October 10 – The Menu

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on October 10th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the dark comedy/horror screenplay THE MENU.

LOGLINE: A young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the celebrity chef, who treats his food as conceptual art, has some shocking surprises for his wealthy guests.

WRITERS: The Menu is the first feature screenwriting credit for SETH REISS and WILL TRACY. A graduate of Boston University, Reiss began contributing to The Onion while working as a page for The Late Show with David Letterman. After interning at The Daily Show and working his way up to head writer at The Onion, he wrote for Late Night with Seth Meyers, earning Emmy nominations four years in a row for Best Writing for a Variety Series. Raised in Portland, Oregon, Tracy was the editor for The Onion and has won five Emmy awards: two for writing for Last Week with John Oliver, three for writing for HBO’s Succession. He also created the upcoming HBO miniseries The Palace starring Kate Winslet. Reiss and Tracy’s spec collaboration, The Menu, was on the 2019 Black List, and they both have executive producer credits on the film.

(registration deadline: Friday, October 7)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Single Meeting Fee: $45
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Click the Register Now button for instructions.
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Directed by Mark Mylod (Succession, Game of Thrones, Shameless), The Menu stars Ralph Fiennes (Schindler’s List, The English Patient), Anna Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit, Emma) and Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy, Renfield), with Hong Chau (Downsizing), Janet McTeer (Ozark), Judith Light (Who’s the Boss?), and John Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge!).

Produced by Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, the film premiered at the Toronto film festival in September and is scheduled to be released by Searchlight Pictures on November 18.

Rated R. 104 pages. 106 minutes. Drama. Thriller. Horror. Comedy.

Donna Michelle Anderson, will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. “DMA,” as she is professionally known, is a story analyst, development executive, and the author of Write It, Pitch It, Sell Your Screenplay: A Hollywood Buyer’s Insider Guide to Getting Your Script Past the Gatekeepers, an update of her 1-3-5 Story Structure Made Simple System: The Nine Essential Elements of a Sellable Screenplay, which was the first story structure system integrated into Final Draft. She has helmed top-rated programming for CBS, Bravo, BET, A&E, TLC and more. Visit her at PlanetDMA.com.

May 11 – The High Note

Meet ONLINE on May 11th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay THE HIGH NOTE.

LOGLINE: The longtime assistant of a famous singer must navigate the rocky waters of the LA music scene to make her dreams of producing music a reality.

ABOUT THE WRITER: With no other screen credits to her name, newbie FLORA GREESON landed on the 2018 Black List, an annual industry list of the best unproduced scripts of the year, with her spec script Covers. That attention won her a job rewriting When Prince Made a Chambermaid His Queen for a Day, based on a true story published in The Daily Beast in 2017 about a 1986 MTV contest where a small-town Wyoming motel maid won a date with the late rock star Prince. Greeson was hired by producer and star Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games, Pitch Perfect) to rewrite Josh Stolberg (Good Luck Chuck); the still-in-development project’s title has been shortened to Queen for a Day. Meanwhile, the scribe’s Black List entry, Covers, has been made by Cats producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, after also undergoing a title change — to The High Note.

(registration deadline: Noon, Wednesday, May 6)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance. Click the Register Now button for instructions.

Starring Dakota Johnson (50 Shades of Grey) as the assistant and Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish) as singing superstar Grace Davis, The High Note also features Ice Cube (N.W.A., Friday), Bill Pullman (Independence Day), Kelvin Harrison Jr. (It Comes At Night), and comedian Eddie Izzard. Directed by Nisha Ganatra (Late Night), the film’s release date, originally scheduled for May 8, is like to be changed due to ongoing stay-at-home orders that have shuttered most movie theaters.

Rated PG-13. Draft dated January 17, 2018, 99 pages. Comedy.

DMA will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. Story analyst, development executive, and author of Write It, Pitch It, Sell Your Screenplay: A Hollywood Buyer’s Insider Guide to Getting Your Script Past the Gatekeepers, an update of her 1-3-5 Story Structure Made Simple Structure: The Nine Essential Elements of a Sellable Screenplay, which was the first story structure system integrated into Final Draft, DMA (Donna Michelle Anderson) has helmed top-rated programming for CBS, Bravo, BET, A&E, TLC and more. Visit her at PlanetDMA.com.

March 11 – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Meet on the lot at Fox Studios on March 11th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?

The true story of a bitter, washed-up biographer who falls into a life of crime forging letters from dead literary celebrities to pay the rent.

Nominated for 3 Academy Awards including Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay!

Can You Ever Forgive Me? stars Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids) and Richard E. Grant (Game of Thrones, Star Wars: Episode IX), both nominated for Golden Globes, BAFTA, and SAG awards in addition to their Oscar nods. (Update: Richard E. Grant won the Independent Spirit Award!)

The screenplay, by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, based on the book by Lee Israel, has been nominated for dozens of industry awards, including the WGA, USC Scripter, BAFTA, Independent Spirit Award, and, of course, the Academy Award.

UPDATE: On February 17th, Can You Ever Forgive Me? won the Writers Guild of America award for Best Adapted Screenplay. On February 23rd, Can You Ever Forgive Me? won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay.

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance as well as sandwiches, snacks, and beverages at the meeting. Click the Register Now button for instructions.

(registration deadline: Thursday, March 7)

DEVELOPMENT: After interviewing Katharine Hepburn for Esquire in 1967, LEE ISRAEL published full-length biographies on Tallulah Bankhead, Dorothy Kilgallen, and Estée Lauder. Unable to sell her publishers on a Fanny Brice biography, she began forging letters from the likes of Noël Coward and Dorothy Parker to sell to unsuspecting collectors, which she wrote about in her 2008 memoir, Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Memoirs of a Literary Forger. (Israel passed away in 2014.)

In 2011, producer Bob Balaban hired Tony Award winning playwright JEFF WHITTY (Avenue Q) to adapt Israel’s memoir after reading his play The Hiding Place, which had characters with voices similar to Israel’s. Whitty wrote four drafts of the screenplay before filmmaker NICOLE HOLOFCENER (Enough Said) was attached to direct. Holofcener cast Julianne Moore in the lead and rewrote the script as a two-hander with greater emphasis on the relationship between Israel and her partner in crime, con man Jack Hock.

Six days before production was to start, Moore dropped out due to creative differences with Holofcener. Rather than start over again later with a new star, Holofcener handed the reins to her Sundance lab protege, Marielle Heller (The Diary of a Teenage Girl), wishing her luck and recommending McCarthy for the vacated lead.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? premiered last September at the Telluride Film Festival, followed by a showing at the Toronto International Film Festival later that month. Fox Searchlight released the $10 million picture on October 19, 2018, and it is currently still in theaters. So far it has received 39 awards and 70 nominations including WGA, SAG, BAFTA, Golden Globes, and Film Independent Spirit Awards, and has a 98% Fresh score from 255 critics as compiled by Rotten Tomatoes. If you have not yet seen the movie but plan to before our meeting, reading the script before watching the film is advised.

Rated R. 107 minutes. 133 pages (final shooting script, March 13, 2017). Drama, Crime, Biography.

DMA will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. A veteran entertainment industry showrunner, executive and consultant, DMA (Donna Michelle Anderson) guides traditional and digital networks through branding, launching and scaling their content and companies. Over the past 20 years, she has helmed top-rated programming for CBS, Bravo, BET, A&E, TLC and more, created groundbreaking, patented production software, and championed diversity throughout the industry, including founding the Hollywood Diversity Network. She is a graduate, with distinction, of Stanford University and is an active member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Producers Guild of America and American Mensa.

December 10 – Ben Is Back

Meet on the lot at Fox Studios on December 10th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay BEN IS BACK.

Written and directed by Academy Award nominee PETER HEDGES.

Premise:  Ben Burns, in serious trouble, returns home to his family on Christmas Eve.

19-year-old Ben Burns (Lucas Hedges) unexpectedly returns home to his family’s suburban home on Christmas Eve morning. Ben’s mother, Holly (Julia Roberts), is relieved and welcoming but wary of her son staying clean. Over a turbulent 24 hours, new truths are revealed, and a mother’s undying love for her son is tested as she does everything in her power to keep him safe. Ben Is Back also stars Courtney B. Vance (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story) and Kathryn Newton (Lady Bird).

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script mailed to you in advance as well as sandwiches, snacks, and beverages at the meeting. Click the Register Now button for instructions.

(registration deadline: Thursday, December 6)

Peter Hedges is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, film director, and film producer. He is best known for adapting his novel What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) into a screenplay which became a critically-acclaimed film. In 2002, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for About a Boy. In the same year, he wrote and directed Pieces of April, which was nominated for Best Screenplay at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Production companies included Black Bear Pictures, Color Force, and 30WEST. In July 2018, LD Entertainment, Roadside Attractions, and Lionsgate acquired distribution rights. The film had its world premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival where it was nominated for their Peoples’ Choice Award. A limited release is set for December 7, 2018.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a Want To See rating of 92%. The site’s critical consensus reads: “Refreshingly understated, Ben Is Back subverts family drama stereotypes – and provides a forum for terrific performances from Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts.”

Rated R. 103 minutes. 115 pages (draft dated 8/3/17). Drama.

A special guest moderator will provide in-depth script analysis and lead our discussion.

UPDATE: DMA provided in-depth analysis and led our discussion. A veteran entertainment industry showrunner, executive and consultant, DMA (Donna Michelle Anderson) guides traditional and digital networks through branding, launching and scaling their content and companies. Over the past 20 years, she has helmed top-rated programming for CBS, Bravo, BET, A&E, TLC and more, created groundbreaking, patented production software, and championed diversity throughout the industry, including founding the Hollywood Diversity Network. She is a graduate, with distinction, of Stanford University and is an active member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Producers Guild of America and American Mensa.