[Bill Jr.]

Bill Young Jr. (byjr) Project and Market

ScreenwritingU – Professional Rewrite Class – Lesson-1 – Completed 2025-05-04

1. Genre: Thriller

Title: The Nature of Power

Concept:
If you know exactly what –REALLY- determines POWER, you can defeat even the strongest EVIL POWER.

Also:
Logline:
Brilliant engineer-businessmen JONATHAN STONE and NATHAN JORDAN can bring 100% clean energy to the entire world while saving the U.S. economy, if only they and their teams can stay alive.

2. What is most attractive about this story:

Americans are tired of hearing about nothing but bad news about America’s economy, environment, jobs, and so on.

This story shows how a group of HONEST and ABLE people can change all that, and FAST.

3. Who would I target first:

Actors and Directors who have their own Production Company, specifically:

a) Actor Morgan Freeman, who I want to play the lead character Jonathan Stone, and the screenplay writing is designed to attract him. [Per your “Rewrite” course]

His production company, Revelations Entertainment, was founded specifically to make films and shows that “make a difference” and show us “how it can be done”.

b) Director Ron Howard, known for making films that portray heroes who are NOT using violence as their primary way of making the world a better place, as in the movies Backdraft and Far and Away.

He also has his own production company, Imagine Entertainment.

c) Actor, Director Bryce Dallas Howard, who impressed me with the episodes of The Mandalorian she directed, and roles she played in Jurassic movies; If Ron Howard doesn’t want to Direct my movie (or has other commitments), perhaps Bryce could Direct it.

She also has her own production company, Nine Muses Entertainment.

4. What I learned today is:

a) Before one can Pitch, you have to TARGET first, otherwise your pitch will not work.

b) The Pitch has to fit your Target, but also what they need NOW.

c) Each entity/person (Manager, Producer, Director, Actor, and Production Company) have their own needs and wants, and also their own skill sets.

Example:

Someone may WANT to make movies that inspire people and leave a positive message, but have only been successful doing raw action-only movies, i.e. just action, violence, dog-eat-dog, etc.

This type of actor, director, producer may find it hard to transition into “inspirational” movies, even if they are predominantly action, since it requires additional skill sets to do that.

That is why I chose people who had DONE WHAT I WANT DONE SUCCESSFULLY AND MANY TIMES.

Thanks Hal, Cheryl!

===

[Bill Jr.]

Hello Hal, Cheryl, and all my fellow ScreenwritingU students!
1. Name?
I write fiction under the name Bill Young Jr., sometimes sign communications with "byjr".
2. How many scripts you’ve written?
I have only written one script, a first draft that is 99% done. Problem is, it is 740+ pages long, estimated to be 760 once finished. I am also on the ScreenwritingU "Professional Rewrite Class" which is helping me greatly to get it down to at least 180 pages or lower. Since my outlines and drafts fit the massive 1st Draft, and I have other commitments, I am still about 2/3rds through that class and will continue it while doing this class. (I assume other on that class completed it a while ago.)
So far I am more of a novel writer than a screenplay writer, but I plan to learn to be both.
3. What you hope to get out of the class?
How to effectively market my screenplay and also be able to market it to those I want to make the movie, and attract the actors I need/want to make this a successful movie. [Some of this is covered in the other course, especially re screenplay content to attract A-list actors.] As there is little similar training on novel marketing to publishers and agents, I might even also apply some of what I learn here to pitching the novelization of this story.
4. Something unique, special, strange or unusual about you?
The most noticeable things that make me different are:
a) I want my life to have a positive effect on the world and its future. I've done a few things, but I do not feel it is enough. This is reflected in my FICTION WRITING.
b) I am very technical, especially on Physics and computer-driven working environments. This helped me be very successful as a professional Technical Writer. But I am also very very big on the ARTS! I used to play guitar and piano (rusty now), still singe well, and I even painted in high school.
c) I am religious but in a technical way. I believe we are spiritual, have lived for eons as such, and will continue, but NOT because of any mystical belief or any traditional religious belief. I saw a Scientists proof we are such, and from that I believed.
d) I love being around people, and communicating freely on ALL subjects. But I have zero tolerance for those who suppress others, hurt others, push people around just to feel strong, etc.
e) I absolutely LOVE diversity, and have only ONE prejudice – EVIL people.

Other than all that, I'm just your average Joe.
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• This reply was modified 1 month, 1 week ago by  Bill Jr..

[Bill Jr.]

William Thomas Young, writing as “Bill Young Jr.” sometimes abbreviated as “byjr”.

I agree to the terms of this release form – shown below.

GROUP RELEASE FORM
As a member of this group, I agree to the following:
1. That I will keep the processes, strategies, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class confidential, and that I will NOT share any of this program either privately, with a group, posting online, writing articles, through video or computer programming, or in any other way that would make those processes, teleconferences, communications, lessons, and models of the class available to anyone who is not a member of this class.
2. That each writer’s work here is copyrighted and that writer is the sole owner of that work. That includes this program which is copyrighted by Hal Croasmun. I acknowledge that submission of an idea to this group constitutes a claim of and the recognition of ownership of that idea.
I will keep the other writer’s ideas and writing confidential and will not share this information with anyone without the express written permission of the writer/owner. I will not market or even discuss this information with anyone outside this group.
3. I also understand that many stories and ideas are similar and/or have common themes and from time to time, two or more people can independently and simultaneously generate the same concept or movie idea.
4. If I have an idea that is the same as or very similar to another group member’s idea, I’ll immediately contact Hal and present proof that I had this idea prior to the beginning of the class. If Hal deems them to be the same idea or close enough to cause harm to either party, he’ll request both parties to present another concept for the class.
5. If you don’t present proof to Hal that you have the same idea as another person, you agree that all ideas presented to this group are the sole ownership of the person who presented them and you will not write or market another group member’s ideas.
6. Finally, I agree not to bring suit against anyone in this group for any reason, unless they use a substantial portion of my copyrighted work in a manner that is public and/or that prevents me from marketing my script by shopping it to production companies, agents, managers, actors, networks, studios or any other entertainment industry organizations or people.
This completes the Group Release Form for the class.

[Bill Jr.]

I need help with posting. I wrote Assignment 1 as 2 text files [one for title and loglines, and one text file for 1-page story outline)P, but when I pasted the text files in here, all the text was one long line, no “new-line” points.

Do I need to edit it in this space to manually insert the new-line points, or is there another way to post my assignment content that will interpret the new-line characters in the original text files?

• This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by  Bill Jr..
• This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by  Bill Jr..
• This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by  Bill Jr..

[Bill Jr.]

I write under the name of Bill Young Jr.

I've written only 1 screenplay which is 99% done, but is insanely too long!!!

I need to be able to cut my current screenplay way down, and also be able in the future to write concise screenplays that can easily be made into movies (or series) without massive rewrites.

I can knock out great poems easily – but limited market for them. I also wrote seriously good technical manuals for border protection and airport protection.

Prose is much more a challenge, as I am way too wordy. I can make up stories by the bucket load, but writing them is harder.

• This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by  Bill Jr..

[Bill Jr.]

“I agree to the terms of the Group Release Form.

Formal name:
William Thomas Young

Name I use for fiction writing:
Bill Young Jr.

• This reply was modified 4 months, 1 week ago by  Bill Jr..

[Bill Jr.]

Hi Moses!

Would you be interested in partnering with me for a bit?

Bill Young Jr.