Upcoming Seminar

I'm very excited about my upcoming screenwriting seminar, to be held at the It Factor Studios in Rancho Cordova, CA.  The It Factor is a wonderful new facility owned and operated by writer/director/teacher Ryan McKinney.  Ryan is a real go getter and has great enthusiasm for the craft of film making.  I hope this seminar will be the start of a fruitful collaboration between the It Factor and myself.  Anyone wishing to sign up for the seminar may do so through my web site or they can contact the It Factor directly.  It should be fun and I expect everyone to come prepared to work.

I woke up with an interesting thought which I wanted to share with my fellow writers.  "Truth may be stranger than fiction, but it's almost never as much fun."  The point being...people will often tell me they have a wonderful "true" story (oftentimes about their own lives).  While I'm certain all of us have had some engaging and provocative experiences in our lives it may be necessary at times to "embellish" the facts to keep an audience involved in the story.  The key is to make sure readers continue to turn the page and very few readers will be family members who find your story entertaining and compelling.  Conversely, I've also found that there are times when the "truth" can be too unbelievable.  I knew a woman who (sadly) had six miscarriages before she finally gave birth to a healthy little boy.  With the woman's permission I used the "truth" in a character monologue I had written for a play.  NO ONE believed the story.  Once I changed the monologue to indicate that the character had three miscarriages, the story seemed more credible to the audience.