Delectable Dramas and Scrumptious Sitcoms
Ever thought your quirky co-workers, outrageous friends, or soapy love life could make a great TV show? They can be! In this class, we will explore the essential creative and practical elements of all good TV shows. Then we’ll help you mine your life for juicy material. Whether you want to create a sitcom, drama, or reality show, you’ll learn what producers and execs look for in sell-able pilots and series and how to generate show ideas that sustain themselves for years to come. By the time you leave, you will have gotten started on the next Desperate Housewives or 2 ½ Men. This session will include such delicious tasting plates, they’ll inspire you to write your best stories yet.
Instructor: Chad Gervich
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Cost: $75 ($65 for continuing students)
Includes gourmet brunch tasting plates
About Chad Gervich:
Chad is a television producer, bestselling book author, and award-winning playwright. As an executive at the Littlefield Company/Paramount Television and NBC Studios, Chad helped develop and maintain scripted series and pilots for ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, UPN, and the WB. As a writer and producer, he has worked on numerous scripted and reality shows for both TV and the Internet, including Wig Out (Warner Bros.), Spellbound (The Weinstein Company), Foody Call (Style Network), Celebrity Drive-By (E!), Speeders (TruTV), and Reality Binge (Fox). Chad has also worked in production on such shows as Malcolm in the Middle, Girls Club, and Star Search. He is the author of Small Screen, Big Picture: A Writer's Guide to the TV Business (Random House/Crown), and he writes regularly for Variety, Writers Digest, Fade In, Moving Pictures, and Orange Coast. Chad holds a B.A. from Vanderbilt University and an MFA in Playwriting from UCLA.
You - Abbreviated and fascinating: Delicious Personal Essays
Have you always wanted to write personal essays but you don’t know where to start? Or have you dreamed of telling your story on “This American Life?” Using fun in-class exercises, we'll help you transform your bad blind dates and visits from unruly parents into insightful, compelling revelations. We'll touch on the essential elements of the personal essay: the hook, angle, and tone. This class includes gourmet brunch tasting plates guaranteed to inspire your inner David Sedaris. Experienced and beginning writers welcome.
Instructor: Tim Grierson
Saturday, July 11, 2009
10:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Cost: $70 ($60 for continuing students)
Includes gourmet brunch tasting plates
About Tim Grierson:
Tim is a film and music critic whose writing has appeared in LA Weekly, Blender, Wired, Screen International, The Village Voice, and VH1.com. He is also an editor of The Simon, a daily online publication of culture, politics, and humor and is a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. His documentary, "Mama Laura's Boys," about the longest-running blues club in Los Angeles, played at the Tribeca Film Festival and on PBS. Tim has a BFA in Cinema and a minor in Journalism from USC.
Finishing School (NEW FORMAT)
Enroll your unruly writing project in Finishing School! We’ll take the poetry, short story, novel or screenplay project that you’ve dreamed about writing and help you build a realistic but fun plan to get it done. In-class and homework assignments customized for each student will help you access your imagination in new ways, inspire you to generate new pages every week, refine and elevate the craft of your work, and nudge that project to the finish line. Before you know it, your stacks of ideas will flow into a manageable, page-turner that will sing like the Von Trapps at Christmastime. Each session includes tea and a tasting plate or dessert such as mini polenta cakes with mushroom ragout and lemon panna cotta with blackberries.
Instructor: Aaron Henne
June 24, July 8, July 29, Aug. 5, 12, 2009 (4 Wed. group classes, 1 one-on-one meeting with the teacher on Aug. 12, plus 1 boutique class*)
*Boutique Meeting is a one day class of choice depending on availability, remaining classes with Aaron Henne
7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Cost: : $420 ($350 for continuing students)
Includes gourmet tasting plates and desserts
About Aaron Henne:
Aaron is resident playwright for the Son of Semele Ensemble. His play, “Sliding into Hades” won the 2008 LA Weekly Theatre Award In Playwriting, and Aaron was honored as a finalist for The Jerome and The Juilliard Fellowships in Playwriting, as well as the Center Theatre Group's Sherwood Award. Aaron has served as dramaturg for Culture Clash, The Mark Taper Forum, and The Colony Theatre, and his work has been featured at The Road Theatre Company, Unknown Theatre and Theatre of Note. He’s taught theater and playwriting at the University of Alabama and he currently teaches at the Robey Theatre Company and throughout LA. His playwriting exercise book, “You Already Know” will be published in summer 2009. Aaron holds a BA in Theatre from Occidental College and has studied with theatre artists Toby Jones, Len Jenkin and Leon Martell.
So You Want To Be A Writer?
You’ve always dreamed of finding the time to write on a regular basis or to finish a screenplay, a novel, a collection of poems, or a story. You can do it, and this class will help you! Brand new, fun writing exercises and our balanced work shopping sessions will motivate you to keep going. We’ll also show you how to design (or redesign) your writing practice, plan your projects, and tackle revision without pain. This is boot camp Writing Pad style (no steel toe boots necessary). Experienced and beginning writers welcome. Each session includes tea and a tasting plate and dessert such as polenta with truffled onion relish and baked apples with caramel sauce.
Instructor: Aaron Henne
June 25, July 9, July 30, Aug. 6, 12, 2009 (4 Thurs. spaces available)
*1st Meeting is a one day class of choice depending on availability, remaining classes with Aaron Henne
7:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Cost: $350 ($300 for continuing students)
Location: Writing Pad East
Includes gourmet tasting plates and desserts
About Aaron Henne:
Aaron is resident playwright for the Son of Semele Ensemble. His play, “Sliding into Hades” won the 2008 LA Weekly Theatre Award In Playwriting, and Aaron was honored as a finalist for The Jerome and The Juilliard Fellowships in Playwriting, as well as the Center Theatre Group's Sherwood Award. Aaron has served as dramaturg for Culture Clash, The Mark Taper Forum, and The Colony Theatre, and his work has been featured at The Road Theatre Company, Unknown Theatre and Theatre of Note. He’s taught theater and playwriting at the University of Alabama and he currently teaches at the Robey Theatre Company and throughout LA. His playwriting exercise book, “You Already Know” will be published in summer 2009. Aaron holds a BA in Theatre from Occidental College and has studied with theatre artists Toby Jones, Len Jenkin and Leon Martell.
