Academy Award-winning director, producer, screenwriter and California vintner Francis Ford Coppola today announced the re-launch of The Family Coppola’s Zoetrope.com website, the premier home and virtual studio for the writing community. The redesign showcases many enhanced options, one of the most notable additions being the highly anticipated section for short films.
Zoetrope.com, an interactive crowd-sourcing, online writing workshop platform, was originally launched nearly two decades ago, with the intention that it would be a network for artists, but more importantly would provide a great source of content and story ideas for Coppola’s acclaimed literary magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story. However, the platform quickly gained traction among writers as a vibrant online community. A revolutionary use of the internet at the time, Zoetrope.com established itself as an early pioneer in social media. Writers that had been working in isolation now had an engaging community where they could share their stories, make contacts, and learn from one another. Directors, producers and other artists soon joined and the site transformed into a virtual studio. The website set the precedent for a new era of crowd-sourcing and writing workshops.
Coppola has always envisioned the site as a means to benefit the creative community. Zoetrope.com is free to join, and always has been. “When I was a kid I remember looking in the locked gates of a movie studio which was across the street from the Junior High School I was attending. I was wishing that I could get in and see what these mythical movie studios were. Years later I actually bought that studio, and I went to that Junior High School and I talked about it to the students and I said alright kids lets go, and I took them across the street and right in through the studio gates. And that’s what I was trying to do with this site – let everyone have access to a movie studio or set a new context of creative community for people interested in cinema, music, acting, art, graphics, photography, songwriting, and so on,” said Francis Coppola.
The newly revitalized Zoetrope.com is not only comprehensive, modernized, more efficient and faster, it also has an added short films section in which screenwriters, directors and producers can receive peer feedback. The site encompasses acting resumes, photography, song writing, short films, stories, novels, scripts, short flash fiction, poetry, music, and photos. For every story a member submits, they are required to review five other works, so each person gets exposed to other writing which provides growing opportunities in addition to receiving feedback. Members can also create groups based on specific interests and areas of creativity, as well as invite friends and other members to join. In addition to these benefits, work submitted may also be considered for inclusion in Zoetrope: All-Story, as well as the very first short story vending machine in the United States, designed by Short Edition and housed in Coppola’s San Francisco restaurant, Cafe Zoetrope.
Recently launched alongside the revised Zoetrope.com are two writing contests, the twentieth annual Zoetrope: All-Story Short Fiction Contest and the fourteenth annual American Zoetrope Screenplay Contest, both of which are running on Zoetrope.com where anyone can submit entries. The grand prize for the fiction contest is $1,000 and $5,000 for the screenplay contest. Both contest winners will also receive consideration from top literary and talent agencies. For more information and to enter: https://www.zoetrope.com/contests
About The Family Coppola
The Family Coppola encompasses all of the things Francis loves most – cinema, wine, food, resorts, and adventure – and embraces quality, authenticity and pleasure. Anchored in Sonoma County, Francis Ford Coppola Winery, is, as Francis puts it, “a wine wonderland, a park of pleasure where people of all ages can enjoy all the best things in life: food, wine, music, dancing, games, swimming and performances of all types. A place to celebrate the love of life.” Coppola’s second foray into Sonoma County came in 2015 with the launch of Virginia Dare Winery, American wines since 1835, ushering in a new era of elevated quality and vineyard-specific wines. The Coppola Resorts are a collection of unique properties where adventure meets serenity. Drawing upon inspiration from Coppola’s film career and travels around the globe to the far reaching corners of the world, the resorts are an ideal destination for exploring the natural wonders of off-the-beaten-track locales while relaxing in tranquil surroundings. Additionally, The Family Coppola operates a venerable film production company, American Zoetrope; a virtual studio for online writing workshops, Zoetrope.com; the award-winning all-literary magazine, Zoetrope: All-Story; Cafe Zoetrope in San Francisco’s iconic Sentinel Building in North Beach; and Mammarella Foods, an authentic line of premium organic pastas and sauces. www.TheFamilyCoppola.com.
About Zoetrope: All-Story
Coppola founded Zoetrope: All-Story in 1997 to reinvigorate the American storytelling tradition, drawing his inspiration from the short story periodicals of the 1930s era that supported the careers of writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker. Under Coppola’s leadership, the magazine has become one of the world’s most celebrated literary publications, winning a number of international design commendations and many major story awards, including three National Magazine Awards for fiction, in 2001, 2012 and 2016. For more information on Zoetrope: All-Story, please visit www.all-story.com. For subscriptions: www.all-story.com/subscribe.cgi.
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