Deathscribe Deadline Approaches...try a horror prompt to get you going!

So yeah..you still have two weeks to get your spooky on.  Plenty of time to wrestle your inner demons onto the page and add spooky sound effects.

There are a wealth of writing tools on ye olde internet to get you started.  I like using prompts sometimes to get me going.  You can find a TON of horror prompt idea generators in cyberspace.  I also enjoy using photos or paintings as prompts.  Find a creepy photo of a desolate barn or something and then imagine the horrors that lie within.

http://www.springhole.net/writing_roleplaying_randomators/creepypastaplot.htm

http://nanowrimo.org/en/forums/usa-minnesota-twin-cities/threads/69648

http://nighthagscorner.blogspot.com/2011/02/writing-prompts-for-horror-writers.html

https://www.google.com/search?q=horror+photo+prompt&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=UCv5UYnYF4qqyAG1goGwDw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=681

http://thehorrificallyhorrifyinghorrorblog.com/2013/04/03/inspiration-for-fear/

Our Panel at c2E2 yall! BE THERE!!!-WildClaw Presents: Deathscribe! Writing and Producing Horror Radio Plays

Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo (C2E2) 2013 Session Details - WildClaw Presents: Deathscribe! Writing and Producing Horror Radio Plays

WILDCLAW PRESENTS: DEATHSCRIBE! WRITING AND PRODUCING HORROR RADIO PLAYS #35

Date: Saturday, April 27
12:15 pm - 1:15 pm

Location: W473

Speakers: Allison Amidei, Brian Amidei, Chris Hainsworth, Paul Foster, Scott T. Barsotti

Description:
WildClaw Theatre, Chicago's Horror Theatre Company, brings you a small taste of its Annual Deathscribe Horror Radio Play Festival! Our panel of Chicago actors, playwrights, foley artists, and artists will discuss the challenges of writing and producing audio dramas with a focus on creation, execution, foley work, voice acting, and finding your audience. Then watch and listen as we perform a spooky radio play complete with foley work!

Tracks:
Performance, Sci-Fi/Fantasy

WildClaw at C2E2 again!

Mark your calendar kids and get your tickets...WildClaw will be back again at C2E2 this year.  Our panel will be all about writing horror for radio plays and we will even be doing a little performance for you.  You won't want to miss some insider tips as you start to work on your entry for this year's Deathscribe 2013!

I will be stalking Peter Davison....and hopefully getting Phil Hester to sign my damn Wonder Woman books finally!

Dream Theatre: Tribute to Arch Oboler

People should go see this....

And if you are saying, "Who is Arch Oboler?"...then first you should feel the crisp slap I just delivered across your face for being so dumb....then you should drop what you are doing and go listen to these radio plays.

Deathscribe Deadline Approaching....here are some ideas

So the deadline is looming...it is breathing down the back of your neck right.  A hot fetid breath.  Whenever you turn around it just disappears....but the smell and feeling linger on.

How do you make this feeling go away?  You write.  Consider it an exorcism.

Maybe you don't have an idea?  Well here are a few suggestions to get the juices flowing:

1. Review the format...make sure you know how to write a radio play.  It is not a screenplay.  Check out the BBC writers room for more specifics.
2. Listen to some old Deathscribes to get a feel for previous winning entries.
3. Try one of the many writing prompt websites out there...just search "writing prompt" and you will find a jillion.  Here's one for you: http://writingprompts.tumblr.com/  and one for horror writers:  http://nighthagscorner.blogspot.com/2011/02/writing-prompts-for-horror-writers.html
4. Find a newspaper article and use it...
5. Find a picture and write the story behind it.
6. Go sit on a park bench in a busy place...I guarantee you that you will hear something weird that will get you started.
7. Write about something terrifying that happened to you.
8. Write about what terrifies you about yourself...explore the inner monster.
9. Just write.  Don't edit until it is done.  Just get ten pages out and then you can go back and do it again.
10. Don't forget it is an audio drama!  All of the information is delivered via words and sound effects.  You need to be descriptive and SPECIFIC...and think about what is achievable.  It is very hard to communicate the sound of a person jumping off a building and splatting...unless you also add a line like "oh my god don't jump"...and then I destroy a watermelon on stage.  Without that key piece of info, it does not work.  You get me?  It is not film.  When you are done, read it out loud to someone and if they cannot follow the story, then you need to add a few things.  Also, you often need to repeat character names frequently.  Again, since it is NOT A VISUAL MEDIUM...the listener needs more info.  If you have a scene with five male voices...it might take a bit to distinguish between them.  Help them out.
11. Have fun.  The only important requirements are that is be a radio play, no more than ten minutes (about ten pages), and that it be horror.  It can be funny, it can be scary, it can be sad, it can be uplifting, it can be disgusting.  It can be all of those things.  Send it in.  Submit.  And then come watch the results on December 3rd.  
12. Don't give up.  If you don't get in the first time, keep trying.  If you have submitted before and are feeling discouraged, keep trying.   Keep writing.  Always keep writing.  We need your messed up little brains.

X Minus 1

In memory of Ray Bradbury, someone has shared with me a link of archived audio files of the old radio program X Minus 1.  Within their broadcasts exist a good handful of Bradbury stories, so take your time and browse around here.  I'm going to fire one up while I'm doing housework today...

Deathscribe 2011 tonight at 8pm! Who will get the bloody axe?

It's here.  We teched all weekend....the pieces are killer.  My knuckles are swollen from foley work (pounding on cellar doors, pounding on various fruits and vegatables, pounding on pillows....etc).  Tonight we descend upon the beautiful Mayne Stage for an amazing evening of live horror radio.  It will be a classy night of chaos.  Please join us for the fourth annual Deathscribe Horror Radio Play Festival!

Deathscribe killed the Website...Some last minute tips for you procrastinators!

Clearly you are all a bunch of wonderful procrastinators...fear not pretties.  We are working on the problem and you will be able to submit all your twisted little radio plays for us. Be patient.

In the meantime here are some tips:

1. DON'T SEND US SCREENPLAYS.  Seriously people.  I am not sure how ten minute radio plays became the same thing as a two hour feature film screenplay.  Grumble.
2. Use proper radio format...look to the BBC writer's room for inspiration.
3. Write about something that excites/repels/interests/scares/arouses you. 
4. Don't send us stage plays....there is a difference folks. 
5. Theatre of the Mind...when you have no visuals, your mind gets to play a little.  Enhance that by thinking of the sounds as well as the dialogue and story.  It makes a huge difference.
6. Remember that because there are no visuals...you need to do things like repeat names on occasion.  And you can't write sound cues like "man throws himself off a building"...I mean you CAN but as your foley girl...I will hate you.  Think about how you can make that visual happen with sound and dialogue.  The audience won't know what that thud is (probably a sack of potatoes)...but if you add lines like "Don't do it Chet!"  and  "Oh no that dude just jumped!" then people might get it.  Got it?
7. And once again...don't send us screenplays.  Seriously. 

Deathscribe Submissions...Deadline Extended until September 29th, 2011

SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN!
DEADLINE EXTENDED: September 29th, 2011

We are looking for 10-minute radio scripts that are genuinely scary, imaginative, chilling, intelligent, suspenseful, horrific or downright grotesque. We put no restrictions on contestants as to content or tone, but keep in mind that we are a Horror Theatre. We take our horror seriously, and so should you.

Submission rules:
Scripts must be ready to produce - all sound and music cues included. Details on format can be found below. Please be aware that these scripts, if chosen, will be performed by no more than 6 actors, therefore if you have more characters it will require double casting by the director of the piece.

5 scripts will be selected from all submissions. After being selected, there will be an opportunity for the authors to refine, revise, and tighten these scripts (if deemed necessary) in collaboration with WildClaw Theatre Company.

These scripts will be rehearsed and presented as an evening of Live Radio Drama with foley sound at the Mayne Stage in Chicago's Rogers Park and recorded for a future WildClaw Blood Radio Podcast.

Deadline for submissions is midnight, September 29th, 2011.
Deathscribe selections will be “blind.” The title page should include the title of the script, names of all authors, and the address, phone/fax and email address of the author(s). The subsequent pages must include only the manuscript title and page number and NO identifying personal information (name, address, email, etc.) or it will be disqualified. There will be a “Best of the Fest” award, with the winner chosen by a celebrity panel of judges on the night of performance.

By submitting to WildClaw’s Deathscribe Radio Horror Festival, you are stating that the script is your own work and has not been produced or commissioned for pay by other theatre groups. Plays which have been produced professionally are not eligible. Audio plays that have received college/university productions only will be accepted.

By submitting your play and upon acceptance to WildClaw’s Deathscribe Radio Horror Festival, you are granting WildClaw the exclusive, non-binding rights to make copies of your work in all media - including print, digital, film, video, audio, or other Internet formats - used to promote the Festival. WildClaw Theatre will have the right to produce the selected scripts for the WildClaw Theatre Deathscribe Horror Radio Festival, including broadcast and/or webcast of the festival; however, WildClaw Theatre makes no commitment to produce any script. The author retains all other rights to his or her work.

Instructions to Submit
To submit electronically, please make sure your script is formatted correctly according to the guidelines (see below) and submit your script as an attachment to deathscribe2011@gmail.com.

Guidelines:
• Scripts must be no more than TEN MINUTES in length. This includes all sound effects, transitions and dialogue. The ENTIRE performance should only last 10 minutes. (And preferably no shorter than 7 minutes. Please read it aloud at home before submitting to check the running time. Generally one page reads as one minute.)
• Writers may submit up to two (2) scripts for Deathscribe consideration in any year. Submit three or more, and the Literary Legion will be very, very angry, and will choose which two they wish to read arbitrarily.
• PDF format is strongly preferred. If you don't have PDF, then only MS Word please. All scripts must have a title page with all contact information, but no identifying information should appear anywhere else in the document. Submissions must be in a standard font and no less than 12 point.

• NO SCREENPLAYS. SCREENPLAYS WILL BE DISCARDED. WE KNOW THEM WHEN WE SEE THEM.
• DO NOT submit full-length plays for consideration in Deathscribe. They will be discarded. If you wish to submit a full-length horror play to WildClaw, see our general submission guidelines.
• Scripts should follow radio drama format. Refer to BBC Writers Room's Script Smart site (not affiliated with the WildClaw Deathscribe Radio Play Festival) for script format, samples, and free templates at http://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scriptsmart/
• Writers will be notified by email if their script(s) get selected.

• WildClaw Theatre’s Deathscribe Horror Radio Festival will take place December 5, 2011.
• Deadline for submissions is September 29th, 2011, at midnight.
Please contact the Daemon of WildClaw with questions at deathscribe2011@gmail.com

DEATHSCRIBE 2011 Submissions Due Sept. 15th!

Ladies and Germs, your DEATHSCRIBE 2011 submissions are due September 15th.

Here are the details.

Send us your 10-minute, scary radio play, complete with sound effects notations. The DEATHSCRIBE Festival, now in its fourth year, has become one of the cool, fun annual events in Chicago. The show takes place at the beautiful Mayne Stage and the five selected pieces are directed and performed by some of Chicago's theatre finest. If your piece is selected it will read live, accompanied by a live band and live sound effects on stage. Our Guest Jury will choose the evening's winner and that author will receive the coveted Bloody Axe! Get your writing hat on and scare the hell out of us.

Deathscribe Submissions...Open for business! Submit!

Accepting Submissions for WildClaw Theatre’s

DEATHSCRIBE 2011

June 15, 2011:  WildClaw Theatre’s DEATHSCRIBE 2011, the Forth Annual International Festival of Radio Horror Plays, is accepting radio script submissions, to be will be presented at The Mayne Stage, 1328 W. Morse Avenue, on Monday, December 5th.  The deadline for DEATHSCRIBE 2011 Submissions is September 15, 2011.

We are looking for 10-minute radio scripts that are genuinely scary, imaginative, chilling, intelligent, suspenseful, horrific, or downright grotesque.   There are no restrictions as to content or tone, but keep in mind that WildClaw is a Horror Theatre.  We take our horror seriously, and so should you.  We want stories about serial killers, insects, distorted squirrels, cannibals, deep ones, plagues, demonic possessions, dogfish howlers, werewolves, vampires, zombies, aliens, and of course, the monster within.

Calling all twisted tales, bone-chilling nightmares and horrific urban legends - WildClaw’s Deathscribe 2011 needs you!

Visit http://www.wildclawtheatre.com for submission rules, regulations, and recordings of previous shows.  This festival is open to all, and there is no fee for submission. Students are welcome and encouraged.  Submission deadline is September 15, 2011.

Shape your fear into a 10-minute radio play and send it to WildClaw at deathscribe2011@gmail.com.  5 finalists will be selected, and their scripts performed live at Chicago’s Mayne Stage, on Monday, December 5th.  The author of the best of the festival will be awarded the coveted Bloody Axe award.  It is one-night-only extravaganza of original short radio plays, written by horror enthusiasts from around the globe, produced by some of Chicago’s finest actors, directors, musicians, sound effects artists, and special guest stars, plus a celebrity panel to judge the best of the fest!

Please visit http://www.wildclawtheatre.com for submission rules and regulations.  Please feel free to pass this information along to any interested party.