Day 9: Roadmap into the industry

Frank Wuliger wanted the screenwriting students in his business class to succeed. Each week he spoke from his heart, and he spent more time discussing "the room" than just about anything else I remember.

A screenwriter can create an amazing screenplay, Frank would say. His agent works long, grueling hours forwarding projects to industry contacts and setting up meetings for clients from a data base comprised of thousands of intricate relationships developed over the years.

The agent, however, will not go to meetings with the screenwriter. The writer or writing partners are on their own; actually selling the project depends on how the writer is in the room.

Frank encourages writers who struggle in the room or who want to become better in the room, to take an acting course.

Teachers over the years had encouraged writing students to take acting classes but for a different reason--to help them create better scenes. Yet until I felt comfortable with the screenwriting process, I wasn't ready.

Screenwriting was always wonderful as I took the hardest class first and picking up tools and gems from patient and generous mentors along the way. Then last year, teachers in two classes encouraged me and I finally felt ready.

This summer I was accepted into a course, "Directing Actors," in the USC School of Cinematic Arts' Summer Production Workshop.

To prepare I've been studying a paperbook: "A practical handbook for the actor." I took the book with me to Las Vegas this past weekend and as I read, for the first time I began to understand what actors experience as they read a screenplay and learn the lines and prepare to enter the story. It made me want to create the most powerful story I can. If I'm losing energy as I'm writing parts of the story, the actor will feel this, too.

I'm going to have so much fun this summer.

I can hardly wait.