Submissions, Rewrites and Titles

I've submitted my romantic comedy to the Bluecat Screenplay Contest so that's fun. They provide notes with their entries so hopefully I'll have those by February. Script P.I.M.P. has also started their contest once again so once I receive my latest notes on my slasher film I'll be entering that contest as well. The problem with screenplay contests is that it takes so long to hear back, there are a few monthly screenplay contests floating around but I'm not quite sure of their legitimacy.

At any rate, BLOOD IN THE TREES went through its umpteenth rewrite and I think I finally have my narrative flow down well. The problem before (I hate when a problem is pointed out that's been there all along, I feel silly finally realizing something IS a problem) was that the narrative followed the characters along for the duration of the story. Essentially from page 25-90 the characters were all together doing their thing, so I've added in a complete subplot which allows breaks from the actions of the main characters as well as provides a different perspective on the events that are happening.

Tuesday I'll be submitting it back to the development service. Each time I get their notes back I seem to be a closer to where I need to be so hopefully I made a big jump with this. Just as a little motivation I read what happens to the people that are recommended by them, there are a couple dozen options, people finding representation, and a few movies that have been made, so that's good. It would also explain why it's so hard to GET that rating but I suppose I shouldn't mind going through the trouble of writing a great story.

Speaking of great stories I've gone fishing for some opinions on my romantic comedy and thus far everyone has really enjoyed it, so that's a plus. I actually enjoyed writing it more than the slasher film if only because my characters weren't brutally dispatched halfway through. It's nice seeing a happy ending, haha.

Ah, to the issue of a title. I still think BLOOD IN THE TREES is an okay title but there COULD be a better one. Just looking at the titles of horror movies out there, they're generally silly. I suppose mine rates up there on the silly scale but I'd like something a little stronger. BEHIND SUBURBIA was a decent title as well but for some reason I was the only person to think so and "it left the reader unsure of the genre of the film" ... so that's bad. I'd hate for people to expect a poignant drama of the struggles families have living a suburban lifestyle and end up with a bunch of dead teenagers. So if anyone has a horror movie title they've had laying around that they always wanted to use, send it my way.

My ultra low-budget mocumentary FINDING DAVID is just about finished. I know I've been saying that but the end of this month is the ultimatum because I want to get it into the Garden State Film Festival. I think it's decent enough to be in it. Well, after going last year I'm pretty sure it is, but of course I don't know what the heck they'll ultimately choose. Even so, we'll be getting a website for it set up soon enough and you can own your very own copy, exciting, no?

At any rate, I'll update once I get my notes back and have some more FINDING DAVID news.