The original story behind “Michael’s Resignation” was created and written by Alex Cameron, but developed into a feature script by a group of over 60 young screenwriters recruited through the social networking website Facebook. In a fiercely competitive world where young talent rarely gets an opportunity to demonstrate its potential, “Michael’s Resignation” is a resounding tribute to the enthusiasm and drive of a small group of dedicated writers who worked tirelessly together to make the film the best it could be.
In September 2008, a Facebook group called “Collaborative script writing for Alex Cameron” was created with the help of Dana Jones, Chris Rice, Dan Hartz, and Terry Ip, as well as more than 20 screenwriting course lecturers from UK universities. The members of the group then created a workspace for themselves on the online screenwriting website PlotBot.com to develop the script itself.
The group is still very active with nearly 100 members, and you can join for future projects by using the following links if you already have an account on Facebook or PlotBot.com:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=37175254767
http://www.plotbot.com/screenplays/michaels_resignation/members
After 10 days of writing, led by Neil Baker and Rich Moir, each writer was credited with a percentage of the copyright. The final team statistics were as follows:
Alex Cameron (principal writer, 38%, 811 elements)
30 year old Alex created the original story and is the CEO of TV/film production company Devils Lane. Otherwise known as the “guy who got you all into this madness.”
http://www.azcameron.co.uk/
Neil Baker (18%, 316 elements)
20 year old Neil is currently studying English at Sheffield Hallam and specialises in intense action and violence scenes, inspired by his love of vampire flicks and sci-fi.
http://writewithhonour.blogspot.com/
Reece Proctor (15%, 470 elements)
Reece, 21, made his initial steps into the film industry after shooting shorts in college and studying film at university in Surrey, and currently working for a production company based in London.
http://www.vuesonfilm.com/
Richard J. Moir (10%, 277 elements)
19 year old film-obsessive Rich is an action screenwriter and musician reading Film Studies at London’s Metropolitan university, as well as being Neil Baker’s rival partner in crime.
http://richardjmoir.blogspot.com/
Converse (3%, 134 elements)
Very little is known about the person with this username on PlotBot, despite several messages and futile searches on Facebook. Our mystery writer will receive their credit regardless.
Gino Moscati (2%, 154 elements)
20 year old Gino is based in Baltimore and majoring in Electronic Media and Film at Towson college, from where he is looking to work on his own company, Bio-TOXIC Studios.
http://plantzepp624.wordpress.com/
Julia Luangrath (2%, 172 elements)
24 year old Julia is a freelance screenwriter, PA, photographer and artist based in New Jersey who studied Digital Design at Atlantic Cape and currently works in security at the Borgata.
http://www.myspace.com/shelixir
Lisa Cordova (2%, 54 elements)
Lisa hails from New York’s Bronx and works as a freelance screenwriter.
http://www.facebook.com/people/MsElegante-Lisa-Cordova/1045012700
Greilhys Gray (1%, 18 elements)
Greilhys, 31, is a freelance writer based in Washington and has a background in Journalism and Law. Her genre is the erotic thriller and she is due to release a new poetry project soon.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Greilhys-Gray/730946867
Tom Langston (1%, 18 elements)
30 year old Tom works in the criminology department of the University of Portsmouth, is the guitarist and driving force behind his upcoming band Thinking For Tuesday.
http://tomble.blogspot.com/
Hasani Venkata (1%, 106 elements)
Based in Los Angeles, Hasani, 34, studied criminal justice at ICDC college and currently works as a promoter and In-Home Health Aide providing assistance to disabled cancer patients.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Hasani_Venkata/832429347
Special mention: Clare Louise Beaumont
A HUGE thank you is due to Clare for providing literary oversight to the script itself after the main document had been developed. Whilst we sat back and took a breath, Clare diligently went through it line by line, word by word, to remove typos, grammatical faults and screenwriting parlance errors.
http://clarelouisebeaumont.com
