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www.austinscreenwriters.org is the
website of the Austin Screenwriters Group.

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[ CALENDAR/EVENTS ] [ LINKS ] [ EDUCATION] [MEMBERS] [SHOP ASG]

 

Mission Statement:

The Austin Screenwriters Group is a resource to serve local screenwriters, providing guidance and support in all areas of the field. We offer networking and marketing opportunities, critical feedback on works-in-progress, and a sense of community for our members. We are open to screenwriters of all levels of experience. Script readings are specifically designed to help our members hone their screenwriting talent.


ASG CALENDAR
1st Sundays from 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at Bookpeople
3rd Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. at Austin History Center

MEETING DATE/TIME

LOCATION

WHO / WHAT

LOGLINE/DESCRIPTION

Sunday
September 5th
9:30 am-12:30 pm

Bookpeople, 3rd floor No Meeting - Holiday!  
Saturday
September 18th
10:00 am-1:00 pm
Austin History Center Kathy Albert - Forward Integration Will needs to buy the last two businesses on the block before he can put in the new condo project. Alex is a stripper turned dance instructor who fronts for a Mexican drug family and dreams of escaping. Love finds people in the most unusual circumstances.

Sunday
October 3rd
9:30 am-12:30 pm

Bookpeople, 3rd floor Special Meeting - Prepping for Austin Film Festival Bring your loglines, 1-minute pitches, 5-minute pitches, and we will audition, practice, and brainstorm. When AFF gets here at the end of the month, we need to be ready to promote our scripts to the Hollywood folks. Open to members and non-members.
Saturday
October 16th
10:00 am-1:00 pm
Austin History Center OPEN! Contact our scheduler to take this slot.
October 20-28

Austin Film Festival

October 20 -- Wednesday evening reception, networking and pitching with Franklin Leonard, Director of Development, Universal Pictures. Location and details TBD. This event is for ASG members only (i.e., you've paid your $36 annual dues to our Treasurer).

October 21-24 is the screenwriters conference in downtown Austin; ASGers need to reach out now to the producers and agents coming; try to secure a lunch or dinner or cocktails or brunch get-together and invite the rest of us to join you --!

October 21-28 is the film festival.

Sunday
November 7th
9:30 am-12:30 pm
Bookpeople, 3rd floor OPEN! Contact our scheduler to take this slot.
Saturday
November 20th
10:00 am-1:00 pm
Austin History Center Anton Diether - Skyhanger aka Drop Dead (disaster action thriller) An American cat burglar who lost his wife to a fall and has a new fear of heights pulls off one last rooftop heist and steals an unknown package. Crossing the Alps to deliver them to a mysterious banker, he’s stalked by a clever female assassin. He evades her, using an innocent ski instructor and her students as a ruse, and boards a cable car. The assassin boards with them, when the ski lift is sabotaged in mid-air -- a skyhanger with unexpected twists.
Sunday
December 5
9:30 am-12:30 pm
Bookpeople, 3rd floor Ron Presnell - Desert Forces Lieutenant Holt is loved, each in their own way, by his wife and by a nurse he finds in an abandoned desert cafe. Yet neither can save him as he discovers primal forces in the Iraqi sands stronger than his military platoon.

Do you want to have a table reading? Contact Melanie, our scheduler, at asgscheduler@gmail.com.

Need to reschedule/cancel your reading?
Contact Melanie right away so we have time to find a new screenplay and the weekend meeting won't be wasted!!
 

Please email Wendy Wheeler at scripts@wendy-wheeler.com with your loglines, if they're not posted. To get onto the schedule, contact the scheduler above. Please note that you MUST be a paid member of the ASG to be scheduled, and have attended at least 4 meetings.

More details on the ASG requirements are on our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) list.


ASG NEWS!


ASG MONTHLY MEETINGS


ASG MAILING LIST

The Austin Screenwriters Group has a mailing list on Yahoo. We highly recommend that you sign yourself up! We share networking, news, upcoming events, etc. Last-minute schedule changes are posted there, and are often the only way you'll know about them. Joining the list is easy, and you don't have to be a dues-paying member for it. Please note you must subscribe first, before you can post emails. The listserver software will bounce back emails that come from unregistered email addresses!

  1. Start from within the mailing address you wish to register, and send an email to: austinscreenwriters-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. (The reference line and content aren't important in the message.)
  2. You'll get a confirming email from the listserver at YahooGroups. Just follow the instructions (usually, it just asks you to respond and be sure to type at least a quick message to prove you're not spambot), and you should be on the list for the moderator to approve you. Sorry it's not one-step, but it's an anti-spam precaution.
  3. Once you get the message from Yahoo saying the moderator has approved you, you're registered on the listserver software and can then send emails easily to everyone on the ASG list by addressing them to: austinscreenwriters@yahoogroups.com.


ASG FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) List

The FAQ list is on another page, and contains instructions on signing up for a reading, preparing your script for the reading, conducting the reading, and the feedback session. We suggest you visit the page and print it out. You can also get a copy of the information if you download a copy of the ASG brochure as a Word document, click here for that.


LINKS TO OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES

We keep a list of helpful writing and screenwriting books on another page.

How to format a script? It's a question at the top of the mind of many beginning writers. Here's a good discussion with samples written by a fan of Austin (he comes regularly to the Heart of Film Conference) Greg Beal, who coodinates the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship.

Writers Guild of America is the group that lobbies and negotiates on behalf of American screenwriters. It's also the place to register your scripts for protection, and if you live in Texas you should use the WGAw (West). The U.S. Patent Office issues copyrights for more-formal protection. Most of the screenwriting contests require that your script submissions be registered, in fact.

MovieBytes is another useful site which also features a listing of the many screenwriting contests each year, along with their open and closing dates, as well as other information.

BookPeople has been hosting our meetings since early 2000. They are great people, and generous in their support of Austin arts! Show your appreciation by shopping at the store as often as possible!

Another wonderful host (this time, on the Internet) for the ASG is Randy Martin, who has the Web design and Web hosting company, Chili Design. Check out the awesome portfolio on his website! (And please note he had nothing to do with the dorky design of the ASG website!)

The ASG enjoys a very close relationship with the Heart of Film Conference and Austin Film Festival. What an awesome opportunity for education and networking they provide for local screenwriters! The Heart of Film was the first screenwriter-specific conference (now it has many imitators). It's a can't-miss event that happens in Austin each fall. Many of us submit scripts to the Heart of Film competition. Many of us also volunteer to be HoF readers each year--be looking for announcements on that to come from the HoF folks each spring. And the AFF provides wonderful cinema-related events throughout the year.


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For any problems with this website, contact the volunteer webmaster. Last revised on 2010_August_28.