Courier 12 Screenwriting Conference

For those of you writers in the Chicago area, here is a great learning and networking opportunity:

Through its prestigious Visiting Artists Series, DePaul University’s School of Cinematic Arts is committed to bringing talented artists from across the entertainment industry to Chicago so that they may inform and inspire our students, as well as the Chicago filmmaking community.

We are excited to announce that our annual Courier 12 Screenwriting Conference will take place on Saturday May 21st on DePaul’s Loop Campus. Courier 12 presents a series of panel discussions covering all things screenwriting with some of the top talent in the industry. The event runs from 1:00–7:30 PM in the lower level theater of 247 S. State Street (The Daley Building). Admission is free and open to the public, but seats are limited.

Leading off the day will be a panel on pitching, featuring screenwriter Steve Pink (High Fidelity, Hot Tub Time Machine, Accepted), Dina Hiller, former VP of Comedy Development at Paramount Television (Community, Happy Endings), and Adam Peck, Owner and President of Synchronicity Management, who has executive produced pilots for HBO and CBS. DePaul faculty member, Chris Parrish, will moderate this panel.

Script Magazine and The Writer’s Store are partnering with DePaul this year. SciptMag.com is a leading online screenwriting publication, receiving 250,000 visits per month. The Writer’s Store is a top retailer of all things related to writing, and will donate a website discount code and ten copies of The Hollywood Screenwriting Directory. Script Magazine’s editor, Jeanne Bowerman, will lead a panel of Script Magazine contributors in a discussion about ideation and living the creative life in a money-driven business. Panelists include Doug Richardson (Bad Boys, Die Hard II, Hostage), Tawnya Bhattacharya (The Night Shift, Perception, Fairly Legal), and Rebecca Norris (Split, Cloudy with a Chance of Sunshine).

Howard Rodman, Writer’s Guild of America President, Sundance Institute Artistic Director, USC Professor, and screenwriter of Savage Grace, August, and Joe Gould’s Secret, will discuss the issues facing writers today with DePaul screenwriting professor, Brad Riddell.

Tom Schulman, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Dead Poets Society, as well as the enduring comedies What About Bob? and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, will discuss his writing process with DePaul screenwriting professor, Matt Quinn.

Meg LaFauve, who is the Oscar-nominated co-writer of Pixar’s Inside Out, writer of Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur, and is currently writing Captain Marvel, will speak with DePaul Professor, Jessica King, about writing for Pixar, Marvel, and the challenges facing female writers.

That’s an excellent roster of visiting screenwriters and as noted in the press release, admission is free.

For more information, go here.