Announcement: The Questers!
After going through 2,000 loglines and talking with 10 finalists for the 2013 Quest Initiative, I have elected to move forward with 6 writers on 5 projects including 1 writing team. They are:
Waka Brown
West Linn, Oregon
Christian Fontenot
Seattle, Washington
Troy Warren Klith
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Sandra Leviton
Santa Monica, California
Miranda Sajdak
Los Angeles, California
Paul Wie
Fullerton, California
Sandy and Miranda are the writing duo.
We will begin The Quest next Monday, July 15 and continue through a rigorous 24 weeks together, learning a character-based approach to screenwriting, engaging in a proven process of prepping a story, and plowing through the first draft of an original screenplay. The schedule:
July 15: Core: 8 weeks.
September 9: Prep: 6 weeks.
October 21: Pages: 10 weeks.
December 29: The Quest ends!
NOTE: I WILL NOT BE RELEASING ANY DETAILS ABOUT ANY OF THE QUEST SCRIPT PROJECTS!
The writers’ story ideas are valuable IP [Intellectual Property] which must be protected until the point they are in script form.
I will say this as far as the breakdown of projects goes per genre: 2 Comedies, 1 Action-Comedy, 1 Action-Adventure, 1 Horror-Thriller.
I will be introducing each of the writers next week. And like last year, they will be writing weekly Dispatches From The Quest, so you may share part of their experience along the way.
Two other notes.
I am making available to the rest of the 2013 Quest Initiative finalists all of lectures, course material, and tips I have written for The Quest, some 400 pages of content. Plus I have invited them to participate on in the Go On Your Own Quest project, then agreed to review their first drafts upon completion.
Speaking of Go On Your Own Quest, beginning next Monday, July 15, I will be uploading daily posts here (Monday-Friday) related to where we are in The Quest, so just as we did last year, you can use the same structure to develop your theoretical understanding of screenwriting, learn something about the business, try out professional writing practices, work out your own story and pound out a first draft.
Moreover now that we have The Black Board, the Official Online Community of the Black List and Go Into The Story, you have the option of connecting with other writers as they participate in Go On Your Own Quest. Indeed The Black Board came into existence as the GOYOQ Forums last year. It is a free and the community there that has grown is fantastic, a smart supportive group of writers. For more information, you can go here.
Dozens of writers I know about and presumably many more used GOYOQ to write scripts last year. Plus at least one writer’s GOYOQ script landed him representation with a top Hollywood management outfit. In other words, it can work.
And best of all, the Go On Your Own Quest effort is free, my humble attempt to encourage your creative efforts. Scripts do not write themselves, you have to commit to writing them. With GOYOQ, you will have daily information and inspiration, plus a schedule and structure to motivate you to accomplish that goal.
So please take a moment to wish the 2013 Questers good luck. Much more from them over the next 6 months.
As for you, if you have a story you feel is a strong marketable concept and/or a story you know you must write, consider joining us next Monday, July 15 for the start of Go On Your Own Quest.
Are you ready to heed the Call To Adventure? The road beckons you…
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