» On 7/01/2020 01:00:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Please forgive me, Margaret Atwood. 

Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid's Tale) once wrote: "Sex may go nicely with many things, but vomit isn't one of them."

Unfortunately, I took this as a personal challenge.

The quote became my writing prompt one morning, and when the day was done, the Tangier ferry scene in Côte d'Azur was purged from my system.

Labels: CdA, cotedaz

 
» On 6/01/2020 02:30:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Screenwriters Network Competition. 

My Côte d'Azur feature-length screenplay was recently announced as an official selection in this trimonthly contest...

LATER: CdA is now one of 28 semi-finalists!

Labels: CdA, cotedaz

 
» On 3/19/2020 05:00:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
CdA pitch. 

During my 20s, I spent a year selling t-shirts in southern France with a Danish business partner. The venture wasn't successful at all, and we still laughingly refer to that period as "The Year Of Failing Miserably." But it was a lot of fun, and it convinced us that we could accomplish great things in life. Well, medium-great, anyway. I filled several notebooks with our daily adventures, and later threatened for decades to dramatize our year abroad. After a few of my other screenplays placed well in international competitions (quarters, semis and finals), I figured it was time to dig out the notebooks.

So I fictionalized our experiences in Côte d'Azur, then converted the screenplay into an eBook. That proof-of-concept adaptation has appeared on Amazon's Performing Arts Best Sellers list since it was first published, in July 2019, with reviews averaging 5 out of 5 stars.

Labels: CdA, cotedaz

 
» On 8/11/2019 02:30:00 PM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
I'm A F*cking Genius. 

When I named my screenplay's Facebook page Côte d'Azur, I never dreamed that French travel agencies would inadvertently insert the title into their Facebook postings, and not check to see where the link ended up.

Free advertising. Not targeted very well, but still, it's eyeballs... ;-)

Labels: CdA, cotedaz

 
» On 8/01/2019 12:05:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Août To Lunch. 

[Follow-up to Glass Half Full.]

After I pitched Côte d'Azur to some British agents, one of them replied:

"Unfortunately, we're not able to do much with your screenplay, simply because the majority of the British Film & TV media are looking to set stories here in the UK, unless you're a film-maker with the clout of Ridley Scott or Danny Boyle who can influence that choice."

So I figured that maybe I should approach some French agents. When I was living in Nice during 1977-8, I noticed that almost everybody in France took a one-month vacation in August (Août). Of course, I assumed they outgrew that - after all, you can't shut down the WHOLE COUNTRY for an ENTIRE MONTH. It's 2019, fergawdsake. But then I received my first response (an auto-reply) from a Paris agent:

"L'agence est fermée pour la trêve estivale du 26 juillet au 31 août."

Which means: "The agency is closed for the summer break from July 26th to August 31st."

Labels: CdA, cotedaz

 
» On 7/25/2019 07:00:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Lemons = Lemonade. 

My old workplace - a newsroom - offered 10 vacation days per year, but allowed me to schedule only 6 at a time. So in February 2019, my wife and I designed our 6-day May holiday. We paid for the flight, the rental car, and the cottage in the English countryside.

Then, in April, I was fired. After nearly 10 years on the job. No explanation. I was 68 years old. So we said whatthehell, and tacked several days in Wales and London onto the end of our vacation. It was the nicest holiday we've had, in more than 10 years.

When we returned, I got sick and nearly died. I still jokingly tell people that I was probably Patient Zero for the COVID-19 virus. So I cranked out a spec screenplay about my wasted youth, thinking it might be the last thing I ever wrote. The idea had been fermenting in my brain for more than four decades, and I kept putting it off. But it turns out that a brush with death focuses the mind with laser-like clarity and "imminent demise" is a powerful motivation. After the script was converted into a proof-of-concept eBook, it appeared almost immediately on Amazon's Performing Arts Best Sellers list.

So I'm really glad I got fired and nearly died. And I'm especially grateful for that misspent youth. [AIM]

Labels: CdA, cotedaz, nfh

 
» On 7/24/2019 08:25:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Côte d'Azur eBook. 

My latest free eBook:
http://9TimeZones.com/cote.htm

is online:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/950345

, in 8 different formats: .mobi (Kindle), .epub (iPad, Nook, Android, etc.), .html (browser), .pdb (Palm), .lrf (Sony), .pdf, .doc, .txt

It's also at Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VKQR7YY

, but they arbitrarily set a minimum of $0.99, and I'm trying to get them to match Smashwords' $0.00 price.

LATER: Amazon was very high-handed when they rejected my price-match request ("We retain discretion over our retail prices") that included link #1, so they received links #2 through 6 in reply:

1 http://smashwords.com/books/view/950345
2 http://barnesandnoble.com/w/c-te/1132648259
3 http://books.apple.com/us/book/c/id1474051092
4 http://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=bSulDwAAQBAJ
5 http://kobo.com/us/en/ebook/cote-d-azur-15
6 http://scribd.com/book/419588631

They finally caved. ;-)

STILL LATER (11/12): The CdA eBook is currently #1 on Amazon's Performing Arts Best Sellers list!

Labels: CdA, cotedaz

 
» On 7/22/2019 10:20:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Glass Half Full. 

I'm used to querying American screenplay agents, who very rarely acknowledge that I've contacted them, even after several weeks have passed. So with my new script, I decided to approach British agents as well, and after just THREE DAYS, I've received FOUR lovely rejections, including this one:

"Thank you for submitting Côte d'Azur to us for consideration. Jonathan and his team enjoyed your work, but I’m afraid in the end it fell a bit outside of what he is looking to take on at the moment, and he doesn’t feel best-placed to sell your work in the way it deserves. So he’s going to step aside, and wants to leave the field clear for you to find the right person to represent your screenplay."

Labels: CdA, cotedaz

 
» On 7/12/2019 09:00:00 PM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
Côte d'Azur screenplay. 

I just finished my latest screenplay, Côte d'Azur!

Log line:
"There's nothing quite so romantic as spending one's youth in a foreign land."

You can view the 71pp screenplay PDF here. Yes, it's short. I hate wasting words.

*** NOTE: seeking investors or producing partners. Option or sale offers also welcome. ***

eMail: HotTip [at] Gmail.com (replace [at] with @)

Facebook fan page.

Free CdA eBook drops soon!

Synopsis:
Eric is a 20-something American guy who's having the time of his life on the French Riviera. Or maybe Eric is the 60-something who's looking back on his earlier years with nostalgia and trying to alter the course of his life. This screenplay was inspired by Lawrence Durrell, and his experiments with metafictional techniques in The Avignon Quintet and The Alexandria Quartet.

Labels: CdA, cotedaz