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“Recommend” Writer Eddie Mensore Developing Feature

By Uncategorized
Script Pipeline "Recommend" screenplay Mine 9, a drama centered on a group of West Virginia miners trapped underground after a cave-in, is currently in the early stages of pre-production. The project marks writer/director Eddie Mensore's second feature film undertaking. His first, The Deposition (2011), won a Grand Jury award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival. Script Pipeline linked Eddie with his current manager, Andrew Kersey (Kersey Management), and consulted on Mine 9 and other projects. From Eddie: "Getting a Recommend through Script Pipeline is difficult. But when it does happen, great things can occur. That's how I found representation, and now my project is in development." View Beneath Existence, the short film based on Mine 9. SUBMIT A SCREENPLAY
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Vandal Ent. Picks Up Feature from Script Pipeline Contest Finalists

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Writers Matt Altman and David Matalon, finalists of the Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition, sold their spec The Feud to Vandal Entertainment, headed by former FilmEngine president Navid McIllhargey. The crime/thriller, Matt's first script sale, will join several other film and television projects in development at Vandal, which plans to produce two to three projects per year. Matt is repped by APA and Parallax Talent Management, while David is with Paradigm. Their script Dangerous Waters placed in the top 20 of the 2010 Pipeline contest and was described by judges as "an intense thriller with a fresh backdrop, setting it far apart from others in the genre." SUBMIT A SCREENPLAY
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SyFy Network Tabs Script Pipeline Contest Winner to Write Series

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A TV series adaptation of Five Ghosts, created by Frank J. Barbiereand and Chris Mooneyham, for the SyFy Network to be written by Script Pipeline alum Evan Daugherty, who will also serve as executive producer alongside Chris Bender (Benderspink). The Image Comics property revolves around a treasure hunter who is able to harness the skills of five dead literary characters: The Detective, The Wizard, The Samurai, The Vampire, and The Archer. Daugherty’s career gained steam after signing with Script Pipeline industry partner Jake Wagner in 2008. He went on to co-write the box office hits Divergent and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and in 2010 sold Snow White and the Huntsman to Universal for $3 million. He’s currently developing projects for ABC, NBC, and several studios. Evan will make his feature directing debut with Ink and Bone, produced by Dimension Films. SUBMIT A SCREENPLAY
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Modern Family – Pilot

By Essential Reading - Screenplays and Pilots

Stylistically, Modern Family seemed to catch the tail end of the declining “documentary-style” format. Creatively, it’s held its place as one of the best sitcoms on television. One can accredit this rather noble network tenure to a variety of factors, not the least of which is a well-assembled cast flirting with television hall-of-fame status. But when you circle back to the core appeal of Modern Family and its glimpse into presumably typical American households, you’re left with the writing. Not necessarily bold, by definition, nor risqué. Nor generic or cliché. It’s merely “there.” Unapologetic and ordinary. Humor in the pilot episode feels seamless without falling into the trap of many network comedies inclined to spell everything out (“We’re being different! Look, look!”) or forcing one-liners without purpose. Maybe it does go back to style, the idea that we’re casual observers into the daily conflicts of three different families united only by blood relation. Like…

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September 2014 Script Sales

By Script Sales

Female-driven stories made a good showing in September. Anthony Jaswinski sold two specs: May You Live in Interesting Times, an espionage action about a female assassin, based on a story by Jaswinski and Luke Goltz, and In the Deep, a suspense/thriller about a young woman stuck 20 yards offshore with a great white shark. Element Pictures optioned Laird Hunt’s novel Neverhome, a Mulan-esque story about a woman fighting for the Union, with Lenny Abrahamson attached to direct. The horror/thriller spec Scarecrow by Mike Scannell, in which a mother defends her daughters from a psychopath, is moving forward at Screen Gems and Unbroken Pictures. And finally, Mourning Glory has found Karen Leigh Hopkins (Because I Said So) to adapt Warren Adler’s black comedy about a single mother who attends funerals and hits on the rich, newly-widowed husbands. Other script sales include: – John Phillips’ Dirty Grandpa is moving forward with Zac Efron and…

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Marc Samson, Script Pipeline “Recommend,” Wraps Film

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Winner of the Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition, Marc Samson completed his micro-budget psychological thriller Where the Devil Dwells in 2014 (view trailer). Marc is a two-time Script Pipeline "Recommend" writer with other horror and thriller screenplays. His crime/thriller I'll Sleep When You're Dead, centered on a female heroine in search of revenge, was selected as a top-four winner in the 2011 Pipeline competition. He's currently developing additional features and independent projects. Read Marc's original 2011 interview here. SUBMIT A SCREENPLAY
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Alex Ross

By Exclusive Interviews

– Alex Ross, writer of Hexen (2014 Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition Winner) Hexen was your first script—but for a screenplay this well-written, one worthy enough to win the Script Pipeline Grand Prize, “first script” is a bit misleading. How much time and energy did you put into the project before submitting to the competition? What was the impetus behind writing this type of story? I never considered myself to be a writer to be honest–not a good one, anyway. I’m mostly interested in exploring ideas and feelings through the image, not the word. I spent years looking for a project to direct, but nothing spoke to me, and it was frustrating. Then I heard Quentin Tarantino talk about how if his mother and father hadn’t gotten together, Reservoir Dogs would not exist today, and I took that as: we are all original, we all have things to say, we just have to find a way…

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Tom Krajewski

By Exclusive Interviews

– Tom Krajewski, writer of Supernormal (2014 Script Pipeline TV Writing Competition Winner) Your winning script Supernormal is a single-cam comedy with a surprisingly fresh spin on the superhero premise. Ultimately, it was both the concept and the writing that caught the attention of Script Pipeline judges. But did you think it was risky writing what many execs might unfairly label “another superhero script”? Or did you feel the writing alone would at least give it a chance? Thanks for the compliment–and I’m very honored to have won! I guess I didn’t think it was that risky (I guess I’m ignorant?). To me, the fresh spin–which is very clear in the logline–just sounds unique enough to get an exec’s interest (maybe I’m more arrogant than ignorant?). Anyway, I was also hoping that, once the reader got to the big twist at the end of act one, they’d get hooked after seeing…

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August 2014 Script Sales

By Script Sales

Brian Grazer, Alex Kurtzman, and Robert Orci have optioned a dozen Anne Rice novels, including Interview with a Vampire, to be adapted into a series The Vampire Chronicles with Universal. Stan Lee’s idea Apollo Rising will be combined with the February spec sale Eternal by Victoria Aveyard. Two projects set on space colonies are in the pipeline: Out of this World by Allan Loeb and Moonfall by David Weil. In the comedy world, Relativity picked up All Day and a Night, a pitch by Jonathan Goldstein & John Francis Daley (Horrible Bosses), and Hyde Park optioned Peter Hoare’s Killing Hasselhoff. . . Ken Jeong, David Hasselhoff, and Hulk Hogan to star. The Lonely Island is also getting a movie. Other script sales include: – Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph‘s Jennifer Lee to adapt A Wrinkle in Time. – Katharine Hepburn, The Three Tenors, and some Brazilian hitman who killed 492 people are getting biopics. – Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, and Tom Hardy producing an animal trafficking film….

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Awake – Pilot

By Essential Reading - Screenplays and Pilots

Yes, it only lasted one season, but for fans of the 2012 NBC show Awake, it started off with a spectacular pilot episode–and one worth reading for aspiring TV writers. With a network landscape inundated with procedural dramas, a refreshing take on the genre was a next-to-impossible task. But the unique spin was such an original hook: a detective living disparate realities after a deadly car accident, one where his wife survived and one where his son survived, must figure out how to resolve this seemingly mental disparity while juggling his career and life in two separate worlds. What producer wouldn’t want to read that script? Again, a project that hits the “familiar-yet-different” zone, making for what must have been an easy pitch. Conceptually, though, it would have been equally as simple to ruin the plot. Two timelines? Two interrelated stories? The same protagonist leading different lives in a procedural crime/drama? Seems like a structural nightmare….

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Contest Winner Writes Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Reboot

By Slider
The reboot of the mega-popular franchise debuted at the top of the box office. Script Pipeline alum Evan Daugherty was brought on-board as co-writer. TMNT stars Megan Fox (Transformers), Will Arnett (Arrested Development), and William Fichter (The Dark Knight Rises). Evan was later brought on to major studio projects, including Esmeralda for ABC, GI Joe 3 for Paramount, Myst for Hulu, and the Tomb Raider reboot. SUBMIT A SCREENPLAY
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Comic Series Sells to Fox with Contest Winner Attached to Adapt

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20th Century Fox purchased the rights to the comic miniseries The Foundation, and Script Pipeline competition winner Evan Daugherty will write the screenplay adaptation as well as serve as Executive Producer. In addition to this feature project, Evan is writing Midnight Mass for NBC, the event series Esmeralda for ABC, and GI Joe 3 for Paramount. He’ll make his directorial debut with Ink and Bone (Dimension Films) in 2015. Previous writing credits include Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), Divergent (2014), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014). He also wrote and directed short live-action films based on the Super Mario Bros. characters in 2013. Evan found representation after an introduction by Script Pipeline execs Chad Clough and Matt Misetich to manager Jake Wagner (Benderspink). His contest-winning script Shrapnel was produced in 2012 and starred Robert De Niro and John Travolta. Submit to a Script Pipeline competition Submit for notes and potential industry exposure

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July 2014 Script Sales

By Script Sales

Adaptations, spin-offs, sequels. . . source material dominated in July, with Skull Island spinning off from King Kong and a live-action Dumbo moving forward. WB picked up Anne McCaffrey’s fantasy series Dragonriders of Pern and classic arcade game Space Invaders. Mike Tyson and Shel Silverstein are getting their own biopics as well. On the original script front: Diablo Run by Shea and Evan Mirzai, a Blacklist project, has found a home at Atmosphere Entertainment. Matthew Kennedy, repped by Energy Entertainment’s Brooklyn Weaver, sold A Man Called Death, and country singer Miranda Lambert will star in Something in the Water. Other script sales include: – The sequels Enchanted 2, G.I. Joe 3, and Last Vegas 2 are all moving forward with new writers attached. – Quentin Tarantino un-cancelled his western The Hateful Eight. – Will Ferrell and Adam McKay to produce Manimal adaptation for Sony. – Steve Carell producing Brooklyn Family Robinson, based on an idea by David Reynolds, Charlie Hartsock, and Vance Degeneres.

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2014 TV Writing Contest Finalists

By TV Writing Contest Results

Grand Prize Winner Supernormal by Thomas Krajewski Finalists Bleach by Shawn Boxe Expiration Date by Wes Meilandt / Nathan Bayne / Tim Black Modern Family (Spec) by Tracy Reilly PCU: Petty Crimes Unit by Ben Taylor Pioneer Village by Greg Wayne Security by Brian Hurney III by Kimberly Barrante Truett Ave. by Alev Aydin Widowmakers by Kirk Weddell

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Dallas Buyers Club – Screenplay

By Essential Reading - Screenplays and Pilots

Often, a film cannot realize its potential without flawless casting–and such is the case with Dallas Buyers Club. But across a current landscape of adaptations, big-budget action, low-budget horror, remakes, remakes of remakes, and derivative premises meant solely to entertain, the McConaughey drama serves as proof that digging deeper into a story and its themes, its narrative heart, will result in something special. Throughout a screenplay that prides itself on a plain, unabashed glimpse into the relationships between vividly-drawn characters, co-writers Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack serve up what is arguably a masterpiece. Incredibly well-written for its genre, it’s one that may serve as a model for all that comes after. Yes, films are nothing without incredible actors. Yet incredible actors are nothing without a bold script that pushes dramas to an almost hypnotic level. Read the Dallas Buyers Club Screenplay

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