was a Fellow in the Daytime Drama Series Writing Program.
Marilyn Horowitz, whose on FB, is a great teacher/mentor. She’s teaches at NYU, in addition to her own seminars (private/group/online).
The answer really depends on what this filmmaker expects/wants out of a lab and where he/she falls on the writing level scale. “Learning how to write” and “developing a screenplay” are very different goals.
Screenwriter Caitlin McCarthy (and TFF blog contributor) said:
The Atlanta Film Festival Screenwriters Lab is amazing. They accept six people each year. I participated in their inaugural lab in 2007 with Joy Lusco Kecken and Michael Lucker as my mentors. I can’t think of any other screenwriting labs out there, other than what’s been posted. This is why more labs are needed in the industry for up-and-coming screenwriters who want to develop their craft and find mentors. Without labs, budding writers are on their own. MacDowell and Yaddo won’t accept budding writers, from my experience. They seem to want more established artists with at least one produced work. The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts is supposed to be more “budding writer” friendly, but I’ve never applied to it, so I don’t know how it really is. The San Francisco Film Society has a Djerassi/SFFS Screenwriting Fellowship which provides a one-month residency for emerging or established screenwriters in the Santa Cruz Mountains. But it doesn’t provide mentors like the labs. More labs, please!!! The fact that no one can rattle off a list of labs here speaks volumes. The film industry as a whole is not actively trying to mentor new talent. The question is WHY? So no one new can break in unless by some miracle these days? Makes you wonder….
Not bad, considering we have yet to have a comment directly here. Dang.
When did American movies start trying to clarify absolutely everything? What is our national obsession with trying to provide a psychological explanation for all characters’ behavior? If you ask me, I think we have gone overboard. Way overboard. Time to leave that practice behind.
It’s refreshing to see a few films recently start to abandon this practice. Miyazaki’s PONYO did not try to explain the magic (at least in the version released Stateside). Neil Blomkamp’s DISTRICT 9 did not try to explain why the aliens landed here or how people learned their language.
It is fun for the viewer to come up with their own explanations, to discuss these possibilities with their friends. We certainly don’t know everything about our world and leaving some gaps in the narrative feels truer as a result.
David Bordwell touched upon the need for spaces in his great essay “Now Leaving From Platform 1” where he explores the hopes of expanding the narrative (and yes, okay, I am referenced therein). Our storytellers really need to take it to heart. It’s curious that both of these examples come from abroad.
You can even see Bronkamp employing this strategy in the short film that launched his feature: “ALIVE IN JOBERG”.
On Episode Two of Christine & Ted Talk To Directors At Sundance, Jeff Lipsky tells of his longgggg path to directing:
Categories
Visionfest 2009 Tribute Reel
The Filmmakers Alliance were kind enough to give me their Vision Award last Wednesday in LA at the DGA. They put together a nice tribute reel, cutting in interview segments with the film clips.
A documentary filmmaker making the transition into narrative asked me to recommend labs to develop their first screenplay in. We all certainly know of Sundance, and there are the prestigious MacDowell and Yaddoo colonies, but where else can one go? And what are the rules for MacDowell & Yaddoo? Who and what is eligible? And aren’t they more like a place to work and consult with other artists as opposed to the Sundance model which is in depth meetings with mentors?
The Nantucket Screenwriters Colony has helped to advance both COLD SOULS and TEETH. The Hamptons Film Festival Screenwriters Lab helped Caitlin McCarthy and others develop their work.
Where else can one go? Does anyone else have some suggestions? And what do you think of these programs anyway?
