FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ————– ROAD TO HOLLYWOOD EXTENDS ACROSS U.S. – SCREENWRITERS’ WORKSHOPS PLANNED Each year, hundreds of aspiring screenwriters flock to Hollywood with scripts in their hands and stars in their eyes. This year, Hollywood is coming to them. Act One, Inc., a Los Angeles-based training program for writers and other film industry professionals, presents Act One Screenwriting Weekends, a conference series for professional and aspiring screenwriters. The workshops, which provide an intense, practical overview of screenwriting basics and... Read more

You scored as Albus Dumbledore. Strong and powerful you admirably defend your world and your charges against those who would seek to harm them. However sometimes you can fail to do what you must because you care too much to cause suffering. Albus Dumbledore 80% Hermione Granger 75% Remus Lupin 75% Draco Malfoy 70% Harry Potter 60% Sirius Black 60% Ron Weasley 60% Severus Snape 40% Ginny Weasley 35% Lord Voldemort 20% Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is…?created with QuizFarm.com... Read more

Today is the last official day of classes for the summer screenwriting program. Tomorrow evening, we will send off our 2005 class with a gala banquet with friends, faculty and alumni, an awards ceremony, entertainment from the students, and a keynote speech by theater and film producer, Doug Urbanski. Doug has 25 years in the business and has garnered a truckload of awards including two dozen Tony Award nominations, British Academy Awards, Dramadesk and Cannes Film festival prizes. I know... Read more

Friend, Paul Lauer, whose company Motive Entertainment is on the team to market the December 9th release, The Lion, the Withc, and the Wardrobe asked me to let you allknow about the cool new site they just opened to provide news about the film and all of your promotional material needs. Go here for posters, web banners, IM characters, screensavers, postcards, group sales tickets, and to find out about any upcoming Narnia promotional events in your shire. I find myself... Read more

Here is a very encouraging review of our November release Act One book Behind the Screen. Thanks to the folks at Hollywood Jesus for the kind words. Read more

I’ve got two pretty inarticulate ravings in an article that just came out in the NY Times about the upcoming movie version of The Da Vinci Code. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the article which I thought was very fair to all of us Christians. When the journalist called me I asked her, “Is this piece going to be fair, or a typical NY Times Christian-hating kind of thing?” The journalist expressed horror at the suggestion that Christians feel... Read more

In between Act One-ing, I am co-writing a screenplay with screenwriter Benedict Fitzgerald. Along with having co-written The Passion of the Christ with Mel Gibson, Ben happens to be the son of Sally Fitzgerald, who was the best friend of one M. Flannery O’Connor. So, very often when we get together to work, we spend at least fifteen minutes or so with me picking Ben’s brain about Flannery trivia like why she loved Emily Dickinson, and how Sally obtained the... Read more

Sorry I’ve been a bad blogger lately. Chalk it up to running two programs this summer, consulting on two scripts, doing a polish on one and co-writing another. I also had another go around with my new friends the NY Times reporters yesterday. If I get a free second I’ll blog about the latest head-shaking exchange. But, meanwhile, go check out Jan “The Maven’s” Blog these days. She’s been doing an exhaustive examination of the whole Harry Potter mythology, including... Read more

“Too bad.” That’s what I thought coming out of the theater this weekend after screening Michael Bay’s latest offering, The Island. I absolutely believe we need our artists to envision for us the places in which unprincipled, unboundaried science might take us. It’s just too bad, this important theme was entrusted to director Bay, who would always much rather be destroying large props than serving the story at hand. I liked a lot of The Island. Specifically, I liked all... Read more

After intense global competition, with cities like Seattle, Orlando, New York, Chicago and Austin making heartfelt pleas but, alas, falling short, the distinguished and discerning overlords at Act One, Inc. have decided that next year’s month-long screenwriting intensive will be held in Nashville, TN! Condolences to the nice little cities who weren’t able to make the cut. We urge you to make a pitch again in 2008. Every other year, we hold two screenwriting months – always one in Los... Read more