Kenneth Atchity's Blog, page 20

Story Merchant E-Book Deal - William Diehl's Hooligans FREE April 8 - April 12!

Supercop for the feds assembles a group of tough ex-cops to find a killer!

Updated for the screen by Michael A. Simpson (Crazy Heart), for Atchity Productions as Dunetown SOBs!

When someone starts murdering the leaders of the local Triad in Dunetown, Georgia supercop for the feds, Jake Kilmer, puts together the toughest bunch of ex-cops ever assembled to find the killer.

"Make no mistake, these guys are cool... They prefer action to talk, but when they talk it's tough, dirty, often funny and always realistic."-- Atlanta Journal Constitution

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON 


Federal Agent JAKE KILMER has been trying to bring down the Tagliana mob inCincinnati for years, and just as he has them in his sights, they disappear,only to resurface in the last place on earth Kilmer wants to go – the onceidyllic Dunetown, Georgia, where he’ll have to play nice with a tough squad oflocal maverick cops called the SOBs and face a personal past that refuses tostay buried.

“Fantastic, a sort of Georgia Godfather.” UPI

“Diehl’s writing packs a wallop, and his compassion runsdeep.” Seattle Times

“The author has a knack of sketching brain-scrambledcops and a clean, unfettered skill at creating suspense and dialogue.” Los Angeles Times

SYNOPSIS:

JAKEKILMER hasn’t been home to Dunetown in twenty years. The place holds badmemories. Back in the day he had been a college football star. A shatteredankle took away both his dreams of a professional career and the woman heloved.

            Now, Jake is a special agent for theFeds, and it’s time to return to Dunetown.

            Things have changed. The Tagliana mobhas taken over. The once sleepy town is now referred to as “Doomtown.” Aracetrack dominates the city. There are Vegas-style hotels. There’s gambling,sex for sale, and drugs. Greed is in the air. And death.

Butone by one, the mobsters are being murdered. Kilmer needs to solve the murdersand save “Doomtown” from devouring itself.

            Many faces from Jake’s past remain. TheCounty Sheriff STONEWALL TITAN still rules with an iron hand. And DOMINIQUERAINES is still beautiful and restless, and, though married to the mostimportant man in the town, still in love with Jake.

            There are new faces, too - a specialtask force of the roughest, rowdiest cops ever assembled. They’re known as the SOB’s(Special Operations Branch) and they are Jake’s to use – ifhe can control them.

What is “Coverage” and How Does It Affect Whether My Book Sells to Hollywood? by Kenneth Atchity

I read part of it all the way through.—Samuel Goldwyn


The Hollywood decision-maker who receives your story submission rarely has time to read it him- or herself. They assign it “for coverage” to the story department, and receive back a coverage. “Coverage” is the term used in Hollywood for the document that determines the fate of most story submissions. It’s a document, created by a story editor, in the story department of an agency, production company, studio, or broadcaster that analyzes your story’s film-worthiness.  A typical coverage includes a “grading system” something like the following that suggests that the submission (screenplay, novel, nonfiction book, or treatment) is:

PASS— Nothing to spend more time on. So the executive who receives this recommendation returns the submission.

RECOMMEND— The grade you’re looking for. The executive reads at least part of the submission and, if he agrees with his story editor, contacts the writer to ask about its rights status.

RECOMMEND, W/DEVELOPMENT— Don’t let this one go, but it’s not perfect and needs fixing.

CONSIDER— The story editor isn’t sure. Usually this grade leads to a “second read,” from a different story editor.

CONSIDER, WITH DEVELOPMENT— Meaning it’s worth taking on for development, but not yet ready for production. In many cases this will lead to a pass because most companies are so swamped with production and development projects that they simply have no bandwidth for developing another one.
Sometimes an additional category might be included:

KEEP AN EYE ON THE WRITER? That’s a Yes, or No.

The coverage typically contains a number of analytical sections to make sure all aspects of the project are addressed:

TITLE and GENRE: The title of the submission is followed by a statement of what genre it falls into: Fantasy/Adventure, Action, Romance, Drama, Horror, Thriller, Comedy, True Story, etc.

TYPE: Screenplay? Manuscript? Nonfiction? Novel? Treatment?

LOGLINE: This is a one- or two-sentence summary of the story, sometimes referred to as the pitch-line. The best are the shortest: “A man is mistakenly left behind when his ships leaves in a hurry. On Mars.”

SYNOPSIS— This is a straightforward outline of your story, to give the executive an overview of what happens in it. It describes all main plot points and details necessary to understand the story. The preferred length of a synopsis is a page or two. When it’s longer, it’s usually a sign to the executive that the story is too complicated to make a good film.

MARKET POTENTIAL— This section is a comment on the audience the project is aimed at, and whether the story editor feels it fits that market or departs from its needs or expectations, whether it’s a fresh approach to an important story, whether the story is “elevated” by its theme to make it a worthy film or series. Often names successful films that resemble this one.

STRUCTURE— This is an overall comment on how well the structure of the story holds together and accomplishes its purpose, but also where it falters in doing so. Do events unfold cohesively? Are plot points used effectively? Does the story reveal a three-act structure? A typical comment, “There seems to be repetition of the same events over and over again throughout the story.”

CONFLICT— This crucial section indicates whether there is sufficient conflict, both external (in the events of the story) and internal (within the characters).  Is the main external conflict of sufficient formidable force to hold audiences? Is it supported by smaller external conflicts, as well as by internal conflict on the part of the characters, especially protagonist and antagonist?

CHARACTER— Is the protagonist fully formed? Do we care about Does he or she have a back story, a mission, and does he or she experience change by the end? Are the supporting characters strong?

DIALOGUE— Is the dialogue unique to each character or do they all sound the same? Does the dialogue move the story along, providing information and containing subtext without being on-the-nose or unbelievable?

PACING— Are scenes or events an appropriate length for their purpose? Is there a sense of build-up, a balance between tension and release, mystery and discovery? Sufficient twists and turns, cliffhangers and surprises? Does each scene or event depend on what came before?

LOGIC— This section talks about plot holes or points lacking sufficient clarity? Do events make sense within the world of the story? For example, do science fiction and fantasy worlds remain consistent with their own set of rules?

CRAFT— Is the writing itself clear, concise, and descriptive? Is there an even balance of action and dialogue? Is proper formatting employed? Are there spelling or grammatical errors?

Yeah, it’s pretty thorough, isn’t it? And here’s the catch: the writer who submitted the story will rarely see the coverage that determines its fate. It’s a real philosophical dilemma. Given that the coverage is so important, and that you won’t see it, how should you behave?

The answer is to know that the coverage, like the troll under the bridge, is there lurking in wait for you–and to disarm it in advance by making sure your story addresses all the categories of expectation.

If, in its current form, it does not, write a treatment of your story and submit that instead.



About Sell Your Story to Hollywood:

Through the expanding influence of the Internet and the corporatization of both publishing and entertainment, the process of getting your book to the big screen has gotten more complicated, more eccentric, and more exciting.

This little book aims to help you figure out how to get your story told on big screens or small. It’s not going to give you rules and regulations, because they simply don’t exist today. Any rule that could be promulgated has and will be broken. What this book offers instead is nearly thirty years of observation of how things happen in show business, the business of entertainment (better known around the world as Hollywood). Dr. Ken Atchity’s Hollywood experience ranges from writing to managing writers to producing their movies for television and theaters. He’s seen the Hollywood story market from nearly every angle, including legal and business affairs.

Ken Atchity spent his first career as a professor, a career he embarked upon innocently because he wanted to focus his efforts on understanding stories and helping writers get their stories told—and here he is thirty years later still pursuing the same goal—because it’s a worthy and never-ending goal.
He’s made films based on nonfiction books, and made deals for a number of nonfiction stories. But most of his experience lies in turning novels into films. As a lifelong story merchant, what Dr. Atchity develops and sells are “stories,” because he believes stories rule the world. Many of the observations outlined in this book are simply about selling stories to Hollywood.

This pocket guide will help you expedite the transformation of your show business dreams into realities.

Order your copy online here.

Ken's Weekly Book Recommendation: Writing Treatments to Sell by Ken Atchity and Chi-Li Wong

As Hollywood insiders know, the first step in selling your story idea for film or television is preparing a treatment, the brief pitch that sells the concept to a busy producer or agent.  ⁠

This manual is a step by step guide to writing the perfect treatment, and to using it to perfect your dramatic art and market your work to entertainment buyers and gatekeepers.⁠

Available on Amazon

Jerry Blaine author of The Kennedy Detail talks about JFK’s assassination - Part Two

WATCH PART TWO HERE

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — Jerry Blaine is a retired secret service agent who served Kennedy throughout his entire presidency. This is a continuation on his account of the assassination…

One popular theory surrounding Kennedy’s assassination is…the magic bullet.

Often times, the number of shots fired and from where changes depending on who you ask.

Jerry tells Western Slope Now three shots were fired, all from Oswald on the sixth floor of the book depository, which would rule out another theory – the grassy knoll.

He says three workers on the fifth floor heard it all through the ceiling and felt debris fall on their head after each of the shots shook the building above them.

The first bullet, to Jerry’s account, hit Kennedy in the back of the neck. The second shot hit Governor Conley, and the third shot hit the side of Kennedy’s head. Jerry says it was impossible to clear every room around the block with so few people assigned to the detail.

He tells Western Slope Now they only had about 48 people on the white house detail. Protecting the president at any one time were only five agents.

Nowadays, 30 to 40 people guard the president at all times, making it much less likely this fragment of history will repeat itself.

But, today, the challenges are greater.

The state of today’s world gave Jerry, now 92, the motivation to write a new book – called, The Silent Generation Speaks.

He says, “It includes the corruption of some of our politicians and to look at our country as a constitutional republic.”

Just the latest chapter in an adventure filled life, well lived.

via Western Slope Now

Story Merchant Book Deal: Writing Treatments to Sell by Kenneth Atchity and Chi-Li Wong

$1.99 March 25 - March 29!We appreciate your Amazon review: ⁠https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D3PZO5A
Writing Treatments to Sell - Kenneth Atchity Writing treatments thatsell is a first book of its kind devoted entirely to the function of treatmentsin film and TV and how to write and present effective ones. The book is acollaboration by Kenneth Atchity and Chi-Li Wong, partners in Atchity Productons.
Kenneth and Chi – MAis sincerely honored by your willingness to share your knowledge and adventurerelating to this new book. So without any further ado here are all ourquestions.
Whatmade you initiate the idea of providing a guide like Writing Treatments to Sell? 
Themost frequent question we were getting from clients—novelists as well asitinerant screenwriters was “what is a treatment?” We realized that bookanswering this question would be helpful.

Whowas your target audience? 
The book’s target audience is anyone whowants to write or sell a story to the motion picture or television world.
Whoended up putting pen to paper?  
Wehave a process where we outline the content together, Chi-Li takes a shot atthe first draft, then Kenneth does the next, etc.
Isthe book specifically targeted for the film industry only? 
Although we targeted the book tothe film industry, in the years since it was first published we've learned thatits useful to writers of all kinds—children’s books, novels, etc.—because ithelps them to “get the story straight” before launching into the actualdrafting.
Whya book based specifically on treatments? 
Because a treatment is aunique creature that will never itself see publication or production, andtherefore everyone wonders why it even exists.
Whatis a “treatment?” 
To quote directly from the book: “A treatment is a relatively brief,loosely narrative written pitch of a story intended for production as a filmfor theatrical exhibition or television broadcast. Written in user-friendly,dramatic, but straightforward and highly visual prose, in the present tense,the treatment highlights in broad strokes your story’s hook, primary characters,acts and action line, setting, point of view, and most dramatic scenes andturning points.” The book goes into detail about the meaning of each phrase inthis definition, distinguishing the treatment from “coverage,” “synopsis,”“outlines,” among others.
TheStory Merchant itself is all about content, branding and consultation in theentertainment and media arena. How does this book tie into the bigger plan ofStory Merchant? 
This book, like Atchity’s How to Publish Your Novel or Write Time: A Guide to the CreativeProcess, from Vision through Revision isa tool by which the Story Merchant shares experience in the commercial world ofstories with aspiring storytellers.
Doesreading the book create a sense of more business for Story Merchant or is itmore directed towards internal growth for each and every writer / screenwriter? 
We can’t spend time with every storyteller out there who needsguidance, so we wrote this book to  helpanyone who’s motivated enough to buy it—now available in ebook for the firsttime. But that’s not to say Story Merchant has found coaching clients throughthis and Atchity’s other books.
Beingan aspiring author myself, I find that optimism and endurance are two of themain things to hold onto while craving for acknowledgement towards your ownwork, what is your advice towards fellow aspirers who look up to yourselves forhope? 
We’ve learned that hope is great, but determination is even better,when it comes to success. Just keep working on your career, whether you’re in agood mood or not, whether you’re hopeful or not. Work is the only sure road tosuccess.
In general how has publishing and moving into the entertainment industrychanged for writers. I mean – I myself sometimes wish that I had startedwriting ten years earlier as it seems as if the market might have been lesschaotic. In today’s time it’s as if everyone can put pen to paper and callthemselves an author. How do you define the word author, writer? 
Awriter is someone who WRITES, and who cares enough about her writing to find anaudience for it. While everything else has changed, that definition has notchanged and will not change.
Last but not least, what else can people look forward to? Being in the industryyou are it is important to recreate your image and stay in the zone withcurrent trends, how do you intend on moving forward while carrying the weightof years and years’ experience in the existing field? How do you mould yourselfto be eye catching and present in the future?  
We've just launched Story Merchant Academy a brand new online course designed for writers to improve their storytelling.   Sign Up Now
As always, thanks a lot for your presence and willingness toShare.  
Thanks for providing thiswonderful forum.
 
Posted byNadine Maritz

Jerry Blaine author of The Kennedy Detail talks about JFK’s assassination - Part One

 

WATCH PART ONE HERE 

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — Jerry has lived several different lives – many of them through the government, and through the secret service. He served President Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson.

Greg Hamilton met Jerry at his church. He created an impressive local law catalogue housed at Hamilton library, and he invited Jerry here this week to share stories detailing his life and his role during a critical moment in U.S. History.

Jerry guarded the president throughout his entire presidency, both by his side, and venturing ahead to clear the way.

He set up a route for Kennedy’s car in Dallas, which Jerry tells me Kennedy changed at the last minute and requested a convertible.

Jerry was en route to Kennedy’s next planned tour when an assassin fired on and killed the president.

Decades later, he decided to put the trauma into words. His book, the Kennedy detail, shares what he and other secret servicemen experienced.
via Western Slope Now

The New York Times List of the Best Movieson HULU Handpicked Hysteria!

You’ve probably seen plenty of Victorian-era serio-comic dramas, many featuring much of this prestige cast, which includes Hugh Dancy, Rupert Everett, Felicity Jones, Gemma Jones and Jonathan Pryce. 
But this is no starchy tale of class conflict or simmering romance; no, this is the story of how Dr. Mortimer Granville (Dancy), while pursuing treatments for “hysteria” (a onetime catchall medical term for troubles that affected women), invented the vibrator.

The director Tanya Wexler and her stiff-upper-lip cast clearly get a kick out of their randy subject matter and adjust their playing accordingly, while Maggie Gyllenhaal delights as a proto-feminist who seizes on this development and the power it contains.
Read more at the New York Times

Story Merchant Books E-Book Deal: #FREE December 18 - 22! Inside the Lie by Gary Wenkle Smith

Distinguished Favorite in the 2021 INDEPENDENT PRESS AWARDS!

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

Esteemed legal duo Patrick Moynihan and Tommy Krumholz (The Last Midnight) are called in to assist Rex in this murder/conspiracy thriller.
A gutsy and gritty courtroom drama that will leave the reader with an understanding of the true experience of a criminal judicial proceeding.

Tome Tender Reviews A Potter's Tale by Dave Davis

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
A fascinating and intriguing tale of life, love, betrayal and murder, Dave Davis’s A POTTER’S TALE challenges readers with mysteries from the past, the brilliance of a present day life snuffed out too soon and long held secrets that could spell the destruction of the universe.

When a former physician now reporter teams up with his tenacious partner, they had no idea that the story of the murdered teen would lead them across continents, civilizations, religions and scientific research facilities. Who is trying to cover up hidden secrets of the universe? To what end?

Dave Davis has added enough twists and left enough imaginative breadcrumbs along the way that science fiction buffs, history buffs and lovers of all things mysterious and suspenseful will each find a compelling reason to turn page after page! Taut writing, believable characters and some “didn’t see that coming,” moments make this one of those tales that boggles the mind, because, what if?...


SYNOPSIS:
Love. Betrayal. Murder. Then the universe started to collapse. They say it all started in 1935 when Roz Lhulier and his team unearthed the massive tomb of Pakal, the greatest Mayan king, and with it, an ancient text, called a codex. They're wrong.

The codex is deciphered by Alan Turing, the genius who broke the German's Enigma Code during WWII, but its message is jealously guarded by the Astronomers, a lethal offspring of the Catholic Church. Astronomers have compromised or killed anyone with knowledge of the secret--presidents and prime ministers, just for instance.

The codex pulls others into its deadly orbit: Noah, a former physician, and his partner Kate, reporters for the Washington Post. They investigate the murder of DiShannia, a precocious teen, who's achieved national recognition for her research on the demise of Mayan civilization. They're led from Washington DC, to the British Museum, to the Center for Nuclear Research in Geneva, to Melbourne, Australia.

Each step enlightens them, offers clues, frightens them. And us.

The two strands of the novel--the codex and its rich human stories--are joined by another narrative, creating a kind of weird DNA. This third strand involves the Potter, who crafts the story. And the genes that craft us all.

Does the universe collapse? The Potter knows the answer. Noah, Kate discover it. We learn it too--on the last page.

Film Courage: Power of Choice To Do Creative Work - Dr. Ken Atchity