The Writers Room

• Week One - Improv with Upright Citizens Brigade! (Partner: Upright Citizens Brigade)

  • UCB instructors Karen Baughn and Artoun Nazareth kick off the speaker series with improv exercises, introducing students to the “yes, and” basics and how that attitude can be applied in a writers room.

• Week Two - Finding Your Voice (Partner: Black Boy Writes Media)

  • Writers and Black Boy Writes Media mentors Andre Ferguson (Power, Power Book: II Ghost) and Jackie Penn (Ginny & Georgia, Turner & Hooch) lead students through writing exercises and a deep, insightful conversation about voice.

• Week Three - Character (Partner: The Screenwriting Life)

  • Lorien McKenna (Inside Out, Brave) of The Screenwriting Life podcast joins the class to explore, through discussion and writing exercises, how a writer uses their own perspective to shape characters.

• Week Four - Structure in Screenwriting (Partner: UCLA Extension Writers' Program)

  • UCLA Extension instructors Mollie St. John & Jessica Gonzalez breakdown for the students how stories are structured, how this plays out in outlining and the work of a writers room, and how the basic building blocks for film and television differ.  

• Week Five - Formatting in Screenwriting (Partner: Final Draft)

  • Alejandro Seri & Andrew Rodgers from Final Draft, an industry leading screenwriting software company, share a presentation with the class about screenplay formatting conventions and rules, and when it’s okay to break them.

• Week Six - Telling Stories You Want to See (Partner: Think Tank for Inclusion and Equity)

  • Speakers Teri Rusike and MW Cartozian Wilson from TTIE joined the class to discuss their work, authentic representation in film and television, and the process of bringing to the screen the type of stories you want to see, even when that story is different from what the marketplace typically offers.

• Week Seven - Animation (Partner: Nickelodeon Writing Program)

  • To compare and contrast writing for live-action versus writing for animation, guests Josh Brown and Jeff Sayers from the Nickelodeon Writing Program come to class and discuss the differences between the mediums, with an emphasis on animation’s perspective.

• Week Eight - Mentoring & What “Breaking In” Means (Partner: Film Independent)

  • Angela Lee from Film Independent will join students to explore the importance of mentorship in TV and what "breaking in" looks like for a writer in the film and television industry.

• Week Nine - Business of Screenwriting (Partner: Echo Lake Entertainment)

  • Amy Schiffman and Nick Arnstein of Echo Lake Entertainment, an industry leading management and production company, discuss the business side of screenwriting and how the economics of the television industry are constantly evolving.

• Week Ten - How Things Get on TV (Partner: TBA)

  • Continuing the conversation about the business of screenwriting, speakers from a to-be-announced partner organization discuss with the students how a script becomes a show on the air.

• Week Eleven - Short Film (Partner: NewFilmmakers Los Angeles)

  • NFMLA's Larry Laboe and filmmakers Miguel Angel Caballero & Luis Antonio Aldana come to class to discuss short films, their role in the industry at large, and how to write and make them.

• Week Twelve - Watching Community, Mental Health, & Advocacy (Partner: The Center for Scholars and Storytellers)

  • The final session of the speaker series is led by Atlas Burrus & Bubba Harris from The Center for Scholars and Storytellers, and centers on the importance of building a writing community, how mental health impacts screenwriting, and what activism and advocacy in screenwriting can look like.

The second semester will offer an introduction to TV writing and the opportunity to act as the “staff” of a TV Writers Room. For twelve weeks, students will work together to pitch, outline, and draft a teleplay of a pre-existing series.

In addition to writing instruction, this collaborative, creative process offers students the unique opportunity to practice interpersonal communication, compromise, teamwork, active listening, conflict resolution skills, and the ability to receive feedback and offer constructive criticism.

A final table read serves as the culminating event. The event may include special guests, pending scheduling and availability.