Opportunities: Cinequest Screenwriting Competition

Cinequest Screenwriting Competition, held in conjunction with the Cinequest Film Festival (February 28-March 11, 2012), is accepting submissions. ELIGIBILITY: The competition is open to screenplays of all genres and lengths up to 140 pages that have not been optioned, purchased, produced, or put into production. Scripts should be in English, properly formatted, and submitted in PDF format. Scripts written as adaptations of other works must have secured rights before being submitted. Entry fee $45-65. AWARDS: Finalists receive non-cash prizes, including exposure to literary agents, film studios, and producers. Top prize is $5,000. DEADLINE: September 26, 2011 (early); October 17, 2011 (late). WEBSITE: cinequest.org/sp_agent.php.

The Facts Behind Great Fiction

The path to authentic storytelling lies in research.

The Facts Behind Great Fiction

The path to authentic storytelling lies in research.

The Facts Behind Great Fiction

The path to authentic storytelling lies in research.

Guy Maddin: Ann Savage and the Osmonds

Guy Maddin talks about movies, writing, himself—and the allure of the Osmonds, re-published on the occasion of Fandor's Maddin blogathon.

Guy Maddin: Ann Savage and the Osmonds

Guy Maddin talks about movies, writing, himself—and the allure of the Osmonds, re-published on the occasion of Fandor's Maddin blogathon.

SFFS Announces Winners of Spring 2011 SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants

The San Francisco Film Society and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation today announced the five winners and two honorable mentions of the fifth round of SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants. The grants are awarded twice annually to filmmakers for narrative feature films with social justice themes that will have significant economic or professional impact on the Bay Area filmmaking community. Between 2009 and 2013 the SFFS/KRF Filmmaking Grants will award nearly $2.5 million, including a total of $788,000 already awarded in the first five grant rounds.

Carlton Evans and Matthew Lessner (Ross), $50,000 for screenwriting; Aurora Guerrero (Mosquita y Mari), $88,000 for postproduction; Adam Keker (National Park), $35,000 for screenwriting; Timothy Kelly (The Cherokee Word for Water), $75,000 for production; Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of a Southern Wild), $55,000 for postproduction. Honorable Mentions went to: John Dilly (Rubbish), development and Ian Olds (The Western Habit), screenwriting. More at sffs.org.

What’s So Bleeping Funny?!

Placing well-timed humor in a documentary film can be a great way to open minds.

What’s So Bleeping Funny?!

Placing well-timed humor in a documentary film can be a great way to open minds.

What’s So Bleeping Funny?!

Placing well-timed humor in a documentary film can be a great way to open minds.

McDonagh Finds Success in Family Path with 'The Guard'

John Michael McDonagh's first feature echos the blackly comedic tenor of his ('In Bruges') brother Martin's oeuvre.

McDonagh Finds Success in Family Path with 'The Guard'

John Michael McDonagh's first feature echos the blackly comedic tenor of his ('In Bruges') brother Martin's oeuvre.

McDonagh Finds Success in Family Path with 'The Guard'

John Michael McDonagh's first feature echos the blackly comedic tenor of his ('In Bruges') brother Martin's oeuvre.

Avoiding Turbulence Leads to Plot Trouble

Note to screenwriters: Don’t defeat the promise of your story by pulling your punches.

Avoiding Turbulence Leads to Plot Trouble

Note to screenwriters: Don’t defeat the promise of your story by pulling your punches.

Avoiding Turbulence Leads to Plot Trouble

Note to screenwriters: Don’t defeat the promise of your story by pulling your punches.

Production Values: Michael Whalen

Whalen speaks from experience on the importance of story and drama in nonfiction filmmaking.

Production Values: Michael Whalen

Whalen speaks from experience on the importance of story and drama in nonfiction filmmaking.

Production Values: Michael Whalen

Whalen speaks from experience on the importance of story and drama in nonfiction filmmaking.

Bold Moves, Peril Define Great Third Acts

The best advice for creating the perfect Act III? Surprise yourself.

Bold Moves, Peril Define Great Third Acts

The best advice for creating the perfect Act III? Surprise yourself.

Bold Moves, Peril Define Great Third Acts

The best advice for creating the perfect Act III? Surprise yourself.

Frank Pierson, 'These Amazing Shadows' Offer Inspiration

Screenwriter Frank Pierson talks production at SFIFF54; Bay Area-made 'These Amazing Shadows' screens after the Festival closes.

Frank Pierson, 'These Amazing Shadows' Offer Inspiration

Screenwriter Frank Pierson talks production at SFIFF54; Bay Area-made 'These Amazing Shadows' screens after the Festival closes.

Frank Pierson, 'These Amazing Shadows' Offer Inspiration

Screenwriter Frank Pierson talks production at SFIFF54; Bay Area-made 'These Amazing Shadows' screens after the Festival closes.

Film Society Awards Night Shines Light on ’70s, City

Beginnings, endings and the dazzling cinema in between honored in SFFS's annual awards show.

Film Society Awards Night Shines Light on ’70s, City

Beginnings, endings and the dazzling cinema in between honored in SFFS's annual awards show.

Film Society Awards Night Shines Light on ’70s, City

Beginnings, endings and the dazzling cinema in between honored in SFFS's annual awards show.

54th San Francisco International Film Festival Will Present Founder’s Directing Award to Oliver Stone

Press release: The San Francisco Film Society announced today that Oliver Stone will be the recipient of the Founder’s Directing Award at the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21–May 5). The FDA will be presented to Stone at Film Society Awards Night, Thursday, April 28 at Bimbo’s 365 Club. The Film Society’s Youth Education program will be the beneficiary of the fundraiser honoring Stone. The soon-to-be-announced recipient of the Peter J. Owens Award for excellence in acting and Frank Pierson, recipient of the Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting will also be honored. More at sffs.org.

Poetry in Motion: Working in Action

Build an action picture with a poor script? At your own risk.

Poetry in Motion: Working in Action

Build an action picture with a poor script? At your own risk.

Poetry in Motion: Working in Action

Build an action picture with a poor script? At your own risk.

Sundance Awards 'Circumstance,' 'Another Happy Day'

Ten days of audience voting and jury contemplation lead to a barrel of awards for directors, writers.

Sundance Awards 'Circumstance,' 'Another Happy Day'

Ten days of audience voting and jury contemplation lead to a barrel of awards for directors, writers.

Sundance Awards 'Circumstance,' 'Another Happy Day'

Ten days of audience voting and jury contemplation lead to a barrel of awards for directors, writers.

Sundance Awards 'Circumstance,' 'Another Happy Day'

Ten days of audience voting and jury contemplation lead to a barrel of awards for directors, writers.

Sundance Awards 'Circumstance,' 'Another Happy Day'

Ten days of audience voting and jury contemplation lead to a barrel of awards for directors, writers.

Sundance Awards 'Circumstance,' 'Another Happy Day'

Ten days of audience voting and jury contemplation lead to a barrel of awards for directors, writers.

Sundance Awards 'Circumstance,' 'Another Happy Day'

Ten days of audience voting and jury contemplation lead to a barrel of awards for directors, writers.

Sundance Awards 'Circumstance,' 'Another Happy Day'

Ten days of audience voting and jury contemplation lead to a barrel of awards for directors, writers.

SFFS Announces Winner of Screenwriting Grant

Press release: The San Francisco Film Society announced today that Eric Escobar has been selected to receive this year's SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant for the continuing development of his script, East County. The $15,000 grant is given to support the work of a mid-career American screenwriter. More at SFFS.

Writing Screenplays Is not Painting by Numbers

When structuring a screenplay, sometimes you need to leave the "advice" behind.

Writing Screenplays Is not Painting by Numbers

When structuring a screenplay, sometimes you need to leave the "advice" behind.

Writing Screenplays Is not Painting by Numbers

When structuring a screenplay, sometimes you need to leave the "advice" behind.

San Francisco Film Society Announces Finalists for SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant

Press release: The San Francisco Film Society announced today the finalists and honorable mention for the second SFFS/Hearst Screenwriting Grant. The grant of $15,000 will be awarded to a mid-career screenwriter who has been a practicing writer for at least five years and who has previously written a minimum of one feature screenplay. Finalists are Topaz Adizes, Eric Escobar, Brent Hoff, Roja Gashtili, Maryam Keshavarz, Beverly Kopf and Bobbi Birleffi, Paul Lobo Portuges, David Munro, Jennifer Phang and Dominac Mah. Honorable mention went to Richard Strasser. More at sffs.org.

Eat, Pray, Love, Direct

Ruba Nadda speaks of sultry actors and tenacious directors in the making of 'Cairo Time.'

Eat, Pray, Love, Direct

Ruba Nadda speaks of sultry actors and tenacious directors in the making of 'Cairo Time.'

Eat, Pray, Love, Direct

Ruba Nadda speaks of sultry actors and tenacious directors in the making of 'Cairo Time.'

Of Longing and Laforgue

A filmmaker offers a script excerpt in appreciation of Jules Laforgue on the 150th anniversary of his birth.

Of Longing and Laforgue

A filmmaker offers a script excerpt in appreciation of Jules Laforgue on the 150th anniversary of his birth.

Of Longing and Laforgue

A filmmaker offers a script excerpt in appreciation of Jules Laforgue on the 150th anniversary of his birth.

Subtext: Catching the Drift Beneath the Dialogue

Memorable lines of dialogue are like the tips of icebergs, floating above vast, submerged mountains of character history, and more.

Subtext: Catching the Drift Beneath the Dialogue

Memorable lines of dialogue are like the tips of icebergs, floating above vast, submerged mountains of character history, and more.

Subtext: Catching the Drift Beneath the Dialogue

Memorable lines of dialogue are like the tips of icebergs, floating above vast, submerged mountains of character history, and more.

San Francisco Habitue John Waters Offers Role Models

With a new book, gallery exhibition, appearances on local radio and stages, John Waters is quickly becoming a Bay Area fixture, a welcome addition to the film and cultural landscape.

Thinking Like a Screenwriter for your Documentary

Moving past genre distinctions may help some filmmakers find the best dramatic arc and the most powerful truths.

SFIFF53 Reports: James Schamus, Roger Ebert and the Writing Life

Few would argue that a good movie often starts with a good story. Yet it has been the screenwriter s lot to be underappreciated.

SFIFF53 Reports: California Dreamin' at Film Society Awards Night

San Francisco itself took a lead role at Film Society Awards Night, the dinner and awards program benefiting the Film Society s year-round Youth Education initiative.

Childhood's Richness on Film

When a child assumes center stage on film, the potential for both thematic richness and unexpected plot directions increases exponentially.

New Social Issue Dramas from Rainin Grant-Winners

The scoop on the projects of the inaugural class for the SFFS/Kenneth Rainin Foundation Filmmaking Grants, which support lively, intelligent social-issue narrative films.

Carmen Madden on Watching People, Writing Characters

Writer/director Carmen Madden's writing reflects just how intimately she comes to see and know a screenplay's world and the characters that inhabit it.

Dave Eggers, Spike Jonze and 'Wild Things'

Where the Wild Things Are is directed by Spike Jonze from a screenplay by Jonze and Bay Area–based writer Dave Eggers, based on the classic 1963 picture book by Maurice Sendak.

Christopher Upham Back to 'Dakto,' Vietnam

The writer has had ample opportunity in the last 40 years to come to terms with his stint as an ambulance driver and medic.

The Importance of Supporting Characters

Beyond Words: The people who back up the main character are often key sources of revelation, unmasking aspects of personality, motivation and backstory.

Understanding Backstory

Behind any narrative for the screen is the story that came before it—the life that shaped the central character, who arrives fully formed as your story opens

Berkeley-based writer Barry Gifford's wild screen-rides

A peripatetic childhood laid fertile ground for the heated imagination of Berkeley-based author Barry Gifford, who has written Wild at Heart and Lost Highway. 

Beyond Words: Comedy That Sticks

What's the key to writing comedy that sticks with us, despite perhaps an overblown story line or how lost and low-down the characters seem at the time?

The Hero, Deconstructed

Beyond Words: Linda Rosenberg explores the transformation of the contemporary film hero in Doubt and In Bruges.

Growing a Good Story, Naturally

Ask the Documentary Doctor: If my doc doesn't follow a fiction three-act model, will it fail in the market?

Case Studies in Screenwriting: Pam Gray

Sebastopol-based screenwriter Pamela Gray's approach to screenwriting is the literary equivalent of the slow food movement.

Case Studies in Screenwriting: Pam Gray

Sebastopol-based screenwriter Pamela Gray's approach to screenwriting is the literary equivalent of the slow food movement.

The Dimensions of Dialogue

Beyond Words: Skillful dialogue on film can achieve a structural dimension that shapes the narrative as surely as plot does.

Q&A: Alex Rivera, 'Sleep Dealer'

Rivera's debut centers on a young man grappling with a technological future in which neural implants, telerobotics and ubiquitous computing serve a global economy.

Capelle on Composers: Back to Back

Back to music.

I have some friends that were in a Sub Pop band that pre-dated Nirvana. They were known as the Dwarves. Their music is and was a snotty suburban unholy mixture of the Sonics, the Orlons, the Stooges and a vat of amphetamines. Their record covers usually featured midgets and half-naked woman covered in either blood or some sort of Nestle syrup of some sort. Here is one of their lines.

[Editor’s note: For the San Francisco International’s 51st edition, SF360.org has asked Bay Area musician/composer/cineaste Marc Capelle to blog his thoughts on movies, music, and the films showing in the Festival. This is the third of three installments.]

L.Q. Jones Talks Dogs and Cult Movies

The list of talking dog movies is long and storied, but one stands head and forelocks above the others: A Boy and His Dog.

"2 Days in Paris" with Julie Delpy

Delpy, who studied film at NYU in the early '90s, spoke fluent, rapid-fire English during a late-July visit to San Francisco.

Michael Arndt, Little Mr. Sunshine

The Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Little Miss Sunshine made a Cody's San Francisco bookstore appearance promoting the publication of the shooting script.

A Royal Family

It's a big week for Peter Morgan, partly because the SFFS announced he'll receive the Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting at the 50th SFIFF.

Von Donnersmarck's Oscar-nominated "The Lives of Others"

Von Donnersmarck talks about his Lola-winning and Oscar-nominated debut during a visit to San Francisco.

Truman Capote , 1974

A visit to the 50th anniversary portion of San Francisco Film Society’s web site nets not just the real Truman Capote candidly essaying on life and the movies in a 1974 visit to the SF International Film Festival.

Opening "Red Doors" in Asian American Family

Filmmaker Georgia Lee discusses her narrative feature with family member Frances Chang.

Ryan Fleck: Wrestling with 'Half Nelson'

Ryan Fleck talks about his new film Half Nelson, his filmmaking career, and his creative inspirations and tastes.

Screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga on the Weight of Words

Arriaga, who authored Amores Perros, 21 Grams, and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, discusses working in collaboration and across mediums.

"Full Grown Men" On the Road

David Munro and Xandra Castleton speak about making their indie Full Grown Men and taking it to the Tribeca Film Festival.

David Kipen Posits New Auteur Theory

A conversation with David Kipen about his book, The Schreiber Theory, which reclaims the contribution of screenwriters to motion pictures.