LJWorld.com

Watching the sights and sounds of thousands of deluded hopefuls audition for "American Idol" suggests that nearly everyone in the country believes they have the talent to become a pop star.

Perhaps that goal is starting to shift to another medium.

Americans are now starting to think they have what it takes to be a Hollywood screenwriter, although few actually put in the time and effort to finish a feature-length screenplay. A new national contest started by a Prairie Village native seeks to rectify that situation.

"Because of blogs and e-mails, the number of people who see themselves as amateur writers has gone up. That's a great and healthy thing," Chris Baty says.

"But people have a sense about screenplays that they involve some sort of complicated margin voodoo. I had this, too, like there are some impossible, arcane formatting rules that have been passed down from the ancient Egyptians."

In response, Baty has launched Script Frenzy, a 30-day writing marathon where the goal is to begin and complete a 20,000-word screenplay in the month of June.

"The point is really just to help give people a push to get something written and have an adventurous sprint through their imaginations," Baty says. "There's an absolutely infectious energy that comes with a large group of people tackling the same absurd challenge."

Eight years ago, Baty created National Novel Writing Month. The "seat-of-your-pants" contest has erupted into a worldwide phenomena, with 80,000 participants a year and branch chapters in 69 countries.

He says, "A 20,000-word goal is almost like a bubbly, summery lime drink compared to the viscous, oily stew of November's National Novel Writing Month. It works out to 667 words per day. Even people who have not written a screenplay before could pretty comfortably knock that out in 45 minutes."

Kansas contestants

Diane Dobson Barton participated in National Novel Writing Month the last few years and decided to try her hand at the inaugural Script Frenzy.

"Having never written a script before, I thought once I had the 20,000 words down it could always become a rough draft of a novel," says Barton, a Humboldt resident. "I find working in the script format a lot freer. Maybe it is because I grew up watching too many movies."

Barton is also working with Script Frenzy as the liaison for Kansas, and she says that about 37 residents of the state have signed up for the challenge. (A half-dozen Lawrence contestants are among them.)

"Being across such a wide geographical region can make it difficult to meet face to face. Gas prices do not help. But we do have four of us at the Chanute Library that meet semi-regularly to work together and to throw ideas off of each other," she says.

Barton claims she's written about half of her screenplay and describes it as a "chick flick with a twist."

She says, "It deals with the challenges young women face in a conservative society, when they make important decisions about their lives. Sometimes, even with the best intentions, life will throw you a curve, giving you unexpected results."

Only winners

No matter how good or bad Barton's script is, she will be declared a winner of Script Frenzy as long as she meets the word quota and deadline.

"We do have winners, but we have a lot of them," Baty explains.

Every person who reaches the 20,000-word goal gets a winner's certificate, their name on the winner's page and a winner's badge.

Last year's National Novel Writing Month contest awarded 13,000 winners.

"Of the 8,000 people who are participating in Script Frenzy, we are expecting over 1,000 of them will win and claim bragging rights for the rest of their lives," he says.

A 1991 graduate of Shawnee Mission East High School, Baty headed to college in Berkeley, Calif., where he first dabbled in the "writing as adventure" concept.

"I would have thought in this first year of Script Frenzy that we would have had the entire metropolitan area of Los Angeles signed up for the event," he says, revealing that less than 100 people from that region are participating.

Perhaps the lack of a concrete prize discouraged these jaded-to-the-industry L.A. denizens. Doesn't matter, because Baty claims the contest is really designed to get everyday people involved in writing.

"Movies are great because they're such a common part of everybody's lives," says Baty, author of an advice book for novelists, "No Plot? No Problem."

"Also, when you see a movie, you appreciate it on a completely different level once you've you sat down and read a script or wrote a script."

Oversized world

So far, Baty has managed to turn both of his contests into a full-time profession for himself.

"Although it's completely free to sign up, we encourage people who can afford to donate to do so. We also sell T-shirts and baseball caps. All those funds go directly into the nonprofit. It typically tends to be about 7 percent of participants. That's the revenue. On top of that we get grants from nonprofit foundations."

The job also has prompted the 33-year-old writer to take a stab at a screenplay of his own for the first time. He points to the recent sci-fi thriller "Children of Men" as a thematic inspiration.

Despite his writing background, Baty doubts his or any of the other Script Frenzy entries will be picked up by a major studio looking for the next great film.

"When we do get criticism, it tends to be, 'You're completely deluding these people into thinking these things will be produced,'" he says.

"The odds of writing a script that gets made into a movie are minuscule, even for professionals who are desperately trying to make a living doing that. I really feel like that's missing the point. The creative challenge is creating this oversized world - like the world of 'Children of Men' - and setting these lives in motion. It's a wonderful puzzle for all of our imaginations to chew on for a month."