Workshop Features Hollywood Brass

20 Sep Workshop Features Hollywood Brass

Out of 15 nominations, Woody Allen won three times, the most in the category. Francis Ford Coppola (1970) and Sofia Coppola (2003) are the only father-daughter pair to triumph; Joel and Ethan Coen, the only siblings to take home a statue. Muriel Box was the first woman. Claude Lelouch, Robert Towne and Pedro Almodovar are also in that elite fraternity.  And you? You want to add your name to the list of Oscar- winning screenwriters?

Friday, October 4 – Sunday, October 6, 2013, Telluride TV in collaboration with the Ah Haa School for the Arts, the Wilkinson Public Library and Lary Simpson Productions presents Screenwriters in the Sky. Entertainment attorney and film producer Lary Simpson is the brains behind the local exploration of the field and has assembled a group of experienced, working professionals from the film industry to headline the workshop.

Lary Simpson Productions (LSP) is a film production company with a dynamic slate of projects ranging from big-budget commercial pictures to smaller, more character-driven independents, including the upcoming sequel to “Top Gun,” “ZNA,” a reality-based biotech thriller, and “Hygiene And The Assassin” based on a book of he same title by Belgian novelist Amelie Notomb.

At the workshop, Lary is joined by Entertainment attorney Tom Hunter, who represents motion picture writers, directors, and producers. At the workshop, Tom plans to outline the importance of legal representation in Hollywood and how to avoid common pitfalls.

Vernon Zimmerman is a script doctor, which means he is a story expert and structure specialist with expertise in all aspects of story construction, development and plotting as well as character, scene progression and dialog.

New to the workshop this year, Khris Baxter is a screenwriter, producer, and the founder of Boundary Stone Films, a film and television development company based in Washington, D.C. He has worked as a screenwriter and story consultant since 1992 and taught screenwriting since 2002 at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland, at Gettysburg College and at Queens University in Charlotte, NC.

A soon-to-be-announced Hollywood agent from William Morris Endeavor is also on the list of experts for the screenwriting intensive.

Screenwriters in the Sky kicks off with wine and cheese reception Friday night at Ah Haa. Lary will address the group, discussing the structure of the entertainment business and where the screenwriter fits in. Other topics will include, source material, copyright, team writing, and the need for artful “pitching.”

Saturday is a group session with the aforementioned experts. A dinner follows.

On Sunday, students get the opportunity to attend 25-minute sessions and meet one-on-one with guest professionals to ask questions and dialog about goals, aspirations, and works-in-progress.

This year marks the second collaboration by the four organizations in support of  Screenwriters in the Sky. The team intends to make this an annual event in Telluride and hopes to draw screenwriters from all over the country to attend.

For further information about Screenwriters in the Sky and to register go HERE.

Questions? Call  970-708-3839.

For more on The Industry and Screenwriters in the Sky, listen to my chat with Lary Simpson. (Interview was conducted for the 2012 inaugural workshop, so dates mentioned are different. Otherwise, useful info.)