WEBSITE UPGRADES

Much attention has been given to upgrading the "classic" book reading list at
the Empire Screenwriting Resource:

http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/universe/books.html

. . and the play reading list . .

http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/universe/plays.html

. . the former being closer to perfection than the latter. More work is
expected on the play list soon.

The exercises have been properly broken out for each section, enhanced, and
polished:

http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/exercises.html
http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/fundamentals/exercises.html
http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/storydynamics/exercises.html

With the recent redesign of the subdirectory and file names for much of the
site, and the latest Google reindexing, traffic has jumped 50% or so
(approaching 1,000 visits a week).


WORKSHOPS

The Story Dynamics Workshop for Screenwriters will be held this weekend in
Richmond, Virginia (January 24-26), with all related information available
through:

http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/workshops/

Specifics are now posted for the Virginia Beach, Virginia workshop to be held
February 21-23. Arlington, Virginia follows in late March, with one workshop a
month to be held (moving generally northeasterly) throughout the rest of 2003.

These will be informal affairs, intended to be collegial and fun. Registration
and payment occurs at the workshop itself. Seating will be provided for those
who show up (or other arrangements will be made in the unlikely event of
"capacity" being exceeded).

All course material and related excercises may be reviewed and worked in advance
through:

http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/


MOVIES

Applicable questions posed through two earlier EmpireUpdates regarding MY BIG
FAT GREEK WEDDING now appear in the related exercises (see addresses above or
use the website search feature). Answers will not appear here, as originally
promised, but may be addressed at the weekend workshops (see above). This
approach might be used more in future, perhaps with the addition of a chat
facilitated through this Yahoo!Group (see feature menu at the group home page).

Every serious screenwriter should make way to the nearest cinema to see
ADAPTATION starring Nicholas Cage. Not only is it about screenwriters and
Hollywood screenwriting, but the movie offers interesting perspectives on story
and takes innovative departures. The Yahoo!Movies page for the movie:

http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1807816315&cf=web

Offers some interesting information and links (and had a link to the Empire
Screenwriting Resource at one point which cannot be found now).


INTERNATIONAL

The Empire Screenwriting Resource has been getting increasing international
interest of late, e.g., "Hugo Is":

http://www.hugi.is/kvikmyndagerd/

. . something of an Icelandic portal to the internet, with a major section on
cinema, has directed numerous visitors.

Site Scénario, a French site dedicated to screenwriting:

http://www.contrechamp.org/scenario/Site/nat_f04.htm#nat_empting.htm

. . offers a review of the site. And more international search engines seem to
be listing the resource now.