05/02/2011 Screenwriting, Workshops
It’s easier to win admission to the Harvard Medical School than a seat in Professor Richard Walter’s legendary screenwriting seminar at UCLA. He takes you all the way, from idea to draft to studio deal. UCLA-trained screenwriters have won two Oscars and three Oscar nominations in the past four years, and written ten movies for Steven Spielberg.
Through a special Summer Session course both non-UCLA and UCLA students can enroll for eight credits in a course with this celebrated storytelling guru. The class is especially designed for the Summer Session and is appropriate for new writers and also for experienced writers. It is a round-table roll-up-your-sleeves-and-write seminar. There are in-class writing challenges and also analysis of in-progress script pages written by students in the class.
The on-campus UCLA class meets in Westwood for six Monday afternoons from June 20 through July 29, 2011, 2:00 to 4:50PM. All prerequisites are waived and the class is especially designed for Summer Session ‘A’. The class, listed in the online catalog of courses as “FILM TV 135A ADV SCRNWRTNG WKSHP” (more info here) is open to UCLA students and also to students who are not enrolled at UCLA. Students receive 8 credits.
To register, students should visit http://www.summer.ucla.edu/ and click “REGISTER”.
04/26/2011 Opinion, Politics
According to political online news site The Daily Caller, HBO lurches leftward with its programming. As Christian Toto writes:
Take a peek at HBO’s programming slate and you’ll find a plethora of left-leaning content. Each Friday, Bill Maher brings his brand of liberal fury to the channel’s late-night lineup.
But Richard Walter isn’t convinced – read the full story by clicking below to hear his commentary quoted in the article.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/06/hbos-leftward-lurch/#ixzz1Kg7PhHvX
04/12/2011 Newsletter
In July of 1974 my wife and I fled Rome–where over a period of three weeks, plus one additional morning–I had penned the biggest-budgeted film produced in Europe that summer. In a rented Fiat we drove through Tuscany, visited also Sienna, Verona, Venice, Lake Como, and ultimately Milan where we caught a plane back to the States. From what were we running? The fear that the Carabinieri, the Italian heat, upon discovering fifteen million lire in our hotel room in cold, hard cash would wrongfully accuse us of drug trafficking. Click here to read on for the full adventure.
- Richard Walter
03/11/2011 Screenwriting, Workshops
Read the full story online here.
03/07/2011 Newsletter
A writer’s day job is his best friend. Let’s stumble down memory lane to a time when I worked a freelance assignment for a toy company.
- Richard Walter
Read the full issue at http://richardwalter.com/wp-content/newsletter/newsletter8_February_2011_v3.html
02/27/2011 Reviews
“Wow! What a book: Essentials of Screenwriting. Professor Richard Walter has written the definitive work for writers. The book is not only informative, it is inspirational. This treatise is not only filled with all the technology and craft necessary for a writer to safely sail through the shoals and sharks of Hollywood, it’s filled with humanity, humor, and a philosophy grounded in his years of experience. Read this book, and one will not only learn about screenwriting, I strongly believe one can learn how to write well in any media. Professor Walter is a proven professional with an impressive list of screen credits. Open his treasure chest of knowledge, apply the gold found there, and you may well be on your way to becoming a screenwriter.”
- Bruce Mitchell
Author, former Creative Director, Senior Vice President, Advertising
02/15/2011 Newsletter
For dancers and actors it’s obvious their bodies are their instruments. It’s a little less clear, but nonetheless true also for writers. Writing is not as much from the brain as from the heart, the belly, the groin. Writing is sedentary to be sure, which is all the more reason scribes need regularly to get off their butts and work at keeping their instrument in good working order. Among the greatest lessons I’ve learned as a writer and writing educator occurred during one of the eleven thousand miles I’ve swum in the Donald K. Park Pool at UCLA’s incomparable Sunset Canyon Recreation Center in the hilly, wooded northwest corner of our campus. What does swimming possibly have to do with writing? Read on.
- Richard Walter
Read the latest issue here.
02/08/2011 Workshops
Scripped.com is an online screenwriting app which supports the largest community of creative writers on the Internet. Subscribers of the premium service Scripped PRO have the opportunity to participate in a monthly virtual seminar on the craft and business of screenwriting from master screenwriting educator Richard Walter. Anyone interested in joining Professor Walter for these monthly seminars may register for a Scripped PRO account here: http://scripped.com/services/plans and then email contact@scripped.com to request a “seat” in the seminar. The first month of Scripped PRO is free, a trial period where you can explore the advanced screenwriting features and other benefits for writers.
Richard Walter’s next seminar will take place on February 16, 2011 at 10AM PT.
01/13/2011 Screenwriting
It’s 2011 and the start of my 101st quarter in Westwood. As I discuss in the feature below, just as the elements of a good narrative haven’t changed since Aristotle, misperceptions regarding the writer’s role remain constant. Our charge remains the same: to tell a story that is engaging and compelling, that is, a story worth the time, attention, and consideration of the audience, not to mention the price of a ticket.
- Richard Walter
Read the full issue here.
01/05/2011 Opinion, Politics
Many have noted that when the new congress convenes it will be the first in sixty-four years without a Kennedy.
I preach to my screenwriting students that fantasy is for their movies. For their lives: reality. No political name in the last half century has been more romanticized and idealized than Kennedy.
In October of 1960, when I was a student at New York City’s Stuyvesant High School, I happened upon a Kennedy election rally at Union Square. The gray, dreary, overcast day found thousands upon thousands of people gathered to hear the candidate. From a block away, among the overcoats and hats I could see clearly and brightly the president-to-be, his neon carrot-top a fiery contrast to the weather and national gloom. I was hugely excited. Kennedy delivered a brilliant speech brilliantly. Here was a mainstream political leader I could support with vigor and fervor.
Read the full story here.
