You may want to check this out . .

http://www.thewritersbuilding.org/

. . but can't vouch for 'em!

Note: forwarded message attached.


=====
EMPIRE ARTS RESOURCE
http://www.empirecontact.com/
EMPIRE UPDATE
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EmpireUpdate/



__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The all-new My Yahoo! - Get yours free!
http://my.yahoo.com

Note: forwarded message attached.


=====
EMPIRE ARTS RESOURCE
http://www.empirecontact.com/
EMPIRE UPDATE
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EmpireUpdate/



__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard.
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

WEBSITE UPGRADES

The 'Magic Star of Dramatic Writing' section has been re-formatted
to make it more 'handheld-friendly', as has the 'Story Dynamics'
section (which is a clear a candidate for further amplification).

Modifications to other sections proceed apace.

MESSAGES

The Messages feature has now been opened up to non-members to
encourage producers, contest organizers, and the like to post
their opportunities for Group members.

Moderating the Group properly should limit any difficulties.

CALENDAR

The Calendar feature might be used to post contest deadlines,
writing conferences, workshops and classes, film festivals, etc.  It
is open for all Group members to post their events and activities.

Other Yahoo! Calendars can easily be 'synched' to this one, and
Yahoo! offers 'synching' utilities for other formats, such as MS
Outlook and Palm OS.  You may want to check those out for your
personal life, if not for supporting your writing activities.

CHAT

A weekly hour-long Chat has been scheduled for noon U.S. Eastern Standard
Time.  This should work well enough for the U.S. West Coast, Canada,
the British Isles--but apparently not so well for those 'Down Under'
(open to suggestions).

The website author will make every effort to be in attendance each
week, but members can get it going no matter.

The purpose of this Chat will be to discuss any matter raised by
Group members, as relates to the Empire Screenwriting Resource.

Once again EmpireUpdate will focus solely on screenwriting and
related resources at the Empire site.  Little interest developed in
the other areas, i.e., poetry, lyrics, plays, while traffic remains
strong for the Empire Screenwriting Resource.

EmpireUpdate settings have now been liberalized so that members can
participate more directly without moderator intervention.  Your
message posts must still be approved by the moderator, but you can
enjoy the Chat, Files, Photos, Polls, Calendar, and other features
more liberally.  Please check each one and see and report back if
not all is as promised (these settings can be finicky).

The Empire Screenwriting Resource, and related pages at the site,
e.g., the Magic Star of Dramatic Writing, Story Dynamics, Expand
Your Universe, will be undergoing major revision over coming weeks
and months.  Among the objects will be to make the site
more "handheld friendly" (for all you PDA users), to apply newly-
learned formatting techniques, to convert the Screenwriting
Fundamentals section to a page-per-topic format, and to expand and
refine the Expand Your Universe educational section.

Individual page URL addresses will change, as part of an effort to
reduce the levels of subdirectories (among other things), so please
use the search feature if you can't find what you're looking for.

If there is interest in scheduling a regular Chat session for
members, or even just an introductory one, please post your
suggestions to the Group and we'll take it from there.

PRODUCER INTEREST

A judge for the last two cycles of the Empire Screenplay Contest has
now started his own production company.  He has also signed on with
Chuck Norris' production group as a director.  He's searching for
scripts with "a relatively low budget".

If you were a Contest winner in previous years, or a finalist in the
last cycle, and have something you'd like him to consider, please
query to:

Carey Scott
5225 Quaker Hill Lane
San Diego, Ca. 92130

He'll let you know how to take it from there.


WEBSITE CHANGES

The Empire Screenwriting Resource has moved to . . .

http://www.empirecontact.com/screenwriting/

. . . as part of the Empire Arts Resource, and undergone a
significant update, enhancement, and polish.  It might be worth
taking a peak at to see if any of the new material serves you and
your writing career.

All the best!

WORKSHOPS CANCELLED

Due to a lack of interest, the Story Dynamics Workshop for Screenwriters series
scheduled for calendar-year 2003 has been cancelled.  In a competitive market
for screenwriting instruction, and with limited resources for publicity and
promotion, insufficient participation has compelled this decision.

For 2004 proposal will be made to existing organizations around the U.S. which
offer courses of this sort already, with an existing student base and
promotional infrastructure.  The results of this effort may take some time to
manifest themselves, and will be relayed when clear.

Alternatively, groups who would like to have a workshop brought to their city
may make such a request through the e-mail contact procedure provided at the
site.

Apologies to all for whom this decision causes inconvenience.  Contest
commitments will continue to be met via future workshop revenues, or by other
means.


WEBSITE UPGRADES

The process for upgrading the resource to a "domain site" has begun and will
likely bear fruit over coming months.

Affialiate programs have been arranged, most particularly with Barnes and Noble
booksellers, leading to use of graphics and banners throughout the site.  As
this is an academic resource, greater priority has been given utility than
commercialism.  Each link to a Barnes and Noble book has been researched to
identify the most useful resource.  This combined with the colorful presentation
of the of the book cover graphics, and the ease of locating and ordering the
book itself, are hoped to add value to the site.

To date, no revenues have been earned from these affiliate programs, making
their inclusion at the site somewhat probationary in nature.


RECIPROCAL LINKS

The Empire Screenwriting Resource continues to be blessed with other websites
linking to it, particularly those of the educational variety.  Please visit the
following sites, to see what they have to offer in return:

1) Yahoo! Movies--ADAPTATION page

http://ca.movies.yahoo.com/if/20021205/103912957100.html

2) Ringling School

http://www.rsad.edu/~jderuyte/

3) ScapeRoute

http://www.scaperoute.com/wbresources.html

"If your serious about screenwriting or just want to see what the deal is, this
site is a must see. It's free and it gives you detailed instructions on
everything from the actual format to use when writing a screenplay to finding a
workable concept and how to market the whole thing. Hmmm...maybe I'll try it
out."

4)Falk Laboratory School, University of Pittsburgh

Seventh Grade I-Search Resources

Language Arts, Mr. Wittig, I-Search Project, February 2003

http://tc.education.pitt.edu/library/SeventhISearch2003.html

5) and the enigmatic . . .

http://fjw.org/link/

6) Simon Fraser University
http://www.sfu.ca/media-lab/cycle/extras.html


Thanks so much to these organizations for linking to the Empire Screenwriting
Resource.

VIRGINIA BEACH WORKSHOP CANCELLED

The Story Dynamics Workshop scheduled for this weekend in Virginia Beach has
been cancelled, due to the major snowstorm, and the instructor coming down with
the flu.  Some of the publicity planned for the event was not completed, and no
e-mail queries have been received from interested participants.  Sorry for any
inconvenience this late notice might cause.


ARLINGTON WORKSHOP SCHEDULED

The details have just been arranged for the Story Dynamics Workshop to be given
in Arlington, Virginia March 28-30.  Please see:

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

The recommended venue for viewing the assigned contemporary film:

AMC Courthouse Plaza 8.  See:

http://www.digitalcity.com/washington/movies/venue.adp?vid=715

"The Metro escalator almost delivers you to the front door of this facility. It
has a THX theater with a large screen and 383 comfortable seats. An underground
parking garage also makes driving in a breeze. All eight theaters can show films
in SDDS."

Watch for the announcement of the assigned movie title.

The course itself will be conducted at:

Common Grounds Coffee and Tea
3211 Wilson Blvd.
See:

http://www.digitalcity.com/washington/entertainment/venue.adp?vid=167802&type=ov\
erview

Based on experience with the Richmond workshop given in January, the hours of
the course have been shortened and shifted to later in the day, and the tuition
has been reduced.

These workshops are meant to be collegial, informal, and fun affairs for 4-6
pupils over coffee and crumbcake (or tea and crumpets, as you prefer).  Online
registration is being added "as we speak", but will likely come with bugs and
quirks to be worked out.  An individual or small group of writers can make these
workshops happen simply by showing up and bringing friends.

RESOURCE

Sections are being added to the Concept section in Screenwriting Fundamentals,
e.g., one on culture, and more is expected for this page shortly.

INTEREST

Peter Plantec has asked to quote text from the Dialogue page in his upcoming
book.  See:

http://www.ordinarymagic.com/

And also:

http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/press/kudos.html

where he mentions a very helpful website he helped set up.

Mr. Chappe has recommended the Empire Screenwriting Resource Presentability page
to his seventh grade class at Conners Emerson School in Bar Harbor, Maine.  See:

http://www.emerson.u98.k12.me.us/StaffWebPages/Grade7/Chappe/Mr.%20Chappe's%20Ho\
mework/writing.htm

He's posted some very helpful screenwriting links there.

FlixUSA.com, "Discussion and Networking forums for entertainment professionals",
publicized the Richmond workshop, and seems an excellent resource.  See:

http://www.flixusa.com/ubb/Forum109/HTML/000382.html

Meanwhile, Down Under, an Aussie 'blog writer has listed the site as "Screenplay
HELP 911".  Who knows what interesting tidbits might be found in his log:

http://arishaven.rediffblogs.com/2003_16_02_arishaven_archive.html

And Brian Forté, Writer at Large for Between Borders, offers excellent advice
from Down Under for complying with Hollywood screenplay format standards.  He
provides a link to the Presentability page of the Empire Screenwriting Resource.
See:

http://betweenborders.com/usscreenplays/index.html

Thank you to all who find the site helpful enough to link to it!!

We'll meet this morning starting at 10am at the coffeehouse at 2928
W. Cary, which is no longer called "Java Outpost".  If there's a
change, we may move to the ice cream/cafe place across the street.

Look for the instructor in a straw hat.

We'll cut short the Sunday session as necessary to accomodate Super
Bowl viewing.

Thanks!  (and see you there)

ASSIGNED FILM

Byrd Theatre (http://members.tripod.com/~g_cowardin/byrd/) just
posted their movie opening this Friday:  DIE ANOTHER DAY.  See more
about the film at:

http://www.jamesbond.com/
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0246460

This will be the assigned film for the Story Dynamics Workhop running
this weekend in Richmond, Virginia January 24, 25, & 26.  See:

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

The instructor will be in attendance at the 7:15 pm screening Friday,
and for the related discussion afterwards at Rostov's Coffee,
2902 W. Cary.

Hope to see you there!

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.

PRESS RELEASE

Empire Screenwriting Resource

For Immediate Release:
DECEMBER 4, 2002

FURTHER INFORMATION:
http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/
empirecontact@...


STORY DYNAMICS WORKSHOP FOR SCREENWRITERS
January 24-26, 2003 in Richmond, Virginia

The Story Dynamics Workshop for Screenwriters will be presented
January 24-26, 2003 in Richmond, Virginia. This weekend screenwriting
workshop expands on the free guidance offered through the Empire
Screenwriting Resource. It gives course participants an opportunity
to review the screenwriting exercises at the website with the
instructor, who is both course and site creator. The workshop
emphasizes screenwriting fundamentals and Story Dynamics (each with
its own set of exercises). And it covers word use, presentability,
readability (which have a combined set of exercises).

The contemporary film assigned for the workshop can be viewed
collectively at the Byrd Theatre (2908 W. Cary/804.353.9911) on
Friday night, with a discussion to follow at nearby Rostov's Coffee
(2902 W. Cary/804.355.6619). The workshop session Saturday, to review
course material and exercises, and the Sunday session, a line-by-line
review of participant's scripts in "pages" style, will be conducted
at Java Outpost (2928 W. Cary/804.355.2040).

Tuition for the Saturday session is $75; $50 for the Sunday session.
The sessions can be taken individually. Registration occurs at the
workshop itself. Payment may be made by personal check or cash, but
credit card payment cannot be accepted at this time. All workshop
payment will go directly to previous winners of the Empire Screenplay
Contest until prize commitments are met. Where such designation is
not specifically stated for an individual city, participants will be
informed at the workshop how to make checks and money orders payable.

All Empire Screenplay Contest semifinalists, finalists, winners, and
Fifth Annual quarterfinalists may attend without charge. All
participants, including those from the Contest, must pay for their
own cinema tickets for the assigned movie at the box office.

Prior to attending, interested workshop participants are urged to
review the free course material available at Empire Screenwriting
Resource, emphasizing the sections referenced above. They should also
review carefully three classic U.S. films--GONE WITH THE WIND,
CASABLANCA, and THE GODFATHER (Part I only), considering the course
material and working the related exercises.

Workshops are scheduled one-per-month throughout 2003. Upcoming
cities include Virginia Beach, VA (February 21,22,23), Arlington, VA
(March 28,29,30), and Washington, D.C. (April 25,26,27). The workshop
schedule lays out the specifics for these cities (as available), and
lists the remaining locations for the rest of 2003.

The Story Dynamics Workshop for Screenwriters section of the Empire
Screenwriting Resource presents all the necessary information related
to workshop, i.e., schedule, agenda, prerequisites, and registration.
All workshop particulars are subject to change, so participants are
urged to check for the latest information at the site and join the
EmpireUpdate e-mail list.

The proceeds from the Richmond workshop go to Beth Szyperski, a
winner of the 4th Annual Empire Screenplay Contest in the Hollywood
or Bust category with her script GENEVA, an historical romance).
Checks and money orders should be made payable directly to her, or to
another winner from that year as individual participants see fit.
Other Hollywood or Bust winners from that year, a category designed
for scripts that would be relatively expensive to produce into
movies, were BELLE CHARLOTTE by Bill Koch, a romantic comedy, and
SCHOOL FOR LOVERS by Kal Wagenheim, a bio-drama. Winners in the High
Value category, for scripts expected to be relatively inexpensive to
produce, were LAGUNA MONSTERS by Larry Newnam, a comedy, SASHA SAYS
by Daniel Louie, a drama, and WHEN HARRY TRIES TO MARRY by Ralph
Stein and Nayan Padrai, a romantic comedy. Synopses for these
projects are available at the site.

The Empire Screenplay Contest ended with its fifth cycle. All related
Contest commitments are expected to be met by the end of calendar
year 2003. In keeping with the spirit and tradition of the
competition, all winners are slated to receive goods and services in
excess of what was originally promised. The Empire Screenplay Contest
website has been converted to the Empire Screenwriting Resource, a
free screenwriting course and resource for screenwriters. It now
serves as the foundational vehicle for resolving Contest commitments,
as revenue from weekend workshops and screenplay critiques goes to
satisfying outstanding cash prizes.

Due to administrative and other reasons, all information related to
the Empire Screenwriting Resource, the Story Dynamics Workshop, and
the Empire Screenplay Contest will continue to be relayed via the
website and the EmpireUpdate e-letter. Queries may be addressed to
empirecontact@....

###

The press release has just been prepared for the upcoming Story
Dynamics Workshop for Screenwriters in Richmond, Virginia
January 24, 25, and 26, 2003.  Please see:

http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/press/releases/021204.html

It is highly hyperlinked out, even to the point of making it hard on the eyes,
but this way it not only relays the vital information, but serves as a portal to
the related pages at the site.  It will go through revisions and upgrades, as
everything does, and will serve as the basis for the releases for upcoming
cities on the schedule.

All help in getting word out about this workshop would be
appreciated.  Mentioning it in online screenwriting groups you might
be a part of--perhaps in your own words and way with a link to the
actual press release--would be a great help.  You might also print
the release out and post it somewhere that screenwriters
frequent.  This would be particularly helpful in the Richmond area, of course.

The more peopled these workshops are the sooner Contest commitments
can be met.

Thanks again for your patience and consideration.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

EmpireUpdate #11 regrettably stated the new workshop schedule kicks
off "December 2003" rather than JANUARY 2003, right around the
corner.  Just to be super clear, the new one-city-per-month schedule
will look like . . .

January 2003:   Richmond, VA
February 2003:  Virginia Beach, VA
March 2003:     Arlington, VA
April 2003:     Washington, DC
May 2003:       Annapolis, MD
June 2003:      Baltimore, MD
July 2003:      Pittsburgh, PA
August 2003:    Harrisburg, PA
September 2003: Philadelphia, PA
October 2003:   Wilmington, DE
November 2003:  Trenton, NJ
December 2003:  New York, NY

Specific weekends will be stated at the site, and relayed here.  All
help getting the word out is appreciated.

WEBSITE SUBDIRECTORIES

The Empire Screenwriting Resource has undergone a major
reorganization in terms of file subdirectories--one intended to make
things clearer and easier to use over the long-term.  In the
meantime, duplicate files are being maintained in their old positions
until:  a) Yahoo! and Google reindex the site; and b) those who've
linked to individual pages at the site have had a chance to update
their links.  The duplicate files should sport "this page has moved
to . . ." tags shortly.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE SHIFT

The Story Dynamics Workshops scheduled to run in twelve cities
November 2002 through February 2003 are now being shifted.  They will
start in December 2003 and run throughout the next calendar year, one
city per month.  Going off without adequate preparation for this workshop series
serves no useful purpose.  In shifting the schedule:  promotion should be
better, the supporting website should be further along, word-of-mouth should
have more time to build, and each city can receive more individual attention.

The specifics of the new schedule will be announced shortly, but it
is intended to keep the order of the cities the same (just spread
them out one-per-month).  This change will help in resolving Contest
commitments given the greater preparation time and likely interest in
attending.

All apologies to those who had planned to participate in a specific
workshop as currently scheduled.  The learning experience itself will
be enhanced with the added time--interested participants can now focus more on
working the prerequisites, for example--and the holidays can now be enjoyed
without interruption.

In a related development, the screenwriting exercises offered through
the Empire Screenwriting Resource are now being broken out for:
screenwriting fundamentals, Story Dynamics, and general (word use,
readability, presentability).  New applicable exercises, prompted by this
breakout, are to be added shortly.  This should result in a more focused and
thorough testing in each area.

SITE TRANSLATION

Google.com offers free translation for individual website pages from
English into French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese (at least).  It
seems to do a bang-up job, but due consideration ought be given to
likely untranslatable (by machine at least) turns of phrase.  A link
to this has now been added at the opening page for the Empire
Screenwriting Resource.

MORE MOVIE QUESTIONS

What aspect of the concept for MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING largely carries the
movie?

(Watch for discussion on this movie--general "answers" to this and
other questions posed about it--in an upcoming missive.  If analyzing
current movies in light of the material presented in the Empire
Screenwriting Resource is of use to anyone, it may become a regular
feature of EmpireUpdate.)

Apologies again to anyone inconvenienced by the shift in workshop schedule.  The
move is intended to make a better ultimate experience for all.

WEBSITE UPGRADES

The Empire Screenwriting Resource has undergone numerous upgrades and
polishes since last we met, with more expected in coming months.
A "change log" page may be added as a running record to save having
to remember and report on each of them at moments like this.  Being
contemplated, also, is a fundamental redirect in terms of
subdirectory names, organization therein, and related indexes.  This
will hopefully be done with minimal pain of the "it's not where I
thought it was" variety, but may be clumsy until the major search
engines re-spider the site.  The new search feature, which updates
every Monday, might come in handy for the momentarily lost.

RICHMOND WORKSHOP

The first workshop, scheduled for Richmond, Virginia the first
weekend in November, has now been lined out.  Please see the <a
href="http://www.geocities.com/workshop.html">workshop</a> page for
particulars--which are all subject to change(!), so check back early
and often.  All proceeds the first weekend go to BETH SZYPERSKI, a
winner from the 4th Annual Contest.  With luck and disciplined
application, the Virginia Beach and Arlington workshop details will
be announced soon.

MOVIE QUESTIONS

As a practical application of the free screenwriting course <a
href="http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/">material</a> offered
at the Empire Screenwriting Resource:

What is the <a
href="http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/dynamics/sdelements.html"
>launch</a> of <a href="http://us.imdb.com/Title?0259446">MY BIG FAT
GREEK WEDDING</a>?  How could it have been done better?

How was careful <a
href="http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/worduse.html">naming</a>
used to good effect in the movie?

What story strands could be eliminated from the movie?

What screams "new writer!" about the movie?

Where does the autobiographical nature, or the innate desire of the
main character (played by the <a href="http://us.imdb.com/Name?
Vardalos,%20Nia">authoress</a>) to see her life play out on the big
screen, hurt the movie?

What seems unrealistic in terms of the cinematic story being told?

What grade would you give each of the points of the <a
href="http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/magicstar.html">Magic
Star of Dramatic Writing</a>?  Which legs carry the movie?

What is the major weakness of the <a
href="http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/dynamics/sdkey.html">reso
lution</a>?

Discussion to follow via this same medium.

Increased visits to the "Expand Your Universe" page . .

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

. . from 6 or so a day to 60 or so--has spurred an overdue polish.  Apparently
someone in the K-12 and home schooling education arenas got a hold to the
address and kindly spread it around.

The format has been tweaked to enhance appearance, readability, and
clarity, and to catch the page up with the rest of the ever-changing
site.  Intros have been added to subsections--e.g., reading,
languages, classics, and creative arts--that didn't already have
them.  Some of the text has been "smoothed".  And a list of mind-
expanding (or blowing) books has been added--including some fairly
provocative ones.

Lastly but not leastly, the links have been checked and fixed, with
some new ones added.

To return the favor, the following was posted recently to
TheGwidyartsGazette@...:

<<From: Empress (Original Message) Sent: 7/18/2002 1:57 PM

As I search the Web for resources that will help me become a better writer, I
stumble, from time to time, on some great sites. This is one of them. I can't
tell you how useful it has been to me, as I continue to expand the Gwidy
Universe.

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

Enjoy!

Bettina>>

Maybe you could check out her group and see what she's got going on over there
for writers.

The weekend workshop schedule has been posted to
http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/utility/workshop.html.  Three
workshops will be taught each month for four months November 2002
through February 2003 in twelve cities selected in the
Pittsburgh>>New York>>Virginia Beach triangle.

The move northward, and to generally larger cities, is intended to
attract more participants, and resulted from the positive reaction to
the "How to Write a Screenplay" website resource.

All related information has been posted to the site, with fixes and
updates expected.  Related notices will also continue to go out
through this e-letter.

Thank you for your patience on this announcement of workshop dates
and locations.  With luck all Contest commitments will be met by the
end of this workshop cycle, or February 2003.

The Yahoo! GeoCities "scheduled maintenance" came and went with no outward signs
of any upgrades or modifications to service.

A recent sweep of enhancements to the site includes:  a dictionary
recommendation passage in the Word Use--Wordsmithing section, discussion of
Addiction and Authority added to the Character page, a reworking of the Dialogue
page (moving exercise-related material to the Exercise page), a reworking of the
Exercise page resulting in many new questions/exercises (including a couple
about SPIDER-MAN), refinement of the References page, and a major upgrade to the
Internet Research page.

To appease the traditional call--"If you would converse with me, you must first
define your terms"--definition boxes have been added to the Concept
("concept", "motif", "premise", "theme"), Character ("authority"), and Story
Dynamics Tools--Establishing Image ("foretell", "omen", "presage", etc.).

Cascading Style Sheets will be applied to a set of sub-pages--perhaps Story
Dyanmics, and with any luck, other sets of pages will then be treated as the
learning curve and comfort level rise.  This should address the irritating
disparity in webpage appearance across systems and browsers.

As relayed by Yahoo!Geocities:

Maintenance Update
Completion time: (Updated)
Sunday morning (AM), May 19th, 2002 PST (GMT-7)

They do not specify the exact time tomorrow morning the website will
be up and running again.

From Yahoo!Geocities:

Maintenance Update
Completion time: (Updated)
9pm on Saturday, May 18th, 2002 PST (GMT-7)

Presumably that would have the site back up and running later tonight.

Refinements to various pages have been made over the past several
weeks, with more to come shortly.

Several bad internal links have been fixed during a series of
reindexings with PicoSearch.

The website traffic counter has been switched to one that provides
more detailed and accurate free information, offering a tie-in to
possible future software that would help with search engine
submissions.

REMINDER:  Yahoo!Geocities free websites will be down this weekend.
This prompts consideration of a back-up website for such periods.

As received from "The GeoCities Team":

"GeoCities will be performing scheduled maintenance starting Friday,
May 17th, 2002 at 9:00pm PST (GMT-7). Service will be restored the
morning of Sunday, May 19th, 2002 . . .  Free GeoCities members and
GeoCities Plus members will experience downtime during the
maintenance period. This means that your web site will be
inaccessible to visitors during this time. Visitors to your web site
will see a temporary page informing them about the downtime and its
approximate duration."

As announced above, therefore, the Empire Screenwriting Resource "How
to Write a Screenplay" (http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/) will
be inaccessible to internet visitors for an undefined period during
this "scheduled maintenance".

With luck they will also be addressing some issues and concerns
related to web site design and adminstration through their services,
enhancing overall value to future visitors.

Keeping the resource at a free site makes sense for now, for many
reasons.

Thank you for your continued patronage!

Thanks again to all of you who have joined this list, or simply
agreed to stay once subscribed.  Its utility should begin to prove
itself in coming months, particularly as weekend workshops kick in
September through December.

WEBSITE TRAFFIC

In his heart every screenwriter, aspring or veteran, wishes to clutch
a statue to his breast and thank his mother on national television,
so it should be no surprise the website saw a jump in traffic
starting the Monday following the Oscar's.  And with so many people
searching for screenwriting assistance by typing "how to write a
screenplay" into internet search engines, the prudent thing seemed to
be to change the name of the page to "How to Write a Screenplay".
Those still arriving at the site in search of a screenplay contest
shouldn't go away empty handed, so they are now reminded that this is
an excellent resource for helping them prepare their entries.  It did
result mainly from five years of administering a screenplay
competition, after all.

The results?  Weekday visits now average over 100 per day (to the
index page), April visits were up 1,000 over March, and new records
are being set with regularity.

LINKS

Greatly assisting in this growth in traffic have been links to the
site popping up all over the internet, some solicited.  Often they
appear with glowing comments about the Empire Screenwriting
Resource.  Reciprocal links have been installed (some yet to be).
All loving gratitude goes out to those saying good things about the
site.

WORKSHOPS

The weekend workshop cities might be revised over coming weeks, so
please visit the workshop page for an update.  Locations may
continually change throughout the process.  Scheduling of the
workshops should begin later this month.

CHATS

The chat feature, together with others available through this Yahoo!
Group, will be explored to assist potential workshop attendees and
others benefiting from use of this site.

FUTURE

Format changes to the site, most importantly the introduction of
Cascading Style Sheets, will occur over time.  Right now the site is
at another plateau (marked by the reindexing of the PicoSearch
utility).  Left to marinate in this state, enhancements can be
allowed to occur with renewed vigor at a later date.  Once again, the
site is comprehensive as it is, with any additions only serving to
complement or supplement what's already there.

Please take the time to offer feedback on the resource through the
two polls at the home page
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EmpireUpdate/).

Thanks!

Thank you for subscribing to EmpireUpdate, or agreeing to stay in
once invited.

These bulletins update you on the Empire Screenwriting Resource
website, related weekend workshops, and progress on Empire Screenplay
Contest commitments.

WEBSITE

After much effort, and highly focused attention over the past two
plus months, the Empire Screenwriting Resource would seem to be in
a "not-too-embarassing" state.  Traffic to the site is fairly strong,
indicating screenwriters worldwide are getting some use out of it.

More or less continual improvement is planned to look and content--as
website design skills improve and to add educational value.  Several
important enhancements are being considered.  To list them might
steer focus to what's missing, and suggest some sort of timeline.  It
is a comprehensive resource for now, with ongoing enhancements.

The site suffers from "browser compatibility" issues.  Designed with
one browser (Netscape or Explorer) on a certain system (IBM or Mac),
the results on another combination of these can be quite unexpected
and painful to the eye.  "Cascading Style Sheets" offer a solution,
but have yet to be learned sufficiently.

Yahoo!Group polls are being created for you to offer feedback on the
website and other things.

WORKSHOPS

A specific workshop schedule has yet to be drawn up
(http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/utility/workshop.html).  It
should be in place a few months prior to each workshop for
promotional purposes.  Perhaps June for the first workshop in
September, with rolling announcements after that.  Some form of
internet registration will likely be attempted, with a target of ten
participants each weekend.

Workshops will be designated to specific winners from the Empire
Screenplay Contest, with all proceeds going to resolve related cash
prize commitments.  Revenues from paid professional critiques will
also go to winners, according to which weekend they arrive.  All
materials requested from winners to assist in meeting (and exceeding)
Contest commitments should be sent in time to arrive on the winner-
designated weekend.  Addresses and delivery instructions will be
provided at the website and through these updates.

CONTEST

All non-cash commitments that can be met--without further input from
winners--have now been met (see
http://www.geocities.com/empirecontact/contest/progress.html).  All
remaining non-cash and cash commitments are expected to be addressed
by year-end 2002--once the weekend workshops have been completed.  Of
course this is long overdue, but hopes are that ultimate delivery
will double that originally promised.

Direct communication via e-mail will be difficult until Contest
commitments have been satisfied.  All energy and focus must go to
this end.  The website plus these updates are designed to resolve
most communications issues.

Enter your vote today!  A new poll has been created for the
empireupdate group:

What most needs work in the Empire
Screenwriting Resource?

   o Text Size
   o Layout:  Graphics/Colors/Frames/etc.
   o Load Time
   o Content
   o Contact Options


To vote, please visit the following web page:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/empireupdate/polls

Note: Please do not reply to this message. Poll votes are
not collected via email. To vote, you must go to the Yahoo! Groups
web site listed above.

Thanks!

Enter your vote today!  A new poll has been created for the
empireupdate group:

What is the most useful section of the
Empire Screenwriting Resource?

   o Writing Fundamentals
   o Magic Star of Dramatic Writing
   o Story Dynamics
   o Word Use
   o Expanding Your Universe
   o Presentability
   o Readability
   o Marketing


To vote, please visit the following web page:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/empireupdate/polls

Note: Please do not reply to this message. Poll votes are
not collected via email. To vote, you must go to the Yahoo! Groups
web site listed above.

Thanks!