SCREENWRITER SESSIONS 2023

Last week we collaborated with Nantucket Film Festival for our third installment of Screenwriter Sessions. Once again we welcomed some of the best creators in the field today: Patty Jenkins (Monster, Wonder Woman), Destin Daniel Creton (Shang Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings, Short Term 12), Reinaldo Green (King Richard, Monsters and Men), Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa (Avatar, Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and America’s iconic documentarian, Academy Award winner Ken Burns (Baseball, The Civil War, US and the Holocaust).

Participants and staff alike were inspired not only by their work but by their approach to the work. The doggedness, the discipline, the openness. When we wrapped, participants reflected on how these hugely successful people were approachable and vulnerable and clearly struggled with the same issues writers at any level struggle with. Participants also noted the authenticity of the speakers. There was no sense of pretension or putting on airs, and each and every one of them gave thoughtful responses to every question posed to them.

Screenwriter Sessions is a unique, hybrid experience. After bidding farewell to each speaker we took advantage of the inspired space by facilitating a short writing exercise that related to the speaker and the ‘writerly’ topic of the week. We hoped to create a safe and productive space for people to explore their writing. Early reports are telling us we succeeded. 

We want to thank Mystelle Brabbee and, Jackie Wohl our partners at Nantucket Film Festival and screenwriter/producer Allyson Morgan who hosted the affair seamlessly. Finally we want to thank ____ for providing scholarships to writers so the opportunity could be provided to a wide range of writer.