Austin Screenwriters Group Main Page

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

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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 March 7th 9:30 am - 12:30 pm	Bookpeople, 3rd floor	Jonathan Sheets - Alien Moon (scifi)	An unknown catastrophe on the Lunar base prompts a rescue mission. The rescuers discover that something sinister has been hiding under the surface for years.
Saturday March 20th 10:00 am - 1:00 pm	Austin History Center	Steve Winnicki - The Last Christmas (comedy)	Christmas traditions fly asunder leading to a virgin birth at midnight mass with a raging snow storm blessing the event.
Sunday April 4th 9:30 am - 12:30 pm	Bookpeople, 3rd floor	No Meeting -- Easter Sunday
Saturday April 17th 10:00 am - 1:00 pm	Austin History Center	Anton Diether - The Scherzo Code	An aspiring New York pianist is tutored by a world-famous Russian concert master and falls in love with his daughter, only to discover that the maestro leads a double life as a Soviet assassin who murdered his father. Seeking vengeance, the young pianist finds himself embroiled in a mysterious KGB plot to smuggle out an American prototype of the "Suitcase Bomb," the first portable nuclear device designed at the height of the Cold War.
Sunday May 2nd 9:30 am - 12:30 pm	Bookpeople, 3rd floor	Cynthia Huerta - Crossing a Line	A ten-year-old bookworm transplanted by her father's WWII job turns a community upside down by crossing a line of segregation to save her dream of becoming a writer. Based on a true story.
Saturday May 15th 10:00 am - 1:00 pm	Austin History Center	Ron Presnell - The Rafter Boys	A little more than seamanship will be learned when summer sailors Bob and Charley float down the Rio Grande.
Sunday June 6th 9:30 am - 12:30 pm	Bookpeople, 3rd floor	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.
Saturday June 19th 10:00 am - 1:00 pm	Austin History Center	Richard Billingsley - Zombie Hunt (Zom Rom Com)	When the Zombie Liberation Front successfully disrupts a small town's annual Zombie hunt, the Zombies go on a rampage. Walt, a hunter, and Fiona, the leader of the ZLF, work together to stop the Zombies.
Sunday July 4th 9:30 am - 12:30 pm	Bookpeople, 3rd floor	OPEN! Question: 4th of July weekend?	This is a holiday weekend but people are saying the fireworks happen at night so the morning should be free for most people. If you want this slot, contact our scheduler.
Saturday July 17th 10:00 am - 1:00 pm	Austin History Center	Jonathon Ridge - Permanent	A psychiatrist suggests hypnotherapy for a woman with extreme insecurity issues and minor destructive tendencies. Mistake.
Sunday August 1st 9:30 am - 12:30 pm	Bookpeople, 3rd floor	Wendy Wheeler - Lilith (fantasy & scifi)	Imagine an eerie town in the Blueridge mountains that's the Stepford Village by day, the Island of Dr Moreau by night. That's where the Jenkins Center does research on the criminally insane. When Randy, a troubled artist, follows her brother and his family there she uncovers the secrets hidden in "dark blood."
Saturday August 21st 10:00 am - 1:00 pm	Austin History Center	Anton Diether - Swim for Your Lives!	Family-survival action adventure. A dysfunctional father and daughter, conflicted over a pending divorce, vacation in Bali -- until they suddenly become the sole survivors of a plane crash at sea. They try to swim to the nearest coast, fighting both natural and human elements of danger.
Sunday September 5th 9:30 am - 12:30 pm	Bookpeople, 3rd floor	Open!	Contact our scheduler to take this slot.
Do you want to have a table reading? Contact Melanie, our scheduler. 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!

February 2010: Dustin Warden stepped down as ASG Scheduler after some years of service. Thanks, Dustin! Now Melanie Alberts has agreed to schedule. 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.
January 2010: Talking about who/what to bring to Austin for a craft writing workshop this spring. Several candidates to choose from now.
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. He has several screenwriting books out, including Writing Screenplays That Sell, which is in its 32nd printing from Harper Collins. 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!

ASG MONTHLY MEETINGS

1st Sundays and 3rd Saturdays of (almost) every month
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 member of the ASG and meet a few simple rules, which are covered in the FAQ.

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!

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.)
You'll get a confirming email from the listserver at YahooGroups. Just follow the instructions (usually, it just asks you to respond to verify), and you should be on the list for the moderator to approve you. (We had to add this step because spammers were joining just to send us off-topic email.)
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.

Please don't copy without permission. All other trademarks and service marks are acknowledged.

If you are a paid member of the ASG, you may copy the ASG logo at the top of the page to display on your own website.

For any problems with this website, contact the volunteer webmaster. Last revised on 2010_Feb_28.

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