According to Lionsgate:

“Yesterday marked the end of phase 2 of The Storytellers: New Voices of the Twilight Saga project, and we couldn’t be more excited about the 20 screenplays that were submitted from over 1,200 Story submissions!

After thorough review from our esteemed panel of judges over the next week, we will announce the top five screenplays on Friday, January 30.

We wanted to take a moment to thank you for helping to make this project such a success by sharing some very exciting stats about the project thus far! 

 Since launch, our project has received over half a million views and now holds the record for the most participation EVER for a single project on the Tongal platform (which is a big deal considering there have been competitions for Star Wars, Bob Marley, The LEGO Movie, and Interstellar). This accomplishment feels even more noteworthy when you consider that all project submissions came from women. “

UPDATE:

Via the official press release from Lionsgate they are releasing extended versions of the first three Twilight movies. Note at this time there is no extended release of Breaking Dawn Part 1 or Part 2 in this package deal. The Breaking Dawn Extended Edition Part 1 came out as a solo item two years ago.

The Bill Condon Breaking Dawn supercut has yet to be seen 

Fall in love again with Bella, Edward and Jacob when the epic trilogy, The Twilight Saga: Extended Editions Triple Feature arrives on Blu-ray (plus Digital HD) and DVD (plus Digital) January 13th from Summit Entertainment, a LIONSGATE company.  This definitive collection of Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse have been re-edited to include deleted scenes in all-new extended versions of the films. The Twilight Saga: Extended Editions Triple Feature will be available on Blu-ray and DVD for the suggested retail price of $24.99 and $19.98 respectively.   The epic romantic series following Bella, Edward and Jacob now returns with formerly deleted scenes added back in. Relive the moment when Bella and Edward first met and watch Jacob’s transformation from a lovelorn teenager into a fearsome shapeshifting wolf in these brand new extended versions.   PROGRAM INFORMATION Year of Production: 2008-2010 Title Copyright: Twilight © 2008, The Twilight Saga: New Moon © 2009 & The                   Twilight Saga: Eclipse © 2010, Artwork & Supplementary Materials ™ & © 2015 Summit Entertainment, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Type: Theatrical Release Rating: Unrated: Twilight: this motion picture previously was released in a version rated PG-13 for Some Violence and a Scene of Sensuality. The Twilight Saga: New Moon: this motion picture previously was released in a version rated PG-13 for Some Violence and Action. The Twilight Saga: Eclipse: this motion picture previously was released in a version rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Action and Violence and Some Sensuality. Genre: Romance; Drama Blu-ray Closed Captioned: English SDH DVD Closed Captioned: English Subtitles: English and Spanish Run Time: Twilight – 126 minutes The Twilight Saga: New Moon – 138 minutes The Twilight Saga: Eclipse – 129 minutes Blu-ray Format: 1080P High Definition16x9 Widescreen (2.40:1) DVD Format: 16×9 Widescreen (2.40:1) Blu-ray Audio Status: Twilight – English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital The Twilight Saga: New Moon – English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 2.0 Stereo and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital The Twilight Saga: Eclipse – English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio DVD Audio Status: Twilight – English and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital The Twilight Saga: New Moon – English and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English 2.0 Dolby Surround The Twilight Saga: Eclipse – English and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital

The Tongal website has announced (see chart below in no particular order)the top ten Twilight characters selected in the fan voting to be featured in the new female fan written short films.  

Time to start dusting off that five-year-old fanfic and reworking it.

The next stage is the Screen Play submissions. according to the Tongal website (click here full details):

PHASE 2: SCREENPLAY OUTLINE (Open to Female Writers) In 500 characters or less, Screenplay Outlines should establish a story that could be expanded into a complete Screenplay, and ultimately a 5-10 minute short film.  You will be required to select which character you’re featuring in your Screenplay Outline from a dropdown menu (if using more than one, please choose only one as the main character). Judges will determine the top 20 Screenplay Outlines. These 20 finalists will receive $500 each and write complete Screenplays in the next phase.

 

Submission Requirements:

• The Screenplay Proposal must focus on a Selected Character;

• The Screenplay Proposal must be original, inventive, engaging and dynamic;

• The Screenplay Proposal must provide a solid basis for a five (5) to ten (10) minute film;

• The Screenplay Proposal must include drama and/or conflict; and

• The Screenplay Proposal must be five hundred (500) characters or less.

 

Judging Criteria: The focus on a central character or protagonist; originality and inventiveness; ability to translate into a five (5) to ten (10) minute film; and the number of votes obtained during the Screenplay Proposal Voting Period (25%).  

 

 

 

Thanks to the announcement of more Twilight Saga film content surrounding The Storytellers: New Voices of the Twilight Saga, knowing the back stories to some of our favorite characters has become more important than ever!  Here is your chance to catch up on all the info you may have been missing.  Three lucky fans will win a copy of The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide.  All you have to do is leave a comment below with the name of the character you are most interested in.  We will pick three winners at random on Wednesday Nov. 19.  For this contest, winners must live in the United States or Canada.  

So clearly this is our subjective and highly biased view given that we helped to edit The Twilight Saga: Official Illustrated Guide , but here are the six stories in no particular order that are found in the The Twilight Saga: Official Illustrated Guide. (You can buy the guide from Barnes and Noble or your favorite indie bookstore) that we think have the most promise for short film adaptation.

We published this previously, but we revised our choices based upon the fact that the stories must take place before Bella and Edward met.

1. Alice’s Backstory

Alice is easily the most popular female character after Bella. Trust us, whenever there was a Twilight costume contest, there were always more Alice’s than any other character. Her backstory is great when you realize that it’s filled with murder and intrigue. Conniving father, unbelieving mother, being thrown into a mental hospital, and then James thrown in turning her into a vampire.  This is the stuff that keeps you wondering what’s next.

2. Victoria and Heidi A Sisters Story

Are you saying, “wait, what?” Heidi and Victoria are sisters. The answer is yes, sort of. Victoria wasn’t always with James. She started out in England in fact and eventually allied with a coven of women who she considered to be her sisters including Heidi. It all changed when Aro came upon their coven with ulterior motives and murder on his mind. 

3.  Charlotte Peter and Jasper

Who doesn’t love a love story when the odds are stacked against them? Charlotte and Peter’s story is about them breaking free of Maria’s coven and livign their own life saving each other from a dark existance, and in turn actually saving Jasper by giving him hope.

4. Aro and his collection

Aro is the ultimate charming villain. He is a master manipulator. the hard part is picking what angle of his story to go with since he pretty much leaves a trail of bodies wherever he goes. The best bit though is probably the fact that he killed his own sister in order to order to control Marcus and keep him around as a shell of his former shelf.

5.  Carlisle’s Rescue of Esme 

Carlisle, who thinks he is doomed for a life alone, sees a dying Esme (a girl he one knew) and saves her.  There are so many Carlilse fans out there. This story on the first vampire he ever turned is going to be a crowd pleaser.

6. The Story of Benjamin

Benjamin is initially under the control of Amun, but he breaks free and find the woman he loves and she willingly joins his new life.

UPDATE: Given the parameters of the project announced on November 11th, the last two ideas wouldn’t work since all pitches have to take place in the universe BEFORE Bella and Edward met.

At this stage there are opportunities for both screenwriters and directors. In future stages, there are opportunities for performers to submit themselves for casting consideration in the winning entries.

Essentially everything you need to know is here at the official website https://tongal.com/project/twilight. There IS A LOT OF INFORMATION, READ THE DETAILS ON   https://tongal.com/project/twilight CAREFULLY.

Here are some of the highlights from the official website:

The goal is to create a 5-10 minute Short Film set in the Twilight universe, featuring a character from The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide. Fans of Twilight will vote to select which characters they’d like to see in the Short Films and female writers will create Screenplay Outlines and complete Screenplays featuring those characters. Stephenie Meyer and Women In Film will then select and mentor 5 fresh, bold female filmmakers to bring the Screenplays to life.

As you undoubtedly know, the roots of Twilight began before 2500 B.C., but Bella and Edward didn’t meet until January 2005, so there are plenty of tales to tell. Think of your work as spinning “the story before the story;” yes, we want you to explore the world of Twilight before Bella moved to Forks.

There are several different ways you can participate in this initiative.

• First, fans are invited to vote on which characters should appear in these new stories.
• Second, female writers submit Screenplay Outlines, and then complete Screenplays featuring one or more of those characters.
• Last, female filmmakers will create Pitches of how they would direct and produce one of the Winning Screenplays. Winning filmmakers will receive up to $50,000 each to produce their Short Films, Hollywood entertainment industry exposure, and the Grand Prize winner will receive a grand prize of a lifetime, which includes an opportunity to shadow a director on one of Lionsgate’s television shows, and an all-new 2015 Volvo XC90.  See Official Rules for details.

Let your imagination run wild – don’t be afraid to get creative. Your submissions can be whatever you want them to be: Anime like Cowboy Bebop, or hyper-stylized like Wes Anderson – any genre or style you can dream up! As long as it feels true to the world of Twilight (however you interpret it), the style is considered fair game.

• You must be female and at least thirteen (13) years or older to enter.

• All content must be in the English language or subtitled in English.

• All content submitted must be consistent with a rating of G, PG or PG-13. No profanity, offensive language, nudity, excessive violence or otherwise objectionable material may be entered. Be sure to refer to the MPAA ratings definitions,found here.

• All content submitted must take place at a time and place prior to the day Edward and Bella met.

• All content must remain faithful to the essence and DNA of the characters and their backstories as provided in The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide, and must not contradict any known truths of this world.  For example, if a character does not die in The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide, then that character cannot die in the Screenplays or the Short Film.

• For a detailed list of all the Submissions Requirements for each phase of the competition, view the Official Rules. 

The Twilight  Storytellers, the new Twilight Short Films, have launched their official website, and they want your (even if you are not submitting a film) to vote for what characters you want to see in the new short films.

You have to join Tongal to vote (it’s easy, you can sign in via Facebook or Twitter if you want)

Vote here (you have to create an account after you click the link and hit the  big “vote here” button) https://tongal.com/twilight

MTV has the exclusive video where Kristen Stewart, who played Bella Swan, Stephenie Meyer and more talk about the Twilight short film project.

According to MTV:

But before all of that can happen, you need to the make the movies. Phase 1 of The Storytellers has begun over at the contest’s official website. There you can vote on which “Twilight” character’s origin story you would like to see transformed into a short film for Facebook.

Head to the contest website for The Storytellers now to vote, and choose which character you want to hear from when “The Twilight Saga” continues.

Bill Condon, the Academy Award winning director of Breaking Dawn I and II, has directed the revival of Side Show that is opening on Broadway shortly. Apparently some enthusiastic fans tried to sneak in to see the rehearsal process, and Bil Condon was really nice about the whole thing.

According to the NY Post:

Security at the St. James Theatre (where the Michael Keaton movie “Birdman” was filmed) successfully stopped the “Twihards” from entering without proper credentials.

But when Condon got wind they’d been blocked, he let some in for a peek at his show.

“The fans got to watch the cast perform the opening number, ‘Come Look at the Freaks,’” a spy reports. Condon then even took a poll to get their thoughts.

Condon if hoping TwiHards turn out for the show. Our co-owner, Laura, saw the show when it was at the Kennedy Center in June and she thought it was excellent. Don’t miss it, this is something TwiHard nation show show up for because it’s that good! You can get tickets here.

Commenting on the TwiHard devotion, Condon stated, “I’m hoping that somehow we might get one tenth of that Twilight audience because Side Show speaks to something similar. There’s a great younger female audience that I know would get this show if we could get to them.”