Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Screenwriting/Filmmaking Conferences – Saturday, Day 1

Plan, plan, plan, plan. Almost a full year in the making, the time is upon us to actually execute. We’re so excited about what we’ve put together this year. I keep using the quote, “we’ve put together a festival that WE would want to attend.” After day one I can’t imagine a better time. First off, I want to say that having the conferences at Creighton University in their theater-style classrooms is amazing with the comfort, cool look and available technology, we had everything we could have possibly wanted (thanks Teresa!)

So day one started with Jeff Kitchen, published screenwriting instructor, and he gave some fantastic instruction through two morning sessions “create gripping dramatic action with dilemma” and “plot and character development with the 36 dramatic situations and enneagram.” A perfect opportunity to come in to a morning session and really learn some excellent concepts for writers.

The first of the two afternoon sessions was a panel entitled “life as a Hollywood writer” and included panelists Jon Bokenkamp (writer: Taking Lives, Perfect Stranger, etc.) and Josh Stolberg (writer: Good Luck Chuck, Passion of the Ark which later became Even Almight, etc.). Ron Gerard moderated as the audience enjoyed an hour-and-a-half of entertaining, behind-the-scenes stories about Hollywood, writing, artistic vision, and passion.

The second afternoon session gave us an opportunity to get an insiders’ look into “editing and post production” with editors Tom Elkins (White Noise 2, My Bloody Valentine) and Academy Award winner Mike Hill (Apollo 13, Backdraft, Ransom, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code). What a tremendous opportunity to hear so many stories about these huge films. The discussion was filled with film clips and lots of great stories.

An amazing day one that was capped off by a private party at the Nomad in two of their cabanas. If you’ve ever been there, you know how cool that is and what a great way to end the evening.

More tomorrow.

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