News & Updates

posted on Jan 31 2012 - 2:09pm by alison

At the behest of Alexia Melocchi, my new manager, we've redone some of the graphic art. First was the art for Destroying Angel, and now we have new art for Imprinted. Both of these posters are by Mark Moorer.

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posted on Jan 24 2012 - 9:08pm by alison

This is one of those blogs every writer waits years to write. I’m pleased to announce that I am now represented by literary manager Alexia Melocchi of Little Studio Films. Melocchi and I have signed a one year contract, and she is working hard at getting my three most marketable scripts, Imprinted, Destroying Angel, and Girl in Trunk, into the right hands.

 Many of my friends have asked me how I managed to get to this point, so I thought a little summary would be in order. We all know that the two key steps to a writing career, is first, write well, and the second is to have people who can help you sell what you write.  For the last two years I’ve been focusing almost exclusively on the first step, honing screenwriting skills I’d developed as a playwrighting major at Catholic University, in the graduate film program at New York University, taking courses with John Truby, and reading numerous books by other screenwriting gurus. In the last two years I polished my skills by taking screenwriting courses at ScreenwritingU. Hal Croesmun’s courses help writers focus on specific techniques that address big picture issues and improve the telling detail. Most of all he gets us to professionalize, by training us to market our projects and to learn to address the needs of our target audience: the producers that will option our scripts or hire us for projects of their own.  

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posted on Jan 12 2012 - 8:19am by alison

I had the great good fortune to see Santiago, Felix Martiz's gripping dramatic thriller, at the Oaxaca International Film Festival last November. The next scheduled screening is January 30th, 2012, in Los Angeles.

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posted on Jan 12 2012 - 7:42am by alison

After doing some marketing research and collating remarks from various readers and coverage, we realized that the title "Heaven Sent" wasn't working for our award-winning female-driven horror thriller script. Too many other things online with that name and to some people the title conveyed something rather un-horrific.

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posted on Jan 5 2012 - 10:06am by alison

In 2011 I attended the American Film Market. While I was there I spoke to many filmmakers who were at the market packaging films or trying to find distribution for their films, including Christine Whitlock, slapstick-horror filmmaker from Canada. All of her films showcase the same actors, actors she had worked with in the theatre. Christine worked the market tirelessly.

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posted on Jan 5 2012 - 9:09am by alison

It still amazes me that a script that is five or six pages long can place in contests and get its writer industry attention. But in the last month it's happened to me twice. This time my crime/thriller short, Sister Secrets, is finalist in the Mix International Short Screenplay contest. Sister Secrets is also Quarterfinalist in the Champion Screenwriting Competition.

This contest is a great opportunity because the festival does its best to match up writers and filmmakers for future collaboration.

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posted on Dec 28 2011 - 3:36am by alison

Two of my scenes, Soldier System 14 and Sister Secrets, have made the quarterfinalist cut in the Champion Screenwriting Competition. Also, the pitch for Heaven Sent, a supernatural thriller I wrote with John Leary, made quarterfinalist in the pitch category.

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posted on Dec 12 2011 - 1:50pm by alison

I went to the American Film Market with my documentary, Bare Hands and Wooden Limbs, in search of a distributor. But I also had a burning question on my mind: is a film market like AFM a place for a writer, especially a writer without representation and without a package in development?

In the end I decided that AFM is not a place for writers who are hoping to find representation or a producer. If you are in that situation a pitchfest might be a better place, or going to festivals where your script has placed well in a contest. But if you are a writer AND a producer putting together a package or get some pre-sales from foreign territories,  then AFM is the place for you. And keep in mind that you don’t actually have to attend AFM to benefit from it.

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posted on Nov 27 2011 - 5:04am by alison

An Imprint looks at his reflection. Concept by James Poirier, Art by Patis LeeAn Imprint looks at his reflection. Concept by James Poirier, Art by Patis Lee

Last week I was travelling and couldn't catch up with my announcements. But it was a great pleasure to see two of my scripts, Imprinted and Girl in Trunk, which I wrote with John Leary,  make quarterfinalist in the 5th Annual StoryPros International Screenwriting Contest. Also on the quarterfinalist list were my friends Angela Page with two scripts, and Michelle Muldoon and Paul Myerberg.

Semifinalists in the StoryPros Competition were announced today. Angela and I are still on the list with one script each, and Paul and Michelle are still up there too!

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