“Liar Liar” and the Liberty Lab

 

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 .

LiarLiar

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?

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.

What do Dracula and the Liberty Lab have in common?

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.)