LOS ANGELES, March 28, 2012- Jack Messitt claimed top honors in the 2011 Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition with his drama ADVENTURES IN BABYMAKING. Messitt, a longtime cinematographer turned writer/director, was named the grand prize winner on Wednesday by competition chairman Joel Mendoza.

“Adventures in Babymaking touched me on so many levels” said Mendoza. “I laughed, I cried. It’s a story full of humor and heart and you can’t help but fall in love with the characters on their journey towards parenthood. It is that gem we were looking for. Jack’s unique voice resonates through every page.”

Chosen from close to 1000 scripts read and evaluated over the past 10 months, ADVENTURES IN BABYMAKING is the story of a reluctant father and his persistent wife as they navigate the frustrating and often ridiculous world of trying to have a baby.

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Shawn Ashmore (Iceman from the X:Men movies) and Harry Shum Jr. (Glee) star inAlready Gone by Bill Balas.

As a direct result of placing in the action category of the 2010 Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition, producers Peter Katz and Don Le optioned the script for up and coming filmmaker Ross Ching to direct. Joel Mendoza of Fresh Voices and Attraction Entertainment is Executive Producer.

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Shawn Ashmore (Iceman from the X:Men movies) and Harry Shum Jr. (Glee) star inAlready Gone by Bill Balas.

As a direct result of placing in the action category of the 2010 Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition, producers Peter Katz and Don Le optioned the script for up and coming filmmaker Ross Ching to direct. Joel Mendoza of Fresh Voices and Attraction Entertainment is Executive Producer.

Originally Published: Mashable.com http://mashable.com/2012/05/02/indie-film-social-trailers/

May 2^nd by Christine Erickson

The film industry is not what it used to be. Gone are the days when writers shopped a script around Hollywood, hoping to catch the eye of major production studios.

Instead, that model has been turned upside down. Films are aiming to captivate an audience first, without the assistance of studios. Technology and social media have made it feasible.

Writer Bill Balas entered his feature-length script into a contest for Fresh Voices, a social network for screenwriters, which captured the attention of producers Peter Katz and Don Le.

Rather than following the traditional path of production, the team used Balas’s script to create Already Gone, a short film about a crook who only robs from other criminals. The three-minute video is directed by Ross Ching, and stars Shawn Ashmore of X-men fame and Harry Shum Jr. from Glee.

Originally Published: Wired.com http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/04/exclusive-already-gone/

April 24^th by Curtis Silver

Hollywood is a wild and crazy place, and the politics of getting a feature film produced are complex to say the least. Rather than shopping a completed script to possibly interested parties, director Ross Ching and writer Bill Balas took a shortcut: They simply made a three-minute version of their action movie.

Their violent short is called Already Gone, and you can watch it exclusively above (language NSFW). The filmmakers might just be on to something big with this approach, which takes the “teaser first, movie later” concept a step further: This is a very streamlined way to get their story in front of audiences before the full feature has been completed. Think of it as a pilot for the feature film yet to be bought.

HOLLYWOOD, January 27^th 2012

Shawn Ashmore, star of the X:Men movies, has been cast alongside Harry Shum Jr. , star of the hit Fox series Glee, to play partners in crime in Already Gone.  Shawn Ashmore plays Jude Mulvey, a low level criminal suffering from a debilitating and life threatening disease, but after making a huge score against the Mob, he’s got bigger problems than just his health.

The screenplay, written by Bill Balas, was discovered through the Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition.

Since being a finalist in the 2010 Fresh Voices Screenplay Competition, Bill quit his day job selling insurance and is now a staff writer for the upcoming A&E TV series The Bates Motel starring Vera Farmiga. With the help of Fresh Voices, Bill optioned his winning screenplay Already Gone and attached Shawn Ashmore (X:Men 1,2,3) and Harry Shum Jr. (Glee) to star in the project. See the trailer here! 

The Bates Motel is a new series created by Kerry Ehrin (Parenthood, Friday Night Lights, Boston Public) and Carlton Cuse (Lost, Nash Bridges). The Bates Motel is based on Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and is a further exploration of Norman Bates dark and twisted relationship with his morther. The series stars Vera Farmiga (The Departed, Up in the Air), Max Theriot and Freddie Highmore. The show is under a 10 episode order from Universal Television and will air on A&E in 2013.