Episode 52 - Festival Insights and Screenwriting Strategies with Scott Michael Branan

In this episode of the Faith and Family Filmmakers podcast, host Jaclyn Whitt and guest Scott Michael Brannon delve into the intricacies of navigating film festivals. Scott shares his unique perspective as a festival organizer and discusses the value of selecting the right festivals as a screenwriter,  including personal anecdotes about mistakes and successes. The conversation covers strategic submissions, the importance of feedback, and how film festivals can offer networking opportunities. They highlight notable festivals and stress the significance of recognizing scripts that resonate beyond faith-based audiences.

• Introduction and Welcome
• The Value of Film Festivals
• Festival Experiences and Insights
• Choosing the Right Festival
• Success Stories and Lessons Learned
• Strategic Submissions
• Feedback and Improvement
• Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Scott Branan has been screenwriting for over 20 years. He enjoys many different genres of film and has also written a full stage musical with his father and oldest daughter, complete with 14 original songs.

He owns Beyond Entertainment Studios in Southwest Florida, which creates family friendly projects, as well as Beyond Audio Visual, a complete Audio Visual Rental, Installation and Live Production company. BAV is the money-making side of the business which is used to bring BE projects to life. Scott is also the director of Beyond Entertainment Family Film Festival.

He has been married to Kathy Brannon for 30 years and has two daughters; Karissa and Makayla.

Czar of Hollywood Musical: www.beyondmusicals.com

Deep Within Film: ​​www.carbondating.love

Beyond Entertainment Audio Visual: www.beyondentertainmentfl.com

Beyond Entertainment on Facebook: www.facebook.com/beyondentertainmentSWFL

Faith and Family Summer 2024 Screenwriting Bootcamp: https://www.faffassociation.com/screenwriting-bootcamp

The Faith & Family Filmmakers podcast helps filmmakers who share a Christian worldview stay in touch, informed, and inspired. Releasing new episodes every week, we interview experts from varying fields of filmmaking; from screenwriters, actors, directors, and producers, to film scorers,  talent agents, and distributors. 

It is produced and hosted by Geoffrey Whitt and Jaclyn Whitt , and is brought to you by the Faith & Family Filmmakers Association

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Jaclyn: 00:00:00

Welcome to the members portion of the Faith and Family Filmmakers Podcast.

Jaclyn: 00:00:04

My name is Jaclyn, and I've got Scott Brannon with me today.

Jaclyn: 00:00:07

Welcome, Scott.

Scott: 00:00:09

Hello.

Scott: 00:00:09

This is where it's gonna get good.

Scott: 00:00:10

This is the good stuff.

Jaclyn: 00:00:12

That's right.

Jaclyn: 00:00:13

Yes, we're going to talk a bit more about festivals, because festivals are one of those things where we've talked about it before and the value of festivals of networking and things like that, but you've got the inside scoop being that you have organized your own festival, and you shared a little bit in the first part.

Jaclyn: 00:00:28

This is I think our interview of your goals with the festival and maybe some of your frustrations with festivals that you went to before then, but let's talk about some of the festivals that are, moving in the direction of bringing value because we don't want to just be like, I'm complaining about festivals.

Jaclyn: 00:00:43

Let's talk about like the ones where you fully appreciate, Hey look, they're doing this.

Jaclyn: 00:00:49

So what festivals, do you see that are bringing value whether they're producers, actors, writers, directors, whatever?

Scott: 00:00:59

The ones that I hear the most about, I would have to say is, um, creation.

Scott: 00:01:04

Do you know where that one is?

Jaclyn: 00:01:05

I don't,

Jaclyn: 00:01:06

actually.

Scott: 00:01:07

Creation is one, content.

Jaclyn: 00:01:10

That's in

Scott: 00:01:10

one is, uh, yeah, I hear that one a lot.

Scott: 00:01:13

Christian Worldview, is that the one in Georgia?

Scott: 00:01:16

Uh, which is, which is the one that's Alex, is that

Jaclyn: 00:01:18

Albany.

Jaclyn: 00:01:19

Yeah, it's in Albany, which we actually went to the one in 2024, except that when we booked our tickets, we accidentally booked for Albany, New York, and realized just two weeks ahead of time and had to rebook for Albany, Georgia.

Jaclyn: 00:01:34

So that's what happens when you're Canadian and you don't know, hey, there's more than one city with the same name.

Jaclyn: 00:01:40

Anyway.

Scott: 00:01:41

this ain't the right Albany, eh?

Scott: 00:01:43

All

Jaclyn: 00:01:43

Right?

Scott: 00:01:44

That was, that was my Canadian impersonation.

Scott: 00:01:47

Um, yeah, so that would be a good word of advice.

Scott: 00:01:49

Make sure you're going to the correct city for your festival.

Scott: 00:01:52

That might, that might be helpful when you, when you get there.

Scott: 00:01:54

Um, so what happened to me was I, uh, I want to mention also Hollywood Divine.

Scott: 00:01:59

I actually, entered, one, the very, very first online festival.

Scott: 00:02:04

You go to FilmFreeway.

Scott: 00:02:05

com and, and they have like, literally, I think there's, I think there's 43, 000 festivals, worldwide,

Jaclyn: 00:02:10

Oh yeah, there's a

Jaclyn: 00:02:10

lot.

Scott: 00:02:11

And, uh, I didn't quite have enough money to enter all of those, so I, I narrowed it down to a couple.

Scott: 00:02:16

The very, very first one I entered, and I won't mention the name of it, it's a Christian film festival, and I won't mention the name of it, but I won Best Script.

Scott: 00:02:23

And I was like, Wow, that was, man, I'm awesome.

Scott: 00:02:27

Like, I mean, yeah, that was, like, what's the big deal here?

Scott: 00:02:30

Like, everyone's like, you know, oh, wow, these people, but, here's the thing, since that time, it's been several years, but since that time, I realized that particular one, I think everybody wins.

Scott: 00:02:40

And everybody kind of gets a participation trophy, or you can buy a trophy, whatever, and so, I realized quickly that, there were some that were gonna be more beneficial to me than others.

Scott: 00:02:48

And some of these that we've mentioned here that I think are really good ones, I think that you'll come away not, just with, a trophy or with a prize or with the bragging rights of, Hey, I won, first place or second place, third place, or runner up or honorary,

Scott: 00:02:59

But, more importantly, those festivals go one step further, they give you a place to go to next, you know, it's like a, it's not only to help you further your creativity, but it's also then to help you take your story and to get it to where it needs to go next.

Scott: 00:03:14

And that's really, I think that's the key to finding a good festival is which festival, and you can look these up and check them out online.

Scott: 00:03:20

What festival is going to, um, be where I'm at Now, because the festivals that I went to a few years ago were great where I was at in my career a few years ago, but now that I've, uh, hopefully progressed a little bit better and, you know, and know a little bit more, now I need something more than that.

Scott: 00:03:35

I've gotten some milk, that's great, but it's time to move on to some, some meat and, and some of the festivals are better at that than others.

Scott: 00:03:41

And, and again, nothing against the festivals that are, more milk because you, you know, folks still

Jaclyn: 00:03:45

You need that.

Jaclyn: 00:03:46

That's where you

Scott: 00:03:46

you need that, yeah.

Scott: 00:03:47

But, you know.

Scott: 00:03:48

Where's the meat?

Scott: 00:03:50

I mean, that's really the, you know, where's the beef?

Scott: 00:03:52

That's where people are looking for.

Scott: 00:03:54

And so I think some of these that we've mentioned would be good.

Scott: 00:03:57

Here's another thing, too.

Scott: 00:03:58

It depends on, I think, where you are in the country, too.

Scott: 00:04:01

It's like, You know, there's some stuff, there's a ton of festivals in the, I'll say in the California, side of things and those are great, but they're going to have a totally different feel, maybe for your particular material, if you're more of a, I'll say a Midwest writer or something, so, uh, try to find like festivals and, I spend a lot of time researching the actual festival.

Scott: 00:04:20

I want to find out, really what it's about and I realize now, you know, in the past, I've, I sent a few things off and I was like, afterwards, I was like, wow, why did I send that to them?

Scott: 00:04:27

Because that was so not the right genre, you know, to send to them.

Scott: 00:04:30

so I, I've gotten to that point now where I think I'm a little bit better at Figuring out which ones are going to be better for me, but it takes a little bit of homework, and some research, I like the ones that have sessions, you know, um, and tracks.

Scott: 00:04:40

So they have like a writer's track and you can go to those and you can, really like learn from somebody who knows what they're doing.

Scott: 00:04:46

There's people who will help you with, the actual content of your, script itself, of the physical writing, maybe of the story structure.

Scott: 00:04:53

Maybe it's, uh, you know, after your script is finished, and it's awesome and, maybe it's about pitching, or maybe you're at a point where, you've kind of done all that and you're needing actual production or you're needing, distribution or people that, can really help you really begin that.

Scott: 00:05:06

that's almost where we're at right now is I've got a project or two that I'm, It's like, wow, if somebody could call me tomorrow and go, Yep, we like it, we're gonna make it.

Scott: 00:05:13

It's taken several years to get to that point, and I'm not saying that will happen, who knows.

Scott: 00:05:17

But, uh, by the way, uh, this is totally unrelated, but if any of you out there have a few million dollars laying around, uh,

Jaclyn: 00:05:23

Mm hmm.

Scott: 00:05:23

please send it in.

Scott: 00:05:24

But

Scott: 00:05:25

anyway,

Jaclyn: 00:05:25

We've got a couple projects.

Scott: 00:05:27

yeah, that was a side note.

Scott: 00:05:29

That had nothing to do with anything we're

Jaclyn: 00:05:30

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:05:31

Just saying.

Scott: 00:05:32

But that'd be

Jaclyn: 00:05:32

yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:05:33

Well, there's, there's two things when it comes to festivals, there's submitting your work and then there's also, attending and networking, right?

Jaclyn: 00:05:40

So, like what you were saying, when you're looking for festivals to submit your work to, you want to be selective and make sure that.

Jaclyn: 00:05:47

You're actually submitting to the right kind of festival that they're actually looking for what you have because you can spend a lot of money and not advance anywhere, right?

Jaclyn: 00:05:58

And then also choosing a festival that if you do win something, it's going to mean something when you put that laurel.

Jaclyn: 00:06:04

on your project, so when you go to pitch, if it's not already finished, right, if you want to use it, to pitch, then you want to be able to say like, hey, uh, yeah, I've won these awards, and you don't want them to go like, ugh, everybody wins those awards.

Scott: 00:06:19

let me say something and I hope that people will.

Scott: 00:06:22

be okay with me saying this, but I have won some awards at some Christian festivals, and that's great.

Scott: 00:06:28

The awards that I really, I feel that mean more to me are when I send something that is of a faith based Christian nature to a secular film

Scott: 00:06:37

festival and then it places or it wins something.

Scott: 00:06:40

That means more to me because I feel like then I, you know, like if you send something religious to a religious festival, meh, you know, you're probably competing with a lot less people and They're okay with your content, but if you're able to send what you're sending, even though it's religious, you know, if you're able to send that in and people recognize that for not it being something weird and religious, but they're okay and can accept it, then I feel like that means that you've written it correctly.

Scott: 00:07:07

Well enough, you know, that that's what helped make it place.

Scott: 00:07:10

I don't know if that made sense or not,

Jaclyn: 00:07:11

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:07:11

Well, yeah, because it shows that they've connected with your characters and with your story and they haven't felt like, ugh, this is propaganda, you know, where they've actually, they, they got it, and so, yeah, same for me.

Jaclyn: 00:07:24

Whenever I've won at secular, festivals, I'm like, wow, okay.

Jaclyn: 00:07:27

So my message and my characters, my story is hitting home outside of, the audience that's listening.

Jaclyn: 00:07:34

that already understands, having a relationship and walking with God.

Jaclyn: 00:07:38

Because sometimes we want to write stories that are for the believers, but sometimes we want to write stories that are going to hit, people that would Whether they're seeking or open or, you know, just, you want to draw them in.

Jaclyn: 00:07:53

if you think about it, like, we should be able to write stories like that.

Jaclyn: 00:07:56

I can watch a movie that's about spies.

Jaclyn: 00:07:58

I'm not a spy.

Jaclyn: 00:07:59

I have nothing to do with spy world.

Jaclyn: 00:08:00

But I can understand and enjoy a story and the character that's involved and all of that.

Jaclyn: 00:08:06

And so I think it could be the same when you have a Christian character, that's going through a situation from the perspective and through the lens of walking out their faith.

Jaclyn: 00:08:15

that that should be able to resonate in someone even if they're not Christian.

Scott: 00:08:20

So I just looked up on Film Freeway.

Scott: 00:08:22

And so I also should mention the Branson International Film Festival I think that's a good festival to send some stuff to The ICVM Crown Awards.

Scott: 00:08:30

That's actually something that even though it's ICVM they actually do their award ceremony at NRB, the National Religious Broadcasters Conference, each year and That's a good one.

Scott: 00:08:39

ICFF is large.

Scott: 00:08:40

ICVM, I think, is, is not as large, but it is very, what's the right, it's, it's good.

Scott: 00:08:47

Like, it's solid quality stuff.

Scott: 00:08:50

I'm gonna share this, and this is crazy.

Scott: 00:08:51

I don't know if anybody's done this for you or not, but as a writer, I'm gonna tell you how many submissions I have, total on Film Freeway and how many of those were selected.

Scott: 00:08:59

Okay?

Scott: 00:09:00

This is, I'm not making this up.

Jaclyn: 00:09:01

I'm going to look up mine too at the same time.

Scott: 00:09:03

Okay.

Scott: 00:09:04

Now this is, of all the things that I've sent out, it might be, you know, there's five of that, and ten of that, and two of that, whatever, but I have one hundred and thirty seven submissions.

Scott: 00:09:11

This is over the past, like, four, five, six years.

Scott: 00:09:13

One hundred and thirty seven submissions.

Scott: 00:09:15

And of those, I have seventy seven selections or wins, it'd be uh, award winner, finalist, semi finalist, quarter finalist, nominee, or honorable mention, or just selection, you know, just an official selection, which means it didn't place any of those other ones, but, so 77 out of the 137, so that's a little bit over half.

Scott: 00:09:36

I have no idea.

Scott: 00:09:37

I don't know if that's good or bad.

Scott: 00:09:38

I don't know if that's average.

Scott: 00:09:39

I don't know if that's, you know, somebody's listening right now and going, wow, you need to find a different profession.

Scott: 00:09:44

I, you know, I don't know.

Scott: 00:09:45

Um, or, uh, maybe there's people out there that, you know, if you've sent to 137 things and you've, only, you know, gotten one selection, That might be an indication that maybe, you know, you should do something different, but,

Jaclyn: 00:09:56

Well, yeah, and part of that might even be just doing better research on what you're

Scott: 00:10:00

correct.

Scott: 00:10:01

It might be who you're sending it to is the problem, you know, and that's not what they're looking for, so, yeah.

Scott: 00:10:05

Oh, I think, uh, I was gonna mention too, Austin, so there's, there's a few of them that are not Christian that I know are actually, like, fairly decent.

Scott: 00:10:13

I think they're really well ran festivals, and they're actually all connected, and I believe it's Atlanta Comedy Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, Comedy Film Festival, and, uh, there's another, uh, what's the other one?

Scott: 00:10:26

I'll look that up for us, but those are, you know, that's, I actually got one, I got, uh, somebody contacted me and said, hey, we want you to submit to our film festival, and I'm like, which one?

Scott: 00:10:34

And they're like, it's the, uh, Women's Atlanta Comedy Fest or something, and I was like, um, you know.

Scott: 00:10:39

I am not a female.

Scott: 00:10:41

No, no, no, it's like if you have a strong female lead, then you, oh, okay, yeah, that I have.

Scott: 00:10:45

Okay, I can, yeah, I can, I can send that for you, yeah.

Scott: 00:10:47

So, yeah, it was, that was an interesting film festival, so.

Scott: 00:10:50

I also, I've been to Rome, International Film Festival, that is also a secular one, but, that was a really good one, if you happen to be, in Rome, do as the Romans do, and go to the film festival, it was really good.

Scott: 00:10:59

I'm trying to think of some other, festivals that would be, a really good suggestion for people.

Scott: 00:11:04

Um, oh, one of the larger ones is Naples International Film Festival.

Scott: 00:11:09

That's a secular one, but that's actually close to where I am down here in, in South Florida.

Scott: 00:11:13

That one's coming up actually pretty soon.

Scott: 00:11:14

Salty Earth Film Festival.

Scott: 00:11:16

Uh, that's a

Jaclyn: 00:11:17

Uh huh.

Jaclyn: 00:11:17

yeah, there's,

Jaclyn: 00:11:18

so many, so many, and some of them are smaller and, I want to encourage people not to dismiss a festival just for being smaller because, you can make some, fantastic contacts at the smaller festivals.

Jaclyn: 00:11:32

You really get to know people.

Jaclyn: 00:11:33

You get to be able to share what your goals are, what you're working on, find people to collaborate with, especially if you're a beginner, it's a fantastic place to start so that you can actually, find people that you can work with and get a project moving forward.

Scott: 00:11:48

I don't know if the people that are listening know that you and I wrote, a script it's entitled, The Carols at Christmas.

Scott: 00:11:53

We actually won.

Scott: 00:11:54

Best family feature screenplay at the Big Apple Film Festival, and that's in New York, and I did some research on that one, and, that was a pretty good one.

Scott: 00:12:03

It got us some free, Zoom sessions with some producers and stuff that, you know, real stuff, like people that, you look them up on

Scott: 00:12:09

IMDb, and they're, they actually do something.

Scott: 00:12:11

Yeah, I'm at that point in life where if I look people up on IMDb, and their number is, you know, worse than mine, then I'm like, okay, that's pretty sad, because I'm, you know, I'm like, And like 14 million or whatever my

Jaclyn: 00:12:20

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:12:21

Well, you want to surround yourself with people that are, ahead.

Jaclyn: 00:12:24

And I'm not saying like that you would dismiss people that are, starting and maybe, uh, you know, you want to help those people to get up to where you are at least, but you want to be able to pursue spending time with people that are better than you.

Jaclyn: 00:12:37

You don't want to be the smartest person in the room, right?

Jaclyn: 00:12:40

You want to be able to learn and grow and you do that by surrounding yourself with people that

Scott: 00:12:44

I don't have that.

Scott: 00:12:46

I don't ever have that problem that I hope that I'm, because I know that I am not.

Scott: 00:12:50

I didn't know if you know this or not, but I won best family film screenplay.

Scott: 00:12:55

at the Cans Screenplay Contest.

Scott: 00:12:58

And here's the thing, that's a perfect example of read where you're

Scott: 00:13:01

sending it because that is not Cans, that is not the real one, it's the Screenplay Contest.

Scott: 00:13:06

Uh, it happens, it does take place in, uh, it is actually in the, in the same town as the real one, but I was like, oh, oh, I was like, wow, I,

Scott: 00:13:13

oh, oh, never mind.

Scott: 00:13:14

You know, it's like, I was, I was like, almost cool for the, almost, it was so close, but then

Jaclyn: 00:13:19

Yeah, yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:13:20

So I looked up my submissions on Film

Jaclyn: 00:13:22

Freeway.

Jaclyn: 00:13:23

So I have

Scott: 00:13:24

it to us, bring it on.

Jaclyn: 00:13:25

I have submitted to 61,

Scott: 00:13:28

Okay.

Jaclyn: 00:13:29

there was only 20 that I was not selected to participate in.

Jaclyn: 00:13:34

And so, yeah, and most of the time I, I placed you know, somewhere between first and third.

Scott: 00:13:40

So you're 40 out of 60,

Jaclyn: 00:13:42

Mm hmm.

Jaclyn: 00:13:43

So that's, you know, what, like 60%, no, yeah, 63 percent or

Scott: 00:13:47

yeah, I think that's better than me.

Scott: 00:13:48

Okay, well, this podcast's over.

Scott: 00:13:50

Thanks for sharing.

Jaclyn: 00:13:50

Well, no, but, but here's the thing.

Jaclyn: 00:13:53

I am super strategic with what I

Jaclyn: 00:13:55

submit to because I give, here's what I do.

Jaclyn: 00:13:58

I give myself a budget, because otherwise you can, you can go and find all the ones you want to submit to and then justify why you should spend that much money.

Jaclyn: 00:14:06

So I start with giving myself a budget.

Jaclyn: 00:14:08

And then I go and I select all the ones that I would want to go and submit to, and then of course, it's three times my budget.

Jaclyn: 00:14:15

So then I have to go through and be like, okay, if I have to eliminate one, what's it gonna be?

Jaclyn: 00:14:19

And I just keep eliminating until it's like, okay, now I'm within my budget, and then I go ahead and submit.

Scott: 00:14:26

So another one that I did, I did a screenplay called World Peace, and it's about 12 teenagers from 12 different countries.

Scott: 00:14:32

And I actually went through Film Freeway and found festivals from those 12 different countries and submitted to those countries to film festivals there because I wanted to kind of see their response, you know, because the goal was not to make fun of these, you know, characters from the, well, some of it is, but,

Jaclyn: 00:14:46

Yeah, because there's some fun stereotypes,

Scott: 00:14:47

there's some stereotypes, but they got the humor in that and so it was fun.

Scott: 00:14:51

I got some, selections from that too.

Scott: 00:14:52

So from all over the world, it was kind of fun and kind of nice and, and, uh, so that's what I try to do is obviously, and not just, you know, find the obviously, and not just, you Okay, it's a Christian script.

Scott: 00:15:00

Boom.

Scott: 00:15:00

Okay.

Scott: 00:15:01

But, you know, maybe there's some other specific category or subcategories of stuff that you could find in Film Freeway in those film festivals that would be, strategic to, place your particular piece in.

Scott: 00:15:11

And, uh, yeah, you're right.

Scott: 00:15:12

Do the homework, and that will, I think, really pay off,

Jaclyn: 00:15:15

And that's the word too, strategic.

Jaclyn: 00:15:17

Because same for me, when I started submitting, my first, script that I started submitting, definitely a faith based script, and so I submitted to faith based festivals, yours being one of them.

Jaclyn: 00:15:28

It was doing really well, Placing first a lot of the time.

Jaclyn: 00:15:31

So then I thought, okay, again, strategic next step.

Jaclyn: 00:15:35

I want to be able to see, does this stand up in, international competitions?

Jaclyn: 00:15:40

And so I started putting it into different countries, you know, like, uh, Israel and, Switzerland and Australia.

Jaclyn: 00:15:48

And so I put it in these other festivals and most of those festivals were not faith based at all, but yet they placed.

Jaclyn: 00:15:55

So then that way now when I have all the laurels on my, scripts poster, there's laurels from all over the world on there.

Jaclyn: 00:16:03

And so it's not just laurels from faith based American festivals.

Jaclyn: 00:16:07

This is where I want to encourage people, like be strategic, you want to definitely hit your first market because my first market is definitely the North American market, but I want to be able to prove that I have an international market.

Jaclyn: 00:16:18

audience as well.

Jaclyn: 00:16:19

And so that's kind of where I came with it.

Jaclyn: 00:16:21

It's not about like, Hey, I'm the best and I want to prove it with awards.

Jaclyn: 00:16:24

It's more like, I want to prove that there's an audience for this, right?

Jaclyn: 00:16:27

that's what it's about.

Scott: 00:16:29

Of course your favorite one is, uh, you know, uh, entering the Beyond Entertainment Family Film Festival, uh, I'm sure, yeah, so, uh, I'll, I'll pay you later for the, the plug, but.

Scott: 00:16:38

That's good.

Jaclyn: 00:16:38

I appreciate you sharing all of these different, festivals too, because I think it means a lot coming from somebody who is a festival coordinator that you have your own festival, but then you're also talking about the value of all these festivals because we don't have to like pick one.

Jaclyn: 00:16:52

And, and I like also that you're not competitive about it in the sense of like, well, mine's the one that's going to do everything for you and make it all happen.

Jaclyn: 00:17:00

It's like, okay, yeah, mine is definitely going to be a good piece of your journey, but so are these other ones.

Scott: 00:17:07

uh, I was just looking up, uh, I also won Best Screenplay at One Race Human Race Film Festival.

Scott: 00:17:15

It's a diversity

Scott: 00:17:16

and, uh, it was fun because I'm the whitest writer in the room, I'm sure.

Scott: 00:17:20

So it was fun, but, but my characters are diverse and that's, you know, we write a little bit

Jaclyn: 00:17:24

what it really matters.

Scott: 00:17:25

So, and, and so that was, that was fun.

Scott: 00:17:27

That meant a lot to me.

Scott: 00:17:28

I think that's, that one's in, Georgia, I think, and, great people, good festival, they did, a great job, so.

Scott: 00:17:33

But yeah, it's, uh, all over the world, you're like, you're, you're right, it's like, it's just, it's fun to be able to see this.

Scott: 00:17:37

And, and, now, let's go, let's look at the flip side of that.

Scott: 00:17:40

There's been some that I've sent some stuff in and thought, oh, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do well,

Scott: 00:17:43

and then, wah, you know, it didn't even get selected or,

Scott: 00:17:45

or, you know,

Jaclyn: 00:17:46

yeah, exactly!

Jaclyn: 00:17:46

I was like, oh man,

Scott: 00:17:48

but that's

Scott: 00:17:48

but that's a good that's a good learning experience.

Scott: 00:17:50

So that's, because, you know, okay, well, that tells me maybe there's some things that didn't quite play right that I need, I need to kind of adjust and tweak and, this is, of course, we're in the podcast, if you're listening and you're a writer, this is where we interject.

Scott: 00:18:01

You can have your family read your stuff, you know, have your mom or, you know, whatever, wife, so, but that's not a good indication.

Scott: 00:18:06

They will tell you that it's great no matter what.

Scott: 00:18:08

And so you have to really, you have to also develop that point in yourself where you trust yourself.

Scott: 00:18:13

It's like, okay, who am I listening to?

Scott: 00:18:15

Do I really take their advice?

Scott: 00:18:17

Or, if they're telling me it's great, are they being honest?

Scott: 00:18:19

Are they just being nice?

Scott: 00:18:20

If they tell me it's horrible, are they being honest?

Scott: 00:18:22

Or is it really horrible?

Scott: 00:18:23

You know, like, whatever.

Scott: 00:18:24

And I think, I think everybody kind of struggles with that, you know, at some point in you want to feel like you've done something that's good, but, um, you know, maybe it still needs some, some help, you

Jaclyn: 00:18:34

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:18:35

And in the beginning, you want people to say, it's fantastic.

Jaclyn: 00:18:38

I love it.

Jaclyn: 00:18:39

But then after a while, you start to realize the value of people telling you what's

Jaclyn: 00:18:43

wrong with it and like poking holes in it.

Jaclyn: 00:18:45

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:18:46

And so then you actually start to crave that where you like, you'll, you'll share it with someone and they'll tell you it's fantastic.

Jaclyn: 00:18:51

You're like, no, come on, for real.

Jaclyn: 00:18:52

What, what do I need to fix?

Jaclyn: 00:18:54

What's wrong?

Jaclyn: 00:18:55

You know?

Jaclyn: 00:18:55

And then if they don't tell you anything, it's like, I got to find someone else then like, this is, this was useless.

Jaclyn: 00:19:00

Like you want to find someone to poke holes in your story.

Scott: 00:19:03

Yeah.

Scott: 00:19:03

I'm glad you said that, because that reminds me.

Scott: 00:19:04

So I have sent off a couple of scripts to have, uh, you pay extra and they give you feedback on your, your script.

Scott: 00:19:10

And I've had, I had one, uh, It was my musical that I sent off and a couple of notes were okay.

Scott: 00:19:15

I was like, okay, I can see that, And then one of the notes was, you know, this particular scene, da da da da da da.

Scott: 00:19:19

This is a waste of time and money and, you know, it's got to further along your plot and blah blah blah blah.

Scott: 00:19:22

Um, and I'm like, uh, you obviously didn't read the whole script because without that scene, this page doesn't make sense and this doesn't make sense.

Scott: 00:19:28

And there's like a domino effect that if you took that particular out, yeah, and so it's like, okay, so again, you have to, you have to know, do I.

Scott: 00:19:35

Do I fully listen to this person?

Scott: 00:19:36

Okay, this is a good point, but maybe I'm going to stick to my guns on this one, and you'll develop that.

Scott: 00:19:41

You'll know.

Scott: 00:19:42

It's like, I'm at the point where know that what I've written is good and it's making sense, and then I also know, okay, it's lacking.

Scott: 00:19:49

And I don't know.

Scott: 00:19:50

It doesn't mean I know what it needs, and that that I know how to make it right.

Scott: 00:19:53

It just means that I know that it's not right, and I need to either figure it out, spend some more time on it, or find somebody that can help me, get

Jaclyn: 00:19:59

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:20:00

That's one of the reasons why when I provide script notes, I like to actually, like, they give me the PDF and, I actually put sticky notes right on the PDF, like it's a function that's in the, the software

Scott: 00:20:12

I think I have one of your, I have one of your sticky notes here from one of my scripts.

Scott: 00:20:16

It says, what is this garbage, is what your sticky note, no, I'm

Jaclyn: 00:20:19

No, you don't.

Scott: 00:20:20

I'm just

Jaclyn: 00:20:21

No, but, but like, it's right literally on the, the page.

Jaclyn: 00:20:25

with, the comment is about something on that page, and so you can see there's comments on every page, so you know for sure I read the whole thing.

Jaclyn: 00:20:33

It's not like you've got like 15 pages where there's nothing, like there's something on almost every page, because there's, a lot of the time there's something that could be tightened or whatever on, on

Scott: 00:20:43

Because I have gotten, I've gotten stuff back where it's basically the person goes, Well, this story is about such and such and so and so and, you know, this person and da da da da, and then they end up da da da da.

Scott: 00:20:52

Like, yeah, I, I do.

Scott: 00:20:54

I know what the story's about.

Scott: 00:20:55

I wrote it.

Scott: 00:20:55

Thanks for, uh, thanks

Scott: 00:20:56

for your

Jaclyn: 00:20:57

I was there.

Jaclyn: 00:20:57

yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:20:58

I got

Scott: 00:20:59

yeah.

Scott: 00:20:59

It's like, yeah, been there.

Scott: 00:21:00

Read that.

Jaclyn: 00:21:01

Yeah, yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:21:02

No, it is, it's so valuable when you have someone that can actually, give you that feedback where you know that they read the story, you know that they got what you were trying to do, and they can actually give you the direction of how to make it end up being what it is that you're trying to do.

Jaclyn: 00:21:18

Because sometimes as a writer, you know, even for myself, especially at the beginning, I would be trying to do something and I wasn't doing it right.

Jaclyn: 00:21:26

It was not coming across well on, on the page.

Jaclyn: 00:21:29

But then when I was with somebody who understood what I was trying to do, and they're like, okay, here's how you have to do it in order to make it work.

Jaclyn: 00:21:35

Okay.

Jaclyn: 00:21:35

well, now I can do something with that, right?

Jaclyn: 00:21:38

Like, that's exciting when you have someone that gets it and can help you actually make it be what you're intending to do.

Scott: 00:21:46

Because not everybody that's reading your script is reading it.

Scott: 00:21:49

In the same way, for the same purpose.

Scott: 00:21:51

Like, I mean, there's folks out there that, maybe they're full time writers or something, and that's what they do for a living.

Scott: 00:21:56

And so, they're looking at it from a different perspective, and they may be making suggestions to you based on their particular situation that might not be appropriate.

Scott: 00:22:04

They may not be exactly pertinent to your situation because you are not, I'm not saying you, but you know, in general, the person might not be a full time, writer.

Scott: 00:22:11

And so you just have to learn, when to take the notes and how to take the notes.

Scott: 00:22:16

And I think it takes a little while to, you know, to do that, but if you're honest with yourself, then that's the key.

Jaclyn: 00:22:22

And I've actually heard that there are people that, when they give feedback on scripts, it's like they have to offer an idea.

Jaclyn: 00:22:32

Or an alternative to go a completely different direction with things.

Jaclyn: 00:22:36

And which I found, I didn't know that and I got, some feedback and I was like, What?

Jaclyn: 00:22:41

Why are you telling me to change my story?

Jaclyn: 00:22:44

Like, this is, no, help me to finish the story I actually wrote.

Jaclyn: 00:22:48

Don't help me to change everything, right?

Jaclyn: 00:22:51

So that's where, yeah, like you were saying, you have to assess to figure out, is this actually what I want to do?

Jaclyn: 00:22:57

Because some people, They might give you direction to go to tell a different story.

Jaclyn: 00:23:01

And so if you know, that's not the story I want to tell.

Jaclyn: 00:23:04

This is the story I want to tell, and so I need to find somebody that can help me figure out how to tell this story.

Scott: 00:23:10

Correct.

Scott: 00:23:11

Yeah, that's good.

Scott: 00:23:12

Something else I wanted to mention real quick, and I, I know we probably don't have a lot of actors and actresses that are listening to this because it's more about,

Scott: 00:23:17

uh, writing, obviously, but, sure we do.

Scott: 00:23:19

Of course we do.

Scott: 00:23:20

but, something that has been helpful is, I try to have actors and actresses read, the scripts, we do read throughs and stuff like that so that we can kind of get an idea of stuff.

Scott: 00:23:27

Let me turn it around on you.

Scott: 00:23:28

Sometimes it's, it's helpful to see, oh, they read that line differently than how I wrote that line in my head, and so, is that how that line should be interpreted?

Scott: 00:23:38

Like, is that, is that correct, or what's, what was in my head correct?

Scott: 00:23:41

And there's also, uh, I can say it this way too, it's like, there's been some times when, in read throughs of actors and actresses have read, a line or something of mine, and it was like, okay, that's, that is not in any way, like that was not the intention, or that was not it.

Scott: 00:23:56

And so, um, it's difficult, I know, because a lot of times, actors and actresses get like, they get the sides or something, just like a page

Jaclyn: 00:24:02

Mm hmm.

Jaclyn: 00:24:03

Yeah, maybe they don't

Scott: 00:24:03

and, and they don't have, right, they don't have the full context to know how to, do that stuff.

Scott: 00:24:07

And then this is my favorite, not pet peeve, that's not a good word, uh, like, uh, my, my thing is, is, it's funny to me, is, um, there'll be, you have a character that have one line in your entire, movie, uh, have one line, and the actor or actress that is reading that line is now stretching that line out, the line is something like, you know, hey everybody, let's get out of here, you know, or something, uh, but they're like, hey!

Scott: 00:24:29

Everybody!

Scott: 00:24:29

Let's get out of here!

Scott: 00:24:31

Just read, can we?

Scott: 00:24:32

Yeah, yeah,

Jaclyn: 00:24:33

I'm gonna steal the

Scott: 00:24:34

have, you're extra, could you, let's move it along.

Scott: 00:24:38

So, you know, it's like, I mean, now lead actors and actresses, they would never do that, of course.

Scott: 00:24:41

That's,

Jaclyn: 00:24:42

Right.

Jaclyn: 00:24:42

Yes.

Jaclyn: 00:24:43

No, they won't drag

Scott: 00:24:44

yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:24:45

so when an actor reads your line differently than how you had heard it and meant to write it, then the question is, okay, did I not set it up properly?

Jaclyn: 00:24:54

So is that a script issue?

Jaclyn: 00:24:56

Or is it just a directing issue?

Jaclyn: 00:24:57

That if they were directed, actually, here's the motivation.

Jaclyn: 00:25:00

This is what it should be.

Jaclyn: 00:25:02

And then they'd be like, Oh, right, right, right.

Jaclyn: 00:25:03

Okay, okay.

Jaclyn: 00:25:04

And, you know, and then it all makes sense.

Jaclyn: 00:25:05

And so some of that just comes down to being able to discern, is this a directing thing or is this a script thing?

Scott: 00:25:11

I've had lots of times, though, where actors and actresses have, like, they've read it exactly how I heard it in my head when

Scott: 00:25:18

I wrote it.

Scott: 00:25:18

Like, exactly, like, the timing.

Scott: 00:25:21

Even if it was, like, a long, I have a, I always give the example, a countdown is a script I wrote, and there's a, uh, the doctor just, literally gives the news to a person that they have six months to live.

Scott: 00:25:30

Like, I mean, it's a deep moment in time, and there's a very long pause, Until that doctor has his next line.

Scott: 00:25:35

Obviously it's not like, eh, you're going to pass away.

Scott: 00:25:37

be sure to validate or something on the way out.

Scott: 00:25:39

You know, it's like there'd be some time, and there was a, uh, an actor who, read for that and man, I mean, to like, to the exact beat in my head had that, that dramatic pause and then said his second line and I was like, Oh, that's awesome.

Scott: 00:25:54

So, uh, but yeah, cool.

Scott: 00:25:56

still gives me

Scott: 00:25:56

chills thinking about that.

Scott: 00:25:57

So yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:25:58

yeah,

Scott: 00:25:59

A good actor can.

Scott: 00:26:00

Really, you know, take your stuff to the next level.

Scott: 00:26:01

Yeah,

Jaclyn: 00:26:02

Yes, yes, and when, when they're casted, well, I, I Did I did, I hear people say that, and I'm like, I think that's how you

Scott: 00:26:09

all right?

Scott: 00:26:10

No, it's okay.

Scott: 00:26:11

You're from Canada.

Scott: 00:26:11

We'll let it go.

Scott: 00:26:12

Eh?

Jaclyn: 00:26:12

goodness.

Jaclyn: 00:26:13

Okay.

Jaclyn: 00:26:14

people listening to this podcast regularly, they're going to hear me say it both ways, and I never really know which is correct.

Jaclyn: 00:26:19

You're just going to have to forgive me, I am not a casting agent, or whatever.

Jaclyn: 00:26:22

Or whatever, and I just write

Jaclyn: 00:26:24

stuff.

Scott: 00:26:25

I think

Jaclyn: 00:26:25

okay.

Jaclyn: 00:26:25

Oh, enough about me.

Jaclyn: 00:26:27

Okay.

Jaclyn: 00:26:27

So I was doing a table read for one of my scripts and there's this one character who is super, super funny, but he's only funny because he's sincere.

Jaclyn: 00:26:37

He's not trying to be funny.

Jaclyn: 00:26:38

And so I was like, okay, I have to find somebody who has that kind of timing, who can deliver that line with complete sincerity.

Jaclyn: 00:26:47

so that they can get the laugh without intending to get the laugh, right?

Jaclyn: 00:26:51

Um, and, oh man, Dale Norman Green.

Jaclyn: 00:26:55

Nailed it.

Jaclyn: 00:26:56

Thank you, man.

Jaclyn: 00:26:57

Like, I, I am so going to fight for him to be casted in that role.

Scott: 00:27:01

I see what you did there, yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:27:03

There we go.

Jaclyn: 00:27:03

Yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:27:04

Anyways, I, yeah, he just did such a fantastic job.

Jaclyn: 00:27:07

So, yeah, when you get the right person for the role, they just, they get it.

Jaclyn: 00:27:12

Yeah.

Scott: 00:27:13

John Goad, I dunno if you know John Goad or not, but, uh,

Scott: 00:27:15

he's actually been to our film

Jaclyn: 00:27:16

he's

Jaclyn: 00:27:16

going to be on the

Scott: 00:27:17

Oh, is it?

Scott: 00:27:18

Yeah.

Scott: 00:27:18

Oh my gosh.

Scott: 00:27:18

That, that dude is like, he's phenomenal.

Scott: 00:27:21

I, yeah.

Scott: 00:27:22

Uh, we could spend a whole podcast talking about John and,

Jaclyn: 00:27:24

Well, I will, actually, because I'm going to be interviewing him.

Jaclyn: 00:27:28

so our listeners will get to know him soon.

Jaclyn: 00:27:30

Yeah, yeah.

Jaclyn: 00:27:31

Okay, well, I want to thank you so much, cause this,

Jaclyn: 00:27:33

we could

Scott: 00:27:34

I'm going to slip him a five to see if he'll say something nice about me during the podcast.

Scott: 00:27:37

Now I'll see if he,

Jaclyn: 00:27:38

do you know how many people have said nice things about you already on this podcast?

Jaclyn: 00:27:41

Like, I mean, he would just be one of many.

Jaclyn: 00:27:44

You know, just saying.

Scott: 00:27:45

That's so nice.

Jaclyn: 00:27:47

But okay, we, we could easily talk forever about screenwriting and festivals and all of that, but we do need to wrap things up.

Jaclyn: 00:27:55

So I want to thank you so much for being here and for sharing your insights on how to approach festivals and submissions and all of that and for sharing your own journey.

Jaclyn: 00:28:05

And yeah, I pray that God blesses your projects.

Jaclyn: 00:28:08

I know you are incredibly talented and you are one of those people that.

Jaclyn: 00:28:12

It's like, you wonder, like, okay, God, it's okay if you want to hide me like Esther until, you know, the right time, but like pretty sure, any day now, ready to, to launch into this thing, you know, because he's given you so many projects and you've been faithful to actually write them.

Jaclyn: 00:28:28

do everything that you're capable of doing with it, you've invested your own money, you have not just kind of sat there and waited for God to, to show up and make it all happen.

Jaclyn: 00:28:38

You've put in your effort.

Jaclyn: 00:28:39

And so I pray that God is going to release you into full time production and making things move forward, because I also appreciate the messages that you share in your stories.

Scott: 00:28:50

I appreciate you.

Scott: 00:28:51

I thank you for having me on, and we appreciate what you're doing here with your, school, I guess.

Scott: 00:28:56

It's the right, the Academy.

Jaclyn: 00:28:58

it Academy.

Jaclyn: 00:28:59

Yes.

Scott: 00:29:00

yes.

Scott: 00:29:01

So, the academy.

Scott: 00:29:03

And it's, no, this is good, and I appreciate it, and thank you very much.

Scott: 00:29:06

I'm just at that point where, you know what, it's just not about me, it's about God, and so if something becomes of all this, that's great, and if not, it kept me out of trouble for a while, so that's, that's good,

Jaclyn: 00:29:17

There's that.

Scott: 00:29:18

Thank you very much.