Minds Eye Media News | Writing A Great Script Fast

Filmmaking Script To Screen and the new story app are almost done. The app is so powerful that we are still fine tuning all the cool parts. We hope to have both the app and book out soon. Several new articles from the book are appearing now in Student Filmmakers Magazine.

How can you use AI to make fillms? New classes coming soon. You can now make a short of feature using AI tools like Mid Journey, Eleven Labs, Suno and Runway. Check out this music video made in under 8 hours, in Feburary 2024, using Mid Journey and Runway.Drop In The Ocean from the MyFlik youTube channel here.

Two new articles from the upcoming book "Filmmaking Script To Screen" will appear in the above magazines during the big NAB show in Vegas this year. Student Filmmakers will feature one called "How To Make A Scene" on creating conflicts, surprises and tension. HD Pro Guide will explore some fresh camera tips called "Shooting In The Dark Doing What HD Does Best" by Sherri Sheridan. The new book is getting a major rewrite, lots of cutting edge sections and looks fabulous with 1000's of stunning color images.

Why break down other people's films? New article in Student Filmmakers Magazine breaking down plot points for The Present from my new book Filmmaking Script To Screen coming soon.

Plot and scene breakdowns for Finding Nemo and Star Wars are coming soon to YouTube. Right before the new book Filmmaking Script To Screen is launched, a bunch of new videos will be posted. New clips from the workshop will also be put up. The MyFlik Newsletter will start sending out regular updates too.

New orders for the Writing A Great Script Fast Workshop are now shipping USB sticks with MP4 movies. If you still want the DVDs, send me an email asking for the DVDs instead right after you place your order. The DVDs are higher resolution, but the USB sticks are easier to carry around. Workbook still ships with a real book.

"Filmmaking Script To Screen Step-By-Step" will present a whole new way to make a living as a writer and filmmaker, using all of the tools available today on the internet. The information from the now out of print book "Developing Digital Short Films," will be combined with the "Writing A Great Script Fast Workshop." Lots of new film and TV story example breakdowns and tips will be included. This book will also cover how to self-publish a novel perfect for a future film deal, and how to use that momentum to get your film crowd funded on websites like Kickstarter. Choose between ebook, color, or black and white print versions. Example movie clips referenced in the book will be posted on MyFlik.com with teaching plans.

A new story app is also coming soon using the step-by-step process from the books.

New story breakdowns include Avatar, Harry Potter, Breaking Bad, Downton Abby, Good Wife, Sons Of Anarchy, Mad Men, 300, Homeland, Frozen, Jurassic World and many more.

Are you a teacher in the USA interested in using this book in your class? Email me for more information on joining the teacher feedback team and get an advanced copy for free. Please put "Teacher Feedback" in subject line.

Spiral Trax is known for having some of the best Goa Trance music on the planet. GeoMagnetic is keeping Spiral Trax separate and making new album deals with many of the existing artists. A new series of classic Progressive Goa Trance compilations are coming your way from the Spiral Trax Records vault. GeoMagnetic will be mixing the best EDM tracks from the main catalog, with the Spiral Trax hits, for some hot releases in 2015. Check out this new best of Spiral Trax release on Psyshop:

A big hello to all the amazing film teachers we met this year at the UFVA Conference in Bozeman this August. Thanks for your feedback on what you want in the new book. Sherri taught a workshop on Saturday called "Teaching Visual Storytelling Fast Step-By-Step." MyFlik also had a booth and gave out lots of free copies of the new book to film teachers for feedback. Please send any early feedback tips to Sherri.

Welcome to all the new Chinese filmmakers and animators! The Chinese version of Developing Digital Short Films was published in March 2009.

A country wide story teaching tour throughout China took place in 2007 and 2008 by Sherri Sheridan. China chose Developing Digital Short Films for their official story, screenwriting and film textbook. Many schools and filmmakers across China are now using the story process from Writing A Great Script Fast, and Developing Digital Short Films, to make films millions of people want to watch. New version coming soon of this visual story process book called Filmmaking Script To Screen. A new story app using this step-by-step process is also in the works.

Thanks for all the emails! Please keep in mind that I do not speak Chinese and get them translated first if you need a reply.

A bunch of new websites are being fine tuned now. Downloads for the entire Writing A Great Script Fast workshop will be available soon. Minds Eye Media and MyFlik are getting a new HTML5 redo with lots of added things. GeoMagnetic and Goa Records also have new HTML5 mobile friendly websites coming soon, with lots of new downloads for audio and video. We plan to have the new record company websites up first, and the Minds Eye Media and MyFlik websites up next. New iPad apps and ebooks are coming too. Along with a 3D feature film called the Bigfoot Shamans. Very exciting stuff!

A new book and series of ebooks are coming soon with 100's of examples from famous films and TV shows. Developing Digital Short Films is going out of print. The information from DDSF will be combined with the Writing A Great Script Fast Workshop, and presented as a new book in a full color print version, or black and white. Digital ebooks from the new print book will also be available. Lots of new film example breakdowns and tips will also be included.

New movie and book series coming soon. This HD 3D animated feature tale is getting closer and closer to the screen. In fact we are so consumed with working on this project, that other ones are slowing down a bit. Minds Eye Media is now in the preproduction phase of the Bigfoot Shamans, based on the example story from the book Developing Digital Short Films, and the DVD workshop Writing A Great Script Fast. Both resources are being used to develop the story. Preproduction storyboards from this new film will also be included in the new book Writing A Great Script Fast + Digital Preproduction. More big news on this front soon! Drawing above by Aryikia.

"Make a piece of NITRO that you throw in the audience's lap and someone will notice!" says Quentin Tarantino. What great advice! Listen to some of the top directors tell you to just make a movie if you want to be a filmmaker.

You do not need to wait to get your project funded - just make a movie - it's almost free now. I would focus on the story first too. You could shoot one scene from a feature script a week with your friends on the weekend. Do the Writing A Great Script Fast story development process first to make sure your script works. Everything else usually falls into place with a great script. Boring scripts are like those "waves" of bad films the directors in this movie talk about below. Your script needs to be DYNAMITE!

Adding simple special FX shots to your film idea will make it stand out if you can plan the story around them visually in a fresh way. How to blow things up, makes things disappear, add lips to objects and how to pull the perfect bluescreen with software file examples. New Series of Articles coming this fall in Student Filmmakers Magazine. Longer versions of each article will be posted on MyFlik.com with extra FX story ideas.

Way to go! Read about his screenplay deal on this thread. There are also other inspiring tales of people who have used this story process and gotten films into Cannes, Sundance and and other big festivals. Another person got a million dollar deal from Sony to do a 3D feature after his first 3D feature won a festival. A high school film class won a big festival using the workshop. More information and interviews about these amazing writers, filmmakers and students coming soon on MyFlik.com.

Without a good story you have nothing to shoot or animate. How are you going to fix your film during production and editing if you do not know how to tell a brilliant visual story? Do you really want to rely on another writer? How are you going to know if the writer you hire is any good? How will you know if your writer is producing great script ideas and rewrites, if you yourself do not know what a really good script contains in the first place?

Start a screenwriting group at your school or club and do 1 DVD a week. Ask your librarian or club leader to get a Writing A Great Script Fast DVD Workshop today! Start your own filmmaking club and build a fun career.

Avatar is the new Star Wars for this generation of digital filmmakers. The visual fourth wall has just been shattered inviting the audience to now be in the film they are watching during a 3D IMAX type viewing experience. As a filmmaker and writer, you now have to consider things like Z depth, and how your story can literally reach out and grab the audience from the screen in full 3D glory – every scene. New Article from the big NAB edition of Student Filmmakers Magazine!

What is the cheapest and easiest type of feature film for one person or a small team to make these days? I would say a highly stylized 2D animated Southpark looking cartoon. Why? Because no one can say it does not look right or real. New Articles coming soon in the big NAB edition of Student Filmmakers Magazine! Longer versions of each new article will be posted on MyFlik.com soon with videos.

A new series of articles by Sherri Sheridan on story for digital filmmaking started appearing in Student Filmmakers Magazine in March 2009. This new preproduction and screenwriting series will continue. The first article was "10 Tips For Great Dialogue," and the big anniversary NAB April issue "40 Plot Points For A Feature Film."

Welcome to all the new Chinese filmmakers and animators! A new Chinese version of the book was published in March 2009.

GeoMagnetic (Nate's company) announces PsyShop as our new international exclusive distributor! Geomagnetic has also partnered up with the biggest record company in psytrance Spun Records. Lots of new 3D animated mix DVDs coming soon for the Growling Mad Scientists and other big names.

CG the largest and only CG magazine in China did a three page career track story on Sherri Sheridan for their July 2008 edition.

Do I look a little pale? This picture above was taken a few hours before I was rushed to the emergency room in Beijing. Coming soon new movies and tall tales from Sherri's month long story teaching tour throughout China. See The Great Wall, Forbidden City, Beijing, Shanghai, cool houses, exotic food and animation companies doing amazing work all over China.

Writing A Great Script Fast Goes To China & Beyond...

Sherri went on a worldwide teaching tour in 2008. The new "Writing A Great Script Fast" DVD workshop is based on the book "Developing Digital Short Films" published in April of 2004 by New Riders/ Peachpit/ Pearson Education. This workshop and book are now being used as a the official story class in hundreds of film and animation schools around the world. Graduate schools, colleges, high schools, UNICEF programs, Youth Media Programs, film schools and grades schools are all using the workshop and book to help students tell their own stories with digital tools. There is even a kindergarten teacher in North Carolina using the book to create films with a group of five year olds!

A big thanks to all of the wonderful people who have sent inspiring emails and film links about their experiences working with the new DVD workshop and book!

MyFlik Goes To DV Expo West

Free Writing A Great Script Fast classes were taught at the DV Expo! A big hello to all our new friends who came to visit us in the MyFlik booth at the LA Convention Center where several new products were launched including the new Minds Eye Media DVD stock series and the 20 hour WAGSF DVD Workshop. Sherri taught several free classes including:

"Story For Digital Filmmaking"

Wednesday at 11:30am in Room 306

"Writing A Great Script Fast"

"Cool Tools Panel" Thursday 10-11:30am in the Presentation Theater

Minds Eye Media Does Hit Comedy Central TV Show

Xavier Fallen Angel gets picked up for Season Two after the debut episode soars in the ratings! This computer animated TV show was created by a team of San Francisco independent animators - some of whom have known each other for over 15 years. Minds Eye Media did several minutes of shots for the new Xavier Comedy Central Adult Swim TV Show now playing on Sunday nights. Most of our shots are in Episode 10 during the psychedelic scenes.

Minds Eye Media Does The Allman Brothers DVD

Minds Eye Media did the visuals for The Allman Brothers latest tour and their new best of live show DVD coming out soon. Clips from these shows and many more will be included on the 10 new Minds Eye VJ DVDs also coming soon.

Elton John's 60th Birthday Bash On DVD

A new Blu-ray HD DVD version of this historic show is now available. Playing on huge screens behind the performance on March 25th at Madison Square Garden were some fresh 3D HD visuals done by Minds Eye Media. We did the visuals for 13 of the 18 songs including the big 6oth 3D birthday background. NBC broadcast this event on April 12, 2007 and you can watch it here.

What's Hiding In Your TV Shows?

Listen to Sherri's new radio interview on the show "If These Walls Could Talk" with the subject "What's Hiding in Your Favorite TV Shows?" Find out what you’re REALLY watching when you watch TV by joining Katherine Morris, the Setting Shrink, Emmy-award winning President of the Writers Guild of America, west, Patric M. Verrone, and Sherri Sheridan, Creative Director at Minds Eye Media, and the creator of animations and digital films, for a rare in-depth discussion of the making of television shows.

Nate's record companies GeoMagnetic and GOA Records now have over 4000 songs, CDs and DVDs in their catalogs! Many of these songs and CDs are now on iTunes, CD Baby and BeatPort. These two record companies are quickly growing into the largest psytrance and electronic music labels and distributors in the world. "GeoSpirit1 Virtual Vortex" is one of Dr. Spook's latest 3D visual DVD experience featuring over 60 minutes of new original 3D Maya footage set to eleven fresh trance songs. Click here to watch and hear this DVD online along with some other new ones! GeoMagnetic has now shifted into DVD mode and will be releasing about 20 new VJ style DVD experiences in the next few months.

Minds Eye Media did some visuals for the Bonnaroo music festival in June of 2007 and returned again in 2008 to do even more sets. Doctor Spook played lots of new trance music and 3D animated visuals in Tennessee this June. He performed on Thursday, Friday (Silent Disco) and Saturday nights, and is now off on a worldwide tour for the summer. Clips from these shows and many more will be included on the 10 new Minds Eye VJ DVDs coming soon.