Act One will bridge Washington and Hollywood

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — The 6-year-old Act One: Writing for Hollywood project will present its first-ever training program in the nation’s capital. The four-week program will augment a similar session to be held in Hollywood.

Founded in Hollywood, Act One officials have previously sponsored training sessions in Chicago and New York.

The application deadline is March 1, 2004.

The Washington D.C. program, which starts May 9, follows a series of meetings Act One officials had in 2003 with leaders in Congress, the Senate and the White House. In those meetings, Christian media professionals talked with influential politicos of the same bent, on subjects ranging from creative ethics and media values to spirituality and censorship.

The Hollywood session starts July 5.

An inter-denominational training program for aspiring scriptwriters from the Christian community, Act One’s faculty consists of more than 50 working professionals in the entertainment industry, including writers, directors and producers. The faculty leads students through an intensive hands-on curriculum in the theories and practices of film and TV writing.

Barbara Nicolosi, director of Act One, said that the goal of the program is not to produce “religious” scripts, but rather scripts that reflect a Christian worldview.

“We need stories that will flex our inner potential to heights we rarely find in ‘the prison’ of the workaday world,” Nicolosi said. “We need stories to connect us to each other, and to set us longing to be better than we are.”

Through the training sessions, writers are equipped to bring together mastery of craft and depth of content for movies and television, covering everything a writer needs to know to competitively enter the film and TV industry. Emphasizing professionalism, artistry, prayer and excellence, the program’s 50-plus teachers/mentors include Angelo Pizzo (Rudy, Hoosiers); Ralph Winter (X-Men, Planet of the Apes); David McFadzean (Home Improvement, What Women Want); Lee & Janet Batchler (Batman Forever); and Randall Wallace (Braveheart).

Students in the Act One program are working throughout the entertainment industry with writing and producing jogs at DreamWorks, CBS, HBO, PAX, MSNBC and FOX, among others.

With only 30 students accepted into each summer program, the application process is described as competitive.

“Act One is by far the most-thorough, most-inspiring, most-intensive screenwriting program I’ve seen anywhere,” said screenwriter Janet Batchler, a faculty member. “You can waste years of time tiptoeing around the edges of the entertainment industry, or you can come to Act One and learn what you need to know in four weeks.”

For more information about Act One, log on to its Web site at ActoneProgram.com, e-mail associate director Zena Dell Schroeder at zschroeder@fpch.org or call (323) 462-1348.

Published by Keener Communications Group, Jannuary 2004

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