Liberty Lab

Breaking Records and the Liberty Lab

Andrew Leigh Leave a comment

Our last (but not least!) mentor for the is a record-breaking screenwriter.  No, he didn’t set a record for growing the biggest pumpkin or juggling the most chainsaws.  Instead, mentor Bill Marsilii (along with co-writer Jerry Rossio) sold the time-travel thriller Deja Vu to super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Touchstone Pictures for an unprecedented $5 million.  The resulting film, starring Denzel Washington, grossed more than $180 million worldwide.

Of course, as with most “overnight successes,” many years of sweat and hard work went into preparing for that moment.  Bill spent years working in improv and theater, acting in and writing plays before he moved onto movie scripts.

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Since the Deja Vu deal, Bill has sold several other screenplays and pitches, including 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea:  Captain Nemo to Walt Disney Pictures, and Blood of the Innocent, an adaptation of the Dracula vs. Jack the Ripper graphic novel,  to Inferno Entertainment.  He also adapted the classic children’s novel The Wind in the Willows which is currently in production at Peter Jackson’s Weta Workshop, starring Ricky Gervais.

I’ll let you in on a little secret:  whoever is assigned Bill as a mentor is very, very lucky.  And one more secret before I wrap up here:  The final day to is May 15 — just two days from now.

If you’re a procrastinator like I am, you may have left your application to the last minute.  Not to worry!  You’ve still got time to write that one-page treatment and turn it in right under the deadline, even if you have to set a writing record of your own.

 

Taliesin Nexus sponsors five $10,000 prizes for web series and short film pitches

Crystal Hubbard Leave a comment

I’ve never been able to wrap my head around the adage “There Ain’t No Such Thing As a Free Lunch” (or TANSTAAFL, for all you acronym aficionados). Because if you’re not the one picking up the tab then, yeah, it’s FREE, so Super Size that #5! (Feel free to use the comment section to point out how flawed my logic is, while I munch on my Big & Tasty.)

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Anyway, in the vein of things being “FREE,” the folks over at Taliesin Nexus are giving away $50,000 to be used on five winning pitches for this year’s . According to TN:

“The Liberty Lab is an advanced program for those who have some filmmaking or video-making experience or training under their belt but want an opportunity to work with like-minded creatives with the guidance of seasoned professionals.

“In this program, you will have 100 days to write, shoot and edit a short film or video (between 5-30 minutes long) while receiving feedback from one of our faculty along the way at crucial stages (first draft of the script, first rough cut of the video, etc.).  And you will have a $10,000 production budget with which to work.”

This is an awesome opportunity for those of you looking to take your filmmaking to the next level, but are struggling to come up with funds to show the world what you’ve got.

Pitches must be submitted no later than May 15, so get crackin’!

[Note:  This article has been corrected from an earlier version.]

“Liar Liar” and the Liberty Lab

Andrew Leigh 1 Comment

 

No, our pants are not on fire.  Instead, we’re thrilled to announce that Paul Guay, who conceived and wrote one of Jim Carrey’s greatest hits, Liar Liar, will serve as a mentor in this summer’s .

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Paul’s movies have grossed more than half a billion dollars.  Liar Liar was Carrey’s second-biggest hit without the word Batman or Grinch in the title (number one was Bruce Almighty, in which Carrey played God — how do you compete with that?).

At the time of its release Liar Liar was the sixth-highest-grossing comedy in history.  The screenplay received an Honorable Mention (along with Fargo, Million Dollar Baby, The Full Monty and Catch Me If You Can) in Scr(i)pt magazine’s list of the Best Scripts of the Past 10 Years.

Paul has been involved in numerous other projects.  He co-wrote the feature film version of The Little Rascals, Universal’s second-highest-grossing movie of the year, and co-wrote Heartbreakers, starring Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Gene Hackman, which opened #1 at the box office, and the rights to which he co-licensed to MGM for production as a stage musical.

Paul is a much sought-after script consultant.  But you can get his feedback for free if you are accepted into the program.  Apply soon; the final deadline is May 15th.

What do Matt Damon and the Liberty Lab have in common?

Andrew Leigh Leave a comment

Battle of Shaker Heights

It’s really simple, actually.   was one of the producers of HBO’s reality show, Project Greenlight.  The winning screenwriter of season two was Erica Beeney, whose script The Battle of Shaker Heights was made into a movie that also served as the first starring vehicle for actor Shia LaBeouf.

After winning HBO’s Project Greenlight contest, Erica wrote and developed numerous projects including an updated version of the classic teen surf movie Gidget for Sony and the comedy New Sensation for New Line.  She wrote Love & Other 4-Letter Words, a romantic comedy, for producer Chris Moore.  With husband Rupert Wyatt (director of Rise of the Planet of the Apes) she wrote a feature film Ice Road Truckers based on the popular TV series.

Erica has also worked extensively in television, including writing a TV movie for USA Network, a TV pilot for Viacom, and a one-hour drama pilot for Lifetime Television.  She’s currently writing a pilot for Media Rights Capital (producers of the House of Cards series) called True Believers.  Erica researched and developed It Might Get Loud, a documentary on the electric guitar, for Davis Guggenheim, the Oscar-winning director of Waiting for Superman.   She is currently working on Devil’s Canyon, an original screenplay she is slated to direct for Paramount Pictures.

And Erica will serve as a mentor to one fortunate team of filmmakers who are accepted into the program.   are free until midnight PT, April 25, and just $25 during the week after that.

Comedy and the Liberty Lab

Andrew Leigh Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago we introduced one of the mentors in ‘s new Liberty Lab program, Daniel Knauf, as a producer and writer of horror and other “darker” genre projects.   Today we do an about-face and talk about comedy.

David H. Steinberg took a circuitous route to writing comedy scripts via law school.  David entered Yale at age 16 and earned his law degree from Duke University.  After four years of practicing law, he quit and entered USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program.

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David sold his first screenplay, Slackers, which went on to become a cult classic starring Devon Sawa and Jason Schwartzman.  He went on to write several films in the American Pie franchise (including American Pie 2), National Lampoon’s Barely Legal, and the remake of the 1980’s classic Porky’s.  David has written several animated movies like Pixie Hollow Games.  He’s also written several TV pilots for various networks.

David created and directed the award-winning short film, The Babysitter (with Brie Larson), which garnered more than four million online views on Atom.com, and made his feature directorial debut on the romantic comedy Miss Dial.  He recently checked off one of his bucket-list items by writing an episode of The Simpsons.

And yes, David will be serving as the mentor to one lucky team of filmmakers this summer who are admitted to the program.  So , as applications are free until April 25 (and just $25 after that).

 

What do Dracula and the Liberty Lab have in common?

Andrew Leigh 1 Comment

imagesDaniel Knauf is an executive producer and writer for NBC show Dracula, starring Jonathan Rhys Myers.  It’s not a surprise that Daniel was tapped to work on Dracula,  considering the projects he’s worked on before (and is currently developing).  They include the eerie, Emmy-winning series Carnivale, which he created for HBO.

And if you meet Daniel, you will soon discover that, aside from being a gentleman (in all senses of the word), he is a gifted storyteller.  I have had the pleasure of meeting Daniel at several -sponsored workshops, where he holds students spellbound with his colorful anecdotes, salty humor and hard-won sagacity.

And yes, if you are an aspiring filmmaker and you  and are chosen for this summer’s , you will get a chance to meet the man in the flesh, as he is slated to serve as one of the mentors for the program.  A lucky pair of creative initiates will be paired with Daniel (how I envy you!), who will provide canny advice and push you to make a sensational short film.

But don’t worry; he won’t try to extract any blood.  (Or so he promised.)

 

 

 

Put-Up Time

Andrew Leigh Leave a comment

Ever tell your friends, “If only I could have $10,000 for a production budget and mentoring from a seasoned Hollywood pro, I could make a really kick-ass short film”?

Well, it’s time to put up or shut up.   is offering just that to ten lucky young filmmakers.  Go to find out how the program works and how to apply.

A key part of the application is a one-page treatment of your idea for a short film or video.  The story you want to make needs to address some aspect of liberty as its theme.  And it must be makable within the budgetary limits.  (So forget about that sequel to Braveheart, unless you’re really good at green-screen CGI.)

The judges will be looking for originality.  But they’re not looking for super-esoteric film-school short films.  You know the type — shot in black and white for no good reason, weird for the sake of being weird.  It wouldn’t kill you to give it a coherent narrative.  (And it’d definitely give you a better shot at getting picked.)

So, start thinking up those original story ideas with a coherent narrative and a liberty theme.  With any luck, you’ll be making a kick-ass short film this summer.

And stay tuned to this blog, as we’ll release additional tips and details on TN’s programs.