The ISA Podcast

In this podcast, Laura speaks with television writer and producer Steven Long Mitchell. He was born and raised in New Orleans, by a family so dysfunctional it would have driven Tennessee Williams to drink even more, Steven is best known as the Emmy Award nominated Writer and Executive Producer of Tin Man, the highest rated miniseries in the history of the SyFy Channel and Co-Creator/Executive Producer of the hit cult classic TV show The Pretender and many others. He is currently developing two new - top secret televisions series that he will neither confirm or deny the existence of. Feel free to contact him through his website [email protected] and/or follow him on twitter @pretendersteve. For more information on Laura and her writing and podcasting, you can go to her website www.laurapowers.net. You can also find her on facebook via Write Hot and follow her on twitter @thatlaurapowers.

Episode 15:

In this interview, Laura talks with Madeleine Holly-Rosing, writer and creator of the steampunk comic,Boston Metaphysical Society. The comic takes place in the late 1800s Boston. Though people may not think of them that way, comic books are sequential art. There are artists that are great at pinups and do posters but not have the skills to tell a story. Madelein's suggestions if you are interested in starting your own comic is to read indie comics. They key is to find the right artist. Art draws you in but the story makes you stay with the comic. She suggests going to meetups and connecting others in the industry through friends. Go to comic cons, meet artist, post on comic Facebook groups connecting comic artists and creators. Once you connect with an artist, you should have a contract with a page rate $50 to 300 a page depending on experience. Madeleine met a colorist through a mutual friend and she uses Indonesia Color Labs. She raised the funds through a combination of self-funding and Kickstarter. You will also need an Inker for the cover and she opted not to internally. In terms of where to start, go with a premise first and then start with the characters that work within that premise to create the story with the characters. Build bios and spend a lot of time on them. Then do a page breakdown, take a scene and break it down into pages. 22 pages fits in standard comic length; Boston metaphysical is 132 page graphic novel broken into 6 comic books. A full screenplay, lends itself well into graphic novel. If you are new to comics and graphic novels, Madeleine suggests familiarizing yourself with people and creators, get to know comics out there and go to classes. She started doing reviews for fan-based press and this is a great way to get to know the medium. She noted that good lettering is really important. Bad lettering can really bring you down. Madeleine goes to 10-15 cons a year. She also suggested different cons to go to and how to make your con a successful experience. Interestingly, she pointed out that Kickstarter is one of the main publishers of independent comics. For more information on Boston Metaphysical Society, you can go to http://bostonmetaphysicalsociety.com/. You can also find updates on the podcast by following the Write Hot Podcast on Facebook and follow laura on twitter @thatlaurapowers. For more information on Laura, you can go to www.laurapowers.net to find out information on Laura's psychic work, you can find her at www.healingpowers.net.

Episode 14: International Screenwriters' Association and Max Timm

In this interview, Laura talks with Max Timm, Director of Community Outreach with the International Screenwriters Association and the Author of the new book The WishKeeper. Laura and Max met at the Nashville Writers Conference when Laura pitched her supernatural screenplay to him. Max also hosts a podcast for writers that is featured on the ISA podcast page called, The Craft. ISA is a resource for creators on all sides with a screenwriter angles. It's a website resource for all aspects of the screenwriting including podcasts, job listings, trainings, and more. We also discussed Laura's other work as a psychic and how she got her start, as well as some of the strange experiences that Laura has as a psychic. If you are curious about her other work then his is a great interview to listen to! You can connect with Max and learn about his new book at www.wishkeeperbook.com. The WishKeeper won the Young Adult categor at the 2015 Los Angeles Book Festival.

To connect with the International Screenwriters Association at www.networkisa.org. If you want more information on Laura Powers, you can go to her website www.laurapowers.net. You can also find updates on the podcast by following the Write Hot Podcast on Facebook and follow laura on twitter @thatlaurapowers too. If you are curious and want to learn more about Laura's psychic work, you can read her new book Diary of a Psychic on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Laura-Powers/e/B009HW4YRW

Happy fall, everyone! It's October, the air has a little chill to it, even if you're in Los Angeles, the baseball playoffs are under way and my Cubs just won the first game of the National League Division Series and I'm happy. For those of you who don't care about baseball, well... I'll keep my comments to myself and instead focus on why this podcast episode does have a connection to the changing of the seasons.

The holiday season is officially upon us and what naturally comes with the holiday season is a tendency to wish a little more, dream a little more, and reflect on what you have and what you don't. The healthy approach here is to not focus on the lack, but to focus on how to fill in the little gaps, those little empty spaces of your life, with what you want. And since this is a podcast on writing, and since you're listening right now, I can assume that you have the intention of being a working, full-time writer in this industry; to have your projects not only find representation and a champion, but to make it to the big or small screen. The comfort, for me anyway, when I think about this wish and intention to work as a full-time writer is in the knowing that we're all in this together. Even if you're already a full-time working writer, your intention is to keep it that way! So we're all in this together, and we all have the same wish, and like I said, the holiday season tends to bring about those hopes and wishes even more.

SYS Episode #140

Dan Benamor

“The Girl on the Train” isn’t quite the thrill ride it should be.

British author Paula Hawkins’ 2015 page turner gets the big screen treatment this year with top-notch talent above and below the line. So, why isn’t the movie version of “The Girl on the Train” as successful as the taut psychological thriller it was adapted from? For starters, Erin Cressida Wilson’s script cannot recreate the book’s first person narratives so she instead relies on simply transferring the rather obvious whodunit straight to the screen. The film also doesn’t expand or deepen the mystery with better red herrings than in Hawkins’ original prose. Finally, despite an able cast headed by Emily Blunt, and directed by Tate Taylor, the characters for the most part remain two-dimensional. A film is not a book after all, and this adaptation needed to be more than just a faithful recreation of the storyline to quicken the pulse of the movie-going audience.

I’m finally back with an interview for Curious About Screenwriting! I know, I’ve been lagging behind and it’s been a bit since I’ve presented interviews in our regular series here, but I’m very happy to have brought on writer/director, Nadia Litz. Her recent feature release, The People Garden, is well worth the viewing and we dig in to a lot of the behind scenes details on what it took to make and release the film. The reason I enjoy bringing on writer/directors like Nadia is because of the level of inherent inspiration that comes along with it. She’s in the trenches and she’s doing what she loves, finding ways to reveal her voice to the industry at large, and really, she isn’t any different then you listening right now. The steps she took to produce and release her recent film are available to you, but the distinct difference and what helps set Nadia apart is her understanding of self and why she’s doing what she’s doing. There is no greater or more important practice in this entertainment industry than working on developing your voice, your uniqueness, and how you fit within this giant world of movies and screenwriting. Nadia is well on her way and it was great having her on.

In terms of future episodes of Curious About Screenwriting and the reason why I’ve been a bit slower to release podcast episodes – including my solo series called The Craft – is because the ISA and I have been launching a ton of new resources for writers. We recently had our Story Weekend of seminars and workshops with three top consultants, Pilar Alessandra, Chris Vogler, and Lee Jessup. I also recently started the second round of the ISA Master Class where I work with writers one on one in the classroom, AND on top of that, we have released the online version of that Master Class for those of you not in Los Angeles. You can go to www.thecraftcourse.com to see the various class options there. What’s the purpose of all of this? The ISA is taking an education-centric approach to supporting you because without continual practice, continual dedication to your own craft of writing, you’re spinning your wheels. Take an education-first approach to your writing and I promise you will see your writing career swiftly move forward.

So on that education note, here’s my interview with Nadia Litz – it’s worth the listen, and her film, The People Garden, is worth the viewing. Enjoy and you’ll be hearing from me soon.

SYS Episode #139

Chad L Scheifele

"Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" is vintage Burton."

Ransom Riggs' 2011 YA bestseller is the perfect material for a director like Tim Burton to adapt to the screen. Its vivid fantasy world, quirky characters, and sense of wonder are tailor-made for the director. Unfortunately, the complex story also brings out the director's shortcomings as well. While the veteran filmmaker aces the production design and awe in this literary adaptation, he can't corral a wandering script, nor dimensional most of the characters in his large cast. Burton also loses the plot throughout and rushes the climax, but none of this is surprising to those who know Burton's work. Still, this gorgeous, whimsical tale will certainly lift one's spirits, even if its story never feels particularly grounded.

"The Magnificent Seven" pays homage to classic western films & their tropes.

Can a remake of a remake be any good? Well, in the case of Antoine Fuqua's remake of the 1960 classic "The Magnificent Seven", which itself was a remake of Akira Kurosawa's legendary "Seven Samurai" from 1954, the answer is a qualified yes. While it doesn't do anything particularly earth shattering or provocative with the tried and true material, the filmmakers here clearly revere the western genre and its tropes, and more than deliver an action-packed good time. Anchored by star power from Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke, this revenge tale has lots of characters, quips, and well-shot shoot-outs. It won't be as classic like those others, but there is a lot to like here. It's almost like an "Avengers" movie, albeit one set in the late 1800's.