GITS Welcome and Primer Party!
It’s the beginning of a new month and time to lay out the welcome mat for those who have recently discovered GITS, provide a few tips about how to use the site, make a few announcements, and dole out some creative juju. So first off, welcome!
If you’re brand new to the site, why don’t you take a minute to tell us a bit about yourself, where you live, your interest in writing, background, aspirations. You can do that by scrolling down to the bottom of this post, click on “Leave a reply,” then have at it.
Also if you have a blog about writing, movies, TV, or a related area of interest, post your URL and I’ll add you to the GITS Friend list.
Perhaps you’ve been involved in the production of a movie — short film, feature length, documentary. I’m happy to post something about your film as long as you have an embeddable video somewhere online, so leave whatever information you can, and I will include you in the Movies You Made series.
If you’re a regular GITS reader, but have been lurking on the sidelines, it’s entirely fine to keep doing that. There’s a lot to be said for lurking. However there’s also a lot to be said for joining the conversation at GITS, so why not consider taking a leap of faith and introduce yourself as well?
Onto other business, I’ve been hosting this blog for nearly 4 years, so it’s pretty much old hat to me. However from time to time, I am reminded via email or Twitter how much content there actually is on this site. For example, just the other day someone emailed to tell me how much they enjoyed going through the Scene Description Spotlight posts, finding the exercise hugely helpful in their attempt to understand how much content to write when describing a scene, style, tone, etc.
So let me use this opportunity to put a spotlight on a few other resources on the site with which you may not be familiar:
1, 2, 7, 14: A simple formula to be a more productive and better screenwriter.
Deep Focus: The Go Into The Movies Project: In order to work as a screenwriter in Hollywood, you have to immerse yourself in the world of movies. Based on suggestions from the GITS community, here is a poor man’s/woman’s version of film school, a list of resources in five subject areas you can use to do precisely that.
Dumb Little Writing Tricks That Work: Just what it says.
GITS Reader Questions: Over 200 screenwriting related questions from GITS readers with my answers and additional feedback from others.
Great Scenes: Analysis of some of the most memorable movie moments.
The Business of Screenwriting: Over 50 posts about the business side of being a screenwriter.
All of those and much more are over on the right-hand column under Lists.
Now a few announcements:
* Next week an exclusive GITS Q&A that I’m sure you will enjoy: The transcript of a 75 minute screenwriting roundtable with some of the hottest young screenwriters in Hollywood today, a group of 7 writers who are involved in some high profile projects and have written 12 spec scripts that have sold in the last 2 years. Every day next week on GITS!
* By request I’m going to focus on posting more Writing Mantras, probably swapping them out with the usual On Writing post on Mondays. We can all use inspiration from time to time, and I’m feeling particularly inspirational of late, so let’s see where that takes us.
* In April, it’s time for the 3rd Annual GITS “A Story Idea Each Day For A Month” series. I’ve been accumulating story ideas via news items for this entire last 12 months and I’ve got 30 posts set to go. Any of those ideas is free for the taking. The main thing is to drive home the point: As a writer, you should be intentional about coming up with new story concepts. Look for that next month.
Now a couple of questions:
* It’s interesting, but I’ve been hearing a lot from the writers with whom I’m working through Screenwriting Master Class about how to approach scene description [witness the item above]. Therefore I’m thinking of resurrecting the Scene Description Spotlight series. Thoughts?
* Script To Screen: Are many of you actually reading this series? Comments have been very light, so I just need to know if in fact people are actually tracking it, or whether I should retire that.
* Do you have any suggestions for the site? Are there specific subjects about screenwriting specifically or writing in general you’d like to see addressed? Any other ideas how to make GITS work better for you?
Finally now that Google has killed Friends Connect, we have shifted over to Google+. Please click on the link above to follow GITS as we attempt to grow that number to where we were with Friends Connect when it ‘passed away’: 2,098.
That’s it! For those of you who click on “Leave a reply” and… you know… leave a reply… I’ve got creative juju waiting for you!
Thanks for following GITS!
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