MovieBytes Interview: DAVID CORMICAN

An interview with DAVID CORMICAN regarding the Canadian Short Writing Competition.

A: The Canadian Short Screenplay Competition (CSSC) is a short film script contest that was founded in 2008 by myself under my production shingle Year of the Skunk Productions. I'm a producer and actor, and I have also developed a bit of a reputation for my story writing/editing abilities. I also am the head of development for Minds Eye Entertainment, one of Canada's leading producers of feature length films. The CSSC is fortunate to be sponsored by many fine organizations, which can all be found by visiting our website under the sponsors tab: http://www.screenplay-contest.com/about-2/sponsors/

A: A pretty big one. Probably I'm too involved. But I guess I have control issues.

In addition to founding the competition, I read all of the short film scripts that are submitted each year. I know we have a team of readers, but I'm too paranoid that something will slip between the cracks. So, I read all of the scripts, I am one of the 13 judges, as well as the producer of the winning screenplay / film. I also tend to answer a lot of our email inquiries, especially the more difficult/involved questions we receive from screenwriters. I try to make myself available to writers to help answer their questions or offer advice.

I also oversee the website and branding along with all the media and PR, in addition to drumming up our sponsorships, but those are the niggly bits. I'd rather be working with the writers and producing more than just one script each year out of the competition.

A: YES! Our very script we produced was Gordon Pengilly's 'SEEING IN THE DARK'. And we are in pre-production right now on Daniel Audet's 'RUSTED PYRE', which was a part of the National Screen Institute's Drama Prize program as a result of it's placement in the CSSC. We also just received some funding from Bravo!FACT to produce Surita Parmar's 2nd place short film script from last year's screenplay contest, 'MINUS LARA'. And I hope to be in production next year on both Neil Graham's incredibly poignant and touching script 'SOMETHING POINTLESS' and David Carey's 'NO MAN'S LAND', a World War I set short film that reminds me of the book 'All Quiet on the Western Front'.

One other thing we do, which I am really proud of, is we offer all of our finalists an non-exclusive ePublishing agreement, whereby we publish copies of their short film scripts so that other writers can see what it takes to both place and win in a script contest. AND the best part, is that the writers get paid royalties for this! And at the end of the day, that is what I am all about, getting screenwriters, exposure, paid and noticed!

A: The early rounds of screenplays are judged by a team of interns and myself. All of our interns are typically film school students or grads from all across Canada. The good news, is that my eyes go over every script too, so there will be no golden needles missed into the final rounds.

Once we get down to the final round of judging and into the top 13 as well, we crank it up a notch and bring in some heavy hitters, as well as some emerging artists. They range from actors, writers, former CSSC winners to producers and film school grads, directors to agents, broadcasters and distributors. A nice cross-section from the industry of folks who are well versed in the art of screenplays and short film scripts.

Last year's 13 industry judges included:

David Carey, Writer and 2nd place winner of 2008 CSSC Anna Tsouliagiannis, Broadcast Executive and Programmer — Movieola, the Short Film Channel Josh Strait, Actor and Song Writer Joanne McDonald, Broadcast Executive — SCN Stephen Huszar, Producer — Hulo Films Dillon Andrews, CSSC Social Media Coordinator & Web Entrepreneur Michael Bien, Producer Glenn Cockburn & Sheron Scherba, Agents — Meridian Artists Tyler Ward, Actor Shaista Ahmed, Series Creator Laurence Cohen, Director Jeff Boulton, Producer/Director — Dante Media Group David Cormican, CSSC Founder & Producer

A: From fade in to fade to black. The interns have it easy, as they don't read all of the scripts. They are only responsible for a selection of all of the entries. Me on the other hand, I read all of them from front to back.

A: My judges have a score card that they are ranking scripts on; however, at the end of the day I ask them to pick what turns them on. I try to surround myself with greatness and I ask the judges to pick out what they think will make a GREAT short film from the crop of screenplays they are asked to rank. In terms of the genre, it ranges from comedies to mockumentaries, to great and epic drama to tragedy and horror/thriller. Write from your heart and passion and that will transpire and bleed in to the read.

A: All of the final round scripts get read by some of the top literary agents in Canada. We also profile all of our final 13 on our website and as well as on our Facebook and Twitter accounts on a regular basis.

We also publish press releases throughout the year with key annoucements.

We're pretty active in the social media sphere of things, so we are all about building a writer's online profile. Ideally they will also be in a position to leverage off that extra push/publicity we give them.

Another avenue we have explored this year is that we offered one of the top 13 writers an opportunity to become our #WW Laureate. For those of you not familiar with twitter, #WW stands for Writer Wednesday. We invited two time 5th place finalist Carlynne Ciceri to become our very first #WW Laureate, where Carolynne posts weekly and muses on the topic of writing from the emerging writer's perspective. This has been a VERY effective tool for Carolynne's career and has brought her a fan base that is growing with each week and every new post on our blog.

Also, we often get requests for interviews from our winners and production companies often request copies of the winning and finalists scripts for talent scouting.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, we have published eBooks of some of the finalist scripts along with the winning entries, which is another way of validating their status as bonafide professional writers!

And one of the coolest things we have done, is partnered with the Yorkton Film Festival, which is the oldest film festival in all of North America. We announce our winner as part of the Golden Sheaf Awards gala, but more importantly, ALL of our top 13 finalists are invited and accredited to attend the film festival, which gives them unparalleled access to Canadian broadcasters, distributors, other filmmakers and funding agencies, in addition to a chance to attend the many networking events and industry panels and information sessions.

A: We stand behind our mantra: Short. Is. Better. Look at Surita's screenplay 'MINUS LARA' and what she was able to accomplish in only 2 pages. She placed second and is now in pre-production on her script with the support of Bravo!FACT, a major Canadian commissioner of short films.

Other tips: Ensure proper formatting within your scripts, eliminate ALL spelling errors (there is no excuse for typos in a 15 page screenplay), and above all... enter the contest. Short film scripts that go no further than the screen on your computer or the desk of your work station are of no value to you or your career. Get your work out there. Be seen, be read, and if you place in the CSSC, be published, and if you win, be produced and make waves in your career as a professional screen writer!

Posted Sunday, October 3, 2010