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

Mission Statement:

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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

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ASG NEWS!

• August 2010: Nancy Smith worked with Barbara of the Austin Film Festival to invite Franklin Leonard, Director of Development at Universal Pictures and co-founder of the Black List to the conference as the guest of Austin Screenwriters Group. We get time with him, and AFF gets to use him on roundtables and panels. Thanks, Nancy! Scheduling a networking reception and pitching with Franklin the night of October 20th. Need help with venue, foods and drinks.
• May 2010: Had a great Saturday workshop with writer/consultant/producer Tim Albaugh on "Building a Script from the Ground Up" and "The Art of the Pitch." Plus he gave us his insights as a UCLA instructor and long-time writer in Hollywood. Many thanks to Tim, who also made himself available for social, dining and consulting time with the members of ASG! And thanks to Wendy Wheeler (your humble Website manager) who coordinated bringing him in; Melody Lopez who handled the registration and questions about the event; Kathy Albert who got a free, large meeting room in Bee Cave; Jill Oleson who handled the finances and new members; and the many other folks who volunteered to help out with donuts, A/V set-up and more. Here's Tim teaching to the class of 32 folks:
  
• April 2010: UCLA screenwriting instructor and producer with Popular Films Tim Albaugh agreed to come teach ASG a weekend screenwriting craft workshop and do consultations on May 22-23. More details at the Albaugh Workshop Page.
• February 2010: Dustin Warden stepped down as ASG Scheduler after some years of service. Thanks, Dustin! Now Melanie Alberts has agreed to schedule; thanks, Melanie! Plus now there's a special email for Scheduler: asgscheduler@gmail.com.
• January 2010: Producer Marilyn Atlas visited Austin again (last time was in 2005 for a long ASG workshop weekend) and offered a Sunday afternoon workshop to local screenwriters.
• December 2009: Joan Johnson has stepped down as Treasurer of the Austin Screenwriters Group and Jill Oleson has volunteered to step up. Many thanks to Joan for years of service. And thank you to Jill! Plus there's now a special email for our Treasurer: asgtreasurer@gmail.com.
• December 2009: Jill Oleson created a page on YouTube to collect and display works by and with and associated with Austin Screenwriters Group members.
• December 2009: The Screenwriting Conference in Santa Fe on June 1-6, 2010 has offered ASG a $300 discount on registrations. AND for every person who registers through the special ASG Web Page, our group gets a $50 rebate. Check it out; looks like a lot of really good screenwriting craft instruction and exercises in a pretty part of the country! Ladonna enjoyed it, but says you work hard so should take an extra day for sightseeing.
• November 2009: We applied for and received a meeting room one Saturday a month from the Austin History Center. The third Saturday of the month, from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. So we'll do 1st Sundays at Bookpeople and 3rd Saturdays at the History Center. This was the workaround since Bookpeople didn't want to give us the room on Saturdays anymore, and not everyone could make Sunday meetings.
• June 2009: We had a great Story Mastery workshop with Michael Hauge, followed by a fun, social potluck BYOB with Michael that evening at the home of Peggy Schatz in Spicewood. Michael Hauge is a well-known and respected story consultant for all the major production studios and best-selling author. He spent most of Sunday morning doing one-on-one consultations for us too. Here's Mike reacting to the camera during the last hour of the class:
  
  
• October 2008: In connection with the Austin Film Festival, the ASG had some wonderful networking opportunities. Our thanks to the folks from Hollywood who met with us, in receptions and dinners: Robert Markovich, Director of Original Programming at Starz Entertainment; Curtis Burch, producer with Latitude Productions; and Tim Albaugh, UCLA screenwriting instructor and producer/writer with Popular Films. Your Website editor forgot to bring a camera to most events, but here's one of the ASG with Curtis Burch at Stubb's BBQ the Saturday night of the conference:
  
• July 2008: Screenwriter and craft guru Blake Snyder (Save the Cat) came to Austin to teach an intensive workshop on July 12-13. The ASG took Blake to dinner again, at Threadgills South, again.
  
  Randy Brown, Blake Snyder, Jill Oleson (and others) at dinner at Threadgill's.
  
• May 2008: The ASG Spring Workshop the weekend of May 31-June 1 was coordinated by First Look Script Analysis (Nancy Smith) and brought in the amazing Dave Trottier. Dave presented his seminar "Four Keys to a Salable Script," gave tips on pitching, listened to members' pitches, and joined us in a wine and cheese party. He also chose the First Annual Hook Contest Winners from our 8 finalist scripts. More information about the events on the Spring Workshop page. Congrats to the winners: 1st place: KITTYHAWK by Julie Kenner. 2nd place: BECOMING QUANAH PARKER by Steve Warren. 3rd place: LIFE WITHOUT FATHER by Anton Diether.
  
  
  Nancy Smith and Dave Trottier
  
• ASG Goods to Buy: Thanks to Helen Cates, the Austin Screenwriters Group now has t-shirts, mugs and more on CafePress you can buy with our ASG logo on it. Wear 'em proudly!
  
  

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ASG MONTHLY MEETINGS

• 1st Sundays and 3rd Saturdays of (almost) every month and cost nothing to attend
• Sundays are from 9:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. at Bookpeople, 6th St. and North Lamar Blvd
• Saturdays are from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. at the Austin History Center, next to main public library building, on Guadalupe at 9th St
• Typical format: Networking and introductions are followed by an out-loud reading of the screenplay to be critiqued that day
• Anyone with an interest in screenwriting is welcome to the meetings! To have a script read and critiqued, however, you must be a dues-paid member of the ASG and meet a few simple rules, which are covered in the FAQ.

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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.

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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.

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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.