hey everybody! thanks so much for all your submissions. we ended up receiving forty-two legitimate submissions – that’s in addition to several other submissions that were over the page limit, turned in after the time limit or were additional scripts from authors who’d already submitted material – all of which we had to turn down due to the rules of this thingie were doing. but that’s what we had – forty-two scripts for only twenty spots – ten on each of two different First Round workshop nights.
i myself removed the writer’s names from all forty-two scripts and then assigned two readers for each piece. we removed the names so that there wouldn’t be any favoritism and we wanted to make sure there were two readers for each script to make sure that personal taste was less of a determining factor than just good writing. the readers rated each script with a single score – one to five. however as a group, we also agreed to allow our scores to be effected by some of the important criteria originally listed in our first post, but which are harder to quantify than just page length and turn-in time, such as ability to actually produce for $2000 or less or how well it works as a self-contained seven page or less piece.
well the scores were all tallied after everything had been read and rated and, after just a brief round of tie-breaker reads for the scripts right on the cusp, twenty-two scripts made the cut. that’s right – we couldn’t whittle it down to just twenty. there were just too many great pieces to read. so we’ll just have to read fast on our two nights of reading to get through all eleven scripts each night. now also PLEASE know that if your script did not get in, there were a number of really close calls and that definitely should NOT keep you from submitting your piece for future workshops. we’re just as dedicated to helping you get your piece read and work-shopped as we’ve ever been and we will continue to have our regular writer’s workshops as often as possible. or if you just feel like going ahead and producing your piece yourself, you obviously have our blessing and we would love to help you as much as we can with casting, crewing up, etc – all the things we normally do to help and support your normal film making. whenever you have production needs, don’t hesitate to fill out our Production Needs form and we’ll get the word out to everybody we know.
so now i’m about to list all the pieces that were accepted by the night in which they’ll be read, but PLEASE NOTE that circumstances may arise in which we’ll have to finagle with these line-ups slightly. also please do NOT think that this is the order in which they’ll be read on the night. it might be, but that’s not up to me to decide – i’m just telling you which night each piece will be read.
you should also know that when we read each script, we will ONLY be announcing the title of the piece – we will NOT announce the writer’s name. this is because we’d like to let the pieces speak for themselves. what you do with that information is entirely up to you, but we wanted everybody to know that ahead of time and would very much appreciate you NOT screaming out your own name at the workshop. you may NOT submit corrections or amended scripts – what you submitted to us before is what will be read on your night. if you happen to win however, you are of course free to edit your piece before you produce it, but you will still be expected to cast at least half of your roles from the We Make Movies actors. and not to be too redundant, but if you have an actor friend whom you really want to cast, but they’re not a We Make Movies actor, just bring them to any workshop and voila! he or she is now a We Make Movies actor. easy stuff, right? but if you do edit the piece after winning, please don’t throw in any bank robberies or 27 car pile-ups. we’d still love to get it done for just the $2k, thanks.
more information will be forthcoming re: exact theater at the Complex we’ll be using, how the voting will happen, etc., but without further ado, here they are – the chosen twenty-two scripts:
To be read on the August 17th
- Je Vous Adore
- Regret
- Life vs. Art
- Silent Night Film
- The Something Film
- The Producer
- The Groundhog & The Gun
- Lines
- The Importance of Being Furnished
- Reality
- The Writer’s Draft
To be read on the August 31st
- The Ex Factor
- Forget You
- De Puta Madre
- Pet
- Lonaconing
- The Interview
- First Date
- Brothers
- Code Violet
- Strong Love
- Layover
so thanks again everybody! we’ll hopefully see you all on the 17th!
and if you want to read something really hilarious, check out this fake ‘Dark Knight’ script that was “written” by Michael Bay. =)
