Thoughts on the 4-Act Structure and Midpoints of Screenplays

A 90-minute talk I gave for the Oxford Intenartional Short Film Festival:

https://vimeo.com/427449122

Enjoy.

Cassandra plays Oxford International Shorts Festival (online)

So much warranted anger and darkness this week so not sure everyone's in the mood to watch dark films. But maybe fictional dark films can bring relief/escapism or help one process real darkness -- My short

Cassandra The Film

is part of a block of dark films NIGHTMARES at the

Oxford International Short Film Festival

. Available online from today until June 4, tickets below. All the films look great, I'll be participating in an online Q&A with the other directors on June 4 at 2 p.m., and I'll be doing a workshop on screenwriting on June 3 at 11 a.m. And tomorrow morning (May 30) at 11:15 a.m. (Oxford time) we'll be featured on BBC Radio Oxford (available online) to help advertise the festival. Please join for any and all.

Tickets available here:  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/oxford-international-short-film-festival-online-tickets-103639548680

#scarymovie #horror #thriller #movie #filmmaker #filmshort

Cassandra Launches on Alter

My scary short Cassandra is now streaming on Alter.  Please enjoy! 

Note the film has violence/references to abuse.

Awards/festivals for Cassandra: winner of Best Thriller Short and Best Editing at Women in Horror Film Fest, Best Director of a Crime Short at Anatomy International Crime & Horror Film Fest, nominated for Best Actor in a Short at Nightmares Film Fest, currently Nominated for Best Production Design and Best Horror Short at Oxford International accepted to Pasadena International, Mecal Barcelona International, Blackbird, and Paracinema.

My Q&A can be found here.

#scarymovie #thriller #filmmaker #horror #memoryrecovery #shorts

Congrats to Will Arbery, Pulitzer Finalist

My ex-student and alum of NU's MFA in Writing for Screen+Stage which I co-direct. Proud prof.

https://www.pulitzer.org/finalists/will-arbery

Variety includes Northwestern in its list of top Film Schools

Happy to see our inclusion in Variety's top film schools article and especially that they mention our new downtown performance and media center which I helped to imagine as part of our design committee as well as our innovations in playwriting, television writing, and comedy, which of course are central to the MFA in Screen+Stage program,which I co-direct.