I stumbled across this video years ago on Medicine Films. It was created by a man who found the raw footage on a blank VHS at a thrift store.

There is something strangely haunting about this glimpse into the lives of bored, confused, sexually frustrated teenagers in Fairmont, West Virginia, circa 1993.

Late last night, it finally happened. Nathan and I finished Lost Case. Or, at least we are finished writing it… For now.

This is the part where a whole new set of challenges present themselves – namely, how to properly market the script without representation.

We are caught in the “Catch-22″ that afflicts most every unrepresented screenwriter: producers (for the most part) don’t want scripts from unrepresented writers, and agents/managers (for the most part) don’t want writers without a few credits. So what’s a struggling writer to do?

Keep working. That’s what we’re gonna do, at least.

We’ve been lucky enough to make a few industry contacts, and we will be courting them all as best as we can in the coming months.

We are also going to enter a few contests. Having a ‘contest winning screenplay’ surely couldn’t hurt…

And, of course, we are also going to start up the next project!

It’s the start of a new year. And it’s going to be a good one.

This is another gem that I found while browsing Alex Epstein’s excellent blog.

Hollywood University is a blog run by TV writer Jessica Butler. As she puts it on her site, “Hollywood University was launched to provide aspiring scriptwriters with the practical information and resources needed to successfully pursue a career in television. Posts include interviews with and recommendations from industry professionals and address the FAQs of novice scriptwriters.”

I spent a couple of hours last night pouring over the site, and wow. There are some great bits of information and resources to be found on there! She covers a ton of stuff — from sharing some of her own experiences in the industry, basics like formatting scripts and writing query letters, to ideas on breaking into the industry and networking. She even has resources for writers thinking about relocating to LA or New York.

I definitely recommend spending some time perusing the site.

In keeping with that last post….

Quentin Tarantino recently shared his favorite flicks of 2009. His list has more than a few surprises, but by now I think we all know to expect a bit of weirdness from the guy.

Right off the top he admits he hasn’t yet seen Avatar, Invictus, or The Lovely Bones, films he is “expecting things from.” He is also gracious enough to exclude his own film, Inglorious Basterds, from contention.

That said, his top eight breaks down like this:

1.  JJ Abrams’ Star Trek
2. Sam Raimi’s Drag Me To Hell
3. Judd Apatow’s Funny People
4. Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air
5.  Prachya Pinkaew’s Chocolate
6. Jody Hill’s Observe and Report
7. Lee Daniels’ Precious
8. Lone Scherfig’s An Education

He then makes a point of stating that he needs to see both Bright Star and District 9 again before he’s totally comfortable excluding them from his top picks.

Overall I like his list. There are a couple of the obvious top contenders in there, but the majority of his choices are decidedly “outside the box.” I’m very excited to see that he included Observe and Report, a film that ranks high on my own ‘best of 2009′ list.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

AFI announced today their top 10 films and top 10 television series of 2009.

After reviewing the lists, two things jumped out at me right away.  First, that two of their top 10 films are animated features (Coraline and Up.) This speaks to something that our mentor Jana Williams talks about frequently:  that animation is home to some of the best storytelling out there. In animation, the sky is the limit with regard to set-pieces and premise, but there are no famous faces (famous voices, I suppose, but how much does that really mean…) or superstar directors to coax people into shilling out twelve bucks for a ticket. These films rely so heavily on great scripts — big stories brimming with unique characters and situations. These are indeed two of the best in recent memory.

The other thing that jumped out at me was that The Hangover made the list! To me this is another testament to how vital a great screenplay is. This was an anomaly as far as studio comedies go in that there were no huge stars attached.  The cast was instead packed with emerging talents, and their performances (along with the incredible script) made stars of them all and turned The Hangover into one of the year’s biggest films.

The TV list didn’t bear too many surprises. Comprised of the most critically praised shows of the year, the only thing that caught me off-guard was the inclusion of Glee. I understand it’s a huge hit… I just can’t figure out why.

Here are the full lists:

AFI Movies of the Year

Coraline

The Hangover

The Hurt Locker

The Messenger

Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire

A Serious Man

A Single Man

Up

Up in the Air

AFI TV Programs of the Year:

The Big Bang Theory

Big Love

Friday Night Lights

Glee

Modern Family

The NO.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency

Nurse Jackie

Party Down

True Blood