The Celtx Blog

Higham's Remake of "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" rises to the POW.

Darren Higham's remake project of "The Creature From the Black Lagoon" (TCFTBL) rises up from the depths of the Amazon as this week's Celtx Project of the Week!!

Based on Jack Arnold's original, Darren's concept of TCFTBL is "an action/adventure/horror remake/reimagining of the classic movie of the same name. A group of scientists researching legends of a deadly fishman in a lake in the middle of the Amazon rain forest must fight for survival when they discover to their horror that the creature is not just a legend, but is indeed very real."

In Higham's attempt to breathe new life into this beast from the past, he has taken a very organized approach in developing his project and has used Celtx extensively in the planning stage for research, preparing his treatment and synopsis and for character development. He's also referenced the website of the "reel Gillman", Ben Chapman, which features a great trailer of the original, along with some other fun trivia related to the 1954 production.

At the moment this is just a personal project for Darren, as he recently told us that he started it to help improve his skills as a script writer, and works on it from home in his spare time. He's not certain what the plan is once completed, but said he may pursue it further if he feels that it is worth it.

In the meantime Darren, have fun with it, and we look forward to seeing how your 'Creature from the Black Lagoon' emerges from the depths of Celtx Project Central.

Congratulations!!
Sheila and the C-Team

Get Ready for the Austin Film Festival! - October 11-18/07

- "Chicken Soup for the Neurotic Writer's soul" - Variety
- "The coolest forum around." - Indieslate
- "It's the best film festival in the world" - Lawrence Kasdan, Raiders of the Lost Ark

And which festival is that, you ask? Well these industry heads would be talking about the Austin Film Festival (and Conference) of course, scheduled to take place at the Driskill Hotel and the Stephen F. Austin Hotel from October 11-18, 2007.

This fest is a Who's Who of professional screenwriters, filmmakers and industry executives. So if you're so inclined, do like the banner says and buy your badge before September 17 and save!

Award recipients this year include Oliver Stone for his 'Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking', and to John Milius for the Distinguished Screenwriter Award. Go here to browse the list of currently confirmed panelists .

Also of note at this year's 14th Fest is the return of the Young Filmmakers Competition, in which the best teen (ages 13-18 ) filmmaking from around the USA will be showcased.

Early registration ends Sept. 17. So purchase your badge and Awards Luncheon Ticket now 'cause there's lots of star-gazing, parties and networking opportunities for everyone at this prim-o Texas spread! - S

'Iron & Silk' gets POW'd!

Hey, Hey!
Big Celtx POW kudos to Saginaw Valley State University student, Andy Sharrow and his crew of buddies for a great job so far on their project titled, Iron & Silk. Still in development, it's clear these guys have been beavering away at organizing the Art Dept., doing script breakdown, developing characters, gathering props, creating wardrobes, generating reports and doing some good pre-viz work with the storyboard feature, creating their images with what looks to me like Sims software?? (Hopefully Andy will be providing more project details soon ;) ) Best of all, it looks like they're having a bit of fun with it too.

And of course, there's the writing of the script by Andy and Kurt McCool. Their story revolves around Jake - a senior at Coleman High, and the late bloomer guy who never stands out in a crowd, and has never had a girlfriend. He's been in love with the beautiful and conceded Amy since the start of High School, and sees his senior year as his last chance to win Amy's heart. Lots of high school drama, trists, jealousy and revenge ensue, but at the end of the day, Jake gets far more than he ever imagined.

So here's a big Wi-Five to Andy and his crew. You've got some good momentum going here, gang, so keep it up and let us know when we can start popping the popcorn!

Cheers!
Sheila and C-Team!

UPDATE:
Andy Sharrow has been wicked busy juggling the filming of this project, and the usual mayhem that comes with the first week of classes, but lucky for us, he managed to grab a moment and fill us in on a few project details, below. Thanks Andy, and all the best for a successful school year!! - S

"...The Storyboarding is indeed done with the Sims 2. It was Kurt’s idea, and is working really well. It lets you create the setting, customize the characters, etc., and then move the camera around to wherever you want it.

You can pause it, and (using cheats readily available online) move the characters to wherever you need them too. It’s really flexible, easy to use, and cheap.

Kurt and I are putting this movie together as our Senior Project for out Bachelors degrees in Theatre. Rather than go the standard route, we decided to write and produce a film rather than something on stage. We were really excited to find such a great tool as Celtx to help us organize everything that we need!..."

John August / Wearing his Celtx T / 'Starting Out in Hollywood'

Woooah.... Looking Good, Mr. A!!

Check out John August pictured here wearing his very cool Celtx Tshirt, as he stands along side of his new buddy Adam Davis. Adam is a friend of a mutual mentor, graduate of JA's alma mater (Drake Universisity), and a recent resident of Los Angeles. John asked Adam to write about his experience so far on moving to LA and what it's like trying to break into the biz. Hopefully he advised Adam on the best production software to use as well ;-)

You can read Adam's account of 'Starting Out in Hollywood' here on John August's kick-ass screenwriting blog. - S

Germany's Natascha Ehrenheim's Blood and Tears Live Action Role Play wins the Celtx POW!

I am really happy to announce that this week's Project of the Week goes to a very talented young woman named Natascha Ehrenheim for her project called Blood and Tears Live Action Role Play.

The story plot revolves around a group of university roommates, and a 200 year-old vampire who befriends and manipulates them into retrieving an amulet that will give him life by day. Encounters with eccentrics and fantastical creatures abound, and ultimately prices are paid and resolution achieved.

The project was based on one of Natascha's favorite hobbies, Live Action Role Play (LARP), and was written and produced in German. It includes a completed script, 2 LARP videos, 1 animation and a number of well developed character forms that are cast with real actors. While our German is a tad rusty, we felt there were some compelling components to the project and that overall, it was an interesting use of the Celtx application.

To fill in the gaps I contacted Natascha to find out more about the genesis of her project, and what the plan is for BATLAP's future. Below are some excerpts from her email. Thanks for the explanations Natascha. And Congratulations on getting POW'd!!

We'll be sure to keep an eye out for the finished film in 2008.
Cheers! - Sheila and The C-Team

About the Project:
- I don't know if you are familiar with Fantasy Roleplay and Live Action Role Play (stuff like "Dungeons and Dragons"), because this is a favorite hobby of mine. One day I decided to make a LARP myself, but then I thought the players will not do what I want and maybe destroy my storyline. Since I want to be a director some day and I have already made a few short films in the last years, I finally decided to make the whole story into a movie. So I wrote a script with your great program, animated some of my friends for this "low to no-budget-project", and started to shoot.

- Unfortunatly I myself have to graduate from University right now, so that the project is put on hold until the beginning of next year. Then I will take three or four months time to finish the project - since I'm camera woman, director, editor, and everything else behind the camera.

The Videos:
- The first one (Prolog - at the bottom) I made actually playing the game "The Movies", having some fun imagining the prologue.
- The second one is when Nick tells Lyn about the LARP, but we will probably shoot the scene again, because I'm not really satisfied with how it turned out.
- The third one is a teaser for the movie in order to make it already known a little bit and to keep my actors interested.

The LARP Scene:
- Since the LARP scene is growing very fast (at least in Germany), I hope that this project can achive some kind of cult-status here like "The Gamers" (by Dead Gentlemen Productions) have achieved a cult-status among role players all over the world.

About Natascha:
-I'm 26 and a student of American Studies, Media and Anthropology and as said before about to graduate. I always liked to tell stories and since my mum is an artist (painter) and my dad is a musician I sort of chose the middle way and want to make movies :)
-I'm also thinking about applying to a film school and maybe this project can be a help with the application.

Celtx Team Members want to See YOU at Creative Screenwriting Expo 6!

Hey Gang!

We're taking the big leap and heading to Hollywood!!!.....
If you're in the Los Angeles neighborhood the last week of October, come join in our excitement as Celtx takes the stage at...

'The World's Largest Conference & Tradeshow for Screenwriters'

Creative Screenwriting Magazine presents Screenwriting Expo 6 from October 24-28, 2007 at the Marriott and the Renaissance Hotels at the Los Angeles Airport.

This fantastic event offers terrific opportunities to network and party with over 4,000 fellow writers, 'Pitch your story to Hollywood', and hear and learn from the Industry's Best in a grand selection of over 300 classes on screenwriting.

Be sure to sign up for Celtx seminars (3 in all): From Script to Screen: Screenplay, Scripting and Pre-Production planning with Celtx presented by Australian filmmaker and Educator, Mike Jones of The Sydney Powerhouse Museum's Soundhouse VectorLabs. Through engaging demonstrations of the latest Celtx release, Mike will help you navigate your film from the 'page' to the screen.

And Celtx Team members will be in attendance too, so drop by our booth at the tradeshow, say 'Hello' and snag some swag.. (cause ya know we always have cool swag.) More details to come so stay tuned to this post.

To Register or for More Information:
Go Here:
Highlights - http://screenwritingexpo.com/NewforExpo6.html
Registration - http://screenwritingexpo.com/Registration.html

Hotel Information:
Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel, a luxury hotel:
5855 West Century Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90045 USA
Phone:  1-310-641-5700
Toll-free:  1-800-228-9290
(Booking Code: SWESWEA)
$119 single/Double, $129 triple/quad

Renaissance Montura Hotel
9620 Airport Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90045
310-337-2800
888-293-0523 (Central Reservations)
www.renaissancelosangeles.com
To book: go on line using this URL (booking code is built into the URL):
http://marriott.com/property/propertypage/laxrr?groupCode=scrscra&app=resvlink
Or call (800) HOTELS-1 and use this reservation code: scrscra
$129 single/double.

We really, Really, REALLY hope to see you there!!!
CHEERS!

The C-Team!

Mohammed Ali Rukadikar's 'Just A Moment' receives the Celtx POW

This week the Celtx Team is delighted to bestow the POW badge upon Mohammed Ali Rukadikar of Mumbai, India for his already award-winning short film, 'Just A Moment'.

Conceptualized, written and directed by Mohammed Ali himself, this touching story based in India, tells the tale of contrasting lives lived, and how two young men of the same age but drastically different backgrounds "miraculously come face to face, for 'just a moment', changing thier lives forever."

Just A Moment's (see video) cinematography by 'James' offers up some beautiful scenery and gives you a good sense of the land, reflecting both Sunny's urban lifestyle, and Kashmiri, Abdul Hamid's more distressed rural surroundings. And the music choices by Ameya Naik enhance the film's overall flow.

What also makes this film interesting is that it was made in just 24 hours!!!... for the Bombay 2006 24x7makingmovies™ initiative, garnering the event's Jury Award, and later, the Audience Award at DearCinema Film Fest. And now, with the Celtx POW, .... well that awards shelf must be getting pretty full :).

Congratulations, and Thanks to you and your 'So-Called Productions' crew for a lovely film, Mohammed Ali Rukadikar.
All the best,
Sheila

Scandinavian Production Named Celtx "Project of the Week"

This week's "Project of the Week" is courtesy of Finnish Production Designer Markus Packalen.

With shooting beginning this week, "Glenn" is the story of Glenn Nygård, a 40 year old tomato-planter who for the past five years has been falling in love with the local bar-keeper Laila. His harsh father has raised Glenn locked up in the basement of his house. There, Glenn has learned to master the guitar but not how to handle women. When his father dies abruptly, Glenn finds a stack of letters written by his mother who might still live somewhere in Sweden. Glenn locks the house down and leaves. Not able to find his mother, he instead stumbles upon two individuals: a Swedish law-officer Bengt and his step-brothers wife Annette.

Others associated with this project are director Tapio Piirainen, producer Mats Långbacka and an impressive list of actors including Niklas Häggblom, Leif Andrée, Gustav Wiklund, Lia Boysen and Anders Ekborg.

Check out "Glenn" for a sneak peek inside the script, locations, props, and even the vehicles that will be used in the film.

Good luck with your production! We look forward to seeing the finished product!

-Michelle and the Celtx Gang

10th EXTREME FILMMAKER 48 Hour Film Festival - Call to Action!

Aaaannnd...... ACTION!!

Here's yet another opportunity to exercise those creative juices and razor sharp reflexes, Gang.
Only this time, the Extreme Filmmaker 48 Hour Film Festival presents things a little differently, giving you the luxury of a 'little' more breathing space... In this event, filmmakers commit to making a film from start to finish over 'any' 48 hour period during August, and from anywhere. Deadline for submissions is August 31.

So if you're keen, fill out the paperwork, select your crew, go cracked planning and shooting (using Celtx ;-) ), then send a DV copy to:

Extreme Filmmaker
303 S. Doheny Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
(Make sure it's postmarked by August 31, 2007.)

And what do you have to look forward to?
In September, the chosen films will be screened at the Arclight Cinema on Sunset Blvd, LA in front of fellow actors and directors, critics, agents and film enthusiasts. Attending will be representatives from the Digital Artist's Agency, Film Threat Magazine and the production team from On The Lot.

After the screening, Extreme Filmmaker takes over the balcony lounge and has a party like no other, where the filmmakers are encouraged to schmooze andconnect, touch base and plan for the future.

Not bad for an investment of 48 hours.