Saturday, June 1, 2013

Kick Ass, The Promise of The Premise, J Krueger!

KICK ASS! The Promise of the Premise
 
Kick Ass! Does Just That…


It’s rare that you see a big budget action movie that succeeds on as many levels as Kick Ass! Hilarious, high stakes action sequences, directorial vision, fabulous characters, bold acting choices, and more-fun-than-you-can-shake-a-nunchuck-at combine to make Kick Ass! the kind of action movie producers and audiences alike can salivate over. (The audience last night was literally cheering through the credits when the movie ended).

The Promise of the Premise

 
Every movie makes its audience a promise– what I like to call The Promise of the Premise. This promise is the built-in anticipation that convinces your viewers to pay their 12 bucks on your movie instead of some other flick.

Fulfill the promise of the premise, and your audience will be happy to appreciate your deep meaning, thoughts about the world, brilliant dialogue, and symbolic image systems right along with it. Fall short, and it doesn’t matter how brilliant your writing is, no one is going to make your movie.

Make The Promise of the Premise Work For You

 
Unless Brad Pitt is knocking down your door right now, when it comes to selling your script, The Promise of the Premise is the only thing the producer can depend on.

For writers, the adaptation and revision process has many aspects. But for producers, there’s really only one aspect that’s important: narrowing the gap between The Promise of the Premise, and what the script actually delivers.

As a writer who wants your work produced, you can harness this knowledge to focus your adaptation and revision process– whether that’s you’re adapting an idea for a movie into an actual script, revising a rough draft into more polished form, or creating a film version of a true life story, a novel, or a comic book like Kick Ass!

The best movies don’t just fulfill The Promise of the Premise. They exceed it.

Make YOUR Premise Kick Ass!

 
From the title alone, you know the promise of Kick Ass!: A tongue in cheek, goofy as hell, ass-kicking good time in which the least likely super heroes in the world will triumph over some serious bad guys.

But what makes Kick Ass! so successful is how it takes that promise and pushes it to the extreme, exaggerating both the comedy and the darkness of the main character’s journey, taking it further than he, or his audience, could ever have expected.

The result is a movie that is not only a rollicking good time, but also captures the best elements of the comic book form, to say something real about personal responsibility and how hard it is to actually take action against the things that are wrong in the world.

Stop Selling Out, and Sell In…


Young writers often think fulfilling The Promise of the Premise means selling out. They then make the mistake of either rejecting the promise of their own premise as an affront to their artistic integrity, or trying so desperately to write something “commercial” that they end up creating nothing but a hollow shell as a movie.

Whether you’re writing a hilarious action spoof like Kick Ass! or a deep character driven movie like A Prophet, your job as a screenwriter is to discover your premise and push it to the max.

But The Promise of The Premise isn’t something you impose on your script from the outside. It’s something that’s already there, suggested in every facet of your characters journey, and in every word you write, just waiting for you to discover it and bring it to the surface.

That’s not selling out. That’s the art of the screenwriter.

And the good news is, you can learn it.

 
If you’d like to learn how to harness the promise of your own premise, I invite you to join my upcoming screenwriting workshop. Whether you’re starting from scratch with a new idea, working on a screenplay adaptation, or revising an early draft of an existing screenplay, this class will forever change the way you look at screenwriting.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Leo Launches Initiative with World Wildlife Fund to Stop Wildlife Crime!

February 18, 2013 - Today, actor and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Board Member Leonardo DiCaprio helped launch WWF’s “Hands Off My Parts” initiative. The initiative represents a week-long effort tied to WWF’s Stop Wildlife Crime campaign to raise awareness and mobilize support to end the illegal trade of wildlife.

Wildlife crime has reached levels never seen before in WWF’s 50-year history. Rhinos, tigers, and elephants are being killed at alarming rates for their skins, bones, tusks, horns and other body parts.

Tens of thousands of elephants are being poached every year for their ivory. Thailand is home to the biggest unregulated ivory market in the world. Exploiting a legal loophole that permits the sale of ivory from Thailand’s domesticated elephants, criminals are getting away with selling massive amounts of illegally poached African ivory alongside legal ivory in the country.

In addition to raising awareness of this global crisis, the Hands Off My Parts initiative highlights what people can do to help, including spreading the word and signing a global petition calling on Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to ban all ivory trade in Thailand.

In support of this effort, DiCaprio sent a personal email to WWF supporters, celebrities and other influencers encouraging them to join the wildlife crime campaign and sign the petition.
“Illegal wildlife trade is the most urgent threat facing species like tigers, rhinos and elephants. These animals are being killed every day to feed an escalating demand for their body parts,” said Leonardo DiCaprio. “Whole populations are at risk of being wiped out if we don’t take immediate action to shut down this illicit trade. As a key step, I am joining WWF and others calling on Thailand’s government to show leadership on elephant conservation by shutting down its ivory market before the country hosts a meeting of 177 nations on wildlife trade in March 2013.”

"With knowledge comes the imperative to act,” said Carter Roberts, president & CEO of WWF. “This story needs to be told. We're grateful to Leonardo DiCaprio and others for being the voice for animals who cannot speak for themselves.”

Other prominent voices joining this initiative include: Emily VanCamp, Josh Bowman, Stacy Keibler, Alyssa Milano, Ian Somerhalder, and Ethan Suplee.

“Hands Off My Parts” is the latest initiative in WWF’s global campaign to raise awareness about illicit wildlife trade as a serious crime with far-reaching implications for species and communities around the world.

TAKE ACTION: Tell Thailand to get tough on wildlife crime and ban their ivory trade.


To learn more and what you can do to help, please visit worldwildlife.org/wildlifecrime or http://www.handsoffmyparts.org. 

Friday, February 15, 2013

LeoDiCaprio Foundation on New Charitable Project with La Colombe about Lyon Coffee

We are delighted to present our latest masterpiece, Lyon, a first of its kind charitable alliance with Leonardo DiCaprio. Through purchases of Lyon, you will make a significant impact on projects that defend lands and oceans, protect clean water, help endangered species, aid disaster relief and support alternative and green energy efforts.

Blend Notes 


Velvety, nectar like and sweet, LYON is an extraordinary coffee with a cause, a masterpiece of taste achieved by blending directly sourced and sustainably grown coffees from the mountains of Haiti, Peru, Ethiopia, and Brazil.

Recommended For French Press, Espresso or Stove Top.

A.)    La Colombe Makes First of Its Kind Charitable Alliance with Leonardo DiCaprio - 100% of All Profits from Co-created LYON Donated to Charities Supported by The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation
 

"I am thrilled to be a part of this new project with La Colombe" says Leonardo DiCaprio.

“We are excited to be working with The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and find it, as well as its namesake, uniquely qualified to carry out our hope, to make our planet a better place.” adds Todd Carmichael.

Velvety, nectar like and sweet, LYON is an extraordinary coffee with a cause, a masterpiece of taste achieved by blending directly sourced and sustainably grown coffees from the mountains of Haiti, Peru, Ethiopia, and Brazil.

Through purchases of LYON, consumers will make a significant impact on projects that defend lands and oceans, clean water, help endangered species, aid disaster relief and support alternative and green energy efforts.

B.)    100% of Profits from the sale of LYON coffee go to Environmental Charities Supported by The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.
 

On February 1st, 2012, acclaimed coffee roaster, La Colombe Torrefaction, announced a charitable alliance with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation to create a new, ultra high-end coffee line, LYON. Under the alliance one-hundred percent of the net profits from the sale of LYON will be donated to environmental charities supported by the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

“Raising awareness on the most pressing environmental issues of our time is more important than ever,” said Leonardo DiCaprio. “I am thrilled to be a part of this new project with La Colombe that will help aid the shift to a truly sustainable future for the planet and its inhabitants.”

“Coffee employs over 100 million people worldwide, most of which is slash and burn and sold cheaply,” said Todd Carmichael, CEO and Co-Founder of La Colombe. “Sustainable coffee – specifically, coffee that is traded above fair prices and grown using earth conscious methods – not only adds much needed global biodiversity, but provides support for millions of families and communities in the developing world. The impact we are having in Haiti alone, just to bring this coffee to market, has changed the lives of thousands of peasant farmers, as well as the landscape of the country. We are excited to be working with and supporting The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation and find it, as well as its namesake, uniquely qualified to carry out our hope, to make our planet a better place.”

“La Colombe’s commitment to pushing the envelope in environmental and social ethics makes the company unique, “said Alex Morgan, business development manager for the sustainable agriculture division of the Rainforest Alliance. “There are a number of coffee companies that take either quality or sustainability seriously, but they don’t necessarily combine the two of them. We commend La Colombe for promoting transparency throughout its supply chain, and for committing itself to this approach.”

LYON is available for purchase in select Williams Sonoma stores nationwide, La Colombe Cafes, select Whole Foods and online at www.lacolombe.com. With their purchase, consumers will make a significant impact on projects that defend lands and oceans, clean water, help endangered species, aid disaster relief and support alternative and green energy efforts.

Velvety, nectar like and sweet, LYON is an extraordinary coffee with a cause, a masterpiece of taste achieved by blending directly sourced and sustainably grown coffees from the mountains of Haiti, Peru, Ethiopia, and Brazil.
 

About La Colombe

For nearly two decades, La Colombe has been a leading proponent of ethical long-term trade with coffee growers as well as a key supporter of certification organizations such as Fair Trade Alliance, Rainforest Alliance, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and others. Most important, however, is our direct influence on the well being of our coffee growing communities - from water resource development and borehole drilling to building and maintaining schools which support hundreds of orphaned children with housing, health care and education. We recognize that as coffee roasters we occupy a unique place in the world, a spot on the narrow bridge between the developing world and some of the most affluent consumers on the planet. To us, this role is more than a responsibility, more than a popular philanthropic logo but a rare privilege seldom afforded. At La Colombe, we intend to make the most out of this opportunity.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

The Cold Cuts Amazing Atmosphere by Jacob Krueger

(The picture is taken from Jacob Krueger's website. He's the one attending with the hat!)

Cold Cuts is a free monthly reading series designed to give students the instant gratification and experience of hearing their work performed out-loud in-front of a live audience within days, hours, minutes of writing it.
Writers bring in 8 – 10 pages from their latest screenplay and trained actors get cast on the spot.
Cold Cuts takes place the first Thursday of every month at 8pm @ CSV Center 107 Suffolk St, NYC map

Get Involved
 

Writers
Cold Cuts is open to anyone currently enrolled in a class* at Jacob Krueger Studio.  Sign up for classes now! Simply show up, put your name in the hat, and if your name is called then next month your pages will be read!
 

Actors
Cold Cuts is always on the lookout for smart actors who enjoy developing new work. If this sounds like you please submit your head shot and resume below and you will be contacted shortly.

Frequently Asked Questions
 

Who Can Participate?
1.) Anyone Can Attend For Free
2.) To Submit Work You Must Be Currently Enrolled in a Screenwriting Workshop or    Master Class at Jacob Krueger Studio.
3.) Seminar Attendees are Not Eligible

What About Casting & Rehearsal?
1.) Your Work Will Be Read By Our Troupe of Professional NYC Actors.
2.) This is a Cold Reading Series Which Means There Is No Rehearsal or Auditions.
3.) All Scenes Are Cast On The Spot The Day of the Event.
4.) You Can Submit Your Pages Weeks, Days, or Even Minutes Before Your Performance.

Why Cold Readings?
Cold readings are often far more valuable for writers than readings that have been directed and rehearsed.  That’s because they give you a sense of how readers are interpreting your work and your characters with the turn of each page—just like a producer will do when they read your script..  Often, by following their impulses, actors will reveal hidden layers in your script that you didn’t even know were there.  And even elements that get misinterpreted can open doors for your writing, showing you new pathways to explore, or confusions to address in your next draft.

Can You Cast Your Own Actors?
If you have a highly specialized role that requires a specific actor, you are welcome to do your own casting.  Just let us know in advance.  We encourage you NOT to hold rehearsals or to coach your actors so you can get the full benefit of the cold reading experience.

Should You Invite Producers
You are welcome to invite anyone you want to your reading.  However please remember that the main goal of Cold Cuts is not to present perfectly polished work, but to help you develop your screenplay, by understanding how an audience reacts to an early draft.

I’ve Never Done a Reading Before.  What if My Scene Isn’t Good?
Bring us your tired, your poor!   Cold Cuts welcomes your great scenes, but it’s also a place to try out the stuff you’re struggling with, the scenes that you’re not sure about, and the ones that take huge risks and either fail or succeed boldly.  By watching the audience and listening to the actors, you’ll learn what really works and what really doesn’t.  And some of the answers may surprise you.

Do I Have To Pay The Actors?
All of our actors are volunteering their time and their talent.  There is no need for financial compensation, but they sure appreciate it if you buy them a drink!

Want To Participate as an Actor?
Are you an actor, or do you know a great actor who would be a perfect addition for our troupe? Great! Actors can sign up here.