Screenwriters World Conference 2013

Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles

I have just  spent the last three days at the Screenwriters World Conference 2013 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. It was nice to stay at a luxury hotel for a couple of nights and mingle with lots of budding screenwriters from all around the world.

I attended some great talks and got plenty of feedback on the structure of my story. I have started a screenwriting blog, which I will keep separate from my travel blog. The plan is to record the trials and tribulations that will take me, a rookie screenwriter, from the first draft to the final draft of my first ever screenplay!

I must get some sleep now, because I have to be up early tomorrow as I am going on a VIP tour of the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, and then I am going for a tour of one of the film schools nearby.

California ScienCentre and Sony Pictures Studios

This morning, I went down to the California ScienCentre, and the highlight was getting close-up to the space shuttle, Endeavour.

In Los Angeles, it sometimes feels more like a Spanish holiday resort than America, as most of the signs are in English and Spanish, and many of the large billboard adverts are in Spanish only; but what is really weird is every now and then, someone approaches me in American English just as I am about to talk using my best Spanish!

Today, I found some traffic lights with beeps, except they sounded more like a bird tweeting, which took me by surprise at first!

This afternoon, I went on a two-hour tour of the Sony Pictures Studios, which was really cool. The part that I enjoyed most was not what I was expecting... As part of the Drive Around The World documentary series, Buzz Aldrin (Apollo astronaut) and Steve Wozniak (Apple co-founder) will be filmed driving to the South Pole in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, and for a short while, we got to watch their vehicles being assembled!

My screenwriters' conference begins tomorrow at midday, so there will be no more tourist updates until Monday.

Hollywood

I took a tourist bus around the sites and up to the hills.

This morning, I caught a public bus from Santa Monica Beach to Hollywood, which took about an hour through the traffic!

I found a great little hotel only a few blocks from the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.

I took a two-hour tourist bus tour of the Beverly Hills mansions, which were fascinating. Bernie Ecclestone's daughter had the largest mansion, but I like the Beckham's one the best.

I couldn't resist seeing a psychic: She told me that this trip would be very successful and that she could see me settling in L.A. and having a very successful career in films. I bet she says that to all the guys!

Tomorrow, is my last free day before my screenwriters' conference, and I plan to visit one or two of the film studios.

Santa Monica

Where the Santa Monica Blvd meets the beach.

When I arrived in Los Angeles, I took a bus from the airport to Santa Monica beach, where I had lunch at an English pub, while watching a Chelsea game live!

I walked around the town and then towards Venice Beach looking for a motel, which I eventually found.

My biggest obstacle was the traffic lights. It is illegal to jay walk in the US, which I knew, so had to wait for sign. However, there are no beeps here, so if you are distracted and not continuously starring at the sign, you can miss your turn to cross!

I thought the place would be wealthy and conservative, which it was, but there were also a lot of hippie new age shops, vegan cafes, psychic readers - a bit like Byron Bay I suppose.

The motel was cheap and nasty, and also very noisy, so I decided to relocate to Hollywood.

Why start this leg of the trip in L.A.?

Hyatt Regency Century Plaza,
Avenue of the Stars, L.A.

I will be attending the Screenwriters' World Conference in Los Angeles, a high-level networking and educational summit designed by The Writers Store to help budding writers learn how to write and sell a screenplay. They can then put those skills into action during networking events that directly connect themselves with key executives in the movie and television Industry who can help move their writing career forward. The diverse schedule offers a wide variety of topics and tactics for screenwriters at every career and skill level, so they can design a track for themselves with useable information on everything from the latest screenwriting trends to finding representation to selling that spec!

After a break, the blog continues...

Last year, I travelled from the Antarctic Circle through Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, Panama and Cuba in a six-week trip. After some time back in Australia to finish my PhD and save up some money, I am now ready to continue where I left off. Next week, I am flying from Sydney into Los Angeles International Airport for the next stage of my journey from the tip to the top of the Americas!

After a couple of days to acclimatise, I am going to attend the Screenwriters World Conference West 2013, which I am really looking forward to. Then, the plan is hire a motorbike and travel up the coast to San Francisco, but really anything could happen!