Story Merchant Client Lisa Cerasoli's "14 DAYS with Alzheimer's" is an Official Selection at 7th International Women's Film Festival

Screening is at 11:00 am on Sunday, March 25th

West Hollywood Library
625 N San Vicente
West Hollywood CA 90069

Based on the award-winning memoir, As Nora Jo Fades Away, 14 DAYS with Alzheimer's is the documentary short (follow-up) to the book. It's a humorous, heartbreaking and revealing look into the lives of Nora Jo and Lisa, her granddaughter and caregiver. This film leaves little to the imagination. Nora Jo has officially turned into 'Archie Bunker in really great drag,' and so this film captures not only the series of tragedies that come with this illness, but the 'funnies and the foibles' as well. And it proves that while Alzheimer's is also known as The Memory Thief, it's incapable of stealing love.

The Los Angeles Women’s International Film Festival is produced by Alliance of Women Filmmakers Inc. a non-profit 501c(3) organization established by Diana Means to empower women filmmakers to create diverse roles for women. Each year in March the festival showcases narratives, documentaries, animation and student short films. The festival’s programming reflects Diana’s commitment to educate and inform audiences of social political and health issues impacting women globally.

To Purchase Tickets Click Here

Join My FREE Webinar Tomorrow 2:30 pm (est)

7 Steps For Finding An Agent

In today’s publishing turmoil, as the internet challenges traditional publishing and traditional agents are retooling to stay abreast of the changing tide, it’s become even more difficult to find an author’s representative. Dr. Atchity will lead you through the steps that will give you a fighting chance to find someone who will take you and your book seriously in this session based on his book How to Publish Your Novel (useful also for nonfiction writers).

About the Presenter

Dr. Atchity is the author of 15 books, including A Writer’s Time, Writing Treatments That Sell, and How to Publish Your Novel. He’s worked successfully in nearly every area of the publishing and entertainment business, and has spent his lifetime helping writers get started with and improve their careers. As founder and head of Atchity Entertainment International, Inc., The Writer’s Lifeline, Inc., including Atchity Productions and Story Merchant, and The Louisiana Wave Studio, LLC. he has produced nearly 30 films in the past 20 years for major studios, television broadcasters, and independent distribution. He is currently nominated for an Emmy for “The Kennedy Detail,” based on the New York Times bestselling book he developed. For nearly twenty years before, as professor of literature and teacher of creative writing at Occidental College and UCLA, he helped literally hundreds of writers find a market for their work by bringing their craft and technique to the level of their ambition and vision. During his time at Occidental, he also served as a regular reviewer for The Los Angeles Times Book Review.

Register Now

March 21, 2012 at 02:30PM

The television winner of the Faith & Freedom Awards Goes to “The Lost Valentine!”

Christian Oscars Honor Family Friendly Films

Written by Raven Clabough

On Friday, February 10, the winners of the 20th Annual Faith and Values Awards were announced at the Universal Hilton Hotel in Hollywood. A number of worthy films and television programs received prizes for their positive elements from patriotism to family values.

The Movieguide Faith and Values Awards are sponsored by the Christian Film & Television Commission and Movieguide, founded by Dr. Ted Baehr. The glittering event, also dubbed the “Christian Oscars” attracted a number of Hollywood executives, producers, writers, and directors, and major celebrities including Joe Montegna, Kevin Sorbo, James Patrick Stuart, and Pat Boone.

AEI ASSOCIATE APRIL CHRISTOFFERSSON ABOUT TO RELEASE TRAPPED

Story Merchant Client Lisa Cerasoli's "14 DAYS with Alzheimer's" is an Official Selection at 7th International Women's Film Festival

Screening is at 11:00 am on Sunday, March 25th

West Hollywood Library
625 N San Vicente
West Hollywood CA 90069

Based on the award-winning memoir, As Nora Jo Fades Away, 14 DAYS with Alzheimer's is the documentary short (follow-up) to the book. It's a humorous, heartbreaking and revealing look into the lives of Nora Jo and Lisa, her granddaughter and caregiver. This film leaves little to the imagination. Nora Jo has officially turned into 'Archie Bunker in really great drag,' and so this film captures not only the series of tragedies that come with this illness, but the 'funnies and the foibles' as well. And it proves that while Alzheimer's is also known as The Memory Thief, it's incapable of stealing love.

The Los Angeles Women’s International Film Festival is produced by Alliance of Women Filmmakers Inc. a non-profit 501c(3) organization established by Diana Means to empower women filmmakers to create diverse roles for women. Each year in March the festival showcases narratives, documentaries, animation and student short films. The festival’s programming reflects Diana’s commitment to educate and inform audiences of social political and health issues impacting women globally.

To Purchase Tickets Click Here

On Demand Books Bets on Authors Who Want to Print Their Own Paperbacks

By John Tozzi -   

Vance Alexander sent 35 query letters to publishers and agents to pitch his book, a historical novel about a young slave in 1801 Connecticut who escapes to Canada. No one bit. 

So the retired architectural designer decided to publish it himself. He joined more than 100 aspiring authors at the library in Darien, Conn., on a recent Thursday night for a demo of the technology ready to fulfill their literary ambitions: the Espresso Book Machine. 

About five feet high and eight feet wide, it turns a manuscript into a warm paperback, bound and trimmed, in under five minutes. Selling a big machine to print books may seem quixotic when millions of readers are migrating to Kindles and iPads. On Demand Books, the company behind the Espresso, is betting on authors like Alexander -- and on the emotional connection readers and writers have with paper pages that bend and tear and make a sound when you turn them. 

Story Merchant Client Elaine Edelson Feature on Her Historical Novel Aries Fire

Elaine Aries Fire Kudos Article 2-1-12

Join Me At the Houston Writers Conference April 13-14

Would-be Writers to be Focus of April 13-14 Writers Conference

Program to Include Literary Agents, Authors and How-To Sessions on Getting Published—Hollywood ‘Story Merchant‘ Ken Atchity a Featured Speaker

Houston writers will gather April 13-14, when the Houston Writers’ Guild (HWG) holds the 2012 4^th annual writers’ conference in Sugar Land.

“There’s something for every writer—published or unpublished, fiction or non-fiction,” said Tina Winograd, 2012 HWG conference director. “The publishing world is changing. In some ways, it is easier to get a book published today. Our experts will address traditional publishing as well as online publishing and e-books. Make an appointment to have your writing critiqued by a published writer or to run your story idea by a literary agent.”

Writers may choose between several tracks, including mystery, nonfiction, young adult and writing/publishing basics. The two-day meeting includes presentations from:

· Hollywood ‘Story Merchant’ Ken Atchity, producer and literary manager

· Self-Publishing super-star and zombie thriller novelist Rhiannon Frater

· Young Adult author Nikki Loftin, author of two novels and numerous short stories

· True crime writer and novelist Kathryn Casey

· Larry Thompson, author of legal thriller, “The Trial”

· Award-winning novelist and poet Chitra Divakaruni

· New York literary agents

Conference cost is $125 for Friday and Saturday; $100 for Saturday only. Saturday lunch is included in the fee. Friday night dinner optional. For an additional cost, attendees may schedule brief one-on-one sessions with literary agents and published writers.

For online registration and further program information, see HWG website, www.houstonwritersguild.org or call 281-498-5025.

Guest Post: Going the Distance: How to Survive Writing a Screenplay by Dennis Palumbo

Hollywood on the Couch

The inside scoop on Tinseltown, USA.

by Dennis Palumbo

Screenwriting: staying sane over the long haul

In the early 1960's, there was a hot art-house movie called The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner. I think of this film sometimes when trying to help my TV and film writer patients working on long-form projects---miniseries, screenplays, cable channel movies, etc.

The running analogy is a good one, because long-form writing is like running a marathon: it requires endurance, patience, and a deep reserve of will power and commitment. Not to mention an almost Herculean ability to delay gratification.

(To continue the analogy, other kinds of script writing might be likened to sprints---sitcoms, comedy sketches, etc. Sprints require a burst of speed and power, the knock-out punch of a single idea or concept, and a quick build to an explosive finish.)

Where the long-form Hollywood writer gets in trouble is in believing that he or she can maintain over the length of the project the same vigor and intensity that's brought to a shorter piece.

Hence, when the work slows, or gets bogged down in exposition, or drifts off on tangents, the writer panics. His or her confidence flags. Enthusiasm drains away. The screenplay or miniseries is, metaphorically speaking, "put away in a drawer," often never to be brought out again.

To avoid this, here are some suggestions to help you "keep on keeping on" during those long, painful stretches that plague anyone writing a big project:

*Pace yourself. As I said, it's a marathon, not a sprint. Sixteen-hour days at the keyboard, living on pizza and Red Bull, may get you through a TV episode or a re-write that's on deadline, but for a two-hour pilot or screenplay it's deadly. Hard on your family, your vital organs, and your outlook on life.

*Expect slow spots, things that don't work, and reverses. Long-form story-telling has its own rhythm, in the reading as well as the writing. The reader needs to take a breath, be reminded of plot points, given a break from unending action and/or revelation. So do you, the writer. Like any extended trip, the journey through a miniseries, long TV pilot or screenplay involves wrong turns, pleasant surprises off the beaten path, some down time to remind yourself why you're even taking this route---even return visits to places and events to see what further gold can be mined from them.

Just keep reminding yourself that you're in this for the long haul, that there'll be good days and bad, pitfalls and peaks of inspiration, and then get on with it.

*Take side-trips. Stop occasionally to write a short piece---an article or essay, an email to a friend, a blog, etc. Maybe even help a fellow writer punch-up his or her sitcom pilot or comedy monologue. This gives your long-form muscles some much-needed R & R, and helps flex those short-form ones. Just because you're running a marathon doesn't mean you want to forget how to sprint.

*Don't rush the ending (just to get the damned thing finished). A hard temptation to resist, but you've got to try. There's no sense laboring over a piece for months, or even years, getting the narrative, characters and tone just right, only to rush the thing to its climax because you're so relieved to finally see the end approaching. Let the reader---and you, too---enjoy the fruits of your labor; give yourself the luxury of bringing the same effort and care to making the most out of the conclusion. Do justice to your characters, your story---and to yourself.

*Finally, when the project is done, expect some post-partum blues. You've lived in the world of your cable movie or feature screenplay so long, it's familiar, the known. Despite its myriad problems and headaches, it's what you've called home for a long time. Believe me, after bitching about it the whole time you've been writing it, when it's finally finished...you'll miss it.

Which is why, as hard as it is to write a long-form piece, as vehemently as you swear that you'll never do it again, pretty soon you'll start thinking about a new one.

It's like the end of a long, painful relationship. You swear to anyone who'll listen that you'll never fall
in love again. You don't want the grief, the false hopes, all the drama. Then, one day, you see someone in a coffee shop, or at a party, and you say, "Hmmmm..."

It's kinda like that.

On Going iBook Discussion via Oscar Castro-Neves]