Archive for the ‘comedy’ Category

Pitch It To Me One More Time!

March 4, 2011

Cindy McCreery


Guest Writer Series, Part 11 Cindy McCreery, Hollywood Screenwriter. Cindy is a graduate of the Walt Disney/ABC Feature Writing Fellowship program for the 2002-2003 year. In 2006 National Geographic Films hired Cindy to rewrite ELEPHANT WILD and later in 2007 in partnership with Warner Brothers, they hired her again to develop and write FREE WILLY: ESCAPE FROM PIRATES COVE. Cindy also teaches Advanced Screenwriting at UCLA.

Beginning December 15, 2010 I helped organize Vpype’s second Hollywood Screenplay Pitch Contest, which ran until the end of January. As some of you might recall, the first pitch contest held December 2009 through April 2010 turned out to be a very big success as we had over 400 five-minute-pitches submitted via Vpype’s Facebook application, vBroadcast. We had contestants from all over the world with ideas ranging from epic period pieces to massive blockbusters to outlandish comedies to touching dramatic true stories. Not only did the winner of the contest get the opportunity to develop her pitch into a screenplay with a known producer, but many of the top ten were contacted by judges and are still currently working on ideas as well.

This year, we made some changes to the contest. Rather than running it for several months, we decided to run it for two months and make it a three-minute pitch, rather than five. We also had participants use Vpype’s newest application, vComedy, which has a three-minute cap already in place, to pitch their screenplay. We had a 100 pitches submitted from all over the world including Spain, Germany, Pakistan and India. Many of the judges from last year participated as well, including Julie Richardson, Producer of “Collateral” and “The Collector” and Christopher Lockhart story editor for William Morris Endeavor and producer of “The Collector” and most recently the documentary, “Most Valuable Players”. The other judges included former Disney executives, Producers and even a Professor from the top screenwriting program in the country.

Pitching is a funny thing because writers generally are not actors or extroverts. It’s especially tough to pitch alone in a room to a camera because you can’t read your audiences body language. Also, getting across an entire story from start to finish in under three minutes is really an art and I must admit I was very impressed with the quality of the pitches this year. I was also inspired by the courage it took to actually do it! One of the top 10 from this year is a speech therapist who isn’t in “the biz”, in fact lives in a very small town far from Hollywood and sent me a Facebook message admitting to me how terrified she was, but she did it and did a great job. All of her friends and family who watched her pitch were impressed and proud of her, as they should be! At least when I have a meeting with a producer and pitch them my idea it’s not recorded and posted on Facebook for everyone to see and critique! The judges were all impressed with everyone as well and I’m encouraged by the fact that many of the judges personally reached out to several of the top ten, wanting to read their work and or further discuss their pitches.

This year’s winner is Joe Palladino from Santa Barbara, California. His winning pitch, “Towers of London”, is a fictionalized account of Harry Houdini, Arthur Conan Doyle and Jack the Ripper. Joe’s story was not only compelling, clever and simply a lot of fun, but his actual pitch was very clear, very well thought out and a delight to watch. His personality shined through and he made it enjoyable for his audience. All of the judges agreed that they easily envisioned the movie – both the tone and the hook of it, which isn’t an easy thing to pull off!

Vpype - Hollywood Screenplay Pitch Contest

Wilton Richards, who came in second with his pitch “The Hitman”, pitched twelve ideas all of which were really fun and original. His other pitch, “Battle For Earth” made it into the top twenty. “The Hitman” is fun action comedy about a hitman who is dying of cancer and puts a hit out on himself but is cured and must save himself from the other hitmen. Wilton lives in The Bahamas and I am pleased that this contest brought Hollywood within reach for him and that he has been in contact with two of the judges.

In third place was AD Smiths, “The Assigned” which was definitely the most entertaining of the entire contest as he had props, music and he even acted out a scene using cardboard cutouts! I have to admit that I watched his pitch at least five times because the theatrics of his pitch were so fun. AD has a very natural pitching ability, which I’m a little jealous of.

Hollywood can feel very far away for most aspiring screenwriters, even for those of us who live in Los Angeles and it’s exciting when you come across a company like Vpype who has the resources to make it just a little more accessible. Having a voice, but not being heard is a very frustrating and lonely thing and I’d like to hope that this contest has helped a few writers feel as though they’re being heard. If anything, everyone who participated in the contest now has a community of other writers who they can share their ideas with.

The Hollywood VPYPE Pitch Contest group page on Facebook has become a sort of water cooler hang out for a lot of aspiring screenwriters and it continues to grow every week. Also, the vComedy application page has become a place to share ideas and notes on each other’s work. Every pitch that was submitted has been viewed multiple times and many have comments and suggestions from other participants. I hope that writers in the group will continue to share their ideas with each other and really use each other as sounding boards. I know that some members have used vBroadcast to discuss ideas with each other and over the next few weeks, I’m hoping to created a “writer’s group” using vBroadcast where each week a writer will broadcast their own ideas live, while other members of the group can watch and chat with them live.

What every aspiring screenwriter dreams of is an audience and Vpype has helped provide one!

Joe Palladino’s pitch, TOWERS OF LONDON on vComedy…
http://apps.facebook.com/vcomedy/vcomedyviewer?auth_token=82020b1098aa9a22b34c89b2453ffb1c

Wilton’s pitch, THE HITMAN on vComedy…
http://apps.facebook.com/vcomedy/vcomedyviewer?ref=ts

AD Smith’s pitch, THE ASSIGNED on vComedy…
http://apps.facebook.com/vcomedy/vcomedyviewer?ref=ts

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Posted in citizen journalism, cloud computing, cloud storage, comedy, Facebook, hollywood, hollywood scriptwriting, humanties, interactive tv, internet, movies, social applications, social media, social networking, social tv, social video, technology, video, video platform, virtual computing | Leave a Comment »

Get Discovered by Hollywood Execs on Facebook

December 16, 2010

Cindy McCreery


Guest Writer Series, Part 6 Cindy McCreery, Hollywood Screenwriter. Cindy is a graduate of the Walt Disney/ABC Feature Writing Fellowship program for the 2002-2003 year. In 2006 National Geographic Films hired Cindy to rewrite ELEPHANT WILD and later in 2007 in partnership with Warner Brothers, they hired her again to develop and write FREE WILLY: ESCAPE FROM PIRATES COVE which will be released in March of 2010.

Last January Vpype held it’s first Hollywood Screenplay Pitch Contest. It was the first and only pitch contest exclusive to Facebook, which allowed users to pitch industry professionals live via webcam. Judges from MGM, Fox, William Morris Endeavor as well as many known Producers with credits that include COLLATERAL, REMEMBER ME, THE COLLECTOR, OVERBOARD and ELF. I’m proud to say that not only did the top three winners win great prizes, but also they are still currently developing their ideas with producers that judged the contest. The gains weren’t limited to the top three; in fact, many of the contestants were contacted by producers who watched their pitches.

vComedy app on Facebook

This December we’re proud to announce the 2nd annual pitch contest! This time we’ve made a few changes. First we’ve limited the pitches to three minutes, as that’s really all the time one needs to get out what their movie is! Secondly, we’ve shortened the duration of the contest to a little over a month so we don’t lose momentum. Third, participants must submit their pitches using Vpype’s latest application, vComedy, although pitches aren’t limited to a specific genre.

Many of the judges from last year will be participating including Julie Richardson, Mac Torluccio, Christopher Lockhart, Trevor Engelson and many more.

What makes this contest special is that it’s not only free but it’s open to writers all over the world. Last year we had participants from as far as Israel to Pakistan to Italy to Australia. It really opens Hollywood to writers who don’t have the resources to live in LA.

Also, what I think makes this such a special contest is that everyone involved is really dedicated to the idea of helping aspiring writers get their feet in the door. The CEO of Vpype is also a filmmaker and understands not only the importance of the writer but also the importance of making industry contacts.

This might be a small contest, but it has provided big opportunities for many writers including Marc Maxwell recently wrote this to me, “Living in Pembroke, Kentucky feels a million miles away from Hollywood. But that’s where I find myself working as a Department of Defense Guidance Counselor for the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell. As an Army Counselor, I assist our Soldiers in achieving their Adult Education goals of obtaining a degree or diploma. My writing partner, David Horne, and I started collaborating four years ago. To date, we have co-written nine sports trivia/history books through the Sports by the Numbers series, however we have always aspired to write screenplays. With me in Kentucky and Dave stationed as a civilian in Germany, the dreams of being a screenwriter were just that…dreams. Geographically, even if we had a great script, we weren’t in any position to pitch our ideas. That was, until the first Vpype Hollywood Pitch Contest came to Facebook. I heard about the contest through Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat website and immediately started working on our pitches. After pitching five ideas, we found ourselves with two submissions in the Top Thirty and one pitch in the Top Ten. Even though we didn’t win the contest, we were contacted by a judge and Hollywood Insider to send them our completed screenplay. We continue to work with them on rewrites and have been invited to submit any future screenplays we complete. Without the Vpype contest, our screenplay may never have been seen or read by movie producers. And because of this contest our dream lives on.”

No matter where you live or what you do for a living, if you have a movie idea be sure to pitch it via vComedy before January 25th 2011! Who knows, this time next year you could be living out your dreams!

For more information join our Facebook Group, The Hollywood VPYPE Pitch Contest!

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=259144206323

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Posted in comedy, Facebook, hollywood, hollywood scriptwriting, humanties, interactive tv, internet, movies, social applications, social media, social networking, social tv, social video, technology, video, video platform, videos | Leave a Comment »

San Francisco Comedy Day

September 27, 2010

Cindy McCreery

Guest Writer Series, Part 6 Cindy McCreery, Hollywood Screenwriter. Cindy is a graduate of the Walt Disney/ABC Feature Writing Fellowship program for the 2002-2003 year. In 2006 National Geographic Films hired Cindy to rewrite ELEPHANT WILD and later in 2007 in partnership with Warner Brothers, they hired her again to develop and write FREE WILLY: ESCAPE FROM PIRATES COVE which will be released in March of 2010.

Last Sunday, September 19th, I had the pleasure of hosting a vComedy booth with the rest of the Vpype team at the 30th annual San Francisco Comedy Day in Golden Gate Park. Over forty stand-up comedians from all over the country, including actor Robin Williams, performed on one stage for five straight hours! The day started out a little shaky considering the temperature was in the 50’s, raining and windy but the crowds still came despite the weather.

30th Annual San Francisco Comedy Day

For our vComedy booth, we had laptops with web cams armed and ready to record visitor’s jokes using the vComedy application. I’m not going to lie; we had an interesting group visit our booth! First of all, we were located in the Sharon Meadows area of Golden Gate Park which sits right across from the famous or infamous Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco and secondly, as stated earlier, the weather was terrible. We had a few homeless who were thrilled to have the opportunity to be heard (and get out of the rain), we had a couple of young kids who on approaching the booth were seemingly shy but when the camera rolled, shy they definitely weren’t! We had a grandmother tell a joke that her grand children definitely should not watch and a father tell a joke dedicated to his kids.

Most of the people who stopped by our booth were college students who spend a lot of their time on Facebook and were excited to get a chance to be a part of Comedy Day by themselves telling a few jokes. Two of my UC Santa Barbara students made an appearance and did several vComedy recordings. They’re both aspiring comics and were excited to have an excuse to record some of their comedy and send it out to all of their friends.

People trying out vComedy app at Vpype booth

In talking to a lot of different people about vComedy what I’ve heard consistently is that being an application specifically for telling jokes, makes it easier and less frightening to actually record something. For example, if you had a funny story to tell all of your Facebook friends, it would feel kind of awkward to just record something and post it on your page. But, by doing it specifically through a comedy application, it’s wrapped up in a nice fun virtual comedy card of sorts! I think beyond using the app to tell a joke, it’s a great way to connect with friends and family. If a user wants to just say “hello” to a friend, vComedy is a great way to send a fun quick message.

Also in the coming weeks, a new feature will be added to the app, which I think will skyrocket the amount of users – an uploading feature. Users will have the choice to either record something using their webcam or they can upload a funny video. And for aspiring comics they can upload their best bits from performances and send it out as well! It’s great because many comics aren’t stand-up comedians, but rather excel at improv and by adding this feature, we’ll be opening the app up to sketch and improv comedians as well! Or maybe just a funny moment captured on video at your friends wedding!

Another feature I really like about vComedy is that it keeps a catalogue of your recordings so users can basically create their own line up of different vComedy bits, a virtual shmorgishborg of funny!

Who knows, maybe next years Comedy Day lineup will include some comics discovered by using vComedy!

Here’s the link to vComedy on Facebook: http://apps.facebook.com/vcomedy

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Posted in comedy, Facebook, hollywood, Human Behavior, humanties, internet, movies, social applications, social media, social networking, social tv, social video, technology, video | Leave a Comment »

vComedy – giving an instant vacation!

September 4, 2010

Cindy McCreery


Guest Writer Series, Part 3
Cindy McCreery, Hollywood Screenwriter. Cindy is a graduate of the Walt Disney/ABC Feature Writing Fellowship program for the 2002-2003 year. In 2006 National Geographic Films hired Cindy to rewrite ELEPHANT WILD and later in 2007 in partnership with Warner Brothers, they hired her again to develop and write FREE WILLY: ESCAPE FROM PIRATES COVE which will be released in March of 2010.

My most prize possession as a kid was my Steve Martin, “Wild and Crazy Guy” stand up comedy record. I’d listen to his standup over and over again even though, most likely, I was too young to understand why I was laughing. The idea that one guy could make so many people laugh just by telling stories amazed me. A few years later my older brothers exposed me to another great stand up, who I was still far too young to be watching, Eddie Murphy. I must have watched his stand up show, “Delirious” a hundred times. He told crazy stories about his childhood that were both so personal and so hilarious. Then, I discovered Gilda Radner, who became my hero. She was fearless. She didn’t care how ridiculous she looked; it was all about being funny. That was it for me she was who I wanted to be when I grew up. Period. Well, needless to say, I did not become Gilda Radner, but my love of comedy has stayed intact.

Recently, I was asked by Shoieb Yunus, Founder & CEO at Vpype to help promote their new Facebook application, vComedy, which allows users to record, post and send out their best comedy “bits”. What I love about this application is that it’s not about trying to capture a funny moment with your video camera of your cat doing something crazy or someone nailing someone else in the crotch for the millionth time, it’s back to the basics of what I love about comedy. It’s about a personal interaction, about simply telling a funny story. That’s what I love about stand up comedy; it’s so personal and so simple. Sometimes it works. Sometime it doesn’t. But I admire anyone with the nerve to try.

I recently sat down to use the app for the first time and it was terrifying. I’ve spent the last eight years as a professional screenwriter, constantly putting my work out there, but this was much more terrifying, I had to put myself out there! Let’s face it, my joke wasn’t that great, but I sent it out to my dad on Facebook, who I dedicated it to and he absolutely loved it. He loved that I took the time to record this joke just for him. It was better than any greeting card I had ever mailed to him. He laughed and was touched. My first bit was a success! Don’t worry I’m not going to quit my day job! Milton Berle once said, “Laughter is an instant vacation”. I think vComedy can be an “instant vacation” for someone right there on their Facebook Page. I know it was for my dad.

30th Annual San Francisco Comedy Day

This September 19th at the 30th annual San Francisco Comedy Day I’m thrilled to be working a vComedy booth where we’ll be recording patron’s best funny! It’s going to be a great day where over forty of the best stand ups in the country will be performing on one stage for the city where Steve Martin recorded “Wild and Crazy Guy”. The day begins at noon and runs until 5pm in the beautiful Sharon Meadows in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. It’s totally free and a family friendly day of food, drinks and comedy! Our vComedy booth will be armed with webcams ready to record patron’s best funny and we’ll post them on Facebook for everyone to share with their friends.

For more info on vComedy go to … http://apps.facebook.com/vcomedy

For more info on San Francisco Comedy Day go to … http://www.comedyday.com

To watch Vpype CEO’s latest interview, click here … http://www.vimeo.com/14661583

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Posted in comedy, Facebook, hollywood, hollywood scriptwriting, Human Behavior, humanties, interactive tv, internet, social media, social networking, social tv, social video, technology, Uncategorized, video, Youtube | Leave a Comment »

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