Slamdance Screenplay Competition Results

"Corner of the Mind's Eye" has a lot of company in that 2000 screenplays did not make it into the quarter finals.

Slamdance Screenplay Competition Results

It's a bit of a let down, but it really does rely on the fact that the reader's taste fits the screenplay they are screening... or something less subjective like formatting and grammar. I didn't pay extra for coverage when I submitted it, so I guess I'll never know the reason why it didn't make the quarter finals unless I submit it again next year. However, there's plenty of other competitions and it has been a fantastic learning experience for me.

I want to thank all of you who wrote back and wished me luck and words of encouragement... it's always appreciated. I'm not giving up by a long shot, it's just given me more resolve to "get better" at what I need to do!

I came across this quote yesterday, and felt it to be very appropriate to my feelings:

"Not talent, not even education, nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not. Unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not. The world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence, determination and hard work make the difference." -Calvin Coolidge

I have a teleplay submitted in Slamdance's Teleplay Competition, and Slamdance has just opened up a horror screenplay competition... so it's not the end.

Juan

--
J.MaestasWriter/Director
"Corner of the Mind's Eye"
Lost Skies Productions
http://www.lostskies.com/

Reel it in!

Howdy! Long time no post.

Todd McGowan and I have began working together to produce short :30 spots in High Definition to showcase our abilities. To accomplish this, we've created an advertising campaign from scratch for a beer that we've decided to call Finnigan's Irish Stout. The mock-commercial would target males 21-45 who watch popular culture channels like MTV, VH1, Spike TV or sports programming... much like most beer commercials do.












Pre-production included the design of a beer label (which I did), and it's placement on a couple of empty beer bottles. Easy and fun enough!














I've enlisted many of my longtime friends: Robby Messer, Jaymi & Jessie Hampton, Mark Throckmorton. Todd and his wife Allison McGowan, and my wife Charlotte Maestas have been pulling our resources to gather props, equipment and locations to make this possible. Hopefully we can get a few more team members help with the production of our second shoot.














Our first shoot was earlier today, which was an apartment scene where our would-be beer drinking bachelors are watching poker on tv. We also shot the end of the spot where Robby answers the door to find the girl, or rather girls of his dreams delivering pizza. Here are some frame grabs from the apartment scene shoot:












The next shoot will take place in the next few weeks- I'm currently looking for a sound stage that can handle 13 actors and a small crew... it should be fun!

Although this is a reel-building exercise, I'm fully planning on using this for any background television filler for my feature length production "Corner of the Mind's Eye" (which I've entered into the Slamdance Screenwriter's Competition).