Final Draft Picks World Stage to Announce Update

After skipping the Cannes Film Festival for several years, screenwriting software developer Final Draft returns in 2010 in a big way. The Calabasas company will use the international festival to announce a new version of its popular program used by professional and amateur film and television writers the world over. Final Draft Connect will go beyond what is now offered in Version 8 in that it allows for simultaneous collaboration between writers and stores every version of the document for future use, said Final Draft founder and President Marc Madnick. In the past, the company has played it close to the vest in giving advance information about updated versions but this time Madnick wanted to get an early buzz going about the software, set for release in 2011. “I do not want to sit on this,” Madnick said. “The user base is excited about this and that gets me excited.” The improvements made to the software are just a natural progression the company has always followed with each version since Madnick and a roommate wrote the first one in 1991. But an odd thing began to happen in focus groups with writers: they were suggesting the very changes the company was already pursuing. It was the first time Madnick had seen that happen. “It was a perfect match,” he added. We were wanting and desiring to go to a new level and the customer base was looking for that exact same thing,” The Final Draft engineering department will design and develop the new software. The engineering team has long been with the company so there is no learning curve, Madnick said. Details are still being worked out to make Final Draft Connect available for portable devices. The company’s announcement is scheduled for May 13 at the booth it will share with MovieSoft, a reseller of film and TV production software. While at Cannes, Final Draft will make upgrades available for version 8 of its software, sponsor scriptwriting workshops for festival attendees, and sponsor the Emerging Filmmakers Showcase at the American Pavilion and award its software to filmmakers of the program’s top 12 films. Revamped Website The Motion Picture Association of America retooled its website, www.mpaa.org. Visitors to the website will come away with a better understanding of the value of film and television production to world economies and why association works hard to protect content from theft, said MPAA President and Interim CEO Bob Pisano. “We hope this website will serve as an important resource for those who visit it,” Pisano said. New features at the site include a state-by-state guide to film production and the economic impact those productions have on local economies and jobs; an interactive map highlighting camcorder laws in 41 states plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico; government filings from Washington, D.C. and the association’s international offices; information on content protection laws at the state, federal and international levels. Adult Parody Filming After interviewing director Will Ryder for a story on the proliferation of adult parody films, I received an invitation to stop by the set of Ryder’s latest, “Not MASH XXX.” It’s one thing to hear Ryder explain how he goes for an authentic look for his films, which have included spoofs on “The Brady Bunch,” “The Cosby Show” and “Bewitched,” and another to see it in person. While not exact replicas of the sets of the original television series, what was assembled in two rooms at the LFP building in Canoga Park came impressively close. In the mock “Swamp” was the martini still and Hawkeye’s maroon bathrobe. A teddy bear lay on Radar’s bunk, with a boxy military radio on an adjacent table. The operating room was still a work in progress with trays of real surgical tools in metal pans. A copy of the iconic signpost had been raised outside of a tent. Many of the items had been collected over months by Scott David, Ryder’s business partner in their Hollywood-based production company All Media Play. A jokester between takes, Ryder turned serious when the video cameras were on. With a background in the music industry, practically everything Ryder knows about directing was self-taught. Over three hours, the cast and crew shot a dialogue scene and one sex scene. Yes, there is dialogue in adult. Ryder watched about 10 episodes of the “MASH” series to get the tone and pace of the show to incorporate into his script. As in mainstream filmmaking, there is a lot of repetition at an adult film shoot; a lot of starting and stopping to change camera angles or for noise. The hum of the air conditioner, the buzz from the lights in a nearby room, even the rotors of a circling helicopter were cause for a disruption. Multiple camera angles of scenes is necessary to give enough footage to work with in the editing process. The difference between a good and bad porn movie, Ryder said, was all in the coverage. “You get enough coverage and you can put it together like a real movie,” Ryder said. “Not MASH XXX” is scheduled for release in August. Ryder is in post-production of a Brady Bunch meets the Partridge Family parody that becomes available in May. Music Library Music library Song to Your Eyes has placed some of its instrumental tracks for what will be one of the top selling DVDs of the year. The Woodland Hills-based company licensed music for the trailer promoting “Avatar;” released in April. The composition from composer Amotz Plessner was made available through Song to Your Eyes’s Underground Music catalog. The company also licensed nine cues and provided music consultation serviced for indie film, “Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston.” The music library will also sub-publish the IDYLLIUM Classical Music Catalogue in North America. IDYLLIUM is a public domain classical music collection recorded in Italy by the Armonie Symphony Orchestra. Composers include Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Schubert, Debussy, Chopin, and Handel. “The IDYLLIUM catalogue comprises 350 recordings that sound very modern, and will fit within various types of visual projects,” said Songs to Your Eyes founder Opher Yisraeli. Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected]. It took him three years to watch all 11 seasons of “MASH” on DVD from Netflix.