Now my book is used in a Court Case (about Copyright) as clarification evidence!

So there I wasd just trawling the net and some networking site led me to a mention of Teach Yourself Screenwriting in a Legal Paper regarding the clarification of copyright infringements.

http://law.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1133&context=usclwps

And about one third of the way in, there it was: Footnotes 41-44 inclusive.

I'll Copy and Paste as best I can:

University of Southern California Law
School

University of Southern California Legal Studies Working Paper
Series

Year 2009 Paper 49


Jeff Benedict’s “The Little Pink House”: The
Back Story of the Kelo Case and the Little
White Lies Told About It

George Lefcoe


University of Southern California, glefcoe@law.usc.edu
This working paper is hosted by The Berkeley Electronic Press (bepress) and may not be commercially
reproduced without the permission of the copyright holder.
http://law.bepress.com/usclwps/lss/art49
Copyrightc 2009 by the author


Abstract
Little Pink House is a fast paced account by Jeff Benedict of the events surrounding
the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London. Along
with tracking Benedict’s story line, this review also highlights some of the core
legal and policy issues that are an important part of the story for law-trained readers.

At the core of the tale is how Kelo and a handful of her neighbors challenged
the New London Development Corporation’s (NLDC) use of eminent domain for
the economic redevelopment of the Fort Trumbull neighborhood. A libertarianinspired
public interest law firm named the Institute for Justice (IJ) agreed to represent
the beleaguered property owners. ........

...Spinning Kelo: Benedict and IJ–Close but Not Identical. Though Benedict embraces the IJ’s David-and-Goliath characterization of the struggle between the Kelo case holdouts and the NLDC, his depiction is necessarily more nuanced than theirs. Benedict’s goal was to write a story that might form the basis of a screen play.39 Dahlia Lithwick, the New York Times reviewer, put it this way: “The investigative reporter Jeff Benedict has decided to cast Kelo in the style of Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich.”40 To be believable, movie characters need to be
three dimensional.41 Their flaws can command the viewer’s attention and empathy. In
overcoming their flaws, well-drawn characters give a sense of direction to the story.42 Actor Christian Bale makes an important point when he explains that an audience doesn’t have to approve of an author’s characters but they have to relate to them.43 Dislikable characters can enliven a script as long as they possess at least one redeeming characteristic (remember The Talented Mr. Ripley?).44


38 Noreen E. Johnson , Blight and Its Discontents: Awarding Attorney's Fees to Property Owners in Redevelopment Actions, 93
MINN. L. REV. 741, 741-43 (2008); Abraham Bell & Gideon Parchomovsky, Taking Compensation Private, 59 STAN. L. REV.
871, 887-90 (2007).
39 Stephen Chupaska, Journey of a Writer, THE MYSTIC TIMES, May 28, 2009. ("Benedict admitted that the story behind Little
Pink House would translate better as a film than a book.").
40 Dahlia Lithwick, Driven Out, NEW YORK TIMES, March 12, 2009.
41 Ray Frensham, TEACH YOURSELF SCREEN WRITING, p. 74 (2008).
42 Ray Frensham, TEACH YOURSELF SCREEN WRITING, p. 89 (2008). Mr. Frensham quotes Kingsley Amis: “Take one aspect of
your own [writer’s] character that you are not particularly proud of and explore that, push the envelope to the limit.”
43 Ray Frensham, TEACH YOURSELF SCREEN WRITING, p. 93 (2008).
44 Ray Frensham, TEACH YOURSELF SCREEN WRITING, p. 91 (2008).


So I've just sent the author an e-mail asking how he found my book in the first place and hoping he had an enjoyable read.

Teach Yourself Screenwriting - THE MOVIE! ...

well, not quite.

One of my facebook chums sent mne these links to five short films on a site called VideoJug.com ; they are five mini-epics based on my book Teach Yourself Screenwriting. I have no idea when they were made or when they were put up (even my Commissioning Editor at my publishers Hodder & Stoughton - who MUST have cut some sort of deal at some point - isn't aware of these miniature masterpieces.

The URLs are:-

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-format-your-film-script

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-format-scenes-in-a-film-script

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-describe-action-in-a-film-script

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-format-dialogue-in-a-film-script

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-get-feedback-on-your-script


Do please visit, add your comments, and enjoy.

P.S.: My facebook link is www.facebook.com/tyscreenwriting

P.P.S.: In a few weeks time I may be able to tell you of some exciting developments planned for Teach Yourself Screenwriting in 2010 but at the moment I am sworn to secrecy.......

Reviews of the 3rd Edition - Online

From: www.flipkart.com [India]

One of the Standard texts of the Screenwriting Industry
Review by Mark Jones

Since this book first came out in 1996, I've been a fan. Now that it's in it's third (expanded/updated) version, it just gets better.

Whether you're an absolute beginner, nervous and starting - out to a University post-grad eager for that smack on the side of the head to look at your work different, there's something in here. And Ray Frensham does not patronise and he's funny and honest.

Other books will be proscriptive and tell you 'THIS is what you MUST do", Frensham's book takes more of a "This is what they tell you you should do, but This is what you might find happening...don't worry".

There are superb sections on Character creation, on Re-writing and on Screenwriting and the Internet (the book is worth its price for all those well-researched URLs alone.

All in all, a strong recommend.

Updates (May 2009)

Well, the 3rd edition of Teach Yourself Screenwriting came out in the UK (November 2008) and the USA (February 2009) and sales have been great - and consistent - and I've been doing various bits of promotion.

At the London Book Fair (in April) I learnt from my publishers they are negotiating a possible Chinese edition, and I have just been approached to talk about a possible Italian translation.

Onwards and upwards!