UTSA’s film program hosted its second official Screenwriters Spring Break this past week. Five Hollywood screenwriters attended the workshop: John Herrera, Nina Fiore, Tian Jun Gu, Brandon James Childs and Raymond Arturo Perez. They have worked on series such as “The Vampire Diaries,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “House of Cards,” and “Selena: The Series.”
“It’s so exciting to be able to offer this very special event again and to make it available to students from all over San Antonio,” said UTSA Film & Media Studies Program Director Paul Ardoin.
UTSA’s film program is still a developing program and degree focus students that attended the event had this to say about Film and Media hosting the event.
“I mean, in some parts, it feels like we’re a guinea pig for the new classes, because it’s like we’re learning with the professors,” said Nicholas Betts, a film major attending the event.
Irena Bailey expresses that “the pipeline has been crazy, I’m not gonna lie, it’s been an insane whirlwind just because the program is so new.”
The professors and coordinators of the Screenwriters Spring Break are learning from previous semesters. Taking in the trial and error to continue to move the department forward.
Ashley Wilmore mentions that “when things go wrong, it’s like, they’re not going to bring that back for the next semester. But we keep that information because we know, like, what not to do.”
During an open discussion, each screenwriter shared their insights on the craft of TV screenwriting. They emphasized the importance of simplicity in pitches, the necessity of honing individual voices and valuing the ability to rewrite with clarity.
Film students at UTSA were able to experience an integral part of creatively developing a story by having an immersive writers’ room experience.
In regards to what these accomplished screenwriters wish they knew before screenwriting had this to say on the topic, Herrera, an associate professor and writer who worked on “The Handmaid’s Tale,” speaks on personal experience working with students.
“One of the hardest things about screenwriting is getting things clear and simple,” Herrera said. “A lot of students I am talking to, we’re trying to boil these pitches down. And one thing they keep saying is ‘No, this is boring,’ but they don’t realize that they’re very much in their own heads. They need to kind of trim out details so that they can get the purely emotional and thought impacts of what they’re trying to say across to people who haven’t heard a thing about their idea.”
Perez was motivated to pursue screenwriting because of an experience he had with his parents as a young child watching a television program one night with them.
“Movies have the power to shape opinions, but TV, a longer format, has the power to create empathy for characters who may not look like you, may not share the same experiences,” Perez said. “I think that’s what specifically turned me on to TV.”
In regards to the student’s concerns keeping up with the rapid pace of entertainment and holding the attention of viewers today, Fiore commented on the production of TikToks and Instagram reels being a new obstacle film-makers have to stay aware of.
“I think what’s interesting now about things like TikTok and Instagram, and all this stuff is people expressing themselves in this really cool way,” Fiore said. “They’re making their own little movies — things that are interesting to them.”
“Now, audiences are so savvy [that] a few moments in they know what’s gonna happen, and so we gotta get to the thing quicker because things are speeding up. It’s like, you look at television, in the 80s and the 70s, and you look at old cop shows, sh–t takes forever to get anything happening.”
Attending the event encompasses anyone participating in an atmosphere of comradery when participating in the writer workshops. Film production is community-oriented with networking being an essential skill.
“My favorite show that I ever worked on was ‘Black Monday,’ and a lot of it, I would say, is because of the showrunner and the people that I got to work with. It really did feel like a family,” Childs commented.
Concluding the workshop, Gu had aspiring words to share with the eager writers in attendance.
“I would say, be someone that people want to work with,” Gu said. “I understand that the world is moving at the speed of mouse clicks and how fast we tap our phones and sometimes courtesy is to completely disregard it, but empathy, thoughtfulness, remembering to cross your T’s, dot your I’s and all that it goes a very, very long way in you being someone that another person wants to be in the room with because our business is very difficult.”
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