The success of Popcorn Fiction
Back on September 1, 2009, I posted this:
Here’s an interesting writing site — Popcorn Fiction:
This site grew out of a love for pulpy short fiction that used to dominate popular magazines in the mid-20th Century. As a screenwriter, my partner and I have been tasked with adapting several of these for the big screen, including stories from Elmore Leonard and Richard Matheson and Donald Hamilton. Friends of ours have adapted Philip K. Dick and Isaac Asimov and Stephen King. I’ve also been listening to a great deal of classic radio, from The Shadow and Have Gun Will Travel to X Minus One and Suspense. I wanted to create a place where new popular short fiction could flourish, and Hollywood could have a new resource for cultivating great ideas. Not every story is a crime or science fiction story, but each is infinitely readable. I’ve commissioned some very talented authors to take a stab at the form, and look forward to publishing them here in the months ahead. Thanks… hope you enjoy.
That summary is written by Derek Haas, a screenwriter whose credits include 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003), 3:10 to Yuma (2007), and Wanted (2008).
Haas can now add another movie project to his list: “Shake”, a short story he penned and posted on Popcorn Fiction. Just set it up per the Hollywood Reporter:
Things keep popping for screenwriter Derek Haas.
Jerry Bruckheimer has just bought the rights to a short story Haas wrote called “Shake” and hired the writer and his regular collaborator Michael Brandt to expand it into a feature screenplay. The deal was for more than seven figures.
Seven figures. Read the story. A clean, interesting high concept. And Haas is not the only screenwriter posting stories on Popcorn Fiction:
The origin of Haas’ story was a new site called Popcornfiction.com that he recently created for TV and film writers to showcase their pulpy short fiction. Among the contributors are Craig Mazin (“Superhero Movie”), Scott Frank (“The Lookout”), Jeff Lowell (“Over Her Dead Body”) and Nichelle D. Tramble (“Women’s Murder Club”).
Another website to bookmark and track. And good for Haas for his creative vision with the very cool Popcorn Fiction.
I believe GITS was one of the very first websites to promote Popcorn Fiction. And there are three reasons why:
* The site provides a creative outlet for TV and screenwriters.
* Every week readers get the opportunity to engage some terrific short fiction.
* Haas created Popcorn Fiction in the spirit of a spec script.
That last one is the real emotional connection to PF for me. Haas had an idea, he brought it into being in order to see if it would make a connection with people.
That’s the same dynamic as any screenwriter committing to a spec script: We come up with an idea. We write it. We hope it makes a connection with a buyer.
A writer in one of my Screenwriting Master Class courses inquired about how many of the stories published at Popcorn Fiction had been set up as movie projects. So I Tweeted that question to Haas and received these replies from him and @myPDFscripts:
Shake by Derek Haas was one. You can read about it in the interview I did with him on mypdfscripts.
— @myPDFscripts
Also Les Bohem’s “Honeymoon,” and Eric Heisserer’s “Hours.” Maybe more.
— @popcornhaas
Tipping Point sold to Relativity.
— @popcornhaas
That’s just amazing! In about two years since launch, four Popcorn Fiction stories have been acquired as movie projects. Here are links to each of those stories:
Honeymoon, Part I, Honeymoon, Part II (Leslie Bohem)
Hours (Eric Heisser)
Shake (Derek Haas)
Tipping Point (Todd Stein)
What does this mean to you? Obviously Popcorn Fiction is a great online resource for reading terrific writing. They also accept submissions. Before you go off half-cocked and lob them that short story about your experiences in summer camp back in 5th grade, stop. Read the stories on the site. Study them. Understand what type of genres, tone and style are in vogue there. Then write a great story. At that point and that point only consider submitting the material. If your story isn’t great and doesn’t fall within the perimeters of content the site is about, you’ll just be wasting everyone’s time including your own. But in actuality, Popcorn Fiction is another access point to Hollywood.
Here is the interview with Derek Haas at myPDFscripts.
Here is the Popcorn Fiction site.
Congratulations to Derek on the success of Popcorn Fiction!