Presents

The Art and Business of Screenwriting

A one day symposium with screenwriters and executives who will discuss how to get your idea to the page and the business side of the craft once it’s written.

Saturday, June 25th 2016,   Cost is only $25.

10:00a – 5:00p at Lipscomb University Campus

Script-com 2016 Symposium

Lipscomb University Shamblin Theater

Saturday, June 25th, 2016

 9:30 – Doors Open/Registration

10:00 – Introduction and First Panel: Callie Khouri

11:00 – Second Panel; Adam Londy, Callie Khouri

12:05 – Lunch Break

 1:30 – Third Panel: Oscar Turner

 2:30 – Fourth Panel: Brian Herskowitz

 3:30 – Break

 4:00 – Fifth Panel: Todd Remis

 5:00 – Dismiss

Lipscomb University Theatre, 1 University Park Dr,  Nashville, TN

Callie Khouri is the creator and executive producer of the critically acclaimed drama, Nashville, and the Oscar Award-winning screenwriter of Thelma and Louise.

Crowned “the best new drama of 2012” by outlets including USA Today, TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, TIME Magazine, The New York Post and The Daily Beast, Nashville earned Golden Globe nominations for its lead actresses and a Writers Guild of America nomination. Khouri led the show as its creator and executive producer for four seasons from 2012 to 2016.

She may be best known for galvanizing women and sparking nationwide debate in 1991 with her screenwriting debut, Thelma and Louise, which was nominated for six Academy Awards. She won the Oscar, the Golden Globe, the Writers Guild of America Award and a PEN Literary Award for Best Original Screenplay. Thelma and Louise took home the London Film Critics Circle Award for Film of the Year, and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Khouri followed Thelma and Louise with 1995’s Something to Talk About, starring Julia Roberts, Dennis Quaid and Robert Duvall. She then made her directorial debut with Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, starring Sandra Bullock and Ashley Judd, which she also adapted for the screen. In 2006, Khouri collaborated with legendary television producer Steven Bochco and wrote and directed the television drama, Hollis and Rae. She then directed her second feature film, Mad Money, starring Diane Keaton, Katie Holmes and Queen Latifah.

Callie Khouri – Oscar winning screenwriter for THELMA & LOUISE and NASHVILLE (ABC) creator. She also scripted the romantic comedy-drama SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT and made her directorial debut with her adaptation of DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD. She directed MAD MONEY in 2008, starring Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes. She also teaches writing and directing courses at the Arts Initiative Columbia University in New York.

Oscar Turner – CEO & Founder of Gallery Road Productions, LLC, an independent film and television production company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Served as the Chief Operating Officer of Tyler Perry Studios where he was responsible for overseeing business strategy, studio operations, post production, financing and real estate. During his tenure, Tyler Perry Studios produced the feature films MEET THE BROWNS, THE FAMILY THAT PREYS, and MADEA GOES TO JAIL along with multiple seasons of the hit television series HOUSE OF PAYNE and MEET THE BROWNS.

Brian Herskowitz – Chief Creative Officer for Horror Equity Fund, a mechanism for developing and funding indie projects in the horror genre.  As a writer, Brian has completed well over a dozen feature films. He teaches screenwriting for the prestigious BOSTON UNIVERSITY IN LOS ANGELES – WRITER IN HOLLWOOD PROGRAM and has taught online for UCLA EXTENSTIONS. 

Adam Londy – Adam Londy serves as Vice President, Programming and Development at Comedy Central where he is responsible for developing series for the network as well as overseeing projects through production. Recent shows include BIG TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, FL, which was produced by Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Films. Adam currently has shows in development with outstanding creative talent such as Channing Tatum, Jack Black, Melissa McCarthy and Olivia Wilde.

Todd Remis – Todd Transitioned from Wall Street to the film industry where he has now transferred his finance and investing skills to identifying unique opportunities to finance and produce independent films. His first film MAGIC MAGIC, which he was Executive Producer, premiered at Sundance and Cannes in 2013.

Summer Break From Watkins

Due to campus renovations, beginning Wednesday, June 1st we will meet at the Nashville Film Institute (NFI) located at 191 Polk Avenue Nashville, TN 37210 at the corner of Polk Avenue and Fesslers Lane near the Fairgrounds. Enter the building on the end closest to Fesslers Lane. We may have NFI students as visitors, so please give them a warm TSA welcome.

Allen Carver

2016 TSA President

Don’t forget, our meetings are free and open to the public!

Check out highlights from 2015!

June 20th at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film Nashville.

The seminar was a great success. We had some last minute changes and additions, but it just kept getting better.

Click here for details on speakers and events!

Most popular were the breakout session where we got to chat in small groups with the industry pros.  The big takeaway this year, these folks are regular folks just like us. They make movies and are looking for good material and projects.

They were handing out emails and telephone numbers. Here are some pics!

 

Breakout Sessions

 Also

Summer Break From Watkins

Due to campus renovations, beginning Wednesday, June 1st we will meet at the Nashville Film Institute (NFI) located at 191 Polk Avenue Nashville, TN 37210 at the corner of Polk Avenue and Fesslers Lane near the Fairgrounds. Enter the building on the end closest to Fesslers Lane. We may have NFI students as visitors, so please give them a warm TSA welcome.

Allen Carver

2016 TSA President

Don’t forget, our meetings are free and open to the public!

Thanks to Michael J. Wood

Michael J. Wood  shared what he learned as a reader and competition manager.  He is the former manager of the Nashville Film Festival Screenwriting Competition, which he helped found by bringing the concept of a screenwriting competition to the Festival Directors. He has read scripts for Morgan Freeman’s production company, for the Austin Film Festival Screenplay & Teleplay Competition, and more.

He is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, with a degree in Writing for Screen & Television.

Thanks again for your time and insight!

Thanks Cameron McCasland

That’s How To Make a Micro-Budget Film In Nashville:

Many thanks to Cameron McCasland for speaking to the TSA in September’s Speaker meeting.

Cameron shared a lot of  the “rubber meets the road”  benefits and challenges he experienced when writing, casting, financing, producing and directing his highly lauded micro-budget old school slasher flick, The LASHMAN.   

The Lashman is screening at FANtastic Horror Film Festival in San Diego and has been nominated for three awards. Best Director for Cameron, Best supporting the lovely Kaylee Williams, and best special effects or Make Up.

Thank You Philip Cioffari

Big thanks to author, screenwriter & director Phillip Cioffari for sharing the story of how he made and paid for his award winning indie film, LOVE IN THE AGE OF DION. That is how indie is done. And thanks to all that braved thunder, lightning and rain. Phillips’s writing credits include noir thriller novels, Dark Road, Dead End,  Jesusville and Catholic Boys.

Thank You Robert Orr!

 

Great talk with working screenwriter Robert Orr  at last Wednesday night’s meeting. Lots of great insight and practical guidance  on what and how to write for TV from a successful professional writer in Hollywood.

A native Nashvillian, Robert’s credits include Tears of The Sun, Underworld: Evolution, Savior, The Resident, Blind Turn and more.
Thanks again, Robert! A pleasure as always!

Our meetings are free and open to the public!

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THREE PAGE CHALLENGE!

Challenge Accepted!  In two weeks four writers have stepped up and accepted the challenge, each wielding three pages of awesome original story at our regular Wednesday night meetings!

Each received great feedback and ideas for their screenplays! Great job guys! It is NOT easy putting yourself out there but it always yields ideas!

This may develop into event at our next Script-com! What do you think?

Here’s a challenge!

• Three pages!
• Intro a protag!
• Could be from your completed script.
• Or create a hero right on the spot and explore! But only three pages.
• The protag must be pursuing something or dealing with a problem.

Then bring those three pages to a TSA meeting with GENRE and logline for a table read. Then get feedback and praise! A great way to hear your work, what is working and what is not.

We’re borrowing this format from John August, Craig Maizen’s Scriptnotes podcast. Check out how the  three page challenge works!

Then check out their latest podcast and links to Three Pages by Rob Yescombe, and the produced scene on YouTube! Very interesting to see a scene on the page and on the screen.

Then check out these Five Unforgettable Screenplay Character Introductions.

 

SUCCESS! The event was Saturday, June 21 at 10:00 am and ran until 8:30 pm at Watkins College Auditorium.

Two sessions with industry pros and filmmakers and a live stage read of the TSA screenplay contest winner. (More Details) Great day with great people! Pics and clips coming in the near future!

If you couldn’t make it, click here for a list of industry pro panelists and local film makers that you missed out on!

 

And the Winner is… EMPATHY by Elvis Wilson

 Thriller: a neuro-researcher developing a therapy for psychotic behavior discovers one of her research subjects murdered her sister.

Honorable Mentions go to…

STALE CAKE by Reichert Wynn: A salesman checks into a motel for the night and gets more than he bargained for.

DENTS by Dennis Doud: It’s Balaam’s Donkey meets Maxx Headroom as God reaches the heart of a teenager using an asteroid, a broken computer tablet, and a strange old car.

MARTIN FOGG by Harold Ginn: Martin Fogg was a floppy-fingered liberal trying to “fight the power”  until he got bitch-slapped by the insouciant hand of fate. Now he’s the worlds’ foremost Republican and Martin Fogg is on a mission to save America.

The grand-prize winner will receive :

• Story notes from professional Hollywood screenwriter Robert Orr
• Production notes from independent Hollywood Producer Guilia Prenna
• An estimated budget-breakdown for the script
• A pass to Script-Com, the TSA’s screenwriting seminar conducted in co-ordination with Film-Com
• An all-access pass to the 2014 Film-Com in Nashville, a premier film project pitch conference
• A promotional booth at Film-Com to meet potential investors, production companies, crew, and distribution entities.
• A 1-Sheet synopsis of the script/project will be included as part of the gift package provided to producers, investors, and distribution entities attending Film-com
• A one-night event held during Film-Com where a group of professional actors will deliver a table-read on stage in front of a live audience, with a video-taped recording also being provided.

CONGRATULATIONS! What are you working on now, Elvis?