WSF News

Posted 6-24-08 / Updated 6-29-08

3rd Heat Productions Is Accepting Submissions

3rd Heat Productions, the video production branch of Hardin Design & Development, is accepting submissions of treatments from local screenwriters for independent production. Their midwest office is in Madison, and their crew have worked with major productions such as Michael Mann's Public Enemies and the Big Ten Network's The Wheel, and numerous independent features that played at the 2008 Wisconsin Film Festival. See the 3rd Heat web site for contact information. Someone from 3rd Heat will be attending the July 2 meeting in Madison. See the WSF Meetings page for further details.

Posted 6-24-08 / Updated 6-29-08

Screenwriting Workshop for Beginners in Oshkosh, August 15-16

Matthew J. Forss, MFA in Screenwriting candidate at Goddard College in Vermont, will conduct a screenwriting workshop for beginners in Oshkosh on August 15-16. The cost is now FREE, and enrollment is limited. See the revised flyer for details.

Posted 6-13-08

Sue Cummings Options Script to CreativeWorks Entertainment

WSF Member Sue Cummings has optioned her script Parklawn to CreativeWorks Entertainment. The story is: In 1937 Milwaukee, widowed Irishwoman Sara Flannigan with 5 children meets German born Nick Souter and they become one family in a public housing project called “Parklawn.” See the CreativeWorks website for more info. Congratulations, Sue!

Posted 4-11-08

Christine DeSmet's Moonstone Stories Collection Is Published

Here is the news from WSF co-founder Chris DeSmet herself:

My first collection of humorous, romantic mystery stories set on the shores of Lake Superior are now out in a book called Mischief in Moonstone Series, published by Whiskey Creek Press.

You may have read a couple of these stories in other anthologies, but now I’m very pleased that my publisher chose to issue all the stories in order in one place. And you get the new bonus story, “A Moonstone Wedding.” (In true Moonstone fashion, there are plenty of wacky characters, a dash of murder and mayhem, and some yummy food involved.)

For those wondering about “that” (aka “sex”), my stories set in Moonstone keep the details hidden behind closed doors. (Yeah, I know, a couple of you are thinking “darn.”)

My cover is gorgeous, and designed by a writer friend, Karen Wiesner. You can see the cover of my book on the Whiskey Creek Press website, where I’m listed among the new releases. Just scroll down the pictures of covers. (And if you’re inclined to buy my first solo anthology book, thank you! Buy a copy to donate to your library, too.)

As some of you know, the other anthologies I’ve been in with these stories have earned national awards and great reviews. The people who live in my fictional Moonstone, Wisconsin, have become popular with readers. Here’s part of the first review for my own collection; the review focuses on the brand new story:

A Moonstone Wedding

Margie is on the verge of canceling her wedding to Tony. His family arrives and [creates] havoc in her life. Things get worse with murder. Christine DeSmet wraps up this anthology with a short story filled with love and laughter.

See the review by Debra Gaynor at ReviewYourBook.com.

Check out my interview at yet another website. Patricia Crisafulli runs Faith, Hope, and Fiction, a lively website for writers. You’ll see my name on the list of items for April. In the interview I talk about my writing, how I came up with some of the characters for my stories, and more. Enjoy!

I also belong to a group of writers called Jewels of the Quill, www.JewelsoftheQuill.com. It’s a brightly-colored website that features jewels and twelve writers including me. It’s my “home” on the web. You can find excerpts from all my stories plus much more. Each of us is known as a jewel, and we incorporate our jewel into our stories when we can. I’m known as “Dame Moonstone.” Moonstones are considered magical gems that nurture love and relationships. They’re a lovely, soft white with blue or gray striations. They look like the white, frozen tundra of the Great Lakes during the winter, which I thought appropriate for my Moonstone stories.

Thank you for your time and for allowing me to share this new adventure in my life.

See the sample chapter from A Moonstone Wedding.

Posted 3-15-08

Laurie Scheer Screenwriting Workshop in Madison, June 2008

Laurie Scheer will be teaching screenwriting, adaptation, and pitching Monday through Friday mornings, June 16-20, 2008, in Madison at the “Write-by-the-Lake Workshop & Retreat.”

Laurie is from Milwaukee, has worked on both coasts in the industry for several years, and was a guest judge in the WSF contest. She’s currently teaching at Yale University. She’s also a pitching coach for NAPTE’s Boot Camp and consults with several networks.

Her section, limited to 15 writers, is called, “W.R.A.P. Your Screenplay (Write, Revise, Adapt & Pitch).” It features critiques of your script pages, as well as help with pitching and marketing. All levels of screenwriters are welcome. Start or polish a script here.

It’s sponsored by University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Liberal Studies & the Arts. The program is open to the general public and students, and there’s an option of earning 1-3 graduate-level credits in English.

Check out the details and a day-by-day syllabus at http://www.dcs.wisc.edu/lsa/writing/wbtl.htm or call coordinator Christine DeSmet, 608-262-3447.

Cost is $325 before May 19; $355 after. Credits cost extra. Register at 608-262-7942  Space is limited!

Previously Posted News

Kevin Peterka SellsScript to Legendary

Kevin Peterka and his writing partner Gregg Chabot sold an untitled supernatural thriller to Legendary Pictures. According to "Done Deal", Ehren Kruger and Daniel Bobker will produce along with Legend.

Chris DeSmet Is On a Roll

"Misbehavin' in Moonstone" is among the six stories in Tales from the Treasure Trove, Volume II, A Jewels of the Quill Anthology published in ebook and trade paperback forms by Whiskey Creek Press in September 2006. Tales from the Treasure Trove, Volume I, also earned a 4.5 rating from Romantic Times and won a Readers Choice Award in 2006. Volume I also earned an Eppie Award.

Visit Christine and read her interview at http://www.jewelsofthequill.com/

Jeanne Lamsam Is Looking for Producers Interested in Her Novels

Mask of a Killer brings to life the story of two men, a detective and a felon, both having suffered horrendous traumas as teenagers, who are acting out their skewed responses as adults pitted against each other in a murder mystery.  The felon kills those he perceives as a threat, while the detective strives to unmask the crimes' perpetrator, dismantling the criminal's plot in Singapore, HongKong, and, finally, San Francisco.

Thorn of the Snow Rose, published by Dynasty Press, became a best-seller (among the top forty) on August 8th and 9th, 2005, on Barnes and Nobles' website and at present is still available and attracting sales from readers on the Barnes and Noble site. This murder mystery involves a Green Bay beauty queen who appears to be a black widow, having buried two wealthy husbands in short order, and has become engaged to the favorite young cousin of Insurance Fraud Investigator Nola Crocker.  Nola and her partner, Vale Ching, daughter of the best P.I. in San Francisco, investigate the Green Bay deaths of the beauty's deceased husbands with astonishing results. Jeanne can be contacted through her web site at: http://www.storyblast.com/

Leon Kaye Gets Major Production in NYC

Long time WSF member, screenwriter and playwright Leon Kaye saw a one-week run of his play Where There's No Will produced in New York in March of this year. One of Leon's newest plays, The Shakespeare Cist, can be found on www.playscripts.com

Cyrus Nowrasteh Sells Script to Paramount

Friend of WSF Cyrus Nowrasteh, (The Day Reagan Was Shot, Path to 9/11) sold his post 9/11 themed script entitled Jawbreaker last month. The logline for the script... "America responds to the terrorist attacks with an invasion of  Afghanistan and a hunt for 9/11 mastermind Osama Bin Laden."