BlueCat Writers Blog

2015 Fall Movie Preview With the Summer Movie Season winding down, moviegoers and cinephiles can expect fewer explosions and less CGI, in exchange for more drama and award worthy performances. Fall offers a plethora of Oscars hopefuls, along with a few...

LA Film Festival: Dog Bowl Returns to LA this Labor Day! After its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival and its Los Angeles premiere at the LA Film Festival, Dog Bowl is set to make its return to the City of Angels at the LA Shorts Fest...

Dog Bowl at the Portland Film Festival! After premiering at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, Dog Bowl, written and directed by BlueCat Founder and Judge Gordy Hoffman, is coming to the Portland Film Festival (PDXFF15) in Portland, Oregon!Dog Bowl is...

Inception - BLUE'S BEATS #14Blue’s Beats is a blog series where we break down various feature screenplays by identifying and discussing their important beats. Today we will take a look at the 2010 science fiction film, Inception, written and directed by...

2016 Free Entry: Caption this Photo for your chance to win a Free Entry! Want to win a free entry to the 2016 BlueCat Screenplay Competition? Caption this photo of Marci Miller and Tomas Oscar Andren behind the scenes on set, day 3 of 3, of Gordy Hoffman's short...

Foxcatcher - Blue's Beats #13Blue’s Beats is a new blog series where we break down various nominated feature screenplays by identifying and discussing their important beats. Today we’ll be taking a look at the 2014 biographical sports and true crime drama,...

Free Entry Contest #StraightOuttaBlueCatWith today's release of the summer buzz movie Straight Outta Compton, we are basing our latest free entry contest on the "Straight Outta _____" memes that have flooded the web. Here are a few examples, if you...

12 Screenwriting Guidelines to Take the Fear Out of Getting Notes and Maximizing the Experience Screen storytelling is an essentially collaborative process. Writers need feedback but too often the notes they receive stall them and even demoralize them. Notes to...

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Blue's Beats #12Blue’s Beats is a new blog series where we break down various nominated feature screenplays by identifying and discussing their important beats. Today we’ll be taking a look at the 1975 American drama, One...

BlueCat alumnus Zeke Farrow has been remarkably busy after his screenplay, Fuck Facebook, earned him a finalist position in our 2012 competition. Fuck Facebook has since won the Gold Prize in Comedy in the Page Screenplay Awards,...

2015 BlueCat Feature Finalists Awarded Grant to Produce Short Film2015 BlueCat Feature Finalists Theodore Schaefer and Patrick Lawler have been awarded The Davey Foundation’s 2015 Short Film Grant to produce their film The Zeno Question! “The Zeno...

Chinatown - Blue's Beats #11Blue’s Beats is a new blog series where we break down various nominated feature screenplays by identifying and discussing their important beats. Today we’ll be taking a look at the 1976 neo-noir mystery, Chinatown, written by...

Dallas Buyers Club - Blue's Beats #10Blue’s Beats is a new blog series where we break down various nominated feature screenplays by identifying and discussing their important beats. Today we’ll be taking a look at the 2013 American biographical drama Dallas...

Random Acts of Violence: BlueCat Alum's Latest Feature Optioned by NZFCScreenwriter Guy McDouall, winner of BlueCat's Joplin Award during our 2012 competition, has been making waves in the world of New Zealand cinema. His award-winning feature, Random Acts...

How to Format Your Screenplay Title Page In the treacherous world of screenwriting, many authors concern themselves with the occasionally obscure, often arcane practice of formatting and presenting their scripts. Industry professionals agree that the body of the...

The Social Network - Blue's Beats #9Blue’s Beats is a new blog series where we break down various nominated feature screenplays by identifying and discussing their important beats. Today we’ll be taking a look at the 2010 American drama The Social Network,...

BEST MOVIE TITLE  CONTEST- DEADLINE: AUGUST 1ST Every year, we choose to highlight a small, but significant, part of your screenplays: the title.  A lot of thought goes into the perfect few words and we choose to honor that creativity and effort through...

The Hurt Locker - Blue's Beats #8Blue’s Beats is a new blog series where we break down various nominated feature screenplays by identifying and discussing their important beats. Today we’ll be taking a look at the 2008 American war drama The Hurt Locker, written...

The King's Speech - Blue's Beats #7Blue’s Beats is a new blog series where we break down various nominated feature screenplays by identifying and discussing their important beats. Today we’ll be taking a look at the 2010 British historical drama The King's...

Best Movie Title Deadline: August 1stEvery year, we choose to highlight a small, but significant, part of your screenplays: the title.  A lot of thought goes into the perfect few words and we choose to honor that creativity and effort through our annual Movie...