For the conference’s keynote presentation, Peter Hanson will introduce a screening of the “Tales from the Script” film and answer questions afterward. Details below:

June 1st, 2010
Start Time: 3:15 PM
The Lodge at Santa Fe
750 N. St. Francis Drive, Santa Fe, NM, 87501
(866) 424-1501 / www.scfe.com

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Peter Hanson will lead a free seminar inspired by "Tales from the Script" at the Writers Store, the Los Angeles specialty retailer catering to screenwriters. Stay after the seminar to buy a book and get it signed! Details below:

March 27, 2010
Start Time: 11 AM
The Writers Store, 2040 Westwood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 441-5151 / www.writersstore.com

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On March 17th, 2010, Peter Hanson will return to the Albany market, where he worked as a journalist for ten years, to host a special screening. Details below:

March 17, 2010
Start Time: 6:30 PM
Spectrum 8 Theatres, 290 Delaware Ave., Albany, NY 12209
(518) 449-8995 / www.Spectrum8.com

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Promotional events for the “Tales” book and movie will be announced throughout 2010, and the first events have already been scheduled. On Jan. 26, 2010 (the book’s publication date), director Peter Hanson will attend a book-launch event at Dolly’s Bookstore in Park City, Utah, during the Sundance Film Festival. The event starts at 7 pm; CLICK HERE for information. And on Feb. 24, Peter Hanson and Paul Robert Herman will sign books at Book Soup, the beloved independent bookstore in West Hollywood, California. The event starts at 7 pm; CLICK HERE for information.

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The "Tales from the Script" documentary feature will make its U.S. theatrical debut on March 12, the opening night of a one-week engagement at Quad Cinemas, located at 34 W. 13th St. in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. Visit www.QuadCinema.com for ticketing information. And on March 19, the film will open a one-week engagement at Laemmle's Music Hall, located at 9036 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills. Ticketing information is at www.Laemmle.com. Please spread the word so as many people as possible can enjoy these unique opportunities to see "Tales from the Script" in a theatrical setting!

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Set for release on April 20, 2010, the "Tales from the Script" DVD is now available for discounted pre-order from First Run Features! Although the list price is $24.95, customers who pre-order now through this special offer will receive a 30% discount, getting the disc for $17.47. (First Run offers free shipping on orders of $30 or more, so buy one for yourself and one as a gift!) The disc includes more than an hour of fantastic special features, including "More Tales from the Script" (a collection of colorful stories that couldn't fit into the movie), "The Gospel According to Bill" (spotlighting the wit and wisdom of William Goldman), and "Advice for New Screenwriters." Spread the word, and thanks for shopping! To pre-order the "Tales from the Script" DVD, CLICK HERE.

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The “Tales from the Script” documentary has been acquired for North American distribution by First Run Features, a respected New York-based independent that has been in operation for three decades. “Tales from the Script" will open theatrically in New York on March 12, 2010, with additional cities to follow before the film hits DVD on April 20, 2010. Check out the new theatrical trailer on the Home Page of this website, and CLICK HERE to look at the final theatrical poster.

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The “Tales” book has received glowing reviews from three film-industry heavy hitters. Lawrence Kasdan, the Oscar-nominated writer/director of “The Big Chill,” said the book contains “fascinating tales from the belly of the best.” Legendary independent producer Ed Pressman (“Wall Street”) said “This book is a must-read for anyone who depends on the screenwriter’s craft. And that’s a lot of us.” And Oscar-nominated writer director John Sayles (“Lone Star”) said the book “gathers notable veterans of the screen wars who demonstrate the basic truth of our adventures in Movieland: Writing is the easy part.”

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Producer Paul Robert Herman acquired the top-level domain name TalesfromtheScript.com to augment the previous domain name TalesfromtheScript.org. Both domain names now go the main website, which he will periodically update and revise in 2010. The website will feature links to pre-order the book as well as continuous updates about the theatrical release of the movie and book signings by the authors, Peter Hanson and Paul Robert Herman.

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The latest screening of “Tales from the Script” took place on Sept. 19, 2009, at the Big Bear Lake International Film Festival. After the screening, director Peter Hanson led a Q&A with David S. Ward. Ward was honored at the Gala Opening of the festival with a lifetime achievement award in screenwriting. The next scheduled screening is on Oct. 23rd at the Austin Film Festival in Austin, Texas. The final festival in our year-long festival circuit is the Starz Denver Film Festival in Denver, Colorado which screens "Tales" on November 19th & 21st. Thank you to all who have attended and supported the film during its proud festival run.

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A successful screening of “Tales from the Script” took place on Aug. 5, 2009, at the historic Egyptian Theatre in downtown Hollywood, and the event drew an audience of over 500 moviegoers. After the screening, director Peter Hanson led a panel discussion featuring project participants Larry Cohen, Zak Penn, Billy Ray, Adam Rifkin, Jose Rivera, and David S. Ward. Also in attendance were project participants Michael January, Richard Rush, and Michael Wolk. Co-presented by the American Cinematheque, Final Draft Inc./Script Magazine, GrandRiverFilms.com, and Greenwriter.org, the event was videotaped for a podcast that Script Magazine (ScriptMag.com) plans to release in the near future. Many thanks to the hard-working volunteers and staff at the Egyptian!

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The nonfiction book Tales from the Script: 50 Hollywood Screenwriters Share Their Stories will be released on January 26, 2010, by !T Books, the new pop-culture imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Listing for $15.99, the trade paperback is already available for discounted pre-order from Amazon.com by clicking here. Featuring all of the great names from the "Tales" documentary, the book also includes conversations with screenwriters Mike Binder ("The Upside of Anger"), Nora Ephron ("Sleepless in Seattle"), Robert Mark Kamen ("Taken"), and Paul Mazursky ("An Unmarried Woman"), as well as commentary by industry heavyweights including director David Dobkin ("Wedding Crashers"). Please order now and share the link with anyone who might be interested in this exciting new book!

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The "Tales from the Script" documentary will make its Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday, August 5, with a sneak-preview screening at the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre in downtown Hollywood at 7:30 pm, followed by a panel discussion featuring a number of the documentary's participants. Scheduled panelists include Larry Cohen ("Phone Booth"), Frank Darabont ("The Shawshank Redemption"), David Hayter("X-Men"), Billy Ray ("Shattered Glass"), Zak Penn ("The Incredible Hulk"), Adam Rifkin ("The Dark Backward"), Jose Rivera ("The Motorcycle Diaries"), and David S. Ward ("The Sting"). Tickets go on sale soon via Fandango.com. All proceeds will benefit the American Cinematheque. Please help spread the word about this special event, which is the first time the film will be shown on a big screen in Los Angeles!

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The "Tales from the Script" documentary screened in April 2009 at the Sonoma International Film Festival, in the heart of Northern California's wine country, and audiences connected deeply with the movie's front-line stories about life in the Hollywood screenwriting trenches. In addition, director Peter Hanson moderated "A Conversation With Robert Mark Kamen," a 90-minute presentation featuring part-time Sonoma resident Kamen. The wide-ranging chat covered everything from the means by which Kamen's martial-arts background inspired him to write "The Karate Kid" series to the nuances of his long collaboration with Luc Besson ("Taken," "The Fifth Element"). Compliments to the whole Sonoma team for putting together a wonderful event.

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The festival run of the "Tales from the Script" documentary continues with screenings at the Sonoma International Film Festival and the Newport Beach Film Festival, both in April. Sonoma comes first, with "Tales from the Script" appearing as part the festival's opening night on Thursday, April 2, at 8:30 pm. A follow-up screening takes place on Saturday, April 4, at 9:30 am; later in the day, attend an on-stage interview with part-time Sonoma resident Robert Mark Kamen, the screenwriter of "Taken" and "The Karate Kid." And on April 25, "Tales from the Script" will show at the Newport Beach Film Festival. The screening is scheduled for Edwards Cinema in Fashion Island at 3:15 pm.

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Screenwriters took center stage on Jan. 10, 2009, when the documentary feature “Tales from the Script” made its world premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. Playing to a packed house, the first-ever screening of the documentary was followed by a panel discussion featuring several project participants. David Hayter (“X-Men”), Michael January (“Hostile Force”), Guinevere Turner (“American Psycho”), and Justin Zackham (“The Bucket List”) came to support the film and discuss screenwriting with the enthusiastic audience. The filmmakers extend their thanks to the festival organizers and volunteers for a warm reception to the premiere and the follow-up screening on Jan. 11. Watch for news about additional festival screenings soon!

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The team behind the "Tales from the Script" book/film project is proud to announce that initial release plans have come into focus. The nonfiction book has been acquired for publication by international powerhouse HarperCollins, with a release slated for late 2009 or early 2010 under the banner of HarperCollins' new entertainment-themed imprint, It Books. The deal was brokered by Anna Cottle and Mary Alice Kier of Cine/Lit Representation. Additionally, the companion documentary feature film has been selected for programming as part of the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival. The festival takes place from Jan. 6 to Jan. 19 in Palm Springs, California, and the premiere will take place at 10 am on Sat., Jan. 10, 2009 at the Palm Canyon Theatre in Palm Springs. See you there!

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"Tenacity can be learned," said Peter Hanson with quiet conviction. This could easily serve as the promotional logline of Hanson's work in progress, "Pass! Screenwriters on Surviving Hollywood Rejection," a kind of oral history of woe that he is compiling with fellow Hollywood trench-mate Paul Herman. The two struggling screenwriters have been collecting the war stories of working scribes and videotaping interviews for a planned companion documentary.

"What we wanted to do is identify the skills that writers develop in order to persevere," said Hanson, who is also an author ("Dalton Trumbo, Hollywood Rebel") and documentary filmmaker ("Every Pixel Tells a Story"). "Some writers get through on talent. Some writers get through on salesmanship. Some writers get through on connections. But the common thread seems to be that they don't give up. Since the odds are stacked against writers at every stage, it takes an unusual sort of tenacity to sustain belief in yourself," he said.

So far, writers as diverse as Steven E. de Souza ("Die Hard"), John Carpenter ("Halloween"), Ronald Shusett ("Total Recall"), Guinevere Turner ("The Notorious Bettie Page"), Stephen Susco ("The Grudge") and Larry Cohen ("Phone Booth") have shared their more troublesome professional experiences and how they made the best use of their personalities and talents to overcome them. Though Hanson and Herman have received their own share of no's from potential subjects - one writer-director begged off, saying that those stories are too painful to recount - let's just say that there's been no shortage of material.

Hanson claims that their subjects have been enthusiastic about discussing a topic both universal in nature and essential for success yet mostly ignored by the ocean of screenwriting books and Writers Guild seminars available to writers who are both unseasoned and highly successful.

It remains to be seen whether there's an eager audience, since wannabe writers could find the insider stories of "constant adversity and degradation" as depressing as they are inspiring.

"This project is all about turning negatives into positives," Hanson said. "If 90% of what Hollywood gives you is rejection, if you can't find some way to turn that into a positive in your life, then you're going to be crushed by this business and you're going to quit."

© 2007 The Los Angeles Times