As Interest Grows, Screenwriters the Focus for This Year’s Literary Series

Six writers will share industry insights and tips for mastering screenwriting with students and the public, starting Sept. 5 and running through next March.

Screenwriters hailing from film and TV will be coming to Washington College’s campus to visit classes, offer writing workshops, give lectures, and answer questions to assist budding writers in their mastery of the art. While classes are limited to the Washington College students, many of the events are open to the public. A full schedule and description of the Literary House & Sophie Kerr Screenwriters Series is available on the Literary House events webpage. 

With the marketplace for television and movies growing exponentially over the last few years, faculty members in the Department of English have noticed an increase in the number of students combining an English major with one in theatre or communication and media studies. Hoping to support students’ desire to tailor what they were learning to writing scripts, the faculty began exploring how they could meet that interest, leading English and theatre faculty to co-teach a playwriting workshop last year, to be offered again this spring. 

Department heads soon realized, however, there was potentially more of an appetite for learning about the business of writing for television, movies, streaming services and the stage than could be met by a class or two. 

At the same time, staff and faculty at the Rose O’Neill Literary House had  noticed the growing interest in screenwriting as well while working on literary events for the 2023-24 year. As they explored whom they could bring to campus for a reading and talk, they realized one talk from a screenwriter would shortchange the field. 

“It just became really apparent that there are so many different kinds of screenwriting and there’s great interest in each,” said Literary House Director James Hall. “With this series, we wanted to do justice to the array of writing possibilities for the screen.” 

To better meet the interest on campus and fully represent the field, the English department and Literary House combined their efforts to create the Literary House and Sophie Kerr Screenwriters Series for this year, starting on Sept. 5 and 6 with award-winning screenwriter and producer Amy Güth, who will lead a craft talk on adapting literature to the big screen for a class on the 5th with a talk at 6 p.m. the following day focusing on the little-understood role of producing. Both talks are open to the public. 

"This is very much where students’ interests are heading in terms of writing these days, and meeting that demand required teaming up for a more ambitious program,” said Courtney Rydel, chair of the English department.  

In addition to the English department and the Literary House, the series is also engaging the Black Studies Program, the Department of Theatre and Dance, and the Department of Communication and Media Studies. Regardless of their major, all students can benefit from events like the screenwriting series, learning to listen thoughtfully to working professionals and develop productive questions that expand the conversation. 

Washington College faculty have realized the value in these exchanges and have built such experiences into the curriculum. Students pursuing minors in either creative writing or journalism, editing and publishing must attend at least six external events that focus on writing as a profession. 

“Our emphasis is on high-contact, high impact. While many schools book some illustrious person students only see at the front of an auditorium before they are whisked away to dinner with the faculty, we ask for a multi-day commitment from our visiting professionals,” said Rydel. “So they're coming into multiple classes, they're having lunch with students, they're hosting public events. Then, they're hanging around and speaking to students. It's those encounters, those small intimate interactions that really make the Washington College difference. The kind of insights students can glean from a more intentional and personable conversation with an expert in their field are just fundamentally different and so beneficial.” 

As much as Washington students are the primary audience and motivation for the Literary House and Sophie Kerr Screenwriters Series, all of the visiting writers will have public talks of some kind, ranging from screenings followed by question-and-answer sessions to craft talks that speak to aspiring writers, whether from the College or the community. 

“This series is for anyone who enjoys watching movies and TV. They are going to get the curtain pulled back on how it starts with an idea and then it jumps into language and that develops the idea even further through to casting, directing and beyond,” said Hall. “It really is a collaboration whose parameters get articulated by the writing. The Literary House always approaches an event series as something that will appeal to students and the community, delight them, and also educate them. We like to say, ‘trust our taste.’ It’s going to be really amazing.”  

 

The Literary House and Sophie Kerr Screenwriters Series 

The writers appearing in the Screenwriters Series work in a variety of fields, including writing off-screen as well. Below are the dates each writer will be on campus and some of the disciplines in which they work.

Sept. 5-6 — Amy Güth: drama, adaptation, documentary, producing, fiction, journalism and commentary 

Sept. 18-22 — Whit Stillman: adaptation, comedy, drama, directing, acting 

Oct. 2-6 — Jonterri Gadson: comedy, poetry — cosponsored by Black Studies 

Nov. 8-12 — Ron Currie, Jr.: documentary, fiction, nonfiction 

Feb. 18-21 — Eugene Garcia-Cross: comedy, fiction 

March 5-7 — Joey Siara, documentary, fiction