Month: July 2020

Remote and flex jobs

If you’re in the market for remote/virtual or flexible job, two of the best job posting sites out there are Virtual Vocations and FlexJobs.

The job postings include part-time, full-time, remote, and contract.

You can access both to browse jobs, but you have to be a paid member to access the full postings.

I’ve used both and have gotten decent gigs through them. Highly recommend.

Winning your way onto the screen

Here’s one for my fellow screenwriters out there. MovieBytes is my go-to for all the info on upcoming screenwriting contests, including:

  • Full details (objective, rankings, deadlines/entry fees, discounts if available, awards, etc.)
  • Contest directory (sorted a host of ways, such as: most significant, regional, festival, free, etc.)
  • Contest calendar (final deadlines only)
  • Deadline alert on the righthand column
  • Contest news
  • Info on winning scripts (writers can add to the database where producers/agents/managers can access them)
  • HollywoodIQ (news and interviews from the industry)
  • Free newsletter delivered to your inbox

Circling the © sign: resources on copyright law

If you’re going to write and get published – whether blog posts, newspaper/magazine articles, books, whatever – sooner or later you’re going to encounter these (and other) issues with copyright:

  • Knowing how and when to file a copyright on your work.
  • Making sure you’re not violating copyright or fair use laws when you’re quoting or linking to someone else’s work or site.
  • Knowing what to do if someone violates the copyright on your work.

The U.S. Copyright Office has more information than you ever thought you’d need on copyright laws and policies, including details on Title 17 of the U.S. Code and Fair Use.

Find them on Twitter (@CopyrightOffice) or on YouTube (/uscopyrightoffice).

They also have a blog and offer several email subscriptions.

Another excellent resource is Copyright Law in 2020 Explained in One Page, which is much more readable than the .gov info.

I Do Declare: A musical genius has departed this world

I was saddened to hear news that Ennio Morricone died today.

The man was a brilliant composer, with an amazing 520 credits (per IMDB.com) going back to 1960. He was well recognized for his art: 91 nominations and 83 wins, though only one Oscar among them.

Helpful IMDB Trivia informs me that he refused to move to Hollywood, despite being offered a villa by a studio more than once, and lived his entire life in Italy. He was married to the same woman for 64 years (staying away from Hollywood may have helped in that regard), and they had four children. I’m not sure which of these details is more impressive. His steadfastness is to be admired.

His music always feels so haunting – in a good way. It follows me around, seizing me at the most unexpected times, and eventually settles into my soul. I have no doubt I am more enlightened because of it, a touch closer to God, perhaps.

Morricone once said, “You can’t save a bad movie with a good score.” That’s an insightful commentary on the movie industry, but I like to think of it as a metaphor for life as well – if we think of “the movie” as our words/actions and “the score” as the façades we often display. It’s likely that his comment was meant to be taken at face value – a note about the industry – rather than metaphorically. That’s fine. I present my interpretation as one more example of his ability to burrow into my consciousness.

It’s difficult to choose one favorite out of his vast body of work, but if pressed, I’d have to pick “The Ecstasy of Gold,” from the movie “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.”

Here’s the man himself, conducting this magnificent piece of work:

And here’s the version from the soundtrack: