The same Australian acting techniques that launched the careers of Russel Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Hugh Jackman can be sampled when the Australian Institute of Dramatic Arts offers several sessions in selected cities, including Hollywood, through January 10. Tucson Slow Food and Film Festival is an extended weekend of classic food films, culinary events and cultural discussions that combine screenings of feature films, documentaries, shorts and animation with panel discussions about the cuisines, cultures and traditions shown on the screen, along with culinary events at restaurants, all happening in Tucson, through January 11. For the Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab, writers selected through a year-round staff search/outreach receive feedback and help with their projects at the Park City facility from January 9-14.

The Slamdance Film Festival, running this year from January 15-23 in Park City, is best known for its annual film festival. But Slamdance will now also serve as a year-round showcase for the discovery of new and emerging musical talent, in addition to the recently formed online venture with INDIEROAD.NET, a website created by a team of veteran entertainment and business executives to address the lack of robust distribution options available to promising new talent in the independent film field. From January 15-25, Sundance Film Festival, organized by actor Robert Redford in 1981, continues its festival, held primarily in Park City, and dedicated to the support and development of emerging screenwriters and directors of vision, and to the national and international exhibition of new, independent dramatic and documentary films. The International Film Festival Rotterdam offers a quality selection of worldwide independent, innovative and experimental cinema and visual arts, and will be running this year, January 21 through February 1.

Interaction is encouraged for audience members during the run of the Children’s Film Festival Seattle, to sharpen their critical eyes through workshops with professional actors, directors, writers, technicians, and producers, during the run of the festival from January 23 to February 1. Göteborg International Film Festival, opening January 23 through February 2, functions as a meeting place for the Nordic film industry and has become an integral link for new Nordic film, hosting about 200 specially invited buyers, distributors and festival representatives from all over the world. Steve Seskin and Pat Pattison will present a Hollywood Songcrafting Seminar in Los Angeles, January 24 & 25, sharing their knowledge and passion for writing songs. Honoring excellence in the field of animation, Annie Awards will be presented in the categories of animated theatrical feature, television production, television commercial, short subject and video games, and the people who have worked in these areas, January 30 in Westwood.

The above events are only a sample of what is fully listed. Complete details are on the “Media, Entertainment and Performing Arts Industry News and Events” page at actorschecklist.com/news.html. Video and podcast versions of this news summary are also available at popular video sites around the Web like MySpace, YouTube, Daily Motion, as well as on The Actor’s Checklist podcast blog at actorschecklist.com/loudblog, a great place to get your iPhone, ipod or Apple TV download from. The Free Home Video Showcase at actorschecklist.com/video now serves as an archive for all past video presentations. This month on video you will again see an interesting array of performing artists from the indie sector on video. Newly introduced this month to The Actor’s Checklist website is Google Friend Connect technology where visitors may now sign in with their Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID account. You are encouraged to explore the entirety of the site for instances of Google Friend Connect deployment, including its use on the news page at actorschecklist.com/news.html. Happy New Year to all from The Actor’s Checklist!

Movies and stories have a very old connection. Throughout the history of films, different movies have come from famous stories, novels and plays all over the world. Hollywood movies are not an exception. There is a reason behind this profound love of Hollywood for good stories. Actually, Hollywood is a kind of industry which always wants to tell stories through their films. They always follow a linear way of story telling. To maintain this linear way, they always search for good stories. In this article, we will talk about those Hollywood movies that are made from existing stories.

Making films from stories has some advantages. This system saves a lot of time in the pre-production stage. In this case, the director does not have to appoint a writer for a new story. As the story already exists, he just need to do the script and screenplay.

A readymade story gives the film an extra popularity. If the film is made from a hit tale, then very naturally people will be eager to watch the film version of it. If we check the history, then we will find out that most of those kinds of films have been big box office hits.

If the film is based on the work of a renowned author, then it will ease the work pressure on the director to some extent. A famous book is obviously good writing. Therefore, the director will not have to change a lot of that.

Hollywood films have come from three different categories of literary works. These three are stories, novels, and plays. First we are going to look at the films made from famous stories. Kafka was a writer whose stories influenced Hollywood a lot. However, it is very tough to make a film version of his stories, but still people have tried and in some cases, they have done a very good job. For instance, The Trial directed by Orson Welles was a masterpiece. It was released in 1963.

Many films have been made from the stories of O Henry, the famous American story writer. Gift of the Magi directed by Scott Mansfield and The Last Leaf directed by David Anspaugh had been instant hits. Roald Dahl was a very famous British writer who wrote several short stories and novels. He also scripted some films. Lamb to the Slaughter directed by Nicole Barnette was based on a very famous story of Dahl.

Some very famous novels have been given film versions. For instance, The Accidental Tourist was based on the writing of Anne Tyler. The film was directed by Lawrence Kasdan and was released in the year 1988. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was the film version of the famous Mark Twain novel, filmed by Peter H. Hunt.

Some famous plays have also been transformed into films. For example, Orson Welles filmed Macbeth, the famous play of William Shakespeare, in the year 1950. Franco Zeffirelli filmed Romeo and Juliet in the year 1968.

Have you ever thought to yourself after seeing the latest Hollywood blockbuster that you could write something better than that? Do you have an idea that you are sure will make a great movie? Writing a movie script isn’t that hard once you have an idea that is sure to be a winner.

There are a few basic steps to follow to get your idea onto paper and, lucky for us, there is now a lot of help available online to help you get your script critiqued and seen by Hollywood professionals.

Developing an idea for a movie is the hard part, that’s why most people aren’t screen writers. Coming up with a fresh new story idea that people will want to pay to see is hard, that’s why most of the films out of Hollywood today are remakes of past hits. Once you have the idea, all you need to do is build a plot up around it.

All plots consist of three simple things, a beginning, middle and end. The beginning is the expository part of the plot, it serves to introduce the major characters, to set the time and place of the film and define the problem which is the heart of any drama or love story.

In a movie script there is usually one main hero, the man or woman who the story will revolve around. The hero serves to be the focal point of the film and the audience should find this character interesting and be able to sympathize with his problem, be it finding love or saving the world from ruthless invaders.

The time and place where a movie takes place sets the mood and tempo of the film. A modern urban setting means that if it’s an action film, the pace will be fast and the technology will be modern. In a love story, the time and place of a film can be a long-ago romantic drama or an upbeat urban comedy.

For scriptwriters, description can be left to a minimum because once the film goes into production; the descriptive elements will be fleshed out by the director and art director.

The middle of the script is where the drama happens, this is where the problem faced by the hero climaxes and becomes seemingly insurmountable. A scriptwriter wants to take the characters he has created and be cruel to them, make their dreams and goals seem impossible. The audience will have connected with the characters by them and this will serve to draw them into the story and pull for the hero to win.

The end of the story is where the hero either wins or loses; usually wins because audiences like happy endings. This is where the hero proves himself to the world and saves the day and wins the love of the girl of his dreams. In this portion of the script, the writer must tie up all the loose ends to create a satisfactory ending which answers all the questions and solves all the problems that have been brought up in the plot.

Once you have a rough draft plotted out that contains the three main story plot sections, it’s now a good time to have your work looked over by fresh eyes, this is where the internet can come in handy.

There are websites that let you post your rough draft online, with all rights protected, to allow other writers, producers and agents look over your work and give you feedback based on their firsthand experience in film production.

Once you have the feedback, it’s time to go back and fine tune your script. Remember that writing works in stages, nobody sits down and writes a full length film from start to finish. Get your original idea on paper, set up the basic plot, submit your work for critique, and go back and finish it. It takes a whole crew to film a picture and it takes more than one person to write the script.

The BANFF World Television Festival, opening this year in Alberta from June 7-10, is a not-for-profit event produced by Achilles Media Ltd., an international events management company serving the television and digital media industries. Among various sessions programmed into the festival, the Broadcaster Briefings get inside information on what broadcasters from around the world want. In these open, informal sessions, international Program Executives will provide insight into their schedules, outline production priorities and biases, discuss potential partnership deals, and answer questions. The second World Copyright Summit kicks off this year with an opening night party and reception in DC, hosted by the U.S. Rights Societies and Guilds members of CISAC on June 8. For the duration of the Summit running through June 10 the shape and impact of the new creative, economic, technological and legal environment will be addressed. Beginning June 10, industry networking and career guidance group URNetworking Alliance (meetup.com/urnetworkalliance) will be part host to a playreading series in New York, and, the group is also conducting the Casting Director Workshops and the Power Lunch Series in other venues as well. A think tank like event gives shape and substance to the 2009 Lake Placid Film Forum, running June 11-13, whose programs throughout the years have provided opportunities for filmmakers, screenwriters and actors to come together to exchange and obtain information related to the creation, production and distribution of film and other electronic media.At this year’s CineVegas Film Festival, happening June 11-20 in Las Vegas, CineVegas will honor two actors, two directors and two video game design pioneers, including Jon Voight who will be given the Marquee Award, and Willem Dafoe honored with the Vanguard Actor Award. InfoComm International will host an International Reception, one of many, when it stages its annual convention in Orlando, June 13-19, which serves the professional AV communications industry worldwide. When TeatroStageFest: the Third Annual Celebration of Latino Arts and Culture opens June 15-28 in New York, it will present 19 events featuring 23 theater, dance, music, and comedy performances, family programming, workshops, artist panels, youth awards, and an all-day conference, with performances in English or Spanish. During Broadcast Asia 2009, in Singapore, solutions will be offered for broadcasters, cable and satellite operators, content providers, new media operators, vendors, IT and multimedia providers, to gather and discuss latest trends, business strategies and technology updates over a four day run starting on June 16. The DISCOP Organisation, which facilitates audiovisual content distribution and coproduction business in 87 countries located in Central, Eastern Europe, Eurasia and Africa, presents its annual convention to an audience of International suppliers of finished programs, packaged TV channels and formats; Programming, acquisitions and coproduction executives representing TV Stations, Pay-TV operators, DVD and theatrical distributors, broadband and telco operators, and others, from June 17-19 in Budapest.North by Northeast Music & Film Festival and Conference (NXNE) is a Toronto-based conference and showcase taking place June 17-21 for new music and music-related films, where listening and mentoring sessions assist career planning for future considerations, programmed screenings of hand-selected music movies, from concert classics to the latest indie docs from Rio to Rwanda, nightly music showcases, and on June 20, Wu-Tang Clan founding member and creative engine, GZA will be interviewed by hip hop historian Fab 5 Freddy. Opening June 18-28 for its annual event, the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival features s varied offering, and such unique signature programs including the exclusive Filmmaker Retreat – hosted by the Festival’s annual Guest Director – and the Spirit of Independence Award ceremony and gala. Cinema Expo International is a pan-European convention and trade show happening in Amsterdam this year, June 22-25, dedicated to the needs of the movie theatre industry where over 1,250 cinema exhibition and distribution professionals from Europe, the Middle East and Africa come to view the latest major cinema releases and extensive product reels and more. At this year’s American Black Film Festival, running June 24-27 in Miami, the Festival hosts The Star Project, an international acting competition, and now in its 12th year, the HBO Short Film Competition, showcasing five short film finalists selected from hundreds, including Derrick Anthony’s ‘Popous Pane and the Kids He Love to Hate’ starring Alfred Rutherford (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=524167566). This year Brussels Film Festival is conducted over nine days, June 27 to July 5, with open air screenings, free concerts every evening, and parties. Los Angeles based career service, Talents Connection (www.talentsconnection.com), has invited performers to the family oriented Orange County Market Place on June 28, and has announced the formation of its Roller Derby Team, Rolling Vixens, for which it is seeking sponsors (talentsconnection@yahoo.com).The above events are only a sample of what is fully listed. Complete details are on the “Media, Entertainment and Performing Arts Industry News and Events” page. Video and podcast versions of this news summary are also available at popular video sites around the Web like MySpace, YouTube, Daily Motion, as well as on The Actor’s Checklist podcast blog. Leading entertainment industry publication Back Stage has redesigned their Backstage.com website to allow for better resume and picture upload, casting and job alerts, and much more. Follow the posting of the news summary on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/actorschecklist  This month on the video news summary you will again see a dynamic array of artists in performance of film and music. Last month’s video news summary showcase featured Russian film music composer, Edgar Arens and Dutch video editor, State 209, who have produced graphic game video ‘Deadly Pursuit.’ Freelance bass guitarist of the RagaZZ style, Jayen Varma, considered one of the fastest bass guitarist in the world. Excerpts from the web series of comedy performer Maija DiGiorgio whose documentary feature, ‘Hollywood Outlaw’, is playing out in episodes over the Web. These videos are now available on the Free Home Video Showcase which now serves as an archive for all past video presentations but without the audio news narration.

The BANFF World Television Festival, opening this year in Alberta from June 7-10, is a not-for-profit event produced by Achilles Media Ltd., an international events management company serving the television and digital media industries. Among various sessions programmed into the festival, the Broadcaster Briefings get inside information on what broadcasters from around the world want. In these open, informal sessions, international Program Executives will provide insight into their schedules, outline production priorities and biases, discuss potential partnership deals, and answer questions. The second World Copyright Summit kicks off this year with an opening night party and reception in DC, hosted by the U.S. Rights Societies and Guilds members of CISAC on June 8. For the duration of the Summit running through June 10 the shape and impact of the new creative, economic, technological and legal environment will be addressed. Beginning June 10, industry networking and career guidance group URNetworking Alliance (meetup.com/urnetworkalliance) will be part host to a playreading series in New York, and, the group is also conducting the Casting Director Workshops and the Power Lunch Series in other venues as well. A think tank like event gives shape and substance to the 2009 Lake Placid Film Forum, running June 11-13, whose programs throughout the years have provided opportunities for filmmakers, screenwriters and actors to come together to exchange and obtain information related to the creation, production and distribution of film and other electronic media.At this year’s CineVegas Film Festival, happening June 11-20 in Las Vegas, CineVegas will honor two actors, two directors and two video game design pioneers, including Jon Voight who will be given the Marquee Award, and Willem Dafoe honored with the Vanguard Actor Award. InfoComm International will host an International Reception, one of many, when it stages its annual convention in Orlando, June 13-19, which serves the professional AV communications industry worldwide. When TeatroStageFest: the Third Annual Celebration of Latino Arts and Culture opens June 15-28 in New York, it will present 19 events featuring 23 theater, dance, music, and comedy performances, family programming, workshops, artist panels, youth awards, and an all-day conference, with performances in English or Spanish. During Broadcast Asia 2009, in Singapore, solutions will be offered for broadcasters, cable and satellite operators, content providers, new media operators, vendors, IT and multimedia providers, to gather and discuss latest trends, business strategies and technology updates over a four day run starting on June 16. The DISCOP Organisation, which facilitates audiovisual content distribution and coproduction business in 87 countries located in Central, Eastern Europe, Eurasia and Africa, presents its annual convention to an audience of International suppliers of finished programs, packaged TV channels and formats; Programming, acquisitions and coproduction executives representing TV Stations, Pay-TV operators, DVD and theatrical distributors, broadband and telco operators, and others, from June 17-19 in Budapest.North by Northeast Music & Film Festival and Conference (NXNE) is a Toronto-based conference and showcase taking place June 17-21 for new music and music-related films, where listening and mentoring sessions assist career planning for future considerations, programmed screenings of hand-selected music movies, from concert classics to the latest indie docs from Rio to Rwanda, nightly music showcases, and on June 20, Wu-Tang Clan founding member and creative engine, GZA will be interviewed by hip hop historian Fab 5 Freddy. Opening June 18-28 for its annual event, the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival features s varied offering, and such unique signature programs including the exclusive Filmmaker Retreat – hosted by the Festival’s annual Guest Director – and the Spirit of Independence Award ceremony and gala. Cinema Expo International is a pan-European convention and trade show happening in Amsterdam this year, June 22-25, dedicated to the needs of the movie theatre industry where over 1,250 cinema exhibition and distribution professionals from Europe, the Middle East and Africa come to view the latest major cinema releases and extensive product reels and more. At this year’s American Black Film Festival, running June 24-27 in Miami, the Festival hosts The Star Project, an international acting competition, and now in its 12th year, the HBO Short Film Competition, showcasing five short film finalists selected from hundreds, including Derrick Anthony’s ‘Popous Pane and the Kids He Love to Hate’ starring Alfred Rutherford (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=524167566). This year Brussels Film Festival is conducted over nine days, June 27 to July 5, with open air screenings, free concerts every evening, and parties. Los Angeles based career service, Talents Connection (www.talentsconnection.com), has invited performers to the family oriented Orange County Market Place on June 28, and has announced the formation of its Roller Derby Team, Rolling Vixens, for which it is seeking sponsors (talentsconnection@yahoo.com).The above events are only a sample of what is fully listed. Complete details are on the “Media, Entertainment and Performing Arts Industry News and Events” page. Video and podcast versions of this news summary are also available at popular video sites around the Web like MySpace, YouTube, Daily Motion, as well as on The Actor’s Checklist podcast blog. Leading entertainment industry publication Back Stage has redesigned their Backstage.com website to allow for better resume and picture upload, casting and job alerts, and much more. Follow the posting of the news summary on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/actorschecklist  This month on the video news summary you will again see a dynamic array of artists in performance of film and music. Last month’s video news summary showcase featured Russian film music composer, Edgar Arens and Dutch video editor, State 209, who have produced graphic game video ‘Deadly Pursuit.’ Freelance bass guitarist of the RagaZZ style, Jayen Varma, considered one of the fastest bass guitarist in the world. Excerpts from the web series of comedy performer Maija DiGiorgio whose documentary feature, ‘Hollywood Outlaw’, is playing out in episodes over the Web. These videos are now available on the Free Home Video Showcase which now serves as an archive for all past video presentations but without the audio news narration.