The Jukebox at The Diner: "Back To School" First Class
I'm probably going to parody movie titles for each class. Next week is most likely "Part Deux"
Hi! Jason here. So after the first WRITERS BLOCK session on Sunday, April 21st, this past Sunday, the 28th, was the first SCREENWRITING AS A PRO class. There were about 13 of us, the majority were women, which is awesome for me if you've read the volumes of The Jukebox at The Diner. It’s truly an amazing class. James doesn’t gaslight. He was impressed by the projects that everyone presented, and so was I. Just watching these artists present their work in pitch, story, script, or picture book form was so inspiring, and it helped me immediately after class as I began to work on my presentation.
Last week I shared my 1-page pitch for Volume One of The Jukebox at The Diner. Instead of pasting it here, I’m going to include a link, so if you’re so inclined, you can download the document and maybe give me some feedback. I’d truly love that! Before I link anything though, I just wanted to let you know, if this interests you in any way, shape, or form, reach out. The WRITERS BLOCK Zoom call is held every third Sunday of the month. Just reach out to me and I'll point you to the FB group and make sure to get you on the Zoom Mtg. list. This is a legit group of industry professionals that are picking up a get-together that used to be held by UCLA Film School’s Lew Hunter, who taught James Dalessandro the same TFT 434 course that James is teaching us.
So, here’s the link to my 1-page pitch for Volume One of The Jukebox at The Diner.
James sent us several pitches he’s written story ideas for, and I’ve included them here if you’d like to see a pitch written by a professional.
If you saw the IG Story, I also submitted the Halloween Special as the story for the script I’ll be writing in class. You can view the story, which at the moment is just ripped from the Substack posts.
I was also so inspired by one of the writers, that I decided to write an episode summary for Volume One. It’s 12 episodes at the moment, with the chapters that each episode will cover and a summary. I’ll be working with James on that this week before class as well as the pitch. Speaking of James, I was supposed to have my individual one one-on-one with him today but I got an email at 6 AM to reschedule as he’s working on a movie deal at the moment and his time was required there.
I’ll be using that episode summary to build what’s called a “Bible” for Volume One. I haven’t started that yet, but if you’d like to see one, here’s one for a piece that James wrote for Playboy a while back. It’s about a real-life NYPD Detective who took on the early forming of the American Mafia.
PETROSINO: THE REAL GODFATHER SAGA
LOGLINE: PETROSINO – THE REAL GODFATHER SAGA. The true story of the birth and rise of the American Mafia is told from the POV of legendary NYPD Detective Joseph Petrosino, who almost single-handedly stopped them from becoming the world's most powerful criminal empire.
That’s not the first true crime story James has written and developed for TV. I highly recommend Citizen Jane.
I’ve also included a “Bible” of another of James’ novels, “Bohemian Heart”.
Next week hopefully I’ll have new revisions, a few cool stories, oh, and also, a new batch of “Night Shift” is coming soon! Stay tuned!
Thank you so much for reading!
=j