Mooks in the Movies

Great News for Screenwriters

2010-08-13T07:23:00.000-07:00

Hey folks, long time no blog right. Truth be told, that might not be a bad thing. Shane and I have been beating up on a new screenplay and it has been keeping us very busy. I noticed that I hadn’t blogged in a while and decided to make myself sort of a schedule that will split up my creative time a bit. I’ll be able to continue writing and to continue blogging as well. One really should write at least something every day after all.

“That’s great Mook, but what is the great news?”

I was blown away by a couple of new things that Ashley Scott Myers is doing over at his Selling your Screenplay blog, and felt the need to help promote one of our mentors.

Ashley is starting Screenwriting Forum. It is going to be a member’s only forum that will allow you to break down into small groups of writers and help each other out.

Inside the forum we will be creating writer’s groups where you can share your work and critique other people’s work within a small group of other writers. Reading other writer’s material and getting feedback on your own is a key ingredient to growing and improving as a writer.

Space for that is limited though, so get on over and sign up for Ashley’s mailing list. Ashley is a great guy and is always ready to answer questions. While you’re there, make sure to check out his Query Letter Submission Service. Also, make sure to just read through Ashley's blog, there is so much amazing and helpful information there for new writers.

Indy Feature Friday: Joe Burke

2010-07-24T07:47:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm a day late, but never a dollar short! This week I want to spotlight a very talented and creative person. I found Joe Burke a couple of years ago whilst I was surfing through youtube. I watched all of the short films he had posted there in a single night. He literally made me laugh one minute and cry the next. The range of work he has posted is just amazing. You can find his youtube channel right here! Make sure to watch "Clifford's Sovereignty", "Disturbance 2013", and "Kev's Date". Those are my three favorites.

Joe graduated from Columbia College Chicago with a B.A. in Film & a Minor in Theater/Acting in 2006. In 2009 he graduated from the American Film Institute Conservatory with a MFA in directing. He lives in Los Angeles and is currently writing a new feature length screenplay. You can check out his official website at www.joeburke.net.

Joe recently completed NO DEAL, which is an 8 minute comedy starring three terrific actors - Michael Stahl-David (Cloverfield), Ari Graynor (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Youth In Revolt, etc.) and Keir O'donnell (Wedding Crashers, Paul Blart Mall Cop). We just finished the film and are now entering the film festival circuit. I wrote and produced the film with Michael Stahl-David.

The official No Deal website is www.nodealthemovie.com, drop by and check it out folks!

Welcome to our new Mooks!

2010-07-22T08:05:00.000-07:00

Hi there folks!
Guess what?! We have added two new members to our writing team! Matt Broughton and Josh Chitty joined us after much begging and pestering! These are two very talented writers that are also great friends of Shane and mine. They will be helping us with a few projects that are already in the works. We'll be working with them on their projects as well. This is very exciting news for us, as it means that instead of just one finished screenplay and two or three projects, we have one finished screenplay and now around seven or eight projects!

Good news on the Plateye end too! We started shopping our screenplay out big time yesterday. We've got twelve query letters floating around out there now. This is the hard part. Everybody in the blogosphere will tell you that this stage is where you get discouraged, where your sanity starts slipping away, and where you won't have much luck. I disagree completely. Both Shane and I felt rejuvenated and refreshed when we sent those query letters out. I have nothing but positive feelings about this. I am ready to see our movie made, and to watch it on the big screen (or direct to DVD... hint hint 8 Films to die for!)

I'm going to turn things over to the two new additions for a couple of posts and let them introduce themselves to you fine folks!

New Feature and News!

2010-07-08T08:22:00.000-07:00

After watching and speaking with another aspiring filmmaker this week, I have decided that we will be doing a new weekly feature here on the blog. So, to help spread the positive energy of success around, we'll have a spotlight on independent films every Friday. This feature will focus on films (short and feature length) and the artists behind those films. Look forward to seeing our first one this Friday!

In other news, the Mooks have added a new writer to our team. This week, we signed on Joshua Chitty as sort of a staff writer/idea guy. Josh will have his own feature this coming week, so that you can all get to know him. He has already started working with us on a fresh romantic comedy idea of his. That makes four new projects that we are currently working on now. I think we'll finish those out first, then move on to some more. We are also working on signing on a fourth member to our team as well. There will be more on that as it happens.

~Curt

And the Winner is...

2010-06-21T07:17:00.000-07:00

A while back, B. Miller had a contest on her blog. I promised that I would name a character in one of our screenplays after the winner. Well, it is now time (actually past time) for me to name the winner!

Karen Gowen, author of Farm Girl and Uncut Diamonds won the contest, and has thereby won our contest as well! Not only is Karen a published author, but she is also an avid blogger. She currently maintains two blogs. Coming Down the Mountain: From Reclusive Writer to Published Author is her writing, editing, and publishing blog and From the Shadows to the Page is a blog that focuses on writing from life. Karen is also an editor for WiDo Publishing.

This awesomely positive and busy lady had a brilliant idea as far as her prize from us. Instead of naming a character after her or one of her characters, she asked that we do a bit of product placement! So, since we are going back over "Plateye" this week and making a few changes, we'll be writing a scene with Gina (our female lead) reading a copy of Uncut Diamonds, Karen's very own book!

We already have some nifty little elements in "Plateye", like a character wearing a "Notafinga" T-Shirt. "Notafinga" is the name of the band that Shane and I have been playing around as. Not that we actually play shows or anything, we just tool around with various instruments and write sometimes goofy songs.

Thanks Karen for being such an awesome person and for having such a great idea!

Issues and Subsriptions

2010-06-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

Hiya folks!

I wanted to start off by saying thanks for all the new followers and support. Congrats also to the winner of B. Miller's blog contest! I'll be adding a post very soon with more details on that.

The Mooks also wanted you to know what has been going on with us. Yes, I know, there haven't been any new updates in a while. Shane and I are in a new place. Yup, we moved in together in order to relieve some of the stress of our lives and to make writing together a LOT easier.

So, for the first week or so, our internet has been down. We are now up and operational on that front. We are still getting things together at the house, but that wont stop us from updating and writing. This has also been a long couple of weeks as far as other issues.

We have a friend getting married tomorrow, and both the Mooks are part of the wedding party. The bachelor party was a couple of weekends ago, and we have other fun preparations to get handled as well.

You folks can expect us to get right back on track this coming week though, so continue to bear with us until then.

Thanks,
Curtis Hart & Shane McElveen
"The Mooks"

Paying it Forward

2010-05-14T22:30:00.000-07:00

Hi there folks!

I wanted to take a bit of time to tell you about some serious coolness. Our wonderfully awesome and amazing friend B. Miller is running a contest on her blog, B. Miller Fiction, to celebrate having 100 followers! Make sure to click that link and take a look. In fact, and to be much more precise, CLICK THIS LINK That will take you straight to the contest post and rules.

To sweeten the pot, I am offering this. In addition to the sweetness of her prizes, we Mooks will name a character in one of our screenplays after the winner! You heard it right folks! Now, with respect to people's privacy, we will handle that this way:

We can name the character using your first name, screen name, or just a name you really like. We will also post a link to the winner's preferred media here on our blog as well. So, if you are the winner, you get your name used in one of our screenplays, and we will announce you as the winner, with a link to your blog, website, whatever!

And, as Becky is one heck of an inspiration to both Shane and me, we will be running contests as well. More than likely, when we have 50 followers, then 100, then we'll start making stuff up :)

Plateye

2010-05-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

Now that we have our first screenplay finished and registered, we would like to share the logline and synopsis with you. If you would like to know more, or are interested in purchasing or optioning our screenplay, please contact me at hart.curt{at}gmail.com or Shane at shanemcelveen{at}gmail.com.

A motley crew of teenagers search for confederate gold guarded by the undead of Gullah legend. Will they survive the murderous vengeance of the Plateye?

"PLATEYE"
Synopsis by
Shane McElveen and Curt Hart

"Plateye" is a tale of southern-fried horror with a side of teenage angst. It is based on the Gullah legend of the Plateye- an undead servant created from sacrificed slaves. Plateye is the story of Shaun Whately, a goth kid from New York, who finds himself growing up in a very unfamiliar Southern culture.

Shaun and his family soon meet the colorful residents of the rural Southern town of Beulah. Residents who may know than they are letting on about the wicked slave owner, John Hatchet and his dark secrets. Unfortunately for Shaun, his new home is a creepy old plantation house full of those secrets; the same plantation house that once belonged to Hatchet.

When Shaun unwittingly discovers Hatchet's journal, the stage is set for Shaun and his new found cohorts to search for a legendary hoard of Confederate gold, stolen by Hatchet himself. Little does Shaun know that a sinister surprise lies in wait for him and his reluctant group of friends as they near Hatchet's trove. For the very slave that carried Hatchet's gold into the secret swamp cave are the same angry spiritis that murderously guard it to this day.

A Few Things

2010-05-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a few things to help out some of the future filmmakers, like ourselves, out there. The first is this characterization post that looks like might wind up being a several part post just in itself. You can look for the first part coming this week finally. I make no excuses for it not being posted already. I started writing down my ideas for the post, then got to thinking about what other folks thought. We Mooks know a great deal of talented writers. So, I wanted to include their ideas in order to broaden the spectrum for you, our readers. I know you folks will really enjoy the characterization series once it come out.

The second thing I have done is set up a Youtube channel for Mooks in the Movies. You wont find any videos by us there yet. What you will find are a few really good playlists. Well, I think they are pretty good. There is a playlist that covers IndyFilms that have been released on Youtube, mostly shorts, but still some pretty amazing stuff.

We have a playlist for Do it yourself special FX. Hopefully that one will inspire some of you folks in your own movie making process. These special fx are all done on the cheap and provided by Indy Mogul. These guys are silly and funny, but VERY talented.

The third playlist is also provided by Indy Mogul. It covers some filming tips and tricks. So far, I have some really good and cheap camera accessory builds there and even a cheap green screen.

My intention is to help inspire you future filmmakers. I figure that if you can see us go through the scripting process, and then see how you can low budget your own films as well, that we could help you make your own movies! Look at some of the stuff coming out of Hollywood right now... It needs new blood and new life. The entertainment industry needs new, inventive, and original ideas.

Also, take a look over at Curt's Links and Shane's Links. Yeah, pretty much your standard social networking stuff. Subscribe! Join! Think about how many friends you have. Now, if you sent a link to each one of them telling them all about your new short film, or even full length feature how many more viewers and fans would you have? What happens when they send that link to their friends? What happens when some celebrity sees that on twitter, watches it, and enjoys it? Do you see where I am going with this? There are thousands of stories about how some regular Joe got his start on Youtube, or was discovered on Twitter.

Just to recap, take a look at the sidebar and follow us on twitter or Plurk. You can friend us on Facebook, just make sure to include a personal message telling us you came in from Mooks in the Movies. Go take a look at our YouTube channel and subscribe.

Oh yeah, it would help if I told you our Youtube channel is right here http://www.youtube.com/moviemook1

We are Winners!

2010-04-29T10:53:00.000-07:00

After much working, Shane and I have finished our first script. This first script was for www.scriptfrenzy.org which is the script version of Nanowrimo. 100 pages done in 30 days was the goal. Admittedly we were a bit slack and got a pretty late start. If we had gone by the "schedule" we should have already had around 60 pages done by the time we started. Nevertheless, we decided that we would not rush things. Both of us felt that if we did rush, then our script would feel rushed and not be as good as it could be. Of course, we did still want to meet the deadline and be all super cool as well.

Guess what?

We are actually ahead of the deadline and are finished! We even got this super cool winner badge that I will be adding right over there --->

Now, I feel it only right to thank folks. I know, there is no Academy Award to be accepted at this moment, but there will be, you can bank on that folks.

Thanks to my best friend and brother, Shane McElveen, for keeping us motivated and being one positive dude. Thanks to all you wonderful folks that believe in us and love us unconditionally and without question. I would list names, but I fear that I might forget some. Your thoughts, energies, prayers, and faith helped us so much.

Keep all that support coming, we still need it :)

NOTE: I am still working on that promised post. It went from being just a quick post about characterization, to a full fledged article with several writers giving their opinions. It should wind up being quite a resource.

The First Post Boogie

2010-04-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

Hi there folks! Welcome to Mooks in the movies! What movies are we in? Umm... none, yet. Shane and I just started writing our first script though. We decided to start off with something that was near and dear to both of us. Well, two things really; The South and horror movies.

Both of us are from South Carolina, and both of us love it here. We also both love horror movies. So, we decided that not only would we set our movie in the South, we would base it on an old Southern legend. An old Geechie and Gullah legend to be more precise. Our movie takes place, respectively, in the new South and the old South. Not only was our original idea to scare the crap out of you, but also to tear apart a lot of assumptions that some people have about this area of America and her people.

We started the idea some months back with a, "Hey, you know what you don't see in modern horror?". Then, we let the idea simmer for a bit. Another of our goals with this movie is to strike out against conventional, modern horror. Slasher, or torture flicks have replaced true striking terror and creeping fear with their gore infested blades, and both of us, like a lot of you, are more than tired of the same old plot with different actors trying to top each other for gore content.

Will our movie have gore? Well, yes, of course it will. Will it be the buckets of blood over the top crap that most people have come to expect from horror movies? Not at all!

To fill you in just a bit more, we are now at around 50% done with the initial script. I'm not going to say a whole lot about the plot of our movie, we want it to be a surprise after all. What you can expect is to read all about our adventures in screenwriting though. We do, in fact, have ideas still simmering about other movies, and no, they are not all horror movies. So, you'll be able to walk beside us as we write, conceptualize, and have a great time doing something that we love to do.

We hope that you, our readers, will get inspired to write your own movies too. We will, in future posts, be asking for reader response on certain topics. You will, hopefully, get a general idea of what is involved in the screen writing process, the selling of scripts, the talks with agents, and all sorts of other things. If we can do it, so can you!

We have some links added on the sidebar to some books that have been recommended to us by several folks, you will also be able to follow us on Plurk, Twitter, and Facebook. We might even do a few video chats, and hopefully some interviews and talks with some recognizable names, and all the while; getting ourselves into a business that we have loved since we could sit upright!

In the meantime, you folks stay positive and keep us in your thoughts and prayers! When we make it, you can say "I know those two mooks!"

Random: A Perfect Introduction to Shane's Mind

2010-04-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

Hi. I'm Shane, the other mook who will be updating this blog. I want to tell you folks a really short story about my day, but first let me rewind to last night in the A.M.

Before I went to bed, I checked my bank account and saw, to my chagrin, that some assclown had used my bank card number/PIN to make some debit purchases at a few gas stations in Florida. (If you're watching, Mr. Assclown, I want you to know that there is now a case number open on you.) That's right, this morning I woke up, had my bank card cancelled by my very helpful bank (First Reliance) and filed a police report. The Florence Co. Sherriff's Office was incredibly helpful, and quickly dispatched a very friendly officer to my house to take my report.

I just wanted to say here that I could have stayed up all night worrying. I know this because the last time this happened to me (last year), I did. Now maybe the incidents of last year's attempted robbery of my monetary assets - and the gathered knowledge that I acquired from that terrible experience - prepared me enough for this that I was able to be calm this time. Probably. I like to think that my current work on being positive helped as well.

In any case, I got a great night's sleep and handled things as quickly as possible this morning.

"What the hell does any of this have to do with writing movie scripts?", you may ask. Well, first off, I didn't let it stop me. In fact, after writing a little every day for a month, I'm finding that writing is becoming the addiction that I always wanted it to become. In fact it became a catharsis to focus my frustration and fears into. Sort of a flame to help burn off my negativity and transfer it into something positive for me. Negative potential energy into positive kinetic energy, maybe?

And now, friends and neighbors, Curtis and I are 60% done with our first script.

Never let the bastards hold you down. Ever.

"Have humility with your creativity and grace with your success." - Quincy Jones