Screenwriters' Newsletter

CONTENTS:

•    Develop Develop Develop

•    Film Makers and Writers meetup: 12th October

•    48 hr Challenge

•    Thinking and Seeing Through Films

•    Hong Kong Indie Production – Audition and Techie info.

•    Seeking Funds – Have you a spare hundred grand?

•    Mui Ling’s Song – Mark Sung looking for collaborators

•    Speak Up – Who says you can’t be a writer and be cool?

•    Alivenotdead Halloween Bash – Start prepping your costume

•    STILL GET PRODUCED

If you wish to tell us about your Hong Kong film projects, please send your information to lwgray@netvigator.com

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About our publications

The HKWC has published four critically acclaimed anthologies of short stories - Haunting Tales, Sweat & the City, Hong Kong Whodunnits and Love & Lust - which are available at selected Dymocks bookstores and from our website. Read more at:

http://www.hkwriterscircle.com/Publications/Publications.html

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DEVELOP DEVELOP DEVELOP

Here’s an article by an old friend of mine, Phil Parker…

http://www.screendaily.com/5006085.article

He’s bemoaning the lack of original screenplays being produced in the UK. I have to say that twenty years ago when both Phil and I had stints as Chairmen of the London Screenwriters’ Workshop, we were pretty much saying the same thing.

Then came a lot of “development” funding that, as far as I was concerned, was disgustingly monopolized by a small group of people and not available to fair competition. I.E. they weren’t giving me any! In fact, I was running writing courses with people turning up telling me how they had been given six grand to write screenplays and thought they had better find out how to write one! How, I enquired, did they get the commission then? Oh, they said, I just knew the guy from school etc. etc.… or words to that effect.

I left for easier territory where I merely had to learn an entirely different language, culture and writing system, instead of continue fighting the endless class war of the UK.

Anyway, the argument now is that “development”, i.e. optioning original scripts, does not work and that optioning novels or remakes does. Or - and get this drummed into your head - commissioning a writer/director!

Now, one can spend one’s entire life arguing the unfairness of a system that marginalizes the Screenwriter, or claim that there is an art to script development that talentless frustrated writer/producer/editor/development executives just aint got and thus need to get their act together or get out of the industry and leave it to those who really know how to write - i.e. me and you - or you can just say, OK, I’ll be a writer/director. (Or write for television, which is another story altogether.)

If you have any opinions on this or anything else for that matter, just head off to www.hkwriterscircle.com and leave comments on the newsletter. Or even better… come along to ….

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THE FILM MAKERS AND WRITERS MEETUP

Come along and meet fellow writers and filmmakers at The Amici, Lockhart Rd, 7pm, on Monday, 12th October.

This is a social event aimed at bringing together writers of all kinds, to let each other know what they are up to, exchange ideas and to collaborate on projects.

It is also an opportunity to eat pizza and gossip about nothing in particular!

If you are not a member of the Hong Kong Writers’ Circle then this is your opportunity to meet some of the members in an informal setting and even join:

HK$490 per annum.

Download the membership form at http://www.hkwriterscircle.com/form.html

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THE 48 HOUR CHALLENGE

The 48 Hour Film Project comes to Hong Kong on the weekend of November 6th. Filmmakers from all over the Hong Kong area will compete to see who can make the best short film in only 48 hours. The winning film will go up against films from around the world.

Enter today! Space is limited.

This year, teams will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. Once the initial registration is complete, we will accept teams for the Waiting List. If a registered team must drop out, we will go to the Waiting List. If there is enough interest, and we can secure additional theater time, we may be able to add more teams from the list.

Registration is HKD$975 per team. http://www.48hourfilm.com/hongkong/english.php

http://www.twitter.com/hk48hfp

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IN DIALOGUE WITH ANN HUI AND PETER CHAN

You know you are in for a bit of Film Theory when the term Dialogue is used instead of Conversation,  but even so, Peter Chan and Ann Hui are big names in Hong Kong Indie Pantheon and so this is a not to be missed event, even if it isn't a conspicuously cool one. Ignore the ageist rhetoric about them sharing their "visions" with the "young." It says all are welcome.

Dates:     8 October 2009 (Thursday)

Time:     6:00 p.m.

Venue:     Rayson Huang Theatre, The University of Hong Kong

Speakers:     

Director Ann Hui

Director Peter Ho-sun Chan

Dr Esther M.K. Cheung (Associate Prof., Comparative Literature, HKU)

A dialogue session with two of our University Artists, Ann Hui and Peter Ho-sun Chan where they will talk about their visions on film art and filmmaking.

Topics include:

   1. Film art as sources of creative thoughts and intellectual stimulations

   2. The current state of Hong Kong film industry in light of the impact of globalization and the rise of China

   3. The future of Hong Kong cinema

The two directors will also share their valuable experiences in filmmaking with young people who aspire to work in the creative industry.

Free admission via online registration. All are welcome.

The programme will be conducted in English.

      

Enquiries: 2219 4724, arts@hku.hk

http://arts.hku.hk/uas/filmmakers

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HONG KONG INDIE PRODUCTION- Audition and Techie info.

Craig Addison, a long term Hong Kong resident, is producing a Sci-fi thriller set in Silicon Valley: DISCLOSURE!

If, like a fair old number of Hong Kong bold and beautiful, you are heading San Francisco way any time soon you might like to arrange an audition with him.

Craig will be in San Francisco in October for auditions and again in December for the shoot. The story is about a Silicon Valley high tech blogger who uncovers an alien presence that threatens to destroy the high tech world.

The micro-budget feature will be shot using producer funding, after which a trailer will be cut from the footage in order to raise finishing funds. The intent is to promote the finished film on the festival circuit in 2010-2011 in the hopes of securing a TV/DVD distribution deal.

The film will be shot using the new Canon 5D Mark II digital SLR camera, which has changed the cost paradigm for low budget films with its HD capability and 35mm lens system.

Craig and Disclosure's director, Tony Urgo, have both produced short films using the Canon Mk II, and the experience gained from those projects (including a double sound system for the Mk II) will be leveraged on this feature, enabling higher production values at lower cost.

After Disclosure wraps up shooting, Craig will be back in Hong Kong to begin script development and pre-production on a feature to be shot locally in the second half of 2010, also using the Canon Mk II camera.

Using SLR cameras for feature work is not quite as straightforward as one would like. There were some early issues with the Mk II related to a lack of manual exposure control that were solved with a software upgrade, but two issues remain in terms of criticism:

1. It doesn't feel like an HD camera, because it's the SLR format, and this makes traditional DPs uncomfortable. An easy solution to this is to use a "fig rig" (for hand held shots) or simply a tripod for fixed or pan shots.

2. A dodgy audio system - and that's true. But you can get around that with a double sound system. We did several tests of up to 15 minutes each of separate video/audio, synced in the FCP timeline, and there was no drift.

Here’s a link that might be of use to people contemplating shooting in this way:

http://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/h4n_audio_recorder_graham.html

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SEEKING FUNDS

Hong Kong resident,  and Ventriloquist, Jonathan Geffner is seeking funding for an R-rated sci-fi/suspense/mystery feature film that he wrote, set in Shanghai.

The production company has a matching funds deal for fifty per cent of the budget, estimated at US$2 million. So they are seeking funds up to a million dollars. 

The story:

Once Upon a Time in Shanghai

The ventriloquist/dummy detective duo of Van Trillo and Sam Suede flee both brutal gangsters and crooked cops who have put them on their hitlists in their native New York City. They land in China, in a Shanghai Neverland - a dark, violent, seductive, neo-noir landscape of cold-blooded killers and femmes fatales, where dummies and humans co-mingle in an uneasy mix of mutual envy and distrust. Will Trillo & Suede find and kill the hitmen hot on their trail before the hitmen kill them?

For further details visit: http://www.farnfilm.com/

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MUI LINGS SONG

Hong Kong film maker, Mark Sung, is currently in post on his short film - 'Mui-Ling's Song"  -  about a young Chinese  girl abducted  from her village and sold into  slavery by 'snake-heads' .

So far he has edited 15 - 20 minutes - but still need a few scenes to flesh out the story.

He tells me that he will need help to promote it as a video download and perhaps web distribution.  So if these are areas you are particularly adept at, let me know and I’ll pass your contact address to Mark.

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SPEAK UP: October 7, 2009

The unashamedly cool Kate and Roger are hosting yet another must be seen at event for Artists of all kinds.

So come, strut your stuff, promote your work, philosophy, organizations and generally show off!

This is a fun event that involves a lot of shouting and having your photo taken so that you can show up on Facebook surrounded by all the cool people. Including me, which no doubt puts this in a fridge all of its own.

When: Wednesday, Oct 7, 2009 9:00PM

Where: MINT: Central, HongKong

108 Hollywood road

Contact:

E.V.E.N.T

info@artisteventscompany.com

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ALIVENOTDEAD HALLOWEEN BASH

   

This is another must be seen at event for local writers and artists: The 'Dead Not Alive' Halloween Party 2009

Saturday, Oct 31, 2009 10:00PM

Get to work on a good costume.

For further details such as the venue go to: alivenotdead.com

There is a little bit of exclusivity here, but not much. If you’re one of Alivenotdead’s artists you get to take one guest.

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STILL GET PRODUCED

I’m still looking for that script about the Hong Kong Writers’ Circle! It should be somewhere between 3 to 10 minutes long – though mostly 3 - so that it can fit on Youtube, be capable of being shot with next to no budget, and be entertaining and informative.

You can write it as a documentary, or a sit-com, or an opera or whatever you like! It must be shootable though and it must make me laugh! And I mean laugh in a good way. And it should make you want to be part of the Writers’ Circle and consume all the creative output of the membership… or at least some of if!

ALL ENTRANTS will get Three Months free membership of the Writers Circle and the winner will get a full twelve months free membership and the pleasure of having their script produced and shot in Hong Kong.

The deadline is the end of October.

Hint: with a short film, the concept is everything! A good, clever idea taking advantage of the nature of the medium has more impact than something that is no more than talking heads, no matter how witty their dialogue.

I am the judge, jury and executioner of this, so you have to suck up to me and pander to my taste for beautiful actresses and heavy doses of irony. And please, write it as a script and not a piece of masterly prose.

Even better if you can also Story Board the idea!

Want a sample of good piece of You Tube promo? Head off to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmXi2-SjkOQ

Send your entries to lwgray@netvigator.com

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JOIN THE HONG KONG WRITERS' CIRCLE

HK$490 per annum.

If you wish to join, download the membership form at http://www.hkwriterscircle.com/form.html

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DISCLAIMER:

The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent those of the Hong Kong Writers' Circle as a whole.

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