Archive for the 'Roundtable' Category

When: May 11, 2013
Time: 12 noon EST (use the Time Zone Converter to find your local time)

Writing a Series

What do writers owe their readers when they write books in series? Or do they not owe anything at all? The readers are the people who buy the books and “pay” the writer with eventual [we hope!] royalties. The people and situations in a book and a series are the writer’s creation and for themselves foremost … but if a writer isn’t thinking of potential readers, then why bother sending the book to an agent or publisher? Why try to get it published? And … what does a writer owe her own characters? Did she form them and breathe life into them only to cut things off in a matter of a few books? Of course, we can think of Sherlock Holmes who died but was brought back after Doyle got a lot of Victorian flak.

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You can follow the Roundtable discussion in the comments section of this post.

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Special Guests:

Nancy Holder is a founding member and former trustee of HWA. She is a New York Times bestselling author (the dark fantasy series Wicked) who has written over eighty novels, and two hundred short stories, essays, and articles, many of which have appeared in “Best of” anthologies. She has received five Bram Stoker awards, one for Novel (Dead in the Water), Young Adult Novel (The Screaming Season), and three for Short Fiction (“Lady Madonna,” “I Hear the Mermaids Singing,” and “Cafe Endless: Spring Rain”). She received a Scribe award for Saving Grace: Tough Love, based on the Saving Grace TV series. She was given a Pioneer award from Romantic Times for her young adult fiction. She also received a Special Sales Award from amazon.com.

Her other horror work includes the young adult Possessions trilogy from Razorbill, stories in Deep Cuts, V Wars, the mosaic novel Zombie Apocalypse series, and the upcoming young adult horror special from Dark Moon. She has written spooky tales for Nancy Drew and as Chris P. Flesh and Melissa J. Morgan for Grosset and Dunlap. She is well known for her work on such properties as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, MTV Teen Wolf, Saving Grace, Hellboy, Hulk, Highlander, Sherlock Holmes, Kolchak, Zorro, and many others. She will be one of two Author Guests of Honor at the 2014 World Horror Convention. She edits comic books and pulp fiction for Moonstone Books and she is on the faculty of the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program offered through the University of Southern Maine. Visit her @nancyholder, https://www.facebook.com/nancyholderfans, and www.nancyholder.com.

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Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. All efforts to make her produce “normal” stories failed. Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She’s the author of the “Otherworld” urban fantasy series, “Darkest Powers” & “Darkness Rising” teen paranormal trilogies as well as the upcoming “Cainsville” modern gothic series and “Blackwell Pages” middle-grade fantasy adventure trilogy (co-written as K.L. Armstrong with M.A. Marr).  She lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets. Photo credit: Kathryn Hollinrake

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F. Paul Wilson is the award-winning, NY Times bestselling author of nearly fifty books and many short stories spanning horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, and virtually everything between. More than nine million copies of his books are in print in the US and his work has been translated into twenty-four foreign languages.  He also has written for the stage, screen, and interactive media. COLD CITY features his urban mercenary, Repairman Jack.  His latest is THE PROTEUS CURE, a disturbing medical thriller written with Tracy Carbone. Paul resides at the Jersey Shore.

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Kim Newman is a novelist, critic and broadcaster.  His fiction includes The Night Mayor, Bad Dreams, Jago, the Anno Dracula novels and stories, The Quorum, The Original Dr Shade and Other Stories, Life’s Lottery, Back in the USSA (with Eugene Byrne) and The Man From the Diogenes Club under his own name and The Vampire Genevieve and Orgy of the Blood Parasites as Jack Yeovil.  His non-fiction books include Ghastly Beyond Belief (with Neil Gaiman), Horror: 100 Best Books (with Stephen Jones), Wild West Movies, The BFI Companion to Horror, Millennium Movies and BFI Classics studies of Cat People and Doctor Who.  He is a contributing editor to Sight & Sound and Empire magazines (writing Empire’s popular Video Dungeon column), has written and broadcast widely on a range of topics, and scripted radio and television documentaries.  His stories ‘Week Woman’ and ‘Ubermensch’ have been adapted into an episode of the TV series The Hunger and an Australian short film; he has directed and written a tiny film Missing Girl; he co-wrote the West End play The Hallowe’en Sessions.  Following his Radio 4 play ‘Cry Babies’, he wrote episodes for Radio 7’s series The Man in Black (‘Phish Phood’) and Glass Eye Pix’ Tales From Beyond the Pale (‘Sarah Minds the Dog’).  His official web-site can be found at www.johnnyalucard.com.  His most recent publications are expanded reissues of the Anno Dracula series and The Hound of the d’Urbervilles (from Titan) and a much-expanded edition of Nightmare Movies (from Bloomsbury).  Johnny Alucard, the fourth Anno Dracula novel, appeared in 2012; his next novel will be An English Ghost Story.  He is on Twitter as @AnnoDracula.

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When: March 18, 2013
Time: 3pm Pacific Daylight Time (use the Time Zone Convertor to find your local time)

The Future of Writing

Technology has surged ahead over the past few years and technological advances show no sign of slowing. We’re living in the future. What does this mean for us writers? Does it open new pathways to success and unlimited options to explore our imaginations and present these worlds to our readers, or will it have an adverse effect? If there are always stories to tell, how will they be told in years to come? Will the written word alone be good enough?

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You can follow the Roundtable discussion in the comments section of this post.

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Special Guests:

William F Nolan writes mostly in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror genres. Though best known for co-authoring the classic dystopian science fiction novel Logan’s Run with George Clayton Johnson, Nolan is the author of more than 2000 pieces (fiction, non-fiction, articles and books), and has edited 26 anthologies in his 50+ year career.

An artist, Nolan was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and worked at Hallmark Cards, Inc. and in comic books before becoming an author. In the 1950s, Nolan was an integral part of the writing ensemble known as “The Group,” which included many well-known genre writers, such as Ray Bradbury, Charles Beaumont, John Tomerlin, Richard Matheson, Johnson and others, many of whom wrote for Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone. Nolan is considered a leading expert on Dashiell Hammett, pulps such as Black Mask and Western Stories, and is the world authority on the works of prolific scribe Max Brand.

Of his numerous awards, there are a few of which he is most proud: being voted a Living Legend in Dark Fantasy by the International Horror Guild in 2002; twice winning the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America; being awarded the honorary title of Author Emeritus by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, Inc. in 2006, and receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Horror Writers Association in 2010.

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Taylor Grant is an author, multi-hyphenate filmmaker, actor, Hollywood script consultant, and award-winning copywriter. His work has been seen on network television, the big screen, the web, newspapers, comic books, national magazines, anthologies, and heard on the radio. He is an Active Member of the HWA and is currently the Co-Founder and Editor in Chief of Evil Jester Comics, a recently launched publishing company dedicated to quality horror comics. His horror stories have been published in the Bram Stoker nominated anthology Horror For Good, as well as A Feast of Frights from the Horror Zine, Box of Delights; the forthcoming anthologies Fear the Reaper, Blood Type, Nightscapes Vol. 1, and Cemetery Dance Magazine.

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Brad Hodson – Originally from Knoxville, TN, Brad C. Hodson lives in Los Angeles. He’s written several award winning short films and has a few feature options out there. He co-wrote (and co-funded) the low budget horror comedy George: A Zombie Intervention and his first novel, Darling, was recently released from Bad Moon Books.

When not writing, he sneaks into your house and watches you sleep. It’s a little creepy. You might want to think about getting a dog.

Check out his work and musings on various topics over at www.brad-hodson.com.

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Peter Giglio - A Pushcart Prize nominee and an active member of the Horror Writers Association, Peter Giglio is the author of four novels, three novellas, and he edits a successful line of books for Evil Jester Press. His works of short fiction can be found in a number of notable volumes, including two comprehensive genre anthologies edited by New York Times Bestselling author John Skipp. With Scott Bradley, Peter wrote the author-approved screen adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s “The Night They Missed the Horror Show,” and an established screenwriting team in Los Angeles holds the film option on Giglio’s Sunfall Manor.

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Christopher C. Payne was born in January 1967 and grew up in DeSoto, IL. He received his bachelor’s degree in finance from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, graduating in 1990.  Currently, he lives in San Francisco, CA.  In his spare time, he enjoys biking and snowboarding with his two daughters and an amazing wife.

Chris dabbled with writing in his spare time before deciding he would be better served focusing on the publishing side of the literary industry.  He founded JournalStone in April of 2009.  JournalStone began as a blog before transitioning to a publishing company in the fall of 2010.

Journalstone shot out of the gate by immediately launching a short story contest, then a full blown novel writing contest and quickly began to sign authors.  Getting some help from a few HWA members Chris established some author friendly procedures and was well on his way to publishing books.  That Which Should Not Be, the winner of the inaugural writing contest in 2011, received a warm welcome on its publication date and was subsequently honored by being nominated for a HWA 2011 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel.  Ghosts of Coronado Bay, another 2011 JournalStone offering was also nominated for a HWA 2011 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Young Adult novel.

With two books nominated for awards in JournalStone’s first 12 months of operation, Chris is still not willing to slow down.  2012 has already seen JournalStone on the front cover of Publishers Weekly magazine in an April issue; with three of its authors highlighted on the inside cover.  Additionally, Joseph Nassise (international bestselling author), Jonathan Maberry (New York Times bestselling author), and Benjamin Kane Ethridge (2010 Bram Stoker Award winner), have been added as JournalStone signed authors, complimenting Brett J. Talley and Anne C. Petty on a shared world anthology titled Limbus, to be released in April of 2013.

Look for more announcements from JournalStone as they continue to flourish, establishing their place as one of the premier genre publishing companies in today’s rapidly fluctuating market.

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When: February 11-16, 2013
Time: 3pm Pacific Daylight Time

Screenwriting (topic suggestion provided by Michaelbrent Collings).

How to get involved in the industry, the pitfalls and problems, the success stories. Screenwriting is a natural extension of story writing, but it is also a completely different art form. Let’s look at how it differs, and how difficult it is to create visual scenes for filming. And the end result; is it always how you viewed it would be? Are there any tips or suggestions you can offer for those just starting out, things you’ve learned along the way?

Special Guests:

Michaelbrent Collings – a bestselling novelist, produced screenwriter and WGA member, martial artist, and has a killer backhand on the badminton court (’cause he’s macho like that).

He published his first “paying” work – a short story for a local paper – at the age of 15. He won numerous awards and scholarships for creative writing while at college, and subsequently became the person who had more screenplays advance to quarterfinals and semifinals in the prestigious Nicholls Screenwriting competition in a single year than anyone else in the history of the competition.

His first produced script, Barricade, was made into a movie starring Eric McCormack of TV’sWill & Grace and Perception, and was released in 2012. Michaelbrent also wrote the screenplay for Darkroom, a movie starring Kaylee DeFer (Gossip Girl, Red State) and Elisabeth Rohm (Angel, Law & Order, Heroes). Darkroom is currently set for a 2013 release.

As a novelist, Michaelbrent has written numerous bestsellers, including Apparition, The Haunted, The Billy Saga, The Loon, Rising Fears, and others. In addition, he has also written dozens of non-fiction articles which have appeared in periodicals on several continents.

Michaelbrent is also a member of the WGA (Writers Guild of America) and in addition to selling, optioning, and doing rewrites on screenplays for major Hollywood production companies, he is currently developing several movies and television shows.

He hopes someday to develop superpowers, or, if that is out of the question, then at least to get a cool robot arm.

Michaelbrent has a wife and several kids, all of whom are much better looking than he is (though he admits that’s a low bar to set), and also cooler than he is.

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Signe Olynyk – President/CEO of Protagonist Pictures, Inc. in Los Angeles, and Twilight Pictures, Inc. in Canada. She has associate produced two feature films, as well as written and produced several documentaries, one hour specials, TV pilots, and a six part series. Her work has been seen on the CBC, Discovery Channel, FOX, the BBC, and she has professional credits on more than 120 productions. To write BELOW ZERO, she arranged to have herself locked in the slaughterhouse freezer where the film was shot. As the driving force behind BELOW ZERO, she brought that same level of dedication to all aspects of the production.

Signe created and founded the Great American PitchFest and the Great Canadian PitchFest as a way to help other writers meet the people they need to know for their careers to move forward. As a direct result, more than 60 writers have had their scripts optioned, been hired for writing assignments, or signed with agents or managers. The PitchFest has also allowed Signe to develop relationships with more than 500 industry executives around the world, and she routinely partners new writers with these companies and agencies for representation and script development. The first Great British PitchFest in London was recently held in partnership with the London Screenwriters Festival.

Signe is currently in pre-production on “Breakdown Lane” a zombie thriller written by her producing partner, Bob Schultz.

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Matt Lohr – A native of Pittsburgh, PA, MATT R. LOHR is an award-winning screenwriter, essayist and critic. He holds an MFA in screenwriting from Chapman University in Orange, CA, where he first met Dan O’Bannon and agreed to work with him on this book. His views on contemporary and classic cinema can be found on his blog, “The Movie Zombie”.

Matt is also the host of the forthcoming Dan O’Bannon Writing Workshops™, which will bring a hands-on presentation of Dan’s “dynamic structure” screenplay system to seminars, pitchfests and industry events worldwide. More information on these events, and on all upcoming projects and programs relating to Dan’s works and teaching, is available online at the official Dan O’Bannon website, www.danobannon.com. Matt can be contacted by email at matt@danobannon.com, and he is available on Twitter by following @TheMovieZombie.

Matt currently lives in Los Angeles.

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Brad Hodson – Originally from Knoxville, TN, Brad C. Hodson lives in Los Angeles. He’s written several award winning short films and has a few feature options out there. He co-wrote (and co-funded) the low budget horror comedy George: A Zombie Intervention and his first novel, Darling, was recently released from Bad Moon Books.

When not writing, he sneaks into your house and watches you sleep. It’s a little creepy. You might want to think about getting a dog.

Check out his work and musings on various topics over at www.brad-hodson.com.

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Pen Densham- Oscar nominated Writer, Producer, Director and co-founder of Trilogy Entertainment Group, Pen started in films in the UK at the age of four – riding an alligator in a theatrical short they made. He has produced 15 features and 300+ hours of TV with his producing partner, John Watson, including ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, MOLL FLANDERS, THE OUTER LIMITS and TWILIGHT ZONE revivals. His first solo directing gig was THE KISS a horror movie! His latest feature as a Producer, PHANTOM (Written and Directed by Todd Robinson – starring Ed Harris, David Duchovny) will be released March 1st on 3,000 screens in the US. (http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/phantom/) Pen occasionally lectures at USC Film School. His impassioned educational book on screenwriting is “Riding the Alligator”. A free chapter aimed to inspire creativity can be downloaded here – ridingthealligator.com.

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You can follow the Roundtable discussion in the comments section of this post.

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Rules and Etiquette

Please be respectful when posting a comment.

Any spam or comments posted for the sole purpose of self-promotion will be deleted, and will see you banned from further Roundtable involvement.

Oscar-nominated Pen Densham is our final guest for the HWA Roundtable on Screenwriting, which kicks off at 3pm on the 11th of February (Pacific Daylight Time) on the HWA’s blog, and he called by to answer a few questions before the Roundtable begins.

Here’s the Roundtable topic in full:

Screenwriting: How to get involved in the industry, the pitfalls and problems, the success stories. Screenwriting is a natural extension of story writing, but it is also a completely different art form. Let’s look at how it differs, and how difficult it is to create visual scenes for filming. And the end result; is it always how you viewed it would be? Are there any tips or suggestions you can offer for those just starting out, things you’ve learned along the way?

Special Guests: Michaelbrent Collings, Signe Olynyk, Matt Lohr, Brad Hodson, and Pen Densham.

Marty: Penn, what are you currently working on now?

Pen Densham: I have two personal feature projects we are aiming to get produced. An adaption of Simon Clark’s Blood Crazy. The script is by my son, Nevin. And a murder mystery wrote set in New Mexico with slight supernatural tones.

Marty: Writers are often asked who inspired them when they were growing up. What about screenwriters? Are there legends of the industry who inspire new rising stars? Who inspired you?

Penn: I was inspired by my folks making short movies for the UK theaters. I remember seeing Quatermass and the Pit on TV as tiny child. But – clearly seeing the Beatles Help was the final nail in the coffin — It was so much fun — I had to be in the movie business. Today David Lean, Hitchcock and Billy Wilder all rate highly. I was present when special screening of Sunset Boulevard was set up for Billy to see his movie one last time before he died. An amazingly moving experience.

Marty: When you’re not working, what do you enjoy doing? (other than reading or watching movies!)

Penn: I am working on very impressionistic water photography that is exhibited by two galleries in Los Angeles.

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Oscar nominated Writer, Producer, Director and co-founder of Trilogy Entertainment Group, Pen started in films in the UK at the age of four – riding an alligator in a theatrical short they made. He has produced 15 features and 300+ hours of TV with his producing partner, John Watson, including ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, MOLL FLANDERS, THE OUTER LIMITS and TWILIGHT ZONE revivals. His first solo directing gig was THE KISS a horror movie! His latest feature as a Producer, PHANTOM (Written and Directed by Todd Robinson – starring Ed Harris, David Duchovny) will be released March 1^st on 3,000 screens in the US. (http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/phantom/) Pen occasionally lectures at USC Film School. His impassioned educational book on screenwriting is “Riding the Alligator”. A free chapter aimed to inspire creativity can be downloaded here – ridingthealligator.com.

Brad Hodson dropped by my virtual office today for a quick Q and A over some tea and scones. Brad will be one of our Special Guests for the HWA Roundtable on Screenwriting, which kicks off on the 11th of February right here on the HWA’s blog.

Here’s the topic in full:

Screenwriting: How to get involved in the industry, the pitfalls and problems, the success stories. Screenwriting is a natural extension of story writing, but it is also a completely different art form. Let’s look at how it differs, and how difficult it is to create visual scenes for filming. And the end result; is it always how you viewed it would be? Are there any tips or suggestions you can offer for those just starting out, things you’ve learned along the way?

Special Guests: Michaelbrent Collings, Signe Olynyk, Matt Lohr, Brad Hodson, and Pen Densham.

Marty: Brad, what are you currently working on now?

Brad Hodson: Screenplay-wise, I’m working on a film inspired by the life of Harry Houdini. It’s slow going as I focus on another novel, but it is coming together nicely and I enjoy playing in the early twentieth century and seeing how magic, espionage, and undercover policing come together. I’ve got a few screenplays out there right now I’m waiting to hear about, and even more on my desktop I need to get out into circulation. The writing is fun and, for the most part, comes easy. It’s the business side of it all that usually leaves me flinging feces.

Not literally, of course. That would be another problem altogether.

Marty: Writers are often asked who inspired them when they were growing up. What about screenwriters? Are there legends of the industry who inspire new rising stars? Who inspired you?

Brad: I can’t imagine a screenwriter who, at some point, hasn’t been inspired by William Goldman. Goldman’s work is amazing but his books on screenwriting constitute a strong foundation of what most fledglings seem to know about the business. The scripts of the Coen Brothers gave me a strong push, too. They’re phenomenal directors but it’s their screenplays that really showcase their genius.

The indie boom of the nineties also gave me a nice push. Filmmakers like Tarantino, Rodriguez, Kevin Smith, all of the various Andersons – they not only wrote their own scripts but appeared in magazines and on talk shows (and, in some cases, even wrote books) on this wacky little enterprise. As a movie nerd, ahem, movie buff in high school during this boom it was a dream that seemed ever more achievable.

And, as a horror writer, I would be remiss not to mention William Peter Blatty. Blatty’s scripts for The Exorcist, The Exorcist III, and The Ninth Configuration are pure poetry. No one writes dialogue like that man. Watch George C. Scott discuss the carp in his bathtub and not be inspired. It’s impossible.

Marty: When you’re not working, what do you enjoy doing? (other than reading or watching movies!)

Brad: I’m an amateur powerlifter. I also have a few amateur MMA bouts under my belt. Staying active, especially in any way that allows me to pretend I’m a Viking, is a big part of my life. Though a newborn has put the brakes on that for a couple of months. Those baby things don’t like it when you sleep…

Cooking is a big hobby of mine. Travel, too. Those two things go together well. You head to a new place, try some amazing food you’ve never heard of before, and then spend the next six months trashing your kitchen trying to figure out how to reproduce it. And the best part is that even the failures are pretty tasty. Well, most of the time.

I’m also a big history geek. I probably spend as much time with my head in Ancient Rome as I do with it here in Los Angeles. Oddly enough, Ancient Rome smells a lot better on most days.

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Originally from Knoxville, TN, Brad C. Hodson lives in Los Angeles. He’s written several award winning short films and has a few feature options out there. He co-wrote (and co-funded) the low budget horror comedy George: A Zombie Intervention and his first novel, Darling, was recently released from Bad Moon Books.

When not writing, he sneaks into your house and watches you sleep. It’s a little creepy. You might want to think about getting a dog.

Check out his work and musings on various topics over at www.brad-hodson.com.

Matt Lohr drops in today to have a quick chat with us in preparation for the HWA Roundtable on Screenwriting, which kicks off on the 11th of February right here on the HWA’s blog.

Here’s the topic in full:

Screenwriting: How to get involved in the industry, the pitfalls and problems, the success stories. Screenwriting is a natural extension of story writing, but it is also a completely different art form. Let’s look at how it differs, and how difficult it is to create visual scenes for filming. And the end result; is it always how you viewed it would be? Are there any tips or suggestions you can offer for those just starting out, things you’ve learned along the way?

Special Guests: Michaelbrent Collings, Signe Olynyk, Matt Lohr, Brad Hodson, and Pen Densham.

Marty: Matt, what are you currently working on now?

Matt Lohr: In addition to promoting DAN O’BANNON’S GUIDE through the media and personal appearances, I am also starting work on my first solo book, a career-management guide for aspiring writers tentatively titled THE NOT-QUITE 9-TO-5 WRITER. I am also completing a novelization of my most recent screenplay, and am in talks with a major LA-based indie production company about a potential option for this same script.

Marty: Writers are often asked who inspired them when they were growing up. What about screenwriters? Are there legends of the industry who inspire new rising stars? Who inspired you?

Matt: I was lucky enough to work for two years on a book with one of the inspirational legends of Hollywood screenwriting, and it’s encouraging to see people’s eyes light up when I mention Dan’s name to them. I know that he was a name that I knew before I volunteered to work with him on his manuscript. Other writers, for screen, stage and page, who have inspired me include Woody Allen, Billy Wilder, David Mamet, Walter Mosley, Stephen Hunter, Roger Ebert, Erik Larson, Chuck Klosterman, and of course, the guy who anyone who writes drama owes a debt to, Will S.

Marty: When you’re not working, what do you enjoy doing? (other than reading or watching movies!)

Matt: Some of my favorite non-writing-related activities include hanging at the beach, trying out great new restaurants, playing online browser games, cooking, hitting the driving range, and seeing live music, especially jazz.

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A native of Pittsburgh, PA, MATT R. LOHR is an award-winning screenwriter, essayist and critic. He holds an MFA in screenwriting from Chapman University in Orange, CA, where he first met Dan O’Bannon and agreed to work with him on this book. His views on contemporary and classic cinema can be found on his blog, “The Movie Zombie”.

Matt is also the host of the forthcoming Dan O’Bannon Writing Workshops™, which will bring a hands-on presentation of Dan’s “dynamic structure” screenplay system to seminars, pitchfests and industry events worldwide. More information on these events, and on all upcoming projects and programs relating to Dan’s works and teaching, is available online at the official Dan O’Bannon website, www.danobannon.com. Matt can be contacted by email at matt@danobannon.com, and he is available on Twitter by following @TheMovieZombie.

Matt currently lives in Los Angeles.

In the buildup to the 6th HWA Horror Roundtable, I’ll be chatting briefly with each of our guests. Today I have the pleasure of Signe Olynyk’s company.

Don’t forget, the 6th Roundtable will be on Screenwriting and it will kick off on the 11th of February here on the HWA’s blog. We have an excellent lineup of guests, including Michaelbrent Collings, Signe Olynyk, Matt Lohr, Brad Hodson, and Pen Densham.

Here’s the topic in full:

Screenwriting: How to get involved in the industry, the pitfalls and problems, the success stories. Screenwriting is a natural extension of story writing, but it is also a completely different art form. Let’s look at how it differs, and how difficult it is to create visual scenes for filming. And the end result; is it always how you viewed it would be? Are there any tips or suggestions you can offer for those just starting out, things you’ve learned along the way?

Marty: Signe, what are you currently working on now?

Signe Olynyk: I have a couple ‘man in a box’ stories that I absolutely love, but can’t discuss unfortunately. And I am also in preproduction on a zombie thriller that my producing partner wrote. We will be shooting that in September (2013), along with another film that we have German financing on. I am also the founder and president of the Great American PitchFest and Screenwriting Conference, and it will be our tenth anniversary this year. We are expecting just under 2,000 writers to come out to our free classes, and it has become the largest screenwriting event in Los Angeles, probably the world actually. I am also putting together a workshop in April for anyone who has ever wanted to learn how to write a screenplay, followed by a 48 Hour Writing Marathon where attendees will crank out the first draft of their script.

Marty: Writers are often asked who inspired them when they were growing up. What about screenwriters? Are there legends of the industry who inspire new rising stars? Who inspired you?

Signe: I have been very fortunate because I have so many wonderful mentors in my life, many of whom I now call friends. I read a ton of books and took classes with incredible people who were willing to share their wisdom and experience on how to become professional screenwriters. Linda Seger, Michael Hauge, Drew Yanno, Pilar Alessandra, Blake Snyder, Viki King, Richard Walter, Karl Igelesias…it is a lengthy list and I could go on. And I haven’t even mentioned Pen Densham who I am thrilled to be on this panel with. All of these people also teach at the GAPF for us, and continue to inspire others to master the craft of screenwriting. I also watched movies, and listened to the DVD commentaries to learn as much as I could from those filmmakers. I’m inspired by great stories – regardless of genre. To me, a horror movie is really just a drama with scary elements.

Quite honestly, I find the best way to be inspired is often to do…absolutely nothing. I have to work really hard not to be a workaholic, and after describing everything I have going on above, I realize how much I’m failing in that regard. But I find myself most inspired when I take walks, drink wine and eat amazing foods with good friends, or read books for pleasure, see a great movie, or spend time playing and giggling with my niece and nephew. I’m someone who has been in need of more peace in their life, and I’ve found that in the past couple years. In that peace, I find inspiration – which means, I am a better writer the more I experience things. It’s not always about working harder and doing more. Sometimes you have to do less, to become more. Inspiration to me can be found when I sit by the ocean near my home and just listen to the surf crashing. Or when I hike in the cedar forests where I live, and listen to the thick sounds of silence. I always come back recharged.

Marty: When you’re not working, what do you enjoy doing? (other than reading or watching movies!)

Signe: I guess I just answered that! I like to cook, and I hike every day. I live in a beautiful place so no matter what, I go for a hike at 3pm every single day (because it starts to get dark at 4pm in the forest!). And I love to eat things I haven’t tried before, go to places I’ve never been, and doing as many fascinating things as I possibly can. This year, I went to Hong Kong en route to a film festival and I ate things from street vendors that will forever be a mystery. I watched an amazing light show on their skyscrapers that happens every night. I visited an amusement park hundreds of feet down in a Salt Mine in Romania, and I went clubbing with a bunch of 20 year olds in these amazing wine cellars that are all over Transylvania. In Australia, I ate kangaroo (although my producing partner was hoping to eat a Koala Bear) and I climbed thousands of treacherous, rotting steps to the very top of a 15th century cathedral. It was while climbing those stairs when the idea for my latest script came to me. When you are a writer, you never stop working really.

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Signe Olynyk is the President/CEO of Protagonist Pictures, Inc. in Los Angeles, and Twilight Pictures, Inc. in Canada. She has associate produced two feature films, as well as written and produced several documentaries, one hour specials, TV pilots, and a six part series. Her work has been seen on the CBC, Discovery Channel, FOX, the BBC, and she has professional credits on more than 120 productions. To write BELOW ZERO, she arranged to have herself locked in the slaughterhouse freezer where the film was shot. As the driving force behind BELOW ZERO, she brought that same level of dedication to all aspects of the production.

Signe created and founded the Great American PitchFest and the Great Canadian PitchFest as a way to help other writers meet the people they need to know for their careers to move forward. As a direct result, more than 60 writers have had their scripts optioned, been hired for writing assignments, or signed with agents or managers. The PitchFest has also allowed Signe to develop relationships with more than 500 industry executives around the world, and she routinely partners new writers with these companies and agencies for representation and script development. The first Great British PitchFest in London was recently held in partnership with the London Screenwriters Festival.

Signe is currently in pre-production on “Breakdown Lane” a zombie thriller written by her producing partner, Bob Schultz.

Our 6th Roundtable will be on Screenwriting and it will kick off on the 11th of February right here on the HWA blog. We have an excellent lineup of guests, including Michaelbrent Collings, Signe Olynyk, Matt Lohr, Brad Hodson, and Pen Densham.

Here’s the topic in full:

Screenwriting: How to get involved in the industry, the pitfalls and problems, the success stories. Screenwriting is a natural extension of story writing, but it is also a completely different art form. Let’s look at how it differs, and how difficult it is to create visual scenes for filming. And the end result; is it always how you viewed it would be? Are there any tips or suggestions you can offer for those just starting out, things you’ve learned along the way?

And in the buildup to the Roundtable, I’ll be chatting briefly with each of our guests, starting with Michaelbrent Collings, who suggested this topic (and on that note, if you have any ideas for Roundtable discussions, please get in touch with me).

Marty: What are you currently working on now?

Michaelbrent: Right now I just released my newest novel, DARKBOUND, so I’m in the “between” stage of novels, where I get to think and doodle around and play with ideas. One of my favorite parts of writing. On the scriptwriting front, I’m working on a few projects. One of my novels, HOOKED: A TRUE FAERIE TALE (which is on the preliminary ballot in the YA category for the Bram Stoker Awards) has gotten some interest from Hollywood, so I worked it into a script and am pow-wowing with various producers. Lots of other irons in the fire at various prodcos and studios, so we’ll see what happens. So much of Hollywood is just accepting rejection with a smile, making contacts where you can, and persevering. Onward and upward, even if to do that it feels an awful lot like throwing yourself over the side of a cliff sometimes.

Marty: Writers are often asked who inspired them when they were growing up. What about screenwriters? Are there legends of the industry who inspire new rising stars? Who inspired you?

Michaelbrent: I love William Goldman, of course. He’s kind of the grandmaster of screenwriting, in my opinion. Not only a great screenwriter, but a great storyteller. I also love a lot of the old writers, like Charles Lederer (HIS GIRL FRIDAY, the original OCEAN’S ELEVEN). I think Leigh Whannell has some great skills, and if you’re going to be a screenwriter you should definitely read Shane Black (LETHAL WEAPON, IRON MAN 3) – the guy just has a hysterically funny way of expressing his scenes. Dan O’Bannon (ALIEN). Some of Jim Cameron’s stuff. But really I like so many writers and scripts that this list could go on forever. And I think there’s something to that: if you’re writing a script because you think it’ll be easy and it’ll make you rich and famous… uh-uh. Get out now, while you still have your sanity. If you devour screenplays, if you get pissed off every time you go over to imsdb.com or Drew’s Script-o-rama because it hasn’t updated with anything new, with then… THEN you might have a shot.

Marty: When you’re not working, what do you enjoy doing? (other than reading or watching movies!)

Michaelbrent: Not working? What’s that? I’m a husband and a dad and very active in my church, so between family and church stuff and work the last six seconds of every day are devoted almost entirely to sleeping and going to the bathroom. That being said, in an alternate universe where I have the time, I like to play videogames – another storytelling medium that is on the rise. I also love martial arts and have practiced them most of my adult life. Beyond those things, I DO read and watch movies. My favorite things are to go to a nice dinner with my wife – who is my best friend and the coolest chick I know – and then a movie. Or to go out with her and then hit up a bookstore and end up curled up in the middle of the stacks reading books together. Sigh. A dream. Oops! I can hear the baby crying. Time to get more duct tape.

Marty: Many thanks, Michaelbrent. See you on the Roundtable!

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Michaelbrent Collings is a bestselling novelist, produced screenwriter and WGA member, martial artist, and has a killer backhand on the badminton court (’cause he’s macho like that).

He published his first “paying” work – a short story for a local paper – at the age of 15. He won numerous awards and scholarships for creative writing while at college, and subsequently became the person who had more screenplays advance to quarterfinals and semifinals in the prestigious Nicholls Screenwriting competition in a single year than anyone else in the history of the competition.

His first produced script, Barricade, was made into a movie starring Eric McCormack of TV’sWill & Grace and Perception, and was released in 2012. Michaelbrent also wrote the screenplay for Darkroom, a movie starring Kaylee DeFer (Gossip Girl, Red State) and Elisabeth Rohm (Angel, Law & Order, Heroes). Darkroom is currently set for a 2013 release.

As a novelist, Michaelbrent has written numerous bestsellers, including Apparition, The Haunted, The Billy Saga, The Loon, Rising Fears, and others. In addition, he has also written dozens of non-fiction articles which have appeared in periodicals on several continents.

Michaelbrent is also a member of the WGA (Writers Guild of America) and in addition to selling, optioning, and doing rewrites on screenplays for major Hollywood production companies, he is currently developing several movies and television shows.

He hopes someday to develop superpowers, or, if that is out of the question, then at least to get a cool robot arm.

Michaelbrent has a wife and several kids, all of whom are much better looking than he is (though he admits that’s a low bar to set), and also cooler than he is.

When: November 18-24, 2012
Time: 3pm Pacific Daylight Time (use the Time Zone Convertor to find your local time)

The Editor and The Writer (a view of both sides of the creation coin, as Jason V Brock put it when posing the idea – thanks Jason!).

What’s it like, as a writer, to have your work selected and shaped by an editor? And as an editor, what are the perils and rewards of editing the work of others? Are writers under any obligations to self-edit and get work into a professional shape before they submit anywhere? What about editors who compile versus editors who use a more hands-on approach? What are the lines delineated between writers and editors, and where are they blurred? How can a good editor help a talented writer?

Special Guests:

Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for over thirty years. She was fiction editor of OMNI Magazine, Event Horizon, and SCIFICTION and has edited more than fifty anthologies, including the annual The Best Horror of the Year, Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror, Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy, Blood and Other Cravings, Supernatural Noir, Teeth: Vampire Tales, and After: Dystopian and Post-apocalyptic Tales (the latter two young adult anthologies with Terri Windling). Forthcoming is Hauntings, a reprint anthology  and Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslight Fantasy  (with Terri Windling).

She’s has won nine World Fantasy Awards, and has also won multiple Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards, and the 2012 Il Posto Nero Black Spot Award for Excellence as Best Foreign Editor. Datlow was named recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for “outstanding contribution to the genre” and was honored with the Life Achievement Award given by the Horror Writers Association, in acknowledgment of superior achievement over an entire career.

She lives in New York and co-hosts the monthly Fantastic Fiction Reading Series at KGB Bar.  More information can be found at www.datlow.com or at her blog: http://ellen-datlow.livejournal.com/. You can also find her on twitter.

John Joseph Adams is the bestselling editor of many anthologies, such asOther Worlds Than These, Armored,Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom, Brave New Worlds, Wastelands, The Living Dead, Federations, The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, andThe Way of the Wizard. He is a four-time finalist for the Hugo Award and a four-time finalist for the World Fantasy Award. He is also the editor and publisher of the magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare, and is the co-host of Wired.com’s The Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.

Jason V Brock is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, composer, and artist, and has been published in Butcher Knives & Body Counts, The Devil’s Coattails, Calliope, The Bleeding Edge, Black Wings II, and many others. He was Art Director/Managing Editor for Dark Discoveries magazine for more than three years, and has a new magazine out called [NameL3ss].

As a filmmaker, his work includes the documentaries Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone’s Magic Man; The AckerMonster Chronicles!, and Image, Reflection, Shadow: Artists of the Fantastic. Composer/guitarist for ChiaroscurO. Loves his wife, Sunni, reptiles/amphibians and vegan/vegetarianism.

Visit his website at www.JaSunni.com.

John Langan‘s next collection of short fiction, THE WIDE, CARNIVOROUS SKY AND OTHER MONSTROUS GEOGRAPHIES, is forthcoming from Hippocampus Press in early 2013.  His previous collection, MR. GAUNT AND OTHER UNEASY ENCOUNTERS (Prime 2008), was a nominee for the Bram Stoker award.  He is also the author of a novel, HOUSE OF WINDOWS (Night Shade 2009).  His stories have appeared in anthologies including A SEASON IN CARCOSA (Miskatonic 2012), BLOOD AND OTHER CRAVINGS (TOR 2011), SUPERNATURAL NOIR (Dark Horse 2011), and GHOSTS BY GASLIGHT (Harper Collins 2011).  His reviews and articles have appeared in the LOS ANGELES REVIEW OF BOOKS, THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION, EXTRAPOLATION, and SCIENCE FICTION STUDIES.  An adjunct instructor at SUNY New Paltz, he teaches courses in Creative Writing and Gothic Literature.  He lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife and son.

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