Director Chris Eyre Coming On Board as Chair

Really excited to have director and DGA member Chris Eyre joining our faculty and chairing the department. Chris emerged from the Sundance Institute and has directed films based on work from writers like Sherman Alexie and Tony Hillerman, as well as episodes of Friday Night Lights. I’m looking forward to working with Chris and my other talented faculty colleagues in building the best film/TV/digital media undergraduate department in the Southwest.

The Holiday Break

The life of a screenwriting professor means that you’re calculating and filing final grades — and then thoroughly annotating student scripts and treatments — throughout the holiday break. Ho ho ho!

For any of you curious about the institution I teach at (Santa Fe University of Art and Design), here’s our YouTube Channel. Check it out, and in January we’ll be debuting our department’s Vimeo site. Happy holidays to all!

Visit to Santa Fe Community College

Always great to visit a Film Crew class at Santa Fe Community College (SFCC) and talk a little bit about the nuts and bolts of screenwriting, as well as how screenplays are designed to aid a production crew in all kinds of ways. (Since Celtx is the scripting software of choice at SFCC, it was also a chance to demonstrate how Celtx works and mention Mastering Celtx!)

Thanks to instructor Kelly Bahr for the invitation this past Monday night.

Further Expanding Celtx as an Authoring Environment

My quick review of Celtx Shots, the new iPad app that further expands Celtx as an authoring environment for story development and screenwriting. We’re continuing to move towards a completely mobile solution for creative development: a tablet (with Bluetooth keyboard) for heavy-duty input, and iPhone or Droid for continual contact and lightweight interactivity with intellectual property.

But as pico-projection capability gets added to our handheld devices, we may find that even the tablet is an interim solution: we’ll have Bluetooth keyboards and Wacom tablets when needed, and everything else will be gestural and ambient…

Conversation with writer-director Aaron Katz

Great Skype session in class earlier this week with independent writer-director Aaron Katz, who’s made 3 feature films before hitting 30 and even pays the bills while staying in the indie world. Hats off to anyone who can stay focused on craft and storytelling while avoiding compromises in their vision.

Archived Radio Broadcast of KSFR ‘Cinemascope’ Interview

If you missed the live broadcast of KSFR-FM‘s Cinemascope, where I guested with faculty colleague Shelene Bridge, here’s the archived broadcast in its entirety (just under 30 minutes).

The chief topic is the Fall Film Showcase, which went very successfully on October 5. But we sneak in a mention of Mastering Celtx at the end, and also get to talk about Santa Fe University’s Moving Image Arts department. Enjoy!

Fall Film Showcase is a wrap!

Thanks to all for making the first annual SantaFeU Fall Film Showcase a wrap — and a success! We had a great turnout from local residents, and it was exciting emceeing the event and guiding the table reading of alumni and student screenplays, acted by some of Santa Fe’s finest thespians. Here was the full night’s program, for anyone interested.

And now, on to planning the 2012 edition of the Outdoor Vision Fest!

Guesting on KSFR-FM’s “Cinemascope” Friday, September 30, 6pm MDT

I’ll be guesting (along with my faculty colleague Shelene Bridge) on KSFR-FM‘s Cinemascope broadcast Friday night, September 30, at 6:30pm MDT (101.1 FM in Santa Fe, Taos, Albuquerque and much of the rest of Northern New Mexico).

Don’t despair if you’re not near a radio in Northern New Mexico — you can live-stream the broadcast too!

Shelene and I will be discussing the upcoming Fall Film Showcase our department is putting on October 5, 7pm, at The Screen on the campus of Santa Fe University of Art and Design. The Showcase will highlight alumni and current student short films, along with unproduced screenplays (stage-read by some of Santa Fe’s best actors). Alumni filmmakers include Shelene, Ari Aster and Matt Page.

Shelene and I will also talk about the exciting things happening in the Moving Image Arts department, and I’ll get to talk about my book Mastering Celtx a bit.

Thanks to both the host and producer of Cinemascope for having us on!

Moving Image Arts Fall Film Showcase

Santa Fe University of Art and Design has just distributed a media announcement where I discuss the first annual SantaFeU Fall Film Showcase. We’re really excited about offering both script readings and films from alums and current students, and inviting the community in to show off what we’re doing. The script readings will feature some of Santa Fe’s best actors, and I’m currently busy casting those roles and facilitating the event: October 5, 7pm, at The Screen — and it’s free!

Podcast – “NM Film Works”

You can catch the podcast of September 10′s NM Film Works radio broadcast; I come in at the 21-minute mark with host Trish Lopez to discuss screenwriting, Mastering Celtx, and an exciting new event we’re launching in the Moving Image Arts department at Santa Fe University of Art and Design.