Write On! Online Author Q&A: Dustin Lance Black

I had the opportunity to interview Oscar®-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, Milk, back in January at the Critics Choice Awards (where he won Best Writer). Since then, his screenplay—about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official—has been recognized by BAFTA, the Chicago Film Critic Association, Writers Guild of America (Best Original Screenplay as well as the Paul Selvin Honorary Award, which recognizes written work that embodies the spirit of constitutional rights and civil liberties), and others, including last weekend’s double-whammy screenwriting nods: the Film Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay and the Academy Award® for Best Original Screenplay.

Read the interview, this week's Author Q&A, at Write On! Online.

The Film Independent 2009 Spirit Awards

Film Independent presented the 2009 Spirit Awards on the beach in Santa Monica on Saturday, February 21. A celebration honoring films made by filmmakers who embody independence and who dare to challenge the status quo, the Spirit Awards-- which began as a small grassroots program--has grown into one of the most anticipated events of the film year.

BEST PICTURE
The Wrestler, Producers: Darren Aronofsky and Scott Franklin

BEST DIRECTOR
Tom McCarthy, Director, The Visitor

BEST SCREENPLAY
Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Written by Woody Allen

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Synecdoche, New York, Director: Charlie Kaufman, Producers: Anthony Bregman, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, and Sidney Kimmel

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Milk, Writer: Dustin Lance Black

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (for the Best Feature made for under $500,000)
In Search of a Midnight Kiss, Writer/Director: Alex Holdridge, Producers: Seth Caplan and Scoot McNairy

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
James Franco, Milk

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Melissa Leo, Frozen River

BEST MALE LEAD
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Maryse Alberti, The Wrestler

BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Class, Director: Laurent Cantet

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Man on Wire, James Marsh

Heather Rae, producer of Frozen River and Ibid, received the 13th annual Piaget Producers Award, which honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity, and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The winner of the Producers Award receives an unrestricted grant of $25,000 funded by Piaget.

Lynn Shelton, director of My Effortless Brilliance, won the 16th annual Acura Someone To Watch Award, a $25,000 unrestricted grant created to honor a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award is funded by Acura.

Margaret Brown, director of The Order of Myths, won the 15th annual LACOSTE Truer Than Fiction Award, presented to an emerging director of non-fiction features who has not yet received significant attention. The award is accompanied by a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by LACOSTE.

Also given was the 2nd annual Robert Altman Award, given to one film’s director, casting director, and ensemble cast. Charlie Kaufman’s directorial debut Synecdoche, New York received this award, along with casting director Jeanne McCarthy, and ensemble cast members Hope Davis, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Tom Noonan, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, and Michelle Williams.

For more information, go to http://www.spiritawards.com/.

A Healthy Energy Solution for Creative People … Started by a Creative Person

Screenwriter Declan Daly became a writer by accident.

“When I first got out of college I took a temp job working for a finance company,” he recalls. “One day, we were talking about people we dated in college. I told my story, and someone had said that it should be a movie.” The idea appealed to Daly, so he started reading screenwriting books at lunch, and then working on the screenplay when he had down time in the afternoons. He was writing a romantic comedy, and “fell in love with writing” in the process.

“I love the rush when you randomly come up with ideas that move your story forward,” he says.

At the time, Daly worked across the street from the World Trade Center. After 9/11, he realized life was too short, and left his unfulfilling finance job and did some soul searching. “I wrote a screenplay that I am currently trying to produce myself about being single in New York City. I took a temp job with an ad agency, since I was around some creative people, then ended up then at a fragrance company working as a sales analyst.”

It was during the time of writing and working full-time that Daly came up with the idea for Foculate.

“A lot of writers I knew talked about how they were so mentally fatigued by the time they had a chance to write that they ended up writing garbage,” he explains. “A lot of them would take drastic measures to try to get into the zone, such as massive amounts of coffee, prescription drugs, or a smorgasbord of herbal supplements. It just left them jittery and even in a worse state. All the energy in the world isn't any good if it isn't focused.

“It's like trying to stab a cereal box with a spoon: all the force in the world won’t pierce it,” he elaborates. “But if you use a knife when attacking a cereal box, then it's focused and much more effective.”

Daly took the idea of finding a focused, comprehensive energy supplement, and talked to some venture capitalists. “We searched out the top experts in nutrition and health. We spoke to nutritionists, doctors, herbalists, you-name-it, to finally come up with the formula to create a focused energy, without the jitters, that increases blood flow to the brain so that you are at your top capability when need be. It also has a cumulative effect so that you are much sharper the more you take it.”

So, by becoming a writer by accident, Daly helped create something for those writers who fell into the field on purpose. And, as a writer, Daly knows what writers need. “A lot of writers block is stress and anxiety, so we added some herbal ingredients so you are in a much calmer state of mind,” Daly says. “And it also infuses you with energy and focus.

“My cousin's boyfriend in Ireland is a professional screenwriter,” Daly relays. “He had a deadline for a rewrite and had horrible writers block. I sent him over a bottle and he broke through the block and said it was his best draft that he could possibly imagine.”

For more information on Foculate,
Visit: www.foculatelabs.com

WGA 2009 Award Winners

The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW) and the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) tonight announced the winners of the 2009 Writers Guild Awards for outstanding achievement in writing for screen, television, radio, news, promotional, and videogame writing at simultaneous ceremonies at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and the Hudson Theatre at the Millennium Broadway Hotel in New York City.


SCREEN WINNERS

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Milk, Written by Dustin Lance Black, Focus Features

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Slumdog Millionaire, Screenplay by Simon Beaufoy, Based on the Novel Q and A by Vikas Swarup, Fox Searchlight Pictures

DOCUMENTARY SCREENPLAY:
Waltz with Bashir, Written by Ari Folman, Sony Pictures Classics


TELEVISION WINNERS

DRAMATIC SERIES:
Mad Men, Written by Lisa Albert, Jane Anderson, Rick Cleveland, Kater Gordon, David Isaacs, Andre Jacquemetton, Maria Jacquemetton, Marti Noxon, Robin Veith, and Matthew Weiner; AMC

COMEDY SERIES:
30 Rock, Written by Jack Burditt, Kay Cannon, Robert Carlock, Tina Fey, Donald Glover, Andrew Guest, Matt Hubbard, Jon Pollack, John Riggi, Tami Sagher, and Ron Weiner; NBC

NEW SERIES:
In Treatment, Written by Rodrigo Garcia, Bryan Goluboff, Davey Holmes, William Merritt Johnson, Amy Lippman,and Sarah Treem; HBO

EPISODIC DRAMA – any length – one airing time:
“Pilot” (Breaking Bad), Written by Vince Gilligan; AMC

EPISODIC COMEDY – any length – one airing time:
“Succession” (30 Rock), Written by Andrew Guest & John Riggi; NBC

LONG FORM – ORIGINAL – over one hour – one or two parts, one or two airing times:
Recount, Written by Danny Strong; HBO

LONG FORM – ADAPTATION – over one hour – one or two parts, one or two airing times:
John Adams, “Episode 1, Join or Die,” Teleplay by Kirk Ellis, Based on the book by David McCullough; “Episode 2, Independence,” Teleplay by Kirk Ellis, Based on the book by David McCullough; HBO

ANIMATION – any length – one airing time
“Apocalypse Cow” (The Simpsons), Written by Jeff Westbrook; Fox

COMEDY/VARIETY – (INCLUDING TALK) SERIES:
Saturday Night Live, Head Writers Seth Meyers, Andrew Steele, Paula Pell, Writers Doug Abeles, James Anderson, Alex Baze, Jessica Conrad, James Downey, Charlie Grandy, Steve Higgins, Colin Jost, Erik Kenward, Rob Klein, John Lutz, Seth Meyers, Lorne Michaels, John Mulaney, Paula Pell, Simon Rich, Marika Sawyer, Akiva Schaffer, Robert Smigel, John Solomon, Emily Spivey, Andrew Steele, Kent Sublette, Jorma Taccone, and Bryan Tucker, Additional Sketches by Robert Carlock; NBC

COMEDY/VARIETY – MUSIC, AWARDS, TRIBUTES – SPECIALS:
2008 Film Independent Spirit Awards, Written by Billy Kimball, Aaron Lee, Jennifer Celotta,and Rainn Wilson; IFC/AMC

DAYTIME SERIALS:
As the World Turns, Written by Jean Passanante, Leah Laiman, Courtney Simon, Lisa Connor, David A. Levinson, Peter Brash, Richard Culliton, Susan Dansby, Cheryl Davis, and Leslie Nipkow; CBS


VIDEOGAME WRITING
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Writers Haden Blackman, Shawn Pitman, John Stafford and Cameron Suey, LucasArts


The Writers Guild of America, West presented special honors to: William Blinn – Paddy Chayefsky Laurel Award for Television; Dustin Lance Black (Milk) – Paul Selvin Award; Carl Reiner and Victoria Riskin – Valentine Davies Award; Larry DiTillio – Morgan Cox Award; and Suso D’Amico for the WGAW’s first-ever Jean Renoir Award for Screenwriting Achievement.

The Writers Guild of America, East presented special honors to: John Patrick Shanley - Ian McLellan Hunter Lifetime Achievement Award; Norman Stiles – Herb Sargent Award for Comedy Excellence; The Committee To Protect Journalists accepted by Board Chairman Paul Steiger and Executive Director Joel Simon – Evelyn F. Burkey Award for contributions bringing honor and dignity to writers everywhere; Chris Albers and Tom Fontana - Jablow Award for devoted service to the Guild; and Sarah Tobianski - John Merriman Award for Study of Broadcast Journalism at American University. In addition, the Writers Guild of America, East Foundation presented the first Michael Collyer Memorial Fellowship in Screenwriting to Sara Van Acker of New York University.

For a complete list of winners and/or more information about the 2009 Writers Guild Awards, please visit www.wga.org or www.wgaeast.org.