Script Frenzy is proud to have Storyist as a sponsor this year! Take it away, Steve!

Hi Everyone,
I'm Steve Shepard, the developer of Storyist and an avid Script Frenzy participant. April is fast approaching, and like many writers, you're probably trying to decide what software you're going to use this year. Fortunately, you have several good options. So why choose Storyist?

1. So Karyn, you won Script Frenzy last year! What was your favorite thing about the experience?

The thing I look most forward to about Script Frenzy is that it sets a deadline. As someone who's been writing screenplays regularly over the last decade, the actual task of writing is fairly standard for me. But what I absolutely love is knowing that there are a ton of other people doing the same thing at the same time, and that we're all trying to do it in the same time frame.

Now that we've come to the end of Script Frenzy, I wanted to remind all of you who are planning on taking your script to production, about IndieGoGo.

IndieGoGo is a great resource for taking your script to the next stage. They have a "Do It With Others" mentality (a way of reaching out to your fan base for support) that I really love. You can raise money and awareness, find cast and crew, and gain credibility with the help of your number one resource: your fans.

Without further ado, here's the scoop from IndieGoGo:

IndieGoGo is an online social marketplace connecting filmmakers and fans to make independent film happen. The platform provides filmmakers the tools for project funding, recruiting, and promotion, while enabling the audience to discover and connect directly with filmmakers and the causes they support.

Jon, you are a member of the San Francisco Bay Area sketch comedy group Killing My Lobster. (We can't wait to see you perform at our Wrap Party tonight!) Say, what is sketch comedy all about?

That's a tough question to answer briefly, seeing as how we ask ourselves the same question all the time. I think sketch is about distilling a single thought or idea into the simplest or most absurd arc imaginable. It can be a ten-second scene or a ten-minute scene, but I think it takes root in a weird or inspired or silly single thought (a bad example being: all pets look like their owners). Then you try to give that thought an unexpected easily-to-spin-out-of-control execution. Wackidy shmackidy doo!

Where did this name come from? Do you adhere to the flash-freeze-before-boiling approach to cooking crustaceans?

The sad truth is that none of us are super-huge fans of shellfish. Nor have we ever done something as trite as go to Red Lobster together. A distant cousin of mine once taught me how to put a lobster to sleep by turning it over,

Esther, your 2009 Frenzy Script Never the Bride actually started as a five-page script that was then made into a short film and will be submitted to the QWOCMAP SF Queer Women of Color Film Festival in 2010. Can you tell us more about the festival? What was most challenging about expanding your five-pages to a feature-length script?

QWOCMAP (phew, long acronym!) stands for, “Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project.” It’s a non-profit organization founded by Madeline Lim, who aims to

Daniel, your plays are truly inspired (and inspiring) works of art. The latest, Forking, is a choose-your-own-adventure play?!? What is the craziest thing (other than bacon) that you draw inspiration from? I understand that your bacon-reviewing blog is no more; for nostalgia’s sake, can you tell us about the best bacon you ever had? Did your dog agree or disagree with that assessment?

1. Inspiration.

Calling Forking "inspiring" is very generous of you. It did inspire a lot of drinking.

My inspirations are deeply random. I had a short piece that was inspired by that one astronaut who was so jealous of another

Tavia, what is the most surprising thing you've discovered about young scriptwriters these days? Do you think the YWP might be fostering the next Charlie Kaufman or Wes Anderson? What is the zaniest plot idea you’ve heard out of a participant?

Funny you should ask. I actually had the opportunity to meet a classroom full of young scriptwriters this morning at Hayward High School, just a few miles down the road from Script Frenzy HQ. Ms. Daskarolis so graciously allowed Jen Arzt and I to spend an hour with her creative first-time Script Frenzy participants, and it was amazing.

These students were writing everything from teen horrors to workplace romances to vampire mysteries to tear-jerker family dramas to action-packed superhero flicks.

StoryLink is a brilliant screenwriting resource. The website regularly features interviews with industry elite screenwriters. These "Insider Articles" are like having Cameos year round! StoryLink also keeps their subscribers apprised of events and contests, supplying writers with a never-ending store of challenges and inspiration.

Lauren, you make success and brilliant writing seem extremely easy. Can you give us some behind-the-scenes details? What is the most absurd plot twist you ever attempted? Do you have a favorite place to write? Any quirks you care to share? Spill it!

Behind the scenes details? Behind the glamorous life of drinking too much coffee and getting carpal tunnel and getting way to excited about science biographies is... more of the same. Honestly I just love writing; I feel privileged and passionate and, to complete the alliteration, powerful!

Our friends at Final Draft have been extra good to us this year. Not only are the offering Frenzies a discount on their excellent software, Final Draft also donates 15% of those discounted purchases to us. Just use code 8frenz.

Go to https://www.finaldraft.com/specials/ and enter the code 8frenz; you save money and we earn money! But that isn't the only reason we love them.

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