I think I've written about the Blacklist in this thread before, but for those that don't know you can upload your scripts to the site (for a fee) and either pay for a review or if one of their vetted "industry professionals" downloads your script, they can review it as well. They rate on a scale from 1-10 and if you score an 8 or higher, you're put in their weekly email and promoted on the main page of the site (although I think you need to have at least 2 review for this to happen). DrIan and I have had one of our features on the site for a couple of months and it's gotten 7's, but after getting one of our other features to good point we felt that it was ready to try and get a review. I just heard back today and we got an 8.
I've made the review public on the site, but I think you have to be a member to see it so I'll post it here.
THE ABOMINABLE
Era:
1951
Locations:
Himalayas, London
Budgets:
Medium
Genre:
Horror
Logline:
Bent on finding the the elusive Yeti, ALEC MCKEAN and his small team come apart in the unforgiving Himalayas.
Strengths:
This is an elegant script. It's about two men on a mountain searching for a monster and coming undone in the process. It's a focused and lean piece of work that rarely loses sight of its goal. These men struggle with the mountain, themselves, and their own sanity. What could be a bland exorcise in genre convention gradually becomes so much more. The characters themselves are sharply delineated. They're strong and have great arcs as the mountain and their own drives change them. It's a script that is also a trenchant portrait of obsession. It begins as a quest for a mystery and becomes the portrait of a desperate man seeking validation. It's powerful and smart and uses a simple premise to become something more. The dialogue is quick and naturalistic. There are few main characters and each is given his own voice. It's sharp without being overly flashy and works well with the world. The ending is quite strong as well. It closes a script that gets stronger as it goes along and finishes with a powerful image that seals the narrative. It's a strong script that is impressively polished.
Weaknesses:
There are few weaknesses to this script. The flashbacks are the only recurring element that doesn't work. Throughout the narrative, Alec remembers his past as an adventurer. These do relay important character information, but they relay the same character beat multiple times. This can be somewhat enervating and a little distracting from the excitement on the mountain. The climax also has an extended hallucination for almost ten pages that is somewhat superfluous. It shows the audience what Alex longs for, but the vital information is relayed quickly, and the rest of the hallucination feels superfluous. It's overly elaborate and a little indulgent for such a focused script.
Prospects:
Horror films and thrillers are quite popular right now. They appeal to a young and very desirable audience and demographic. For a horror film, this script would be moderately expensive given its setting and ambition. This will limit it some, but the piece could likely still be made independently. The script is also polished to the point where with few edits, it could have solid prospects.
So right now I think we'll wait a day or two to see if someone downloads the script, otherwise we'll pay for another review. In the meantime we're going to start querying agencies and mention we got a high score, which I've heard works from multiple people.
It's $25 a month to have it hosted and $50 to have one of their readers review it. The only people who can actually download your script are their readers and the people in the industry they vet (mostly agents and managers but producers, too). The industry people can review your script as well so you wouldn't have to pay the $50, but you have to get them to your script first as they're unlikely to look at any unreviewed scripts.
I think the site's worth it but you need to go into it with scripts that are ready. You shouldn't be paying all that money just to get notes for revisions.
Figured I'd give an update. It turns out that for The Blacklist, you need two reviews to be considered for their Top Uploaded Scripts section but to be sent out on their emails, you only need one review with an 8 or higher. I can't remember the exact number of uploaded scripts there are now but I think it's at least 10,000 and around 6% of those are 8's. I also found out that there are two emails that get sent out, one on Friday and one on Monday. The one on Friday is a targeted email using their recommendation system (ie people looking for horror get horror scripts), and the one on Monday is just a general list of highly rated scripts that week.
Once your script is uploaded you get a page that gives you a ton of data on what kinds of views/downloads you're getting and whatnot. We had quite a few hits and downloads over the weekend but not as much as I would've hoped, honestly. So on Monday DrIan and I started cold calling agencies and management companies and emailing out queries. I've never cold called before so it was a horrifying experience, but we got some emails out of it and we were able to get some of our contacts to pass the script around as well to some agencies. I'm told that hearing back from anybody in two weeks is considered fast so we've still got a bit of waiting to do.
We wouldn't have been able to get any traction though from this if we didn't have the high score to back us up. Even our contacts who we were friends with put in extra effort when they knew that we had The Blacklist behind us. And even with all of this, the chances of us getting repped are still very small so I'm not getting my hopes up. Our plan right now is to push this this as much as we can, but focus on getting our other stuff in tip-top shape along with getting a short off the ground. The impression I'm getting now is that it's easier to get people interested in your work when you've got real stuff to show, ie a short or feature film in the can.
If anybody has any experience, what are your guys thoughts on getting a bachelors in CS to get into VFX? Most of the bigger studios require a bachelors to apply for their jobs, and Python scripting is universally listed as a plus. My free time is spent taking online classes learning Nuke and Maya, trying to build up a reel.
okay, my sound mixer and I are tearing our hair out
he's just sent me the final .wav and it's got audio that drifts out of sync on my version of Final Cut, no matter what we do, and any exports have the same sync issue
we've checked the bitrate, confirmed that we're working off the same video down to the nano-second, checked out every possible setting and we cannot work out what the fuck
YaYa, what DAW is your mixer working in, what version of Final Cut do you have?
Is the audio file showing up as shorter or longer than your FCP timeline or is the same length but magically drifts? One simple way to compare is to grab a video export, drop it in a fresh timeline, and drop the audio export under, as in when dvd mastering. Or, stranger still, are only certain elements out of sync?
Did you have issues syncing from the beginning of edit process, a la your Bloodsucking Books problem? Did your mixer have issues syncing your OMF to video? Is this the same guy from last time?
When you say you've checked the "bitrate," I assume you mean audio sample rate, because that is what is relevant to your issue. The audio sample rate needs to be the same from beginning to end, so you need to check the sample rate on your production audio, camera audio, and (here comes the important bit) your FCP project/timeline, your mixer's audio project, and your mixer's exported WAV. If everything's looks good on his end, meaning he had no trouble syncing up your OMF and video export, I suspect a sample rate mismatch between the audio export (which most likely is determined by his project settings) and your FCP project or timeline settings. With rare exception, these should all be 48khz.
You can only buy the CS6 version, and not from Adobe itself. If you want the most current version, Premiere Pro CC, you have to subscribe to their monthly payments and get access to their entire Creative Suite.
Luckily they're still updating CS6 with bug fixes, so it's still a good investment.
A side note: They do have deals that can drop the subscription fee from it's normal $50/month to $20-30/month, but then you have to sign up for a year long contract. It's still cheaper than buying CS6, but you don't own the software you're paying for.
Premiere Pro CC is faster under the hood and more efficient, with less key strokes and tighter keyboard controls. But it's not backwards compatible with CS6, which became a problem with some projects I was co-editing on.
Really it's up to you. Would you rather own one piece of software, or rent their entire suite?
Premiere Pro CC is faster under the hood and more efficient, with less key strokes and tighter keyboard controls. But it's not backwards compatible with CS6, which became a problem with some projects I was co-editing on.
Really it's up to you. Would you rather own one piece of software, or rent their entire suite?
CC and After-effects might honestly be enough of an incentive
So it's not terribly exciting, but I'm going to be hosting a panel at Austin Comic Con. The panel is titled "The Rise of Texas Cinema."
It's interesting how easy it was to get into. All I had to do was apply for a panel with a title and description. At the time it seemed like a great way to market myself and other people interested.
Do any filmmakers in here live in Austin? I'm allowed to have up to 6 panelists, and right now I only have 2. Almost all of my friends are participating in the San Antonio 48HR film festival that's the same weekend as Comic Con.
You'll get a cool wristband that acts as a 3-day ticket. That's an $80, absolutely free!!
it is pretty okay! i can't tell if there are some weird lip synching things going on though or it's just the way that guy is talking, only in some bits though.
maybe just a little bit too much references to stuff but they felt natural at least.
it is pretty okay! i can't tell if there are some weird lip synching things going on though or it's just the way that guy is talking, only in some bits though.
maybe just a little bit too much references to stuff but they felt natural at least.
there are a few parts where the dialogue editor had to do some pretty hard work, so you're not wrong there
Posts
The credits are messed up right now and the executive producers, director, writers, editor, and team leader (me) aren't listed.
I've made the review public on the site, but I think you have to be a member to see it so I'll post it here.
So right now I think we'll wait a day or two to see if someone downloads the script, otherwise we'll pay for another review. In the meantime we're going to start querying agencies and mention we got a high score, which I've heard works from multiple people.
Exciting stuff.
I think the site's worth it but you need to go into it with scripts that are ready. You shouldn't be paying all that money just to get notes for revisions.
Once your script is uploaded you get a page that gives you a ton of data on what kinds of views/downloads you're getting and whatnot. We had quite a few hits and downloads over the weekend but not as much as I would've hoped, honestly. So on Monday DrIan and I started cold calling agencies and management companies and emailing out queries. I've never cold called before so it was a horrifying experience, but we got some emails out of it and we were able to get some of our contacts to pass the script around as well to some agencies. I'm told that hearing back from anybody in two weeks is considered fast so we've still got a bit of waiting to do.
We wouldn't have been able to get any traction though from this if we didn't have the high score to back us up. Even our contacts who we were friends with put in extra effort when they knew that we had The Blacklist behind us. And even with all of this, the chances of us getting repped are still very small so I'm not getting my hopes up. Our plan right now is to push this this as much as we can, but focus on getting our other stuff in tip-top shape along with getting a short off the ground. The impression I'm getting now is that it's easier to get people interested in your work when you've got real stuff to show, ie a short or feature film in the can.
Anyways, time to get back to writing.
If anybody has any experience, what are your guys thoughts on getting a bachelors in CS to get into VFX? Most of the bigger studios require a bachelors to apply for their jobs, and Python scripting is universally listed as a plus. My free time is spent taking online classes learning Nuke and Maya, trying to build up a reel.
he's just sent me the final .wav and it's got audio that drifts out of sync on my version of Final Cut, no matter what we do, and any exports have the same sync issue
we've checked the bitrate, confirmed that we're working off the same video down to the nano-second, checked out every possible setting and we cannot work out what the fuck
can anyone think of anything we should check
Is the audio file showing up as shorter or longer than your FCP timeline or is the same length but magically drifts? One simple way to compare is to grab a video export, drop it in a fresh timeline, and drop the audio export under, as in when dvd mastering. Or, stranger still, are only certain elements out of sync?
Did you have issues syncing from the beginning of edit process, a la your Bloodsucking Books problem? Did your mixer have issues syncing your OMF to video? Is this the same guy from last time?
When you say you've checked the "bitrate," I assume you mean audio sample rate, because that is what is relevant to your issue. The audio sample rate needs to be the same from beginning to end, so you need to check the sample rate on your production audio, camera audio, and (here comes the important bit) your FCP project/timeline, your mixer's audio project, and your mixer's exported WAV. If everything's looks good on his end, meaning he had no trouble syncing up your OMF and video export, I suspect a sample rate mismatch between the audio export (which most likely is determined by his project settings) and your FCP project or timeline settings. With rare exception, these should all be 48khz.
Probably should have posted back in here when I fixed the problem
I tried it in AfterEffects instead and it worked fine there for reasons unknown
but the short's done!
Except that's probably not remotely worth the effort.
can
can I just buy it
Luckily they're still updating CS6 with bug fixes, so it's still a good investment.
Really it's up to you. Would you rather own one piece of software, or rent their entire suite?
CC and After-effects might honestly be enough of an incentive
And last night the awards went out and we got one!
Woo!
It's interesting how easy it was to get into. All I had to do was apply for a panel with a title and description. At the time it seemed like a great way to market myself and other people interested.
You'll get a cool wristband that acts as a 3-day ticket. That's an $80, absolutely free!!
I'm moving to LA on the 16th of June
whoooooooooooooooo knows where I can live
it is pretty okay, I think? there is some stuff that is emblematic of bad writing habits I am trying to correct
watch it if you like!
maybe just a little bit too much references to stuff but they felt natural at least.
there are a few parts where the dialogue editor had to do some pretty hard work, so you're not wrong there
and I do need to cut back on the references
I am glad you thought it was pretty okay!