THREE DAYS, 15 SEMINARS, ONE

GREAT EXPERIENCE
By Valerie Weiss, PhD
On October 17, thousands of aspiring screenwriters, directors
and producers piled into the Los Angeles Convention Center
for the Second Annual Screenwriting Expo. or three full da!s,
screenwriters participated in wor"shops, pitch sessions, trade
shows and a screenpla! co#petition. $or"shops covering the
basics of %l# and television writing were led b! industr!
professionals such as $illia# &old#an '(A)A*+O, (A,- and
top screenwriting teachers li"e Linda Seger '.(a"ing A &ood
Script &reat/-. *i#e was li#ited, but 0 #ade sure to hustle to
attend 11 di2erent se#inars.
*he %rst lecture 0 went to was a discussion with Aaron
Sor"in, co3creator of .*he $est $ing/. Aaron4s words are
celebrated in this town with billboards on 5everl! 5oulevard
6uoting his third %l# A, A(E)0CA, 7)ES08E,*.
8ressed in a prepp! olive sports 9ac"et, Aaron shared the
experiences that too" hi# fro# an acting #a9or at S!racuse
:niversit! to a successful %l# and television writer.
Apparentl!, he was unsuccessful as an actor in ,ew ;or" Cit!
after graduating fro# college and began writing dialog and
scenes for pleasure on the coc"tail nap"ins where he
bartended. $riting brought hi# a con%dence that he never felt
before. *hese nap"ins eventuall! for#ed the content of pla!s
that won hi# his %rst theatrical agent. +e then wrote 'actuall!
re3wrote <= ti#es- A E$ &OO8 (E, on still #ore nap"ins
and wanted to produce it as a one3act pla!.
+is agent tried to convince hi# that this would get hi#
wor" writing for television or %l#, but Sor"in onl! wanted to
write pla!s. +is agent approached producer 8avid 5rown
'>A$S. *+E S*0,&- who coincidentall! was loo"ing for a
courtroo# dra#a after %nishing *+E ?E)80C* and was
i##ediatel! interested in .A ew &ood (en/.
Sor"in, a @73!ear old une#plo!ed bartender, as"ed 5rown
if he sold hi# the %l# rights, would 5rown guarantee that he
also produce A E$ &OO8 (E, as a pla!A 5rown agreed. 5ut
Sor"in, still not satis%ed, said to hi#, .;ou4re a great %l#
producer, but do !ou have an! experience doing pla!sA/ $ell,
.A ew &ood (en/ opened at Benned! Center and then went
to 5roadwa!. (eanwhile, Sor"in had to %gure out how to write
a screenpla!. +e went to the 8ra#a 5oo"shop and bought a
screenpla! for#at boo". 0t too" hi# three da!s to write one
page of this strange new for#at. +e ended up with $illia#
&old#an as his #entor and #eanwhile co#ing up with the
idea for (AL0CE. Sor"in, thus launched his career in
+oll!wood. A char#ing and witt! spea"er Aaron gave the
following warningC .7eople will tell !ou about rules. (ost of the
ti#e the! are wrong. *he! don4t understand the real rules, so
the! #a"e up false rules. or instance, he was told that four
topics for television don4t wor"3 8ivorce, >ews, ,ew ;or" Cit!
and (ustaches./ *he #ustaches he couldn4t explain but has
an!one seen .Once and Again/, .Seinfeld/ or .Sex And the
Cit!/A
One of the #ost helpful screenwriting boo"s that 0 have
read since #oving to LA is .*he 1=1 +abits of +ighl!
Successful Screenwriters/. *he boo", written b! Barl 0glesias,
details how fourteen A3list screenwriters approach their craft,
addressing ever!thing fro# rewrites to dealing with writer4s
bloc". 0 was thrilled to see that the author was presenting
several se#inars at the Expo. )eceiving the Expo4s highest
spea"er rating, 0glesias presented his new .Evo"ing E#otion/
Series, se#inars devoted to how to do 9ust that through each
of the following topics 1- St!le and 8escription, @- Character,
<- Stor! and Scenes, and D- 8ialogue.
0 discovered a new screenwriting approach while at the
Expo, as well. 0 sat in on >e2 Bitchen4s .*wo *ools or Advanced
Screenwriters/ se#inar earl! Saturda! #orning. 0 was
se#inar3hopping at this point tr!ing to soa" up ever!thing, but
>e24s lecture caught #! attention. :sing a co#bination of
ps!chological and logical approaches, >e2 described the
principles of dra#atic action using exa#ples fro# *+E
&O8A*+E) to de#onstrate how the protagonist is forced
through 8ile##a, Crisis and 8ecision and Action leading to an
explosive and revelator! conclusion. Also, one of the #ost
popular se#inars at the Expo, this se#inar was pac"ed at E
A( on a Saturda! #orning.
0 also attended se#inars with industr! legends. 0 listened
to the wisdo# and tales of Carl &ottlieb who wrote >A$S and
*+E >E)B and also directed Steve (artin in a pre3>E)B short
%l# that the studio didn4t even want to %nishF Later on, 0 went
to an outrageous panel discussion with the legendar! 5ob
Bosberg, +oll!wood4s Bing of the 7itch, and 7eter &uber,
Chair#an of (andala! Entertain#ent. *o an outraged
audience of screenwriters, 5ob advised people to sell high
concept ideas to studios rather than waste < #onths of their
lives writing the#. One pitch that he has sold to >e2re!
BatGenberg was the stor! of the %rst bo! to go to ?assar,
starring (ichael >. ox. 5ob declared that he is in the
.E#otional *ransportation/ business. 7eter &uber then as"ed
5ob, .So, how #an! of !our ideas have actuall! been #ade
into %l#sA/ 5ob4s response was, .,ot #an!./ *here were
several other panels with hot writers in the industr! including
Shane 5lac" 'LE*+AL $EA7O,-, *o# Schul#an '8EA8 7OE*S
SOC0E*;-, Callie Bhouri '*+EL(A A,8 LO:0SE-, +eather +ach
')EAB; )08A;- and *odd Sa#ovitG '$O,8E)LA,8-.
inall!, 0 had a chance to catch up with so#e friends who
were teaching at the Expo. Chris Beane, a Ca#bridge3resident
and for#er 8udle! il# spea"er, was there teaching %ve
se#inars and signing copies of his new boo" .+ot 7ropert!./
(! neighbor here in LA, Catherine Clinch taught a wide range
of topics fro# .+ow to 7itch/ to .+ow to $rite the Stor! of
;our Life./ 0 even ran into 5oston %l##a"ers Clodine
(allinc"rodt, Lauren leshler, and Lauren 0v! Chiong 'for#erl!
fro# 5oston- was also there.
0 certainl! found the Expo to be a great experience. 0
learned a ton and was tipped o2 to #an! new screenwriting
resources. *he Expo also o2ered several opportunities for
people to networ" and sch#ooGe. 0 #et one screenwriter fro#
7hiladelphia at the trade show who has since sent #e a great
script set in #! ho#etown. 0n onl! its second !ear, the Expo is
extre#el! well3organiGed with an incredibl! wide range of
topics to %t the needs of an! screenwriter. or #ore
infor#ation on the Expo, please visit
www.screenwritingexpo.co#.
Valerie Weiss directed DANCE BY DESIGN, which screened at flm
festivals arond the world! Before movin" to #oll$wood, Weiss
was the %ilmma&er'in'(esidence of )he Ddle$ %ilm *ro"ram at
#arvard +niversit$! She is crrentl$ in ,ost,rodction for her
second flm, I -.VE Y.+! She also ,lans to direct a featre flm in
Boston in the not too distant ftre!