Category Archives: Screen plays

Film Friday

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A Quick Shout Out –

Cornerstone Fulfillment Service, LLC  extends their best wishes to the New Mexico International Film Festival in Jemez Springs, NM which begins tonight! Director Justin Evans and Associate Director Marc Leonard have a fulfilling line-up of films to screen for this 1st year film fest!!  Tonight their feature film will be the award winning “A Lonely Place for Dying” with a Q & A Session and meet the filmmakers afterwards.  Don’t forget to ask Marc Leonard how he did his visual effects that won him The Best Visual Effects Award at the Wild Rose International Film Festival. Filmmaker Magazine featured “A Lonely Place for Dying” in the Summer 2010 issue in an article called Period Pieces on the Cheap. The film was recognized for attracting big name actors to the low budget film and for it’s outstanding visual effects done on the cheap! For more information on this film, please visit http://alonelyplacefordying.blogspot.com/. 

For Aspiring Young Filmmakers: 

Looking for a fulfilling experience for your aspiring filmmaker? Enroll them now for a summer camp for want-a-be filmmakers organized by the non-profit organization Docs in Progress.

There will be offered a two week camp for middle school students (grades 7, 8, & 9) from June 27 to July 3rd. And a two week camp for high school kids (grades 10, 11 & 12). These camps will provide students the opportunity to work in small groups to plan, shoot and edit a documentary film. At the end of the camp, a mini film festival will be held so that parents and friends can be the first to see the finished work of the aspiring filmmakers. The finished docs will also be uploaded to YouTube for the entire world to see! In order to provide a quality camp, the enrollment is limited, so apply early.  For more information on this Silver Spring, Maryland summer camp, please visit http://bit.ly/h5heXK.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Make ‘Em Laugh, Make ‘Em Laugh

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“Laughter is the sensation of feeling good all over and showing it principally in one place.”  ~Josh Billings 

The nation and many individual states choose a deserving poet to be honored with the Poet Laureate Award each year. The Vermont Council on the Arts has just announced they will be honoring their very first Cartoonist Laureate on March 10, 2011. http://bit.ly/gftNdx. It is the second state, behind Alaska, to grant this kind of award. Chosen for the child-like intensity to his work, native Vermonter James Kochalka will been given the award. He is the illustrator of the comic strip American Elf and a number of graphic novels. It is not surprising that Vermont has decided to present a deserving funny-man or woman with the Cartoonist Laureate award each year. The state of Vermont has the distinction of  fulfilling the need for a Center for Cartoon Studies. www.cartonstudies.org. 

 I personally love a daily little chuckle but what I really like is to roar out loud until the tears come to my eyes and roll down my cheeks. Everyone knows that a laugh like that can sometimes hurt our bellies, but it is oh so fulfilling and worth it. The best is when I can share that kind of laughter with my twin sister. Wow – can we get going! It is often difficult to stop. Often the humor is only understood by the two of us. Others, they just don’t get it because it can be over the silliest things. In good times and in bad times, who can’t use a little laugh each and every day? It is good for our hearts. This I whole-heartedly believe! To read about a study from the University of Maryland on the health benefits of laughter, please go to http://bit.ly/qTtai. 

Just listening to the news each day and hearing the politicking is enough to make one laugh, no matter what your political persuasion happens to be. Democrats, Republicans and Independents, alike, often resort to child-like behaviors just to get their way. We could probably hold a debate as to whether it is even necessary to have a Cartoonist Laureate award. But there are too many debates already going on in this country, why add one more?

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Film Friday

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“…to increase respect for the creative individual, to widen participation by all the processes and fulfillments of art – this is one of the fascinating challenges these days.”  ~ John Fitzgerald Kennedy 

The New Mexico International Film Festival is a week away. Festival Director, Justin Eugene Evans and Associate Festival Director, Marc Leonard have on tap a line up of fulfilling and impressive independent films that are sure to support their efforts at making this 1st year film festival, touted at being “not the biggest but the best,” all well worthwhile. 

The Festival Opens on Friday night, February 11th with the screening of “A Lonely Place for Dying,” a 94 minute, award-winning narrative film. This film is not an official selection, and is not eligible for the contest or other perks the official selections will receive.  It is a film associated with the festival staff. Following the screening will be a Q & A session with Writer/Director/Producer Justin Evans and award-winning visual effects artist, Marc Leonard. This film is notable for attracting big name actors, James Cromwell and Michael Wincott to the low-budget film and for it’s great storyline. For more information on this film, visit http://bit.ly/anFK2l. 

Official films selected for the NMIFF that will be screened include:

  • Misdirection
  • Food Stamped
  • I F**ing Hate You   (Please do not  be put off by the title)
  • Heart of Now
  • Kavi

To see the full Festival schedule, including after the screening get-togethers and more Q & A sessions, please visit http://bit.ly/eGqIWo.  

Just as I had promised, Sunshine will be present in Jemez Springs, NM and it’s bound to be a great weekend of celebrating independent films and the filmmakers who produced them. Don’t miss out!

 Jemez Springs, NM – site of New Mexico International Film Festival

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com

 

All for the Sake of Learning

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“What we become depends on what we read after the professors are done with us.” ~ Thomas Carlyle

In recent years, I have become a real fan of historical art fiction. Some of my past readings have included books like the Girl with the Pearl Earring, The Painted Kiss, Girl in Hyacinth Blue – all about prominent painters of the past. The latest book I read, turned my attention to one of the finest composers that has ever lived, Vivaldi.  I just finished reading “The Four Seasons: A Novel of Vivaldi’s Venice” by Laura Corona. What a fulfilling read! 

The story is about two sisters whose lives begin together in an orphanage.   Both have talent in the arts, but one sister, has a much broader view of the world and of her destiny. This leads her to a path in life, far different than the other sister, who is consumed with thoughts of a priest and maestro and what he can offer her inside the walls of the orphanage. 

The Four Seasons: A Novel of Vivaldi’s Venice, like all the other works of historical art fiction I have read, have led me to want to know more about the artist and his life. If we could reach children and teens through books of historical art fiction we might be able to add some balance to their futures. Their futures might contain knowledge about idols from the world of art and culture, rather than idols from the world of misplaced values.

For more information on this charcoal drawing on board “The Book”  by Nancy Guzik, please visit www.WestWindFineArt.com.

That is just my thought from this day of All Things Fulfilling. Much of my time is spent writing blogs and spreading the word on the future of the independent publishing industry. As soon as I get time to squeeze it in, I look forward to “Clara and Mr. Tiffany.” I understand it too, is a worthwhile, educational read.

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Taking Stock of 2010

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“Four things for success: work and pray, think and believe.”~ Norman Vincent Peale

The end of the first decade of 2000 is approximately two weeks away. It is time to take stock of the past year and begin to set a list of priorities for 2011. All in all, I have accomplished the majority of the personal goals that I had set for myself and as a business owner over the past decade.

High on the list of personally fulfilling things I can put on my list this year, are the many more opportunities I have had to share with others, information about the fascinating and growing industry of independent publishing. I have communicated my passion and impressions of the industry through many different avenues. It’s what it takes to be successsul at book markeitng too!

  • e-marketing
  • widespread internet presence
  • networking groups
  • at women’s retreats
  • Kiwanis International www.kiwanis.org
  • the bookstore
  • presentations with University women
  • speaking with church members
  • every day conversation.

I have heard stories of optimism and excitement from people who are just now learning about the shifts in the publishing world. Ordinary people who have stories to tell, through books, films, music and other media, are feeling they now have chance to do so.

What I find to be most satisfying is the vision that those who work in the independent publishing industry have for the future. It is inspiring what a community of people can accomplish, when they work cooperatively and collaboratively for the good of an industry. I am working among a group of professionals who have demonstrated that positive energy can be infectious and can bring great results.

Start the New Year out right. Learn more about how mind power can help you bring personal and independent publishing success to your life. Visit http://bit.ly/YXvS3.

 This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.

Sleighbells…Are you Listening, Booksellers?

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I decided to take a trip yesterday, through the powers of my intuition, into the fulfilling world of publishing! What my intuition told me is that some print shops all over America are busier at work this year. How can they not be? Non-traditional publishing grew a whooping 181% from 2008 to 2009, according to Bowker  http://bit.ly/cp3anL.The trend, my intuition tells me, has risen again this year. Wish I knew for sure. But, only Bowker will be able to tell me, after they have tallied their reports at the end of the year. It’s just one of those things! 

Do you know what this could mean for the holidays? Santa may have a lot more stops this year – picking up books at companies that offer POD (print on demand) and short run printing. My intuition tells me the machines are cranking. More than ever, people want books (and films, too) that inspire, educate, inform and amuse that are not run of the mill. 

When Santa makes his rounds, my intuition tells me the sleigh bells will be ringing a lot louder this year, in support for the non-traditional publishing industry. If the trend in independent publishing stayed on the up and up again in 2010, is it what may be  keeping the publishing industry afloat? 

Hope Jolly Old St. Nick, has a stash of inspirational stories set aside for me this year. Ah well… if they sell out before Santa arrives at my door, they can easily be reprinted! No longer does the publisher need to print by the 10’s of thousands. That’s the beauty of independent publishing!

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Books to Film

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“Everyday, things change for me…you make the necessary adaptations.”  ~ Craig Thomas 

I went on a quest today to fulfill my need for information about how many books are adapted into films each year? So, it’s time for all of you to guesstimate what I found out! 

According to one source, Variety Magazine, market conditions have reduced the number of literary adaptations from books to film in recent years. Approximately 30 books are adapted by major film production studios for screen each year. A small number, given the large number of books that are published each year! To see a list of books that were adapted for cinema release in 2010, see this article. http://www.chasingthefrog.com/moviebooks.htm. 

Slated for novel to cinema adaptation in 2011, is a film that I can not wait to see. The novel “Water for Elephants” was one of my most memorable reads in recent years and I look forward to seeing how the cinema version of the story compares. I flat out loved the book! It is being adapted for film along with several other popular literary works. Wondering what other popular literary works are scheduled for upcoming film release in the New Year? Visit http://amzn.to/93TjmI to take a sneak peak. 

In order to turn a novel into a successful cinematic release, all the right elements must be there. Are you interested in learning more about how to get your book turned into a film, please visit http://bit.ly/9TzhzP.

 If anyone out there has inside information about what else we can look forward to seeing in theatres in 2011, we would love to hear from you, if it is not top-secret information.  Perhaps in 2011, I’ll see you at the theatre – I’ll buy the popcorn if you save me a seat!

 

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Taking Inventory

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“The best thing you’ve got going for you is individuality.” ~ Richard Thompson 

I decided to do something different today – take inventory – my own! After working with artists for many years, the words “right and left brain” have been flung around in my presence quite a bit. I have always assumed that I am what artists are NOT. Fulfilling the duties of what artists find to be tedious, difficult, frustrating and overwhelming has earned me kudos time and time again, so naturally I assumed my brain inventory included the things that theirs lacked. 

After taking inventory of how my brain processes information, my intuition has served me well. Intuition is one of the few right brain traits that I can claim as being what I am all about. Although, when my intuition does not lead me, I do tend to fall into my left brained way of thinking – logically and sequentially.

 My left brain inventory also includes being able to focus on details and being organized. I like making lists and am good at keeping track of time (until all mediums of e-marketing entered into my life!) Lately, I can feel an unfamiliar heaviness on the right side of the skull due to this new occurrence of letting time get away from me, as I utilize my e-marketing skills to assist others become visible in communities. 

My saving grace? In order to use e-marketing effectively, good writing skills and logical thinking are heavily called upon, which utilizes once again the strong, left side of my brain. Result – balance! 

Curious? Do you know how your brain processes information? Take the right brain /left brain quiz and find out! It can help you determine whether a career path will fit into your way of thinking too! http://bit.ly/cyztTe.

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Shelf Sitting

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“Keep constantly in mind how many things you yourself have witnessed change.” ~ Marcus Aurelius 

Interesting! Lately I have been hearing more and more about something that I have suspected for a long time.  Bookstores are not the best places to sell books! I dislike even making this statement, because bookstores are my “safe haven.” A place to go when I want to relax, spend some quiet time and browse the vast selection of books until my heart is content. Almost all of us would say it is fulfilling to step into a bookstore. It is unadulterated bliss, as far as I am concerned. Rarely do I come out empty handed. It is hard to control my impulses in a bookstore.  

But, in terms of authors selling books, there are other ways. More specifically, by selling individual orders through e-commerce, and at other places besides the bookstore. Eliminated is the scenario of not knowing whether books, films and other media will be sold by a bookstore or they will be returned as unsold. 

The trend of internet buying is here to stay. If you are a writer who has not yet explored the possibilities of selling your book on line, what is stopping you? If you are not mired in contractual agreements with a publisher who has you locked into the traditional way of bookstore bookselling only, it may pay to look into a company that specializes in e-commerce and e-marketing for independent publishers. Don’t sit there not knowing how to move your books from basement, garages and attics into the marketplace. Be pro-active! http://bit.ly/bFnEGZ.

 

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Novel Writing Challenge

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“The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.  ~André Gide,

Heads up, novelists! November is National Novel Writing Month. Do you have what it takes to beat the challenge and fulfill the goals of  “thirty days and thirty nights of literary abandon?” 50,000 words (175 pages) in 30 days is the goal and NaNoWriMo will have novelists all over the world participating in this fun literary challenge. 

Do not procrastinate, do not stall, write your heart out and win, above all!

 What’s this I read?

  • Worry, not about content, only quantity?
  • Allow your work to be unedited?
  • Write wrecklessly? Scary!
  • No writing experience needed?
  • Kids can participate in their own challenge! 

Join in this on-line writing challenge! For more information, please visit: http://www.nanowrimo.org/