Author: Donald L. Vasicek

Award-winning writer/filmmaker Donald L. Vasicek studied producing, directing and line producing at the Hollywood Film Institute under the acclaimed Dov Simens and at Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute. He studied screenwriting at The Complete Screenplay, Inc., with Sally Merlin, daughter of the famed Hollywood Merlin family of screenwriters and writers, as his mentor. Don has taught, mentored, and is a script consultant for over 300 writers, directors, producers, actors and production companies. He has also acted in NBC’s “Mystery of Flight 1501”, ABC’s Father Dowling starring Thomas Bosley, and Red-Handed Productions’ “Summer Reunion.” These activities have resulted in his involvement in over 100 movies during the past 23 years, from major studios to independent films including MGM’s $56 million “Warriors of Virtue”, Paramount Classic’s “Racing Lucifer”, American Picture’s “The Lost Heart” and “Born To Kill” starring the Charles Bronson of Korea, Bobby Kim, and his internationally-known brother, Richard, who directed, Incline Productions, Inc.’s “Born To Win”, 20th Century Fox’s “Die Hard II” starring Bruce Willis with Rennie Harlan as director, and Joel Silver as producer, Olympus Films+, LLC’s “Haunted World” with Emmy-nominated PBS Producer Alison Hill, and Olympus Films+, LLC’s “Faces”, “Oh, The Places You Can Go” and the award-winning “The Sand Creek Massacre” documentary film. Don also has written and published over 500 books, short stories and articles. His books include “How To Write, Sell, And Get Your Screenplays Produced” and “The Write Focus.” He has been a guest screenwriting and filmmaking columnist for Hollywood Lit. Sales, Moondance International Film Festival’s e-zine, Screenwriter’s Forum, Screenplace, Screenplayers.Net, Screenwriters.Net, Screenwriters Utopia, Spraka & Kinsla (Swedish), Inkwell Watch, and Ink On the Brain. Writing recognition includes Houston’s WorldFest International Film Festival, Chesterfield’s Writer’s Film Project, Writer’s Digest, The Sundance Institute, The Writer’s Network, and the Rocky Mountain Writer’s Guild, Inc. Don completed producing “The Sand Creek Massacre”, a documentary film project that includes the completed and award-winning documentary short, a book, a classroom video, Interactive Media, a study guide, and a lesson plans. The film is being distributed by Films Media Group. Don is on the board of directors of the American Indian Genocide Museum in Houston. He is the founder and owner of Olympus Films+, LLC, a global writing and filmmaking company and a screenwriting volunteer on AllExperts.com. Don’s screenwriting agent is Robin Kaver of the Robert Freedman Dramatic Agency, Inc., 1501 Broadway, Suite 2301 New York, NY 10036, 212-840-5751.
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Sand Creek Massacre Golden Drover Winner to Direct Silas Soule Film

Olympus Films+, LLC ("The Sand Creek Massacre", "Faces") has been a global filmmaking, writing and consulting company for the past 40 years.
Olympus Films+, LLC (“The Sand Creek Massacre”, “Faces”) has been a global filmmaking, writing and consulting company for the past 40 years.

For Immediate Release

Centennial, CO, United States of America March 11, 2014
GOLDEN DROVER WINNER TO SHOOT NEW FILM
March 11, 2014 (Centennial, CO) – Donald L. Vasicek, who won the Golden Drover Award for Best Film (Native American) (“The Sand Creek Massacre”) at the Trail Dance Film Festival and also winner at The IndieFest Film Festival and The American Indian Film Festival, has signed a LOI with Iron Violet Films (I.V.F.), a division of the parent company: Iron Violet Productions, to write, direct and produce a feature film along with his film company, Olympus Films+, LLC.

Titled, “The Captain”, it is a story about Captain Silas Soule who risked his own life in his quest to save African­Americans from slavery, and the Cheyenne tribe from annihilation, during the Sand Creek Massacre. I. V. F. is headquartered in Shreveport, Louisiana, also known as “Hollywood South”, where nearly 220 major motion pictures and shows have been shot. It boasts three motion picture studios and sound stages in the region. Broadway producer, Marcinho Savant, is executive producing “The Captain.” I.V.F.’s anticipated film releases include, “The Tracks”, “Birthday Pie”, and “Brookwater’s Curse” with Mr. Savant (CEO) serving as Creative Consultant and Executive Producer.

Savant said, “One of America’s greatest, muted, stains. Some would have it swept away, like so many grains of blood­soaked sand. I’m honored and grateful to be collaborating with Donald on this important film. His passion, has become my own. I’m honored to play some, small, role in telling the truth, for the benefit of the Cheyenne, and Arapaho victims of this horrendous slaughter. Captain Soule was a pioneering Abolitionist who befriended the indigenous people. I suspect he’d be thrilled to know that the truth will, finally, be told.”

Vasicek said, “It is past due time to make a feature film about Silas Soule, let alone the Sand Creek Massacre. Mr. Soule’s bravery and courage to face and elevate himself about the racism and hate that drove people to brutalize, murder, rape, mutilate and terrorize slaves and America’s indigenous people reigns as a shining example of heroism for all Americans and the world. I am honored and blessed to have become part of this film with Iron Violet Films and the talented Mr. Savant.”

Vasicek said an upcoming press release will give an update for the production schedule. The pre­production website address is “The Captain” Movie. Please contact Vasicek via e­Mail, 303­903­2103 or Mr. Savant via e­Mail , 318­402­4697 x 705 for more information.

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CONTACTS:
Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303­903­2103

Marcinho Savant
Iron Violet Films e­Mail 318­402­4697, x 705



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The Zen of Writing Plays Role in Gold Reel Award-Winner’s Hoboken Film Festival Selection

Hello Everyone,

I hope this finds all well with each of you.

“The Blue Man”, view trailer at (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcZfU7bPg8g#t=16), a film directed by Istanbul
Director/Producer Utku Celtic, that won a Gold Reel Award in the feature film competition in the Nevada Film Festival, has
become an official selection of the Hoboken International Film Festival (http://www.hobokeninternationalfilmfestival.com/).

It is a story about an archeologist who wakes up handcuffed to a bed in a basement. He has to
find a way to escape before he is executed for being a spy even though he is an archeologist
hired to investigate a mass grave that contains bodies clothed in blue shirts.

“The Blue Man” is a scintillating film that takes audiences on a roller-coaster ride of emotions,
chills and suspense through the hate-filled world of fundamentalist Islamists.

I was a script consultant on the project.

Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
The Zen of Writing & Screenwriting
http://michaelc.nextmp.net/wordpress
dvasicek@earthlink.net
303-903-2103

http://www.sandcreekmassacre.net
http://captainmovie.weebly.com/

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The Anatomy of a Produceable Screenplay: Page One

DLV:FALCON

The Anatomy of a Produceable Screenplay: Page One
By
Donald L. Vasicek

When you watch a movie, what do you usually see in the first minute? A bunch of people jumping around? Or perhaps running? Or a headstone in a cemetery? A slinky woman’s naked cadaver silhouetted against a light? What about the one that skims you over a body of water with the skyline of a city ahead? Whatever you see, has meaning, at least in screenplays that get produced.

There are at least eight elements that should be on the first page of your screenplay if you want to hook your reader into your screenplay, enhance your chances of selling it and having it produced. Learned eyes look for these elements on page one of your screenplay. If they aren’t there, you’ve already got a strike against you in the mind of the reader. What are these elements and how can you write them into the first page of your screenplay?

If you first come up with a metaphor that describes the main theme of your screenplay, then the seven other elements will drop into place much easier. A metaphor that describes the main theme of your screenplay must be visual since film is a visual medium. You don’t want to bore your audience by unleashing talking heads to the audience unless you can pull it off like Billy Bob Thornton did in his Academy Award-winning screenplay, “Sling Blade” and some excellent acting by Billy Bob Thornton and J. T. Walsh.

For example, on page one in my screenplay, “The Crown”, which was produced, the main character, a gangly boy of 12 with a red kerchief as a headband cleans his mother’s headstone in a cemetery. The inscription on the headstone shows the years of her birth and death. A butterfly flutters about the headstone and main character. A shadow creeps over the main character. The butterfly flies away. The main character looks around. He sees a pretty woman. She frowns at him and says, “You have to let her go, Justin Freeman.”

The metaphor (element one)shows a butterfly flying (element two)(movement to draw your audience into the movie) away from a headstone. The metaphor shows the theme (element three) of the movie which is “letting go” which is also stated by the woman. The main character (element four) is introduced. The main character shows what his foremost problem in the movie is going to be by cleaning his mother’s headstone (he will not let go of her)(element five). The setting (element six) the main character is in is a cemetery. We have a sense of direction by knowing where “we’re” starting out in this movie. The time frame(element seven)of the movie is shown by the inscription on the headstone. Now, we have an idea about when this movie is taking place. The main character’s name is given (element eight)when the woman speaks to him. We know now who Justin Freeman is.

These eight elements, metaphor, movement, theme, main character, main character’s foremost problem, setting, time frame, and main character’s name defines “The Crown.” All of this takes place on page one of the screenplay. Translated into movie minutes, this means in the first minute of “The Crown”, eight elements are shown that hook us into the movie.

The first and second elements, the metaphor and movement, cause us unconsciously to wonder why the butterfly is present, is, then exits, means. Something to muse over. The third element, the theme, gives us a subconcious idea about what “The Crown” is going to be about because we see this butterfly hovering over a headstone and a boy, and then fly away as though the spirit of the body in the grave left the grave. Letting go is something the boy is going to have to do if he is to grow as a human being. The fourth element shows us who the main character is. What does the red kerchief wrapped around his head as a headband mean? Is it some kind of identity statement? Perhaps a social comment? We want to learn more about him. The fifth element shows the main character’s foremost problem, he’s into cleaning his mother’s headstone. We know it’s got to be something loving about his connection to someone in the grave. And we know that he can’t go on like this, he’s only a boy. The sixth element, the setting, a cemetery, also is metaphorical. A cemetery is a place where human beings bury human beings who have died. It is a final resting place for them, freed from the bonds of life. The seventh element, the dates on the headstone and name, give us some idea of the time frame of this movie and who is buried in the grave. Being made aware of that visually gives us a source of reference to the main character. The eighth element, the boy’s name, helps us put a name with the boy and link him to the person in the grave. The last name, “Freeman”, also gives a hint of the theme, letting go.

So, the next time you watch a movie, look for elements that hook you into the movie. Make notes. Analyze them the next day. You’ll be amazed at how subtle, but yet, how informative the first minute of well-written movies are. Write your screenplays with the same art and craft and you’ll increase your opportunity to sell and get your screenplays produced.