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Fun Joel's Screenwriting Blog

(OR EL DUDERINO IF YOU'RE NOT INTO THE WHOLE BREVITY THING)

-- On Screenwriting and Related Topics

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Location: Los Angeles, CA

I moved from NYC to LA in October, 2003. And though I still think NYC is the greatest city in the world, I'm truly loving life here in the City of Angels. I'm a writer, reader, and occasional picture-taker.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Faire Enough

This was supposed to go out this morning, but things got a little crazy. So here it is now! :-)

*****

Attended the UCLA Extension Writers Faire yesterday, as planned. Not bad. Fun relaxed time, with some good stuff, I suppose. Got my money's worth (since it was free) and then some (since the Writers Store booth was giving out $10 coupons and I got more than one).

I attended two seminars (or 1 3/4 actually). First I caught "Crossing the Finish Line on Your Screenplay," which was alright. Got some good ideas of things to write about in here in the future, at the very least. Then a break for lunch, where I ran into my bud Rock (who if he would ever get a blog going, I'd link to), along with his writing partner. There was also a woman there with them who enlightened me about a cool new fellowship, which I will get back to in a minute.

After lunch, I attended "Writing Funny: Techniques for Comedic Screenwriting," which though again not necessarily groundbreaking stuff, was certainly full of some good things to hear or hear again. One thing that stuck with me was when Keith Giglio mentioned how Richard Curtis is known to sometimes write scenes four or five ways, from scratch, until he gets it right. I found this to be interesting, and something to think about. The panel was moderated by Billy Mernit, who "wrote the book on Romantic Comedy," since as he mentioned, it is the only one on the market! It was nice to meet him as well, and trade blog addresses. Finally, in a bit of strange serendipity (though I didn't get the chance to mention it to him), Billy Frolick was one of the other speakers on the panel. He was one of the writers on Madagascar, and I had actually read an earlier draft of the film (as a writing sample) when it was still called Wild Life.

I also got the chance to run into Emily and Shawna (who I finally got to meet), along with their buddy Bernie, who was kind enough to give me a ride to my next event in the day. We all chatted for a bit, mostly about Serenity, and other Whedonia.

Lastly, I met the lovely women of the Writer's Arc Fellowship. A 20-week fellowship that pays $10,000, and allows some excellent learning opportunities. Sounds like a great thing. And an interesting and fun selection process. Check it out! Next round of selections begins in mid October.

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1 Comments:

Blogger mernitman said...

Hey Joel, thanks for the mention --I've hyperlinked to you, in my latest post (see "Lemons and Lemonade")...

9:11 AM  

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