Tips for Screenwriters

I'm excited about writing a movie!!! I hope this site helps! I have a few more sites to come...

Pitch Letters and Proposals

"A pitch letter is a proposed article or story idea that you "pitch" to editors to get them to give you publicity". I found a site that may help you in writing your pitch letter. It lists the elements of a proposal, great tips, and notes on how to write one yourself. It also includes an example of a pitch letter.

Sharks and Structure

I found a great website that explains the concept behind the "3 Art Structure." It compares the concept to a shark, which makes it easier to comprehend. Basically, the "3 Art Structure" is how a movie is set-up and how the plot develops. The beginning indicates the set-up, the middle is the confrontation, and the end is the resolution.

A Disibility Doesn't Mean You're Asexual

People with physical disabilities are stereotyped as asexual, as lacking the same sexual and relationship needs and desires as nondisabled people. Yet people with disabilities are human beings, created in the image of God, and thus are sexual beings with the same capacity to love and be loved as any other human. In this article, the author discusses the sexuality and heterosexual experiences of adults with various physical disabilities.

Love Has No Limitations

I found a cute little article on an older couple that has fallen in love despite the obstacles they face involving their mental disabilities. Take a look, its cute. =)

Love has no limitations, especially at this time of the year. This is true for everyone including people with developmental disabilities.
Experts say that only a small percentage of couples with developmental disabilities get married and have successful relationships. However, one local couple shows us that they have found love despite their disability.
"I love you Bernard, I do, from the top of my head to the soul of my feet," said Shell.

Mental Disabilities and the Media

This website gives a listing of movies and documentaries that have been found to portray people with physical and mental disabilities. It displays a lot of different stories, such as a father that loses his daughter do to his mental disability and has to battle with child services to get her back, and also a few other romantic stories. The website also lists many other types of genres, such as drama, comedy, and action thrillers

The Ringer

Although this movie doesn't fall under the same category as the other disability and romance movies listed, I figured it did have to do with disability and romance. Johnny Knoxville plays a regular guy that is asked by his uncle to rig the special olympics. He is reluctant to do it at first, but once he sees the girl of his dreams is a mentor at the games, he goes along with the plan. He tries throughout the move to get close to the girl even though he has to act like he's disabled. In the end, of course they fall in love with each other and that's how the movie ends.

The link below lists links to different reviews of the movie.

http://movies.go.com/movies/review?name=ringerthe_2004&genre=comedy&studio=Fox+Searchlight+Pictures

Sex and Disabilities

Many people think that since someone has a disability, that they dont even think about sexual activities. This is completely wrong. Disabled people should be treaten as anyone else on this subject, they should be eduacated the same way as any of us are, and they shouldn't be treated as though they don't even think about sexual activity, or a sex drive.

Here is a site that talks a little about sexual education for disabled teenagers. How parents shouldn't be overprotective and how they should educate their kids as if they were normal.

Sex Education for Physically, Emotionally, and Mentally Challenged Youth

In the movie Pumpkin, there was a scene where Carolyn and Pumpkin spend the night together. When Pumpkin's mom walks into his bedroom and sees Carolyn she tells her that she raped her son. Obviously, she believes that just because Pumpkin is disabled he doesn't have the urge to have sexual relations with another person, which is a myth. "Even today, many people refuse to acknowledge that all people have sexual feelings, needs, and desires, regardless of their physical and/or mental abilities." In the link I provided it explains the way to go about teaching a disabled person about sex education and to help us understand that even though they are disabled they have feelings too.

A Walk In Her Shoes

It is impossible for anyone to feel the pain that people with disabilities go through. Their every day life is a struggle that consisted of painful situations. At the same time they are denied the simple pleasures of life, like love, just because of their disability.
Victoria Lucas shears her struggles and how she found love. Proving to all that there is someone out there for every one.

"Like most teenage girls, I wanted to fit in with the crowd and be like everyone else. I wanted to date boys and gossip with friends about which ones I fancied the most. I wanted to feel the excitement of getting a Valentine's card and trying to guess who it was from. But it just didn't happen. I was the one who didn't get a card."
-Victoria Lucas-

Romance and Disabilities

The issue of romance and people with disabilities is very difficult to address. I found an article on-line which addresses this issue. It explains how teenagers with intellectual disabilites feel about their social development and the struggles they face. A great piece from the article shows how teenagers cope with their situation: "Kaufman adds that, "every teenager thinks no one is ever going to want to be in a relationship with them. Every teenager goes through the stage: No one is ever going to love me. I’m undesirable. I’m not perfect enough. But when a disabled teen has those feelings, they tend to focus in on, ’because of my disability.’"

A Walk to Remember

The movie revolves around the lives of two very different Beaufort High School teenagers: the daughter of a Baptist Minister, Jamie Sullivan and a jaded, aimless high school senior, Landon Carter.
When a prank on a fellow high-school student goes wrong, Landon is punished with mandatory participation in various after-school activities, such as tutoring to younger disadvantaged children at their sister school and acting in the drama club's final production, the spring play. At these functions he is forced to interact with Jamie Sullivan, but does not befriend her immediately. When Landon realizes that he needs help learning his lines for the production, he asks Jamie to assist him. She agrees to help him if he promises not to fall in love with her, to which he responds by saying, "That's not a problem."
Eventually, Landon is intrigued by Jamie's positive attitude, forgiving nature, and overwhelming faith.Landon falls in love with Jamie even though she had previously told him not to. Jamie finally tells Landon that she has terminal leukemia and has stopped responding to treatments. As Jamie is hospitalized, Landon fulfills various wishes on Jamie's "Before I Die" list, such as build her a telescope so she can see a comet. Through this process, Landon and Jamie learn more about nature and love. The movie ends with Jamie's death, but only after the couple are married in the same chapel as was Jamie's deceased mother, the event that topped Jamie's wish list. Landon himself becomes a better person through Jamie's memory, achieving the goals that he set out to do, like she did.
Although Landon knows Jamie will die, he still chooses to love her and get hurt rather than leave her. This is what true love is about, sacrifice.

Attached is a link to one of my favorite clips of "A Walk to Remember".

The Decemberists

Romance/Romantic drama genre could be anything. It doesn't have to be a novel or a movie. A band named "The Decemberists" are especially known for having stories in their songs. Every single song written by Colin Meloy (singer/song writer) has some sort of a plot to it, so one particular, three part song comes in mind when thinking about the romantic genre. The songs are called; "Crane Wife 1 and 2" and "Crane Wife 3", from the "Crane Wife" album. The first two parts of the song talk about how the character of the song and his wife met, how they fell in love and got married (romantic part), and then the third part of the song tells the story of how they broke up (the dramatic part).


I have linked to a page where all the bands lyrics are posted, so you could take a look at it for yourself. Keep in mind that this song isn't the only "romantic/dramatic" song written by this band. I have been listening to these guys for quite some time and I really urge everyone to check them out, I understand that this type of music might not please everyone but maybe some of you will like it.

The Science of Sleep

The Science of Sleep is a great movie by director, Michael Gondry (Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind). The movie is somewhat of a foreign flick. It is mostly English, partially French and somewhat Spanish. The movie is centered around Stephane and his inability to keep his dreams out of his waking life and the trouble it gets him into with love interest Stephanie.

Here is a site with all you need to know about The Science of Sleep.

If you are into creative movies, go see it.

Here is the trailer of the film.

If you happen to check it out, let me know what you think, because the ending was slightly unclear to me.

Ciao!
Anastacia

The Spaghetti Scene

The "Lady and the Tramp" is definitely a cute and romantic movie. It is about two dogs who come from two totally different backgrounds. Lady, a golden cocker spaniel meets up with a scoundrel dog, "The Tramp". She decides to join him and travel. My favorite scene is when the two are being serenaded to and share the same spaghetti noodle.

Check out the link to view the clip.

The Top Romance Films

Romance is considered a dramatic genre. There are hundreds of romance films. Everyone has a different opinion of what the best and worst romance films are. Through vigorous research, I have discovered a list of the best and worst romance films from IMDb.com Some of my favorite romance media productions include Pride and Prejudice, Titanic, Alaadin, Romeo and Juliet, and the Love Is... comic strips. Just in case you are not familiar with the Love Is... comic strips, here is a link to guide you. http://www.comicspage.com/loveis/

Bite the Curb

American History X is a film that has been seen by many people. From all the people I have known that have seen the film are squeamish about a certain scene in particular. You guys know what I am talking about, the "bite the curb" scene.

The movie is based on a small group of neo-Nazis in the late 80's-early 90's. It is about two brothers who share similar values. In the beginning of the film, we see Derek Vinyard spot two black men attempting to steal his car. He goes outside to take care of it by shooting one of the men and having the other "bite the curb."

Here is a site that has everything you need to know about the film. Check it out and enjoy

Keep in mind that this film is centered around racism, particularly towards black and Jewish people.

--Anastacia

Hostel

'Hostel' is rated R for brutal scenes of torture and violence, it also included strong sexual content, language and drug use. This is a very graphic film. I would not recomend anyone with a weak stomach to watch it. Quentin Tarentino is a perfect example of a director who likes violence. It seems that many Tarentino films have graphic violence in them. A few other examples of Tarentino violence is 'Sin City' and 'Kill Bill" Violence and torture films are NOT my favorite!

Violence on TV

Over the years, people have been put to the idea that violence on television creates an influnce on children and how they act. So what happened was a few researches have been taken, each seeing if voilence that took place on tv really did effect childrens personality and how they act.
The page then goes on explaining why exactly shows contain violence. The main reason seems to be because of promotion. With violence in a show, the watchers want to keep watching the show now that the suspense is built up.
Things have been designed to censor tv violence. This includes the V-Chip and a system of ratings that let parents know how "violent" a show is.

The Link below will tell all about the different researches that took place, and go into detail about tv violence and the fixes for it.

Movie Ratings

Movie ratings pertain to violence in films because the ratings advocate the amount of violence, as well as several other factors. This link provided vey interesting information regarding movie ratings. By clicking on the "Questions & Answers" link, you will find a section soley pertaining to information regarding movie ratings. The site also allows you to search various films to determine their rating.