How to Save Tigers like Leonardo DiCaprio #WWF #NaBloPoMo #SaveTigersNow

Wild Tigers are near extinction according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Today, there are only a little over 3,000 tigers in the wild accounted for and this is a significant reduction from the 100,000 big cats that are said to have been around hundreds of years ago.

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has joined forces with WWF in a campaign called Save Tigers Now to stop poaching, consumer demand for tiger parts, protect parklands where tigers can roam and mate in their natural habitat, support long-term research and monitoring for better conservation methods for these big cats and reduce conflict between humans and tigers.

During an investigation, Tim Santel at the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife uncovered that “...dead cats are worth more than live cats” on the black market, where Tigers are killed and sold for parts.........skin, skull, meat, gull bladders, bone, etc. making a lucrative investment for the dealers who participate in the horrid activity of poaching and black market sales of animal parts.

Watch the following video clip from WWF called “Captive Tigers: Easy Targets for Black Market Sales” to learn more about Tigers held in captivity. This is one of the major problems facing wild tigers that result in them being an endangered species. The video clip features footage from the documentary “The Tiger Next Door,” a movie by Camilla Calamandrei. The filmmaker urges audiences to support efforts in banning private ownership and breeding of tigers.

One of the easiest ways to help save tigers from extinction is by not purchasing any products that are made from tiger parts. This may seem like it is easier said than done but as a Leonardo DiCaprio fan and a person who loves tigers, I believe that making buying decisions that may improve the life of these big cats is the least that we can do in a society that is continuously developing condos, highways, commercial real estate and other properties that benefit man and man only over green lands.

It does not cost us anything to join the World Wildlife Fun and Leonardo DiCaprio in the quest to save the wild tigers.

If the request of being more mindful of your purchases is not enough to support the efforts of a large organization that works to protect nature, an A-list actor who chooses his work and affiliations wisely and a documentarian whose brought worldwide awareness to an important cause, consider this.....

All of the special effects, CGI for computer animation or 3D imaging and such in the world won’t recreate wild tigers if they become extinct one day, due to the negligence and cruelty of mankind.

This ain’t the movies. This is real life. Save Tigers Now. If not for me, do it for the World Wildlife Fund.

If not for the WWF, do it for Leonardo DiCaprio.....I mean shoot, he gave us “Titanic,” “Blood Diamond” and “Inception”! Are you really going to deny a guy who gave you “Inception”?

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My Top 5 Books on Screenwriting

Today’s theme in the 2011 WordCount Blogathon is on writing books and it’s been a while since I read books on writing but the last book was a reference book and a television script writing book. So, here are my top 5 screenwriting books that I selected....either because I already read them in school and they were useful so I favor them or because I read them in whole or in part but have nothing else to compare them to.

They are in no particular order and all of them are not 100% scripts from cover to cover, since I do not remember all of the books that I read nor can I find all of the books that I have merely on the subject of writing.....so the following list will have to do.

1. Writing Television Sitcoms by Evan S. Smith

This book was nice to read a few years ago when I considered submitting a spec script based on “The King of Queens” starring Kevin James, for a chance to participate in a television writing fellowship or apprenticeship or something of the sort that ABC had available at the time. Even though this TV show was on CBS, I believe that hopeful television writers were allowed to submit a script for any sitcom, so long as it was still on-air. I ended up not writing the script completely nor applying to the program but this book helped me learn a thing or two about scenes, characters and dialogue for funny TV shows.

2. Video Scriptwriting: How to Write for the $4 Billion Video Commercial Market by Barry Hampe

I read this book a few times and it has been a useful resource for creating scripts that are used for television commercials, instructional videos, corporate videos and infommercials. It covers different parts of the scriptwriting process such as writing treatments, writing a synopsis and script research.

3. 2008 Writer’s Market

I purchased this book to find freelance writing markets but the screenwriting and playwriting sections have also been nice to read through. I may not have bought the book if it did not have these sections but I’ve paid more attention to the periodical listings in there since payment for freelance articles from a magazine comes a lot quicker than payment for a script option or buyout. Still, it has useful information on writing queries, which is important no matter what is being pitched.....a magazine article or a screenplay.

4. $30 Film School by Michael W. Dean

Yeah, this book is not entirely dedicated to screenwriting but it has an extensive chapter that focuses on the topic. It’s more technical than some others, covering things like script assembly with brads, etc. but does touch on outlining, story structure, dialogue and creating action.

5. The Ultimate Fimmaker’s Guide to Short Films by Kim Aldeman

I’ve made more short movies than feature films. In fact, I’ve only made short films up until this point while trying to get one of my feature film scripts into production, so this book has been useful. There is a section called “From Concept to Blueprint” that covers the scripting process and the author stresses that simplicity is important and to think about the resources that are already available when creating the story for a short film.

So, there you have it! My top 5 Books on Screenwriting, or writing for the screen!

Disclaimer: After writing this post and visiting Michelle Rafter's (the WordCount Blogathon host) website, I seem to have been mistaken regarding the theme, which actually seems to be just "Top 5 Books" and not "Top 5 Writing Books." Oh well. Live and learn, live and learn!

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YouTube and a New Movie Rental Service in Play

Would you rent movies on YouTube if it had a wider selection? This may be something worth considering if you are among the millions who visit this site daily because the available titles may soon expand to include major Hollywood hits, which is why it is my selection for the letter ‘Y’ in the A to Z Challenge. The popular online video website YouTube plans to enter deeper into the movie business with regards to distribution. It intends to offer an on-demand service for lots of mainstream movies that will allow users to pay for titles that they want to stream online.

An announcement about the launch of this service is expected to be made within the coming weeks, according to The Wrap while TechCrunch says that YouTube already has a video on-demand service called YouTube movies where users can rent titles for $2.99 each.

Major Hollywood studios including Sony Entertainment, Universal, Warner Bros. and independent studio Lionsgate have jumped on board for this new.....or maybe not new and just growing service. However, other studios such as Paramount, 20th Century Fox and Disney have refused to license their movies to YouTube at this time for the website’s new on-demand service due to piracy concerns; specifically, its support for pirate sites via advertising, SEO and other forms.

All of these major and independent Hollywood studios currently have video-on-demand deals with Apple’s iTunes movie rental store, so it is understandable if some of the companies want to remain with a current service that is popular, already has a customer base and is clearly anti-piracy.

The new, or expanding or whatever YouTube service reportedly puts the video site in competition with iTunes but this may be a hard sell because both services are viewed from different perspectives among audiences. Consumers who visit YouTube are accustomed to watching videos free of charge while these same consumers already expect to pay for services while browsing the iTunes movie rental store.

YouTube is confident that their service will generate significant revenue to justify having the feature available because it makes it convenient for their users to be able to watch a movie without leaving the website. There may be something worthwhile to this notion and it could work out well for all parties involved....YouTube, Hollywood Studios and Consumers.

Its success may depend on pricing and how large the movie selection is for users to choose from, which is a factor that caused Blockbuster’s Total Access service to experience some difficulties gaining customers when compared to its rival, Netflix. The competition could get interesting if YouTube keeps the $2.99 pricing that TechCrunch says it charges for movie rentals, when adds more mainstream movies from the studios that they reportedly have new deals with.

The current movie rental prices on iTunes varies for users depending on the film. "Inception" is $3.99 to rent, which gives YouTube a slight advantage if the online video site does expand it's movie offerings. However, "Fast & Furious" is currently $2.99 to rent on iTunes and it gets even better for movie fans....the iTunes rental price for "Transformers" is just 99 cents. I don’t think that YouTube can compete with iTunes on any other level, especially since the Apple company and Netflix seems to be dominating the online movie rental market.

Then again, this may be the first time in a long time that YouTube rolls out a direct way to generate revenue from its users. The website doesn’t have to try to gain customers because it already has them. So long as these movie rentals do not come with Pre-roll advertisements like many of the TV show content and music video content on YouTube, I think the on-demand movie rental service may be worth trying...if for nothing more than to experience a different option that may be better (or worse, but that is the point...to find out) than the movie rental services, if any, that you already use.

Maybe this is a new on-demand service that YouTube plans to offer or maybe the online video website is just giving its movie rental service a much needed makeover. Whatever happens, YouTube may continue to be the king of online video...but whether it will also be the king of online movie rentals remains to be seen.

What do YOU think about this new proposed, or expanded YouTube on-demand service?

Would YOU rent movies on YouTube?

Do YOU think a larger inventory of mainstream titles for the YouTube on-demand service will affect iTunes movie rental sales?

How much do YOU think YouTube should charge for mainstream on-demand movie rentals?

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