The Old Dream Club

5 Search Results for "creative"

• Learn why Sophocles is the bes Learn why Sophocles is the best Screenwriting Software

  • From: spiritdancer
  • Description:

    sophocles

    wikipage start

    Sophocles is a screenwriting program that currently comes in two “flavors”: The “original” , known as “ Sophocles 2003 “, and the “Beta” , now called “ Sophocles 2007 “.

    The original was in its own right a fantastic screenwriting program, with all the bells-and-whistle one needed not only to write one’s screenplay, but also to handle revisions and breakdowns. It was, and still is, extremely reasonable in terms of price, only $120, with 50% discounts for academic users. It would still be a deal at twice the price.

    Highly intuitive, Sophocles allows one to easily work, and write, in terms of Acts, Sequences, and Scenes.

    Unlike bloated versions of other screenwriting programs, this program is lean and mean in terms of file size, but full-featured in every way. One has to really try it to fully appreciate it. With the downloadable Sophocles 2003 demo (which one can get here: http://www.sophocles.net/download.asp ) one really can “try before one buys”, without those “30-day” or “15-page” limits other screenwriting program “trial versions” have. With Sophocles the “trial” is the full-blown program, and one could actually write an entire screenplay, with the only limitation being that printout output displaying a watermark, if I remember correctly.

    Online Registration is a breeze, and one can actually have THREE concurrent instances of Sophocles installed at the same time on THREE different computers, WITHOUT having to have a installation CD, or some other onerous software protection scheme to deal with. That ends the problem of having 1) a work computer, 2) a home computer, and 3) a laptop, and wanting to work on a script using Sophocles.

    Should you either “crash” your computer, or get a new one, reinstalling the software, or installing it again, is a breeze, as is adding on those computers. All it takes is typing two or three bits of information on an online validation tool, and and email arrives with the unlock codes!

    I’ve actually got THREE instances of the Sophocles 2003 and THREE instances of Sophocles 2007 Beta running on my various computers, and have easily added on new computers as I got new ones and got rid of old ones.

    The “Beta” version , which one gets for free right now when one buys the “Original” version, adds all the bells-and-whistles of a full-blown Production Manager Program for budgeting, scheduling, and breakdowns, that one would normally otherwise have to purchase separately, at the cost of several thousands of dollars !

    While other Screenwriting programs, such as Movie Magic Screenwriter export such data to Movie Magic Budgeting and Movie Magic Scheduling (both programs now sold to Entertainment Partners, or EP, which has re-branded these two industry standards under their own banner), Sophocles 2007 Beta does it all from within the same program, and all without any additional cost to purchase those kind of programs! It’s “built-into” Sophocles 2007 PM Beta, and not an “add-on” or external program that needs to be exported to.

    A smart person would buy Sophocles 2003 now for $120 just to get the free Sophocles 2007 Beta (and subsequent upgrades) for free while they still can, since one is literally saving thousands of dollars on the software.

    My guess is that after the “Beta” period ends, the “full-blown” Production Management Version of Sophocles 2007 will cost in the $1,000 range (SEE below for more info on the different “versions” it will have.) Buy the Sophocles 2003 version NOW so you get the full upgrade to Sophocles 2007 PM for FREE while it is still in Beta. Once Sophocles 2007 goes out of Beta, all the “free upgrade” deals are off. Only a fool would not take advantage of this unbelievable offer!

    So why should a Screenwriter care about Production Features? Right off the bat, it encourages leaner, tighter, and more logical screenwriting since one can easily see errors in slug lines, character names and character aliases, and just how many locations one’s script is really using. One can even estimate how long a shooting schedule one’s script could take, and how much it could cost to produce.

    The more a Screenwriter knows what happens to his or her script in terms of Production, the better, since they will become much more aware of factors that Producers look at when considering a script for Production.

    Unfortunately, for you Mac users, there is no Mac Version, but with the new Mac upcoming operating system and computers that will run Windows programs, that should no longer be a limiting factor.

    I have tried ALL of the “major”, and most of the “minor” Screenwriting Programs out there, and would have to say that in terms of features and value vs. price NOTHING beats Sophocles, not even the so-called “free programs” like Celtx!

    You really have to download the demo, and check out some of the features of BOTH the original AND the Beta version to really appreciate Sophocles for the fantastic program that it really is!

    And no, I don’t have anything to do with the company at all... It’s just THAT good a program!

    If I had had this program in Film School when I was getting my MFA in the USC Stark Producing Program, things would have been a heck of a lot easier! Even a fellow Starkie like John August might have switched from his Mac to a PC back then just to have been able to use Sophocles 2007 and its features!

    Review by: ~Starkie~

    ===

    Here’s what some others have to say about Sophocles 2003:

    “A revelation. The first program I’ve found that’s actually designed for writing – not just typing.” -Michael Goldenberg (Contact, Peter Pan)

    “Highly recommended. This is now the screenwriting program I use regularly.” -Charles Deemer, Screenwriters & Playwrights Home Page

    “...anyone who writes a script using Sophocles may not want to go back...” -Peter Bohush, WriterDirector.com

    “I’ve been using [a very popular scriptwriting software program] for years now and Sophocles just blows it clean out of the water.” -A User

    “Wonderful and affordable! It is great!” -Eric Colley, The IndieClub

    “Sophocles will be my program of choice from now on... If only you’d devised it sooner!” -Chris Harvey, UK Screenwriter

    “Sophocles has the best combination of story development tools, scriptwriting features, and production features of any other scriptwriting software on the market.” -Carl Hose, Writer’s Inkwell

    ===

    Here’s the blurb from the Sophocles Website on the “ Original ” flavor, “Sophocles 2003” , which can be found at http://www.sophocles.net/ :

    A New Kind of Screenwriting Software

    Sophocles is a new screenplay software program that emphasizes the writing process. While other script writing software puts the focus on margins and page breaks, Sophocles was conceptualized from the start as a story creation tool for screenwriters. By allowing you to easily navigate and manipulate your story elements, Sophocles helps you craft a tighter, smoother flowing screenplay.

    Professional Screenwriting Format Default format settings derived from a sample of 50 recent Hollywood screenplays.

    Fully Compatible Export to and import from all major screenwriting programs and generic word processors.

    Story Centered Design An interface that directs your attention away from mundane formatting issues while directing it towards the actual creative screenwriting process.

    Get the Big Picture Tools to help you stay oriented within your story-space, and to easily navigate related scenes and plot points.

    Easy to Use A clean, uncluttered interface, and an extremely shallow learning curve. If you have prior word processor experience, you can get up to speed in minutes.

    ===

    Sophocles Features

    Scene List The scene list displays all the scene headers in your script along with a variety of statistical values for each scene. You can sort the list according to any of these values by clicking on the buttons at the tops of the columns. Double clicking on an entry jumps you immediately to that scene.

    The first paragraph of the selected scene appears at the bottom of the list, along with scene notes and a synopsis. As with the other lists, the scene list can be exported to a spreadsheet or database application by clicking on the save button.

    Dyad List A “dyad” is a pair of related characters. The dyad list displays all the dyads in your script, along with an indication of the relative strength of the relationship between the two characters (a measure of how frequently they speak to each other). The strength values are scaled such that the strongest dyad scores one hundred.

    The tool’s bookmark button allows you to mark all locations where the members of the selected dyad speak to each other.

    Title Page Editor The title page editor provides a quick and easy way to generate an industry-standard title page for your screenplay. Also, when production mode is active and you’re generating revision sheets, the title page editor allows you to specify the placement of revision slugs.

    Statistical Analysis How many scenes are in the typical screenplay? How many characters? What proportion of a typical script is dialogue? How long is the typical scene? The answers vary greatly from one writer to the next, of course, and from one genre to another, but if you’re too far off the mark your screenplay won’t seem professional.

    Sophocles’ statistical analysis feature helps get you on the mark. When used in conjunction with the import tool, you can download screenplays from the Web and compare your own stats to those of your favorite writers’.

    Outline Report This tool allows you to view your scene headers, synopses and notes in an outline format.

    True Thesaurus Sophocles provides a true thesaurus – not just a synonym dictionary. By allowing you to explore clusters of word meanings and to follow paths of word associations, Sophocles’ thesaurus helps you brainstorm ways of reworking your sentences, and it also serves as an effective “metaphor finder”.

    Character List The character list displays all the speaking roles in your script, along with a variety of statistical values for each. The report can be sorted by any of these values, or exported to a spreadsheet or database application.

    The Dialogue button lets you view and edit all the dialogue for the selected character. This is a great way to work on the distinctiveness and consistency of your characters’ speech patterns.

    Bookmark Tool This tool allows you to save and load up to sixteen “bookmark collections.”

    ==

    Sophocles gives you industry standard format by default, but if you have special formatting needs you can go “under the hood” and change the settings described below. Each of the screenshots on this page corresponds to a “tab” on the print format tool, which can be accessed by activating the print-preview window and clicking the Edit Format button.

    General Formats Tab Here you specify font and page number information and how to split dialogue across pages. Functionality includes the ability to include act and scene information as a part of the page number (as required by television and stageplay formats), and the ability to adjust line-per-inch and letter-per-inch values for fine tuning your page count.

    Margins Tab Defines margin settings for each of the ten paragraph types and for dual column dialogue.

    Paragraphs Tab Determines special formatting characteristics and line-spacing values for each paragraph type.

    Page Breaks Tab Determines the rules used for breaking each of the paragraph types across pages.

    Production Formats Tab Contains formatting options that apply when production mode is active.

    Feature List

    1. Fully automated revision handling and scene numbering.
    2. A scene notes / synopses tool that remains visible as you write.
    3. Drag-and-drop scenes from one location to another.
    4. 7 different reports and lists, the contents of which can be exported to most spreadsheet and database applications.
    5. 11 predefined formatting setups.
    6. Import your existing scripts into Sophocles.
    7. Export your scripts to rtf, txt, html, and pdf file formats (not available in the trial version).
    8. Dual column dialogue.
    9. View and edit all the dialogue for a particular character at once.
    10. Intelligent cut-and-paste allows you to specify paragraph types when pasting from another application.
    11. Unique timing feature tells you at a glance when a scene is running long.
    12. Spell-checker allows unusual spellings in dialogue (umm, shhhh, t-t-thanks).
    13. Split-view for transplanting a plot point from one scene to another, or for writing a scene that’s critically dependent on some other scene.
    14. The easiest to use auto-type functionality you’ll find.
    15. Bookmark tool allows you to store and load up to 16 bookmark collections.
    16. Customizable color-coding of paragraph types.
    17. Compressed view for small screens.
    18. Undo/Redo to a depth of 128 actions.
    19. Forward and back buttons (like on your web browser).
    20. E-mail functionality.
    21. Auto-save.
    22. Adjustable line and letter spacing for fine tuning your page count.

    ===

    Feature s of the “Sophocles 2007 Beta” version, which one gets for free for now while still in Beta when one purchases “Sophocles 2003”, including all future updates to Sophocles 2007 once it goes out of Beta, include:

    Beta testing is now underway for the next version of Sophocles. The final commercial release of the program will be split into three editions:

    Sophocles Basic will include the core word-processing and script-formatting functionality.

    Sophocles Pro will introduce a variety of story planning, outlining, and visualization tools.

    Sophocles PM will introduce breakdown, budgeting, scheduling, and reporting capabilities. Sophocles PM is the edition being tested now (the entire program, in other words). Sophocles PM will be a free upgrade for registered users of Sophocles 2003 .

    Documentation as to all the features of Sophocles 2007 Beta can be found here: http://www.sophocles.net/beta/webhelp/sophocles.htm

    READ IT! It really explains Sophocles 2007 in much more detail. Once you try it, you will never want to use anything else!

    Source: http://johnaugust.com/jawiki/sopho cles

  • Blog post
  • 2 years ago
  • Views: 538
  • Not yet rated

• How to get discovered on the How to get discovered on the Internet

  • From: spiritdancer
  • Description:

    Go ahead, post that dumb video online, you could get some work

    LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Voice-over work in Indiana wasn't too lucrative, so Daniel Geduld made a classic actor's move: He headed for Los Angeles, Califronia. And like most Hollywood dreamers, Geduld didn't get hired for much.

    So Geduld combined his creative talents with his abundance of free time. He took footage from the 1980s "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" cartoons, re-edited it and redubbed it to make the evil Skeletor and his cronies into a bumbling gang of losers. Geduld added incongruously peppy jazz by Django Reinhardt, called his farce "The Skeletor Show" and posted episodes on Google Inc.'s YouTube .

    Geduld added his e-mail address to the credits, along with this line: "Please give me a job. I'm talented."

    Actually, that was a joke. Geduld didn't think much could come of it.

    But he was underestimating how much the Internet has broadened the ways people get discovered today, often for jobs in the entertainment industry that didn't exist until a few years ago.

    startclickprintexclude

    Don't Miss

    • Special Report: Your Digital World

    endclickprintexclude

    Enough people liked "The Skeletor Show" that it got mentioned on some popular blogs. Before long, several Web sites were paying Geduld to do similar comedic "mash-ups" for them. Video portal Heavy.com hired Geduld to be a voice for its new horror channel.

    When he got the first e-mail inquiring about his services, Geduld, 30, was shocked. "Oh my God, this actually worked!" he thought. The first few gigs paid only around $500. But now he's making "enough to support myself," and offers keep coming. A tech company asked if he'd do promotional material. He got invited to a sci-fi convention.

    "It just gets better and better," Geduld says. "I'm thinking of getting an agent."

    One of Hollywood's animating legends is the story of the ingenue who got discovered by a studio honcho while she sipped a soda in a drugstore. The myth spoke to the lightning-strike luck that making it big generally took in a system controlled by a few big studios.

    Now, the Web has blown things open. It is easier than ever to get discovered. Web sites trying to develop into entertainment hubs are hungry for people to write, shoot or star in new content, so its representatives scan for talent in the piles of homemade videos on MySpace , YouTube, Revver and personal blogs.

    It's certainly no secret that the Web can launch new faces. The medium already has its tales of regular Janes who made it big, like Lisa Donovan, who leaped from YouTube to the cast of Fox's "MadTV," and Brooke Brodack, a Net video character signed to a TV production deal by Carson Daly. This is the vision that drove the creators of YouTube's "LonelyGirl15" faux-reality videos.

    But the lesser-known story is of non-stars like Geduld, riding the Web's radical openness to find new kinds of online entertainment work.

    Often these online jobs are with sites that may be a step above the user-generated schlock of YouTube, but still are sorting out the economics of attracting advertising. As a result, discovery sometimes comes with modest trappings. And it often extends to people who wouldn't have made it through Hollywood's old-school gatekeepers -- or even tried.

    Consider the experience of Jessica Hagy, a 29-year-old freelance advertising copywriter in Ohio.

    Last fall she started a blog that commented on the world through clever diagrams. (You have to see it to get it -- check out http://indexed.blogspot.com ) Aft er brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis encountered the blog in Los Angeles, they e-mailed Hagy and eventually asked her to produce diagrams for content debuting this fall on their growing comedy site, JibJab.com. There aren't big bucks involved, maybe a few thousand, depending on how much advertising the segments attract.

    "It just seems to be the new modus operandi for creative people," says Hagy, who has yet to meet the Spiridellis brothers in person. "There are so many more people out there than you could find before. ... I was just a random kid in Columbus, Ohio. How was I supposed to find anybody under the old way?"

    This is not to say everyone who airs dumb stunts or lip-synchs on YouTube has a chance of landing real work. Representatives of professionally produced content sites who pore through user-generated videos see more rough than diamonds. When there are decent finds, competition can be intense.

    Jason Marks, a former MTV executive who oversees programming and development for Heavy.com, swears this story is true, and that similar things happen several times a month:

    A while back he came across a YouTube video of some young guys "in their dorm room, flicking boogers on their wall." Marks was only mildly amused, but he sensed there might be something in these kids, so he figured he'd scope them out. Marks says he left a message for them -- and got his call returned by someone in a very prominent talent agency.

    "They refer us to their agent!" Marks says. "I'm not even kidding, man."

    In many ways, today's talent search is a reprise of the height of the dot-com boom. Then, sites such as AntEye, Icebox, Mediatrip and Z.com cast themselves as "incubators" and served as scouts for film studios and television networks, essentially producing low-cost pilots and hoping for a hit.

    That model has resurfaced. Last year, UTA, one of Hollywood's biggest talent agencies, launched an online division to scout for people who could be in videos for ad agencies, Web sites and traditional media outlets. While most agencies refuse unsolicited work, UTA encourages online submissions.

    Grouper.com, a site owned by Sony Corp., recently decided to stop trying to make money from user-generated videos and will focus instead, under the name Crackle, on scouting online prodigies for Sony.

    But Steven Starr, a former talent agent who heads the Web video site Revver, says what he sees emerging is "a creator economy online" whereby the Internet will carve out its own slice of the action, rather than just serving as a development league for TV and film.

    "That will start to make it possible for any creator to develop income and careers online and not just be fodder for large media enterprises that are looking to move them off onto other platforms," Starr says.

    Even if untapped talent is not necessarily easy to find, the economics of Web entertainment startups dictates that they try hard to do it. Old-school casting calls -- and Hollywood's union contracts -- wouldn't work for digital media that comes together quickly and relatively cheaply.

    "Hollywood as it exists today was built to produce a relatively small number of very large productions," says JibJab's Gregg Spiridellis. "The new studios ... in digital are going to exist in a way where they can produce a very large number of small productions. I need to produce content at the price of the craft services table on a television shoot."

    Sometimes, online video can juice an entertainment career already in progress.

    Nick Stevens had a decent life as a comedian in New York, supporting himself with acting and writing gigs on TV and radio. But things got more interesting after he launched a zero-budget video blog in his living room. Called TownieNews.com, it features rants by fictional Boston sports nut Paul "Fitzy" Fitzgerald.

    Fitzy developed such an online following that a Boston TV station, believing he was real, called to set up an interview. (Stevens set the reporters straight.) The blog also got noticed by the people at Heavy.com, who hired Stevens to host their regular "SportsCenter" takeoff known as "The Burly Sports Show." Stevens plays himself, more or less, but Fitzy appears as a character.

    Stevens, 33, says he lives pretty well on what he gets paid to do two of the online episodes every week -- which sometimes amazes him.

    "The guy who was buying his coffees with nickels and dimes in 2003 and having beans on toast for lunch is very thankful," he says. "The Web is great. The single greatest distraction from employment is also the single greatest enabler of employment."

    Original article: http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/08/01/discovered.web. ap/index.html

  • Blog post
  • 2 years ago
  • Views: 207
  • Not yet rated

• Make a donation to help make t Make a donation to help make the Star Kids Movie

  • From: spiritdancer
  • Description:

    Hello, my name is William Spiritdancer and I am founder of Dream Power International, a non-profit who's mission is to help people with their gifts and life purpose. What we call their "true dream" in life. Our goal is to help people discover what they love to do (their gifts) and apply it to a problem in the world they care about (their purpose). We believe our gifts are to be shared as unconditionally as possible and so we follow "The Economics of Love" and give all of our products and services away as freely as possible. How do we do this? We have many cool projects the first of which is our Social Community Website MyDreamPower.com which I would love for you to join. We also give away our last film a documentary "Journey of the Dream Warrior" free of charge. You can view it on our website or we can send you a DVD if you like. Please check out our website for our other programs.

    
    

    The reason I am writing is because I need you financial help to make our next movie, a children's film called Star Kids. The purpose of Star Kids is to teach inner city kids the positive values of Peace Truth, Love and Unity. We want to do this to counter all of the negative values they are learning from home, the street and other media such as rap music etc. We also want to show inner-city kids doing non-stereotypical things in film such as climbing mountains, taking initiative, being creative etc. In alignment with our mission, we also want to use the film to teach kids that every child has a gift and a purpose. (In this case their purpose is to save the world!) And lastly we want to stimulate a discussion about why so much negative media is aimed at inner-city kids perpetuating many of the problems we see in the inner city. Our goal is to film the movie this summer, edit it this fall and release it in early 2009. We plan to distribute it free of charge to children all over the world via the Internet, local screening and free DVDs at youth organizations such as the Boys and girls club. Our goal is that one million kids will see this film.
    
    Please go to our website to find out more.

    
    You can make a donation here: Star Kids Donation As a thank you, you will get free tickets, DVD's, premier party invites etc.

    
    Thank you very much for all of your help.

    William & Roxann Spiritdancer

    Founders, Dream Power International

    Email: dreams@mydreampower.com

    Tel: 206-274-6276

    Web: MyDreamPower.com
    
    ~What's your dream?
    
    ***
    Help one million kids learn the important values of peace, truth, love and unity
    by helping us make the children's film, Star Kids: Awakening to Purpose!
    Check it out at Star Kids the Movie
    ***
    
    
    

  • Blog post
  • 2 years ago
  • Views: 190
  • Not yet rated

• triplediamond

  • Views: 166
  • Since: 2 years ago

• The Purpose of Inspired Kids The Purpose of Inspired Kids

  • From: spiritdancer
  • Description:

    The purpose of the Inspired Kids Project is to expose families, without adequate financial resources, to experiences that are inspiring, positive, creative, artistic, beautiful and joyful, in order that they can develop to their fullest potential. Our goal at Dream Power is to expand their worlds. We believe that inspiration can open up the realms of unlimited possibilities that are all around them. And, once inspired, they will dream again, and their dreams will then reveal to them their gifts and true purpose in the world.

  • Blog post
  • 2 years ago
  • Views: 147
  • Not yet rated