Lojban In General

--- Forwarded message from Language Creation Society <lcs@conlang.org> ---

Subject: Conlang film - Comments requested, deadline ASAP
From: Language Creation Society <lcs@conlang.org>
To: Donald Boozer <donald.boozer@cpl.org>,
Donald Boozer <donaldboozer@yahoo.com>,
kaleissin <kaleissin@gmail.com>,
John Quijada <jq_ithkuil@inreach.com>,

David Salo <dsalo@yarinareth.net>, Matt Pearson <pearsonm@reed.edu>,

Matt Pearson <mpearson@ucla.edu>,
Suzette Haden Elgin <ocls@madisoncounty.net>,
Jeffrey Henning <JHenning@perseus.com>,
Jeffrey Henning <jeffrey@henning.com>,
Mark Rosenfelder <markrose@zompist.com>,
John E Clifford <clifford-j@sbcglobal.net>,
Arika Okrent <arika@okrent.com>, Doug Ball <dball@stanford.edu>,
James Gang <james@verbotomy.com>,
Robin Lee Powell <rlpowell@chain.digitalkingdom.org>,
Sylvia Sotomayor <terjemar@gmail.com>,
taliesin the storyteller <taliesin-conlang@nvg.org>,
Tim Smith <tim.langsmith@worldnet.att.net>,
Alex Fink <000024@gmail.com>,
Sarah Higley <slhi@mail.rochester.edu>
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:45:56 -0700

O fellow conlangers:

This is about the film "Conlang" <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFc3CvMMY48>.
We've contacted the producers, and it turns out that that was just a test
run of the real thing, which is set to begin production within a couple
weeks as a short film.

We would like to give them as much support as we can in this.

Please see Marta's comments below and the attached script. Your (very
prompt) comments, suggestions, jokes, revisions, etc. would be greatly
appreciated.

We've already given Marta an introduction to the online world of conlanging
resources, but do include any more particular references that you feel would
be helpful.

If you are interested in being on the conference call, please let me know
ASAP your availability over the next couple days, and your skype ID
(preferably) or phone #.

Please do not forward the script, or discuss the details enclosed, in any
public way without permission from the film producers; this is copyrighted,
pre-production material.

If you know anyone else we should contact about this, let me know.

Thanks,
Sai

P.S. Please copypaste this line to your 'to' when replying:

baldvinkari@gmail.com, davemaulbeck@gmail.com, mam@swandivefilms.com,
lcs@conlang.org

---

From: <mam@swandivefilms.com>
Date: Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 3:15 PM
To: Language Creation Society <lcs@conlang.org>
Cc: baldvinkari@gmail.com, davemaulbeck@gmail.com

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for sending us all those links and for being so generous
with your time! Attached please find the latest version of the script. We
just had a little meeting and want to tweak a couple of things... but
thought we would send it to you guys as is - for your personal, creative
feedback.

One overall note is that originally the final challenge was the scrabble
game and Libby helps "save the day" when Carl creates the word DAIR and they
think it is not a word in Sindarin and she corrects them by saying it is and
that it is Dorinthian and that everybody knows that Dorinthian is Sindarin.
We thought that was a little weak for a final challenge where our
protagonist should really rise to the occasion... so we are now trying a
version where they perform Shakespeare in a constructed language. This also
ties into Carl finally sorta professing his love to Libby. So we are eager
to hear your thoughts and open to any suggestions you may have. The idea is
to be as clever, entertaining and as funny as possible.

So anyway... things to keep in mind:
1. Is this script funny? Do you like the characters? The premise? The
challenges?
2. Are the challenges believable? Amusing? Clever?
3. Do you have any suggestions or ideas for other challenges - in particular
a really good FINAL challenge?
4. Do you think Carl should like Libby from the beginning - and fantasize
about saving her or do you think it would be more interesting for him not to
really notice her until the very end when she speaks Uscaniv (Carl's
constructed language).
5. Are there any parts of the script that drag? Or just any parts the don't
make sense?

That is pretty much it. We would love to set up a meeting for tomorrow at
the very latest because we are on a time crunch. Is this possible? We can do
afternoon or evening. Let us know, we are flexible!

Thanks so much!
Marta, Baldvin, and Dave

------
From: *Baldvin Kári Sveinbjörnsson* <baldvinkari@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 3:55 PM
To: Language Creation Society <lcs@conlang.org>

Hi Sai

I'm Baldvin, the writer/producer of Conlang. Please feel free to forward the
script to anyone you think might have helpful comments, but as you mention
yourself, time is not on our side.

Also, I wanted to correct one small thing from Marta's e-mail: the highest
and most noble dialect of Sindarin (arguably) is of course Doriathrin, not
"Dorinthian". Tsk, tsk, Marta.

What we are really hoping to get from the members of the LCS is the
conlanger's perspective on the script. As Marta mentioned in your Skype
conversation, we don't want the movie to seem like it came from some
ignorant outsider's point of view of conlanging. We want to capture the
reality of conlangers, although we depict it in a light, comedic tone.

Many thanks for your help and interest!

Baldvin Kári Sveinbjörnsson
writer/producer - Conlang

--- End forwarded message ---

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On Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 7:50 PM, Robin Lee Powell
<rlpowell@digitalkingdom.org> wrote:
>> Please do not forward the script, or discuss the details enclosed,
>> in any public way without permission from the film producers; this
>> is copyrighted, pre-production material.
>
> I screwed up, big-time, on this mail.
>
> Out of respect to the producers, I ask that you all toss this mail
> and forget you ever saw it. Thanks.
>
> -Robin

Since the cat is at least partially out, I'd like to just follow up briefly:

Yes, it's copyrighted material. The script was not included, but the
details in the email are still somewhat confidential, so please do not
forward / recopy this elsewhere.

In the spirit of making lemonade, if you are able to help with the
screenplay, please contact us at lcs@conlang.org.

We hope it'll be a successful project for the producers, and are doing
all we can to equip them with good resources to ensure that.

In the meantime, please have patience with our need to respect their
copyrights. Announcements will definitely be made publicly when there
is something for which we can solicit broader participation.

Thanks,
Sai

To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to lojban-list-request@lojban.org
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