Buoy, am I tired!

How I spent my Labor Day Weekend: I wrote a novel!

Okay technically perhaps...a novella.

It was part of the 3-Day Novel Contest . I usually do not admit publicly when I've entered a competition since later when the winners are announced I too frequently have to say, "well, it was a good try."

But I feel completely different about this competition. I want to shout it from the rooftops of the world: "I WROTE A NOVEL IN THREE DAYS!!!"

Whether it's a great American novel (or Canadian, since the contest is out of Vancouver, BC) or it's a work of rubbish, I completed it. Finished at seven minutes before midnight. Sent it in the next morning.

Whew.

And those of you who have followed my summer's bat stories will be happy to hear that I used that as my jumping off point. Write what you know, after all. Before I dove in at 4:00 Saturday morning, all I had thought up were three possible openings, and I decided that the antagonist would be someone from a terrorist organization.

I was thrilled with where the story went and how much my summer's research into bats and rabies ended up helping me pen my 101-page story.

That's all I'll say on the subject for now. I'll know the results of the contest in January; maybe I'll post them here.

Some up coming dates to consider:

Saturday, October 14, 2006, I will be presenting an "Art of Re-Writing Workshop" as part of the 3-day New Hampshire Film Expo in Portsmouth where we'll channel our inner hero & villain in a character study workshop from 4 to 6 p.m. Earlier that day join me as I sit in on a Creative Writing Warm-up Workshop led by screenwriter & filmmaker Bill Bourdon, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Check it out!

Saturday, November 18, 2006, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., I will be one of three judges for the Rochester (NH) Short Film Festival along with Mark Constance, a DGA Assistant Director, and Matthew Newton, of the NH Film Office. There's still time to enter your film of fifteen minutes or less.

Hope to see you soon. Thanks for stopping by!

(Photo above by, you guessed it: my hubby. At Cliff Island, Casco Bay, Maine. Buoy Sculpture Artist Unknown, but please feel free to identify yourself here!)

Okay, it's written...

I said I'd write up my batty rabies experience, and I have. Just submitted. You'll be the first to know if it's accepted. And what publication you can purchase in order to read my essay. My advice for now, though: forget about it (quick! Name the movie that made that line famous....) These things take time, don't you know.

Thanks for stopping by. It's past my bedtime. So if you don't mind, I think I'll call it a night.

Cheers!

(Photo above taken by my hubby at--you guessed it!--Cliff Island. "Moon Over Cliff." I don't know if that's what he wants to call this particular photo, but that's what I'm calling it on my blog. He'll just have to live with that. Grin, grin.)

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Remember those Staples ads promoting their store at back to school season? Always cracked me up. However, even though my teens give me a run for my money (one literally with some recent bone headed decisions), I absolutely despise back to school season. I love when my kids are home with me.

Speaking of back to school, the Goddard semester has officially begun. I'll be mailing out my first packet tomorrow. Looks like I'll have 30 pages of screenplay (we'll see if that number fluctuates as I revise again today) and two three-page annotations. I still have another annotation to write today, and I'll need to wrap up my process letter to my advisor. For those of you still keeping track of life as a low residency MFA in Creative Writing student at Goddard College, I'll post more details about this packet in a few days.

Many have asked when the rabies article is coming out, especially a surprising number of folks in the medical community: physicians, nurses, veterinarians, dentists. Okay. I said I'd write it, and I will. Just let me finish up this week's pages for my grad program and a few minor edits for an editor of a magazine that needs them and my mug shots by the first of September...and then I will dive into my necessary research on rabies and bats and the CDC vaccination recommendations.

In the meantime, if anyone can suggest a publication or two that I might consider contacting first about possible interest in the article, please post it here or send me an e-mail with the idea. I have a couple publications in mind, but need to research and see where best to first pitch the article. Yes, I have also considered writing different articles, from various angles, for a couple (or a few) publications.

Thanks. See you around!
(Photos of Cliff Island's ferry dock taken by my hubby. Cliff Island is located nine miles from Portland, Maine, in Casco Bay.)

Day 28: Last shot!

How I wish it came in a glass and not a needle. Wish me luck.

Cheers,
Dana

(Pink sky at night photo above taken by my husband in front of our beach rental house on Cliff Island in Casco Bay, Maine. Thanks to my rabies vaccine regimen I lost an entire day of savoring this view to a 101.7 degree fever and a body that craved sleep. My mom got to eat my lobster that night, proving every dark cloud has a silver [or pink] lining for someone.)

Call Me Bat Girl
But beware if I start foaming at the mouth.

It's Day Zero Plus One into my Rabies Vaccination Regimen.

Yep, you read that right: last night I was at the local Emergency Room from 9:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. where I received the first six shots of a five visit program.

Painful? Not nearly as bad as the anticipation. Not even close to the pain of dental novacaine shots. Today I'm tired and sore, but that's to be expected. Three injections in one arm, two in the other, and one in the...uhh, backside. You'd have trouble reaching up and sitting, too.

What led to this wonderful new experience?

A bat flew into my arm. Outside my home. At dusk.

I'm not making this up.

My arm was bent, I turned to--I don't know--say something to my husband or son, perhaps? And just as I turned, I felt this slap like a small leather glove hitting my forearm. I looked and watched as this leathery-looking flapping thing (mostly undefined since the light was so limited) bounced off my not completely undefined bicep, back to the forearm, to the bicep, and to the forearm one last time before winging away groggily.

Have I mentioned that I'm scared to death of bats?

And shots?

I must have done something seriously wrong in a past life to win this sentence.

But the writer in me is taking notes. I plan to pitch a magazine article to a few editors, hoping my 28-day odyssey, along with interviews of physicians and specialists, will resonate with one of them...and eventually the readers. Perhaps I'll even manage to dispel a few myths along the way, while clearing up some confusion about bats and the possibility of rabies transmission.

Any sympathy welcomed, but not expected, of course. Please do feel free to think of me on days three, seven, fourteen and twenty-eight at about 6:30 a.m. when I'll be in the E.R. getting my next shots. And shutting my eyes tight. Maybe you should call me a baby, instead.

Be well. And if you must go out at dusk, take my advice: duck. (That's great advice considering ducks aren't known carriers of rabies.)

Cheers,
Dana

(Bat photos available at KidZone, http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/bats)

Call me what you will...just don't call me listless.


(Photo of me, my brothers, and my aunt on our family's green chair once upon a time. It's the inspiration behind my website's name: Green Chair Pictures. This is the first of many pictures taken on that indomitable green chair that connects the dots as we grew up and added to our own families over the years.)

New York Screenwriter Online once listed industry recognized competitions, until they were purchased by Creative Screenwriting. No word yet if CS plans to continue the tradition.

Therefore, by popular request, I have typed up my last known NY Screenwriter list. Use it as a guide when evaluating any competition. My students at the University of New Hampshire and I have counted on the list as a great place to start, but we have ventured off list when entering the occasional short script competition or a local contest…always referring to the criteria below as we evaluate whether or not the contest entry fee is a wise investment.

The following criteria were used in establishing the list:
1. Industry recognition (just that: people in the biz take notice when the winners are announced, or if your query arrives noting that you won the such-and-such competition, which obviously means you know your craft; these competitions can launch a career)
2. Verifiable winners (Not dead people or random names from the telephone book)
3. Industry recognized judges (agents, producers, development execs)
4. Substantial award or benefits (not just cash awards of $1000 or more, but publication of winners, workshops or writing labs, exposure to the industry, all of which leads to production--and distribution!--for at least some of the winners or runner-ups; all-expense paid trips to pitch to/meet with studio execs is deemed especially good)
5. Verifiable contact information (no PO boxes of hack-operations, phones and e-mail addresses that work…)
6. Sponsorship by an industry recognized organization (Joe’s Film Emporium* probably wouldn’t count, nor would Green Chair Pictures; however an established film festival, a studio, a large company is good. *JFE is supposed to be a fictitious example, no offense to Joe(s) if his(their) emporium(s) really exists….)
7. Reasonable entry fee (usually below $50, however if the contest includes script coverage—which can cost about $200 to $300—then a bit over $50 is acceptable)

The Approved contests were then rated based on how well they met the criteria:

**** - Premiere Competition – meets or exceeds all criteria
*** - Top Competition – meets all the criteria
** - Featured Competition – meets most of the criteria
* - Recommended Competition – meets enough of the criteria to qualify

Unfortunately, the ratings were embedded in the contest descriptions, which one would have to click to from the list. I printed a few of them to share with my students as examples, so I’ve noted those below. Each description also included due dates, prizes, entry fees, and...a website. For the list below, you’ll have to Google the ones you’re interested in learning about (sorry).

The list:

Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship
American Cinema Foundation Screenwriting Competition
American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest
Asian American International Film Festival Screenplay Competition
Austin Heart of Film Screenplay Competition – 4 stars
Austin Film Festival Prime Time Television Competition
Chesterfield Film Company Writer’s Film Project – 4 stars
Cinequest San Jose Film Festival Screenplay Competition
Cinestory Screenwriting Awards
Cynosure Screenwriting Awards – 2 stars
Film in Arizona Screenwriting Competition
Gordon Parks Independent Film Awards
The HUMANITAS Prize
IFP/Chicago Production Fund
IFP/LA Screenwriters Lab
IFP Market – Emerging Narrative Section
IFP MSP/McKnight Artist Fellowship for Screenwriters
IFP Screenwriting Award
International Family Film Festival Screenplay Competition
Mania Fest Screenplay Competition
Monterey County Film Commission Screenplay Competition
Nantucket Film Festival Screenplay Competition
Nevada Film Office Screenwriting Competition
New York Foundation for the Arts Artists’ Fellowships
Nickelodean Productions Fellowship Program – 4 stars
Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting – 4 stars
Project Greenlight
Rhode Island International Film Festival Screenplay Competition
Set in Philadelphia Screenwriting Competition
Slamdance Screenplay Competition
SLAM FI Sci Fi Screenplay Competition
Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab – 4 stars
Tribeca All Access
Tribeca/Sloan Film Program
Variety “Pitch Me” Competition
The Walt Disney Studios and ABC Entertainment Writing Fellowship Program – 4 stars
Warner Bros. Comedy Writers Workshop
Warner Bros. Drama Writers Workshop – 4 stars
Washington State Screenplay Competition

The list was always evolving. For example, at one time the Breckenridge Festival of Film was included, but it fell off the list soon after I won the Children/Family category. While the festival generously put us winning scribes up for the duration of the four-day festival and hosted a panel discussion, even if it was at the unsaintly hour of 9 a.m. (who watches films and parties all night, then gets up to listen to a panel of screenwriters the next morning? An arts high school class of aspiring filmmakers, bless their hearts!)…and they gave us each a nifty framed certificate announcing our achievement, plus an all access festival pass. But what we really needed--and did not receive--was industry promotion.

Fortunately for me, about the same time I became a First Prize winner of the Rhode Island International Film Festival, which launched my career. An InkTip.com listing was among the prizes. That listing led to my first Hollywood meetings, which led to my first option, that gained me my first agent, and resulted in one hell of a ride that fizzled when the money men pulled out, collapsing the small studio and dashing the dreams of the producers and the five writers they had signed.

But my script is now optioned with another studio where it sits in queue awaiting…you guessed it: production funds.

Becoming a second round finisher in Austin’s Heart of Film Screenplay Competition helped score me my adjunct position at UNH where the documentary/production professor, with his master’s from U Austin, recognized the kind of kudos that making it that far in the competition meant.

Anyone who has evidence of another competition that made a later NY Screenwriter listing, please feel free to post in remarks or e-mail it over to me. And anyone representing a competition who wants to get their appropriate star rating listed, please e-mail me evidence of the NY Screenwriter stars granted, and I will be happy to update the list.

Others, please feel free to add regional, smaller, or any other competitions that you have had success with over the years in the comments.

As for short script competitions, I can attest to the Bulldog Productions competition at Yale and the Rhode Island International Film Festival’s ScriptBiz Screenwriters’ Seminar Short Script Competition (which I happened to be somewhat involved with as its director; now my grad school schedule demands that I take on the less demanding role as consultant).

Good luck and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,
Dana

This just in,
And kind of interesting:

EVALYN BATES, PIONEER IN ADULT EDUCATION, TURNS NINETY
CREATED FIRST LOW RESIDENCY, ADULT DEGREE PROGRAM IN THE NATION

Plainfield, VT…June 29, 2006...In 1963 at Goddard College, Evalyn Bates put her ideas and scholarship together and created the Adult Degree Program, the first program of its kind in the nation. Today, one can find similar programs offered at colleges throughout the world.

“The creation of the low residency model has had an enormous impact in higher education,” said Mark Schulman, president of Goddard, “Evalyn deserves credit for having pioneered this model, which is the only way most adults can return to college and experience the richness of a conference-like residency. The Board of Trustees and the entire college community would like to recognize her for her work and thank her on behalf of the thousands of adults who realized their dream of a college education because of her vision.”

In 1943, Evalyn became the first woman to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree from Goddard College and she went on to the University of Chicago to complete a Master of Arts degree in 1957. She worked at Goddard for thirty-two years with President Tim Pitkin, as special assistant and director of adult education & community services. She continued to work with other colleges on special programs and traveled widely to promote adult education, including a year in Australia as a Fulbright Scholar.

###
Goddard College is a leader in low-residency education. Students from all over the United States come to the Goddard campus in Plainfield, Vermont to attend eight-day residencies and create plans for individualized learning experiences. When students return home, they remain in contact with their respective faculty advisor and work independently to complete a Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts or Master of Fine Arts degree. More information can be found at [ http://www.goddard.edu ]www.goddard.edu or 1-800-906-8312.

I'm glad I chose Goddard. That's not just free publicity. I really am happy I'm studying there--with some of the best faculty in the country, and with an eclectic, uniquely gifted and talented student body. If you're considering this style program, I recommend you check out what Goddard has to offer.
{Photos of flowers from Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site taken by me and my hubby on our recent Independence Day visit.}