GUYS NIGHT, the raunchy comedy I co-wrote with Adam Fortner, is one of the finalists in the National Lampoon & Stage 32’s Search for Comedy Writing Gold Contest. Yowza. 
Tag Archives: Stage 32
In which A SIX-GUN FOR THE DEVIL reaches the Stage 32 semi-finalists…
My supernatural Western screenplay A SIX-GUN FOR THE DEVIL has advanced to the semi-finals of the Stage 32 Happy Writers Search for New Blood screenwriting contest.
From the announcement: “Our 2nd Annual Stage 32 Happy Writers Search for New Blood Screenwriting Contest was a record breaker! We received thousands of scripts from all over the world looking to compete in what has become one of the most highly respected screenwriting contests in the industry.”
Here’s the full list:
In which A SIX-GUN FOR THE DEVIL makes the Stage 32 Search for New Blood quarterfinals
My supernatural Western A SIX-GUN FOR THE DEVIL has made the quarter-finals of the Stage 32 Happy Writers Search for New Blood Screenwriting Competition.
I’m quite pleased about that.
Competition was fierce, as there were thousands of entries. Congratulations to the other quarter-finalists. Here is the announcement of the full list.
In which the Author writes his 36th book, guests on Stage 32, and aims for movies & graphic novels…
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.
In which the Author is a quarter-finalist in the Stage 32 New Blood scriptwriting contest…
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’.
In which the Author enjoys proofreading a fellow scriptwriter’s work…
I’ve just copy-edited and proofread the synopsis for a movie written by a fellow screenwriter. He’s French, and
writes excellent English, but not being a native speaker there are all clearly all kinds of possible traps for the
unwary (for example, written French is typically both longer and more elaborate than written English, and so
sentences in translation can have multiple clauses and last as long as a paragraph, thereby trying the patience of contemporary Anglophone readers).
After a thorough overhaul and extensive proofreading the logline and synopsis are now both suitable for waving in
front of English-speakers in the film industry. Good luck, fellah.
This was the first time I’ve proofed and edited someone else’s work destined for the movie screen (as distinct from books, scripts for corporate videos, business documents etc.) and a fascinating process it was too.
It occurs to me that there may be other screenwriters and filmmakers writing in English but for whom the language is not their mother tongue. If you are in this position and would like an experienced copy-editor / proofreader /
writer to check that everything reads well in English, please get in touch. My rates are, as they say, reasonable.
The story is on Stage 32 and The Dispatch. 