(registration deadline: Monday, January 5)
Meet on the 20th Century Fox studio lot for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay WHIPLASH
A promising young drummer enrolls at a cutthroat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student’s potential.
Writer/Director: Damien Chazelle (The Last Exorcism Part II)
Starring: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Paul Reiser
Budget: $3.3 million (estimated)
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Screenplay was included on the 2012 Black List of the best unproduced screenplays.
Premiered at Sundance Film Festival January 16, 2014, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. Has played at over 40 prestigious film festivals including Cannes, New York, and Toronto. Nominated for four Independent Spirit Awards.
Release (US): October 10, 2014 (limited)
Rated R. 106 minutes. 111 pages. Drama, Music
Story analyst BARBARA SCHIFFMAN will lead the discussion. For over 35 years, Barbara has read scripts for Miramax, Dreamworks, Mandalay, HBO, CAA, UTA, and more. The writing guide NOW WRITE! Screenwriting Exercises by Today’s Best Screenwriters and Teachers includes her chapter “Key Things to Know About Your Script Before You Write.” More recently, she evaluated candidates for NBCUniversal’s Emerging Writers Fellowship program. Barbara currently writes personal development e-courses for DailyOM.com and offers script coaching and “first look” feedback for screenwriters, as well as book coaching and editing for authors and self-publishers. Get info on Barbara’s services at her website, www.bschiffman.net.
StoryBoard Development Group 
UPDATE: WHIPLASH opened in limited release on October 10, 2014, on 6 screens, earning $135,388 (a per-screen average of $22,565). It expanded to 567 theatres at its widest release to coincide with its five Oscar nominations, ending up with over $13 million domestically and an additional $900,000 from foreign markets against an estimated production budget of $3.3 million. As of August 2015, it is the 98th highest-grossing movie that never reached the top ten and, by a wide margin, the highest grossing of all movies acquired at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. The film was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, and won three Oscars, for editing, sound, and Best Supporting Actor (J.K. Simmons). WHIPLASH was one of only three movies to win more than one Oscar in 2015.
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