The screenplay for my supernatural Western feature A SIX-GUN FOR THE DEVIL has been requested by Maximum Films and Management in New York.
I’m quite chuffed about that.
The request came after a Happy Writers pitch session on Stage 32.
Now it’s back to the fourth redraft of my ‘zombie movie without any zombies’….
I’ve never done a table read. So, what I’m looking for are the protocols / best practice:
1) I can’t pay anyone, so what should I offer as basics (food, drink etc.)?
2) Other than the usual registering of the scripts, are there any legal issues? Should I ask everyone participating to sign a waiver saying they have no legal claim on the table read performance and recording, and/or a NDA? Any examples of relevant pro formas that do the job without being intimidating?
3) Scripts – distributed as hard copies or as electronic copies? Should I expect actors to print out their scripts or print them for them?
4) How should I cast for the roles? Invite people to contact me, send them a script sample, and listen to them over the phone? (For a table read it’s the voice that counts, not the physical appearance of the actor.) Or is there a better way? Skype? Something else? What would you prefer? Should I post a list of roles and ask actors to ‘pitch’ for one or the other?
5) I think I should start the read by asking everyone present to give their name, the name of the character they are playing, and a one-line description of the character, starting with the leads. Good idea?
6) Should scripts be marked up in any way? Or will actors do that themselves?
7) Should I ‘direct’ the read? Stop the proceedings and ask an actor to read in a certain way? Or let it flow?
8) Pre-read briefing for all actors around the table (for tone, style, etc.). Good idea?
9) Anything else I’ve missed?
And now it gets weird. Anyone ever done a VIRTUAL table-read, with everyone sitting at home?
The reason I ask is because I live in the middle of nowhere, in a country where few speak English.
I’m therefore wondering if the technology would allow me to do a virtual table read, with actors from around the world sitting in the comfort of their own homes. Anyone ever done anything like that?
Any thoughts you have will be greatly appreciated. geoffholder1@mac.com
The site was down for a while recently, but now the internet elves have been fed and all is well. Apologies for the
communication breakdown.
In the interim, there have been a few developments here at Holder Towers.
Firstly I had a guest blog on the splendid film & TV website Stage 32, discussing writing scripts for corporate videos. My thanks to RB, Shannon and Andre at Stage 32 for facilitating this, and to all those who responded to the blog
and their kind comments.
Then I delivered the manuscript for my 36th non-fiction book, another on weird history. Further news on the
publication of this series later in the year.
I’m also delighted to announce that I’m collaborating with a talented illustrator on a vampire-themed bande dessinée (graphic novel). Once the 5-page sample is honed to perfection we’ll be pitching it to French BD publishers.
While all this is happening I’m continuing with the ProSeries screenwriting course at ScreenwritingU, which is superb. I’m slightly in awe of some of my fellow students and their abilities. Me, I’m working on a supernatural western
feature script for the course. I’m also taking a class on writing horror films with a Hollywood producer, which is the
bees’ knees. And I’m writing an entry for the Industry Insider Screenwriting Contest.
So, movies, graphic novels, weird history – exciting times ahead, girls and boys.
It’s called RIDERS ON THE STORM. It’s a sci-fi destruction thriller themed round an alien invasion and the er…
somewhat unusual resistance deployed by we Earthlings. And the feature-length screenplay is one of the quarter
finalists in the New Blood scriptwriting contest run by Stage 32 and the Blood List.
This high-profile Hollywood scriptwriting competition describes itself thus: “Our exclusive panel of industry judges
are looking for scripts in all areas of horror, thriller, and suspense… All finalists will be listed in a special section of The Blood List and be exposed to top industry execs.”
I’m quite pleased about this.
The full list can be found here. I’m under ‘G’.
I’ve just finished proofreading and copy-editing another script written in English by a non-native speaker, this time a theatrical piece by a Swiss playwright. The original text was in French, and there is always a difficulty in
translating idiomatic dialogue from one language to another. If you translated ‘It’s raining cats and dogs’ word for word into French, for example, it would be absolutely meaningless to a Francophone. (The equivalent French idiom is ‘It’s raining spear-points’.) So there were some knotty issues with understanding what the author wanted to say originally, viewing the English translation, and then fine-tuning those phrases into acceptable vernacular English,
but a peek at the original French text helped work things out.
I should also say that, despite the author being a native Francophone, the proofread of the English script
uncovered fewer mistakes of spelling, grammar and punctuation than I see in the average script written by a native English speaker. Go, as the Americans are wont to say, figure.
This job is the latest in a line of proofreading / copy-editing jobs I’ve been doing for European scriptwriters, with
recent examples stretching from France and Scandinavia to Hungary. Which is, of course, most excellent.
Well chuffed to note that I’ve been commissioned by The Lives of the Dissidents project to write the script for a 10-minute animation about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Protestant pastor who resisted Adolf Hitler and after a
long imprisonment was eventually executed by the Nazis in 1945. Other films in the series will highlight others who resisted state power, such as Martin Luther King, Victor Jara and Sophie Scholl.
This is the first time I’ve scripted an entirely animated film. Once the script is complete, the animation is scheduled to go into production in 2015.
Now I’m going to celebrate with a nice cup of tea.