WINNER OF THE FIRST FIFTEEN MINUTES SCREENPLAY COMPETITION FOR MAY

Megan McDonald's screenplay Fine has been selected as the winner of The First Fifteen Minutes Screenplay Competition for May. Tanglewood Films would like to congratulate Megan and recognize the superior craftsmanship in her work. She will be showcased here, receive free coverage on her script and have her work forwarded to production companies actively seeking new scripts.

FINE
A beautiful art thief and her team execute a clever heist, only to discover that an unknown party has more lucrative - and dangerous - plans for the same painting they've stolen.

 

Megan McDonald’s first Hollywood job was as assistant to a producer with deals at Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films. In this capacity, she wrote coverage on many, many, MANY scripts, thus learning three cardinal rules for getting on a reader's good side:

1) Open strong.
2) Respect the rules of spelling and grammar.
3) Tell a story no one's told before OR tell a familiar story in a
completely new way.

After several years working in Development at Walt Disney Feature Animation and Pixar Animation Studios, plus two years as story editor for the Mondo Mini Shows (online animated shorts), Megan was commissioned to write GONE BAD, a CGI zombie feature. GONE BAD is currently in pre-production, with Wes Craven attached as Executive Producer.

Since then, Megan has completed one spec script (FINE) and one commissioned treatment (SONG OF KALI, based on a horror novel by Dan Simmons). FINE was workshopped in August 2002 at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, and earned Megan semi-finalist placement in the 2002 Chesterfield Fellowship Competition.

Megan is now working on the first draft of DIRTY, a romantic comedy/buddy picture set in the world of internet porn, as well as the treatment for BOTCHED, a horror movie in which zombies created by plastic surgery overrun Hollywood.

Megan McDonald

I write because I love to tell stories--all kinds, from caper to comedy, horror to romance. I've been writing on and off for years, but now is a particularly "on" time for me, because I've finally put into practice some lessons learned through contact with the film industry. The two lessons that have made the greatest difference in my life as a screenwriter--the things that pushed me past thinking I could do this for a living to knowing I can--are: 1) Read, and 2) Join a creative community.

My experience as a script reader taught me more about what makes a script successful--or what marks it a failure--than any course I've taken or book I've read. Being exposed to myriad genres and styles has given me access to the right tools for the right material, be it action or farce. Consequently, attending the Squaw Valley Community of Writers Screenwriting Workshop showed me the value of surrounding myself with talented, committed writers. That workshop, plus the group meetings that grew out of it, raised my writing to a higher level through
consistent criticism and deadlines. Both of these lessons go to the heart of why I write: it's not enough just to tell those stories--the point is to share them with others.