Creative Screenwriting Magazine's annual event Screenwriting Expo 5 begins
this Friday here in Los Angeles, and the lineup of guest speakers includes
Academy Award-winning director Oliver Stone and "Star Trek" and "Battlestar
Gallactica" writer and producer Ronald Moore (pictured right).
This year's guests also includes Academy Award-winning writer William Goldman
("Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and "All the President's Men"), Brad Bird
(creator of "The Incredibles" and "The Iron Giant"), David Ayer (writer of
"Training Day"), Tony Gilroy (writer of "The Bourne Identity" and "The Bourne
Supremecy"), and writer and director Neil Labute ("Nurse Betty" and "In the
Company of Men"). Past guests have included Paul Attanasio ("Donnie Brasco" and
"Quiz Show"), "Buffy" creator Joss Whedon, David Koepp ("Jurassic Park" and "War
of the Worlds"), John August ("Big Fish"), Andrew Kevin Walker ("Se7en"), and
story guru Robert McKee, just to name a few.
What is Screenwriting Expo 5 (now in its fifth year) all about? Basically, the
event is for aspiring screenwriters and includes classes and networking events
as well as wise words from leading Hollywood scribes such as Stone, Goldman and
others. TwitchGuru's writer David Konow, who has contributed to Creative
Screenwriting, explains:
Yes, you will hear some of the biggest scribes in the biz tell you how good
screenwriting has gone down the toilet (Goldman says every year is the worst
year yet for storytelling, and he's said it every year he's attended), and
you'll get the impression that no matter how high up the Hollywood food chain
you are, getting a good movie made is pretty damn hard to do. As Attanasio said
at the 2004 Expo, when he got his first major screenwriting assignment for Jerry
Bruckheimer, "It was hard, I didn't know what I was doing. It's hard now and
supposedly I know what I'm doing!"
But don't let it discourage you. If you have good ideas and want them to one day
reach the screen, take it as a call to arms. Shane Salerno was one of the
youngest writers to speak at the Expo in 2004 at 31 years old. He'd already been
a professional writer for close to a decade (his credits include "Breakdown,"
"Armageddon," and the remake of "Shaft"). "You can really do this," he told the
audience of screenwriting hopefuls during his Q&A session. "I didn't go to a
major college [actually, Salerno didn't go to college at all], I didn't
have family in the business, I was raised by a single mom, and we were not in a
high income situation. I didn't know anyone in the city of Los Angeles, so don't
allow that to be a barrier for you. There are wonderful undiscovered writers out
there writing in garages and basements that are better writers than the best
writers in this business. I hope you don't let anything stand in your way
because there's a lot of bad movies out there. We need you, we need your voices
very badly."
TwitchGuru will be in attendance to see what some of the top writers and
directors have to say about the current state of film and television.
For more information, go to
href="http://www.creativescreenwriting.com/">http://www.creativescreenwriting.co
m/ and
href="http://www.screenwritingexpo.com/">http://www.screenwritingexpo.com/
