NewEnglandFilm.com

Beginning this May, Boston University’s Summer Term will offer an intensive eight-week institute in screenwriting. BU’s College of Communication (COM), which is co-sponsoring the program, will contribute the power of its connections with the film-making community. Promising scripts could land in the hands of notable BU alums such as Joe Roth (head of Revolution Studios), director Gary Fleder (Kiss the Girls, Runaway Jury), and a host of other key players in the movie business — locally and nationally.

The Screenwriting Institute at BU combines the academic character of a university setting (something weekend seminars in screenwriting oftentimes lack) with insight into the business of film and a helping hand in the screenplay marketplace (something other academic programs often shy away from). The program seeks more than the typical college student interested in film and television. Indeed, the Institute hopes to attract serious writers who want to establish bona fide careers in screenwriting. As such, the program is open to anyone; there is no age limit and university standing is not required.

The program director and head of BU’s screenwriting department, Professor John Bernstein, notes "It goes without saying that screenwriters must have well-written scripts and stories that capture a reader’s imagination, but in today’s film industry that’s not always enough: today’s screenwriter must have the knowledge to navigate successfully the business of screenwriting." Knowing how studios develop material, what agents and managers are looking for, and, in general, the ins and outs of the industry is something every serious screenwriter must learn in order to sell his or her scripts.

And if there is anyone qualified to guide students to success as writers it is Professor John Bernstein. Bernstein has a PhD in Dramatic Literature from the University of Texas. After leaving UT in the late 1970s, Bernstein embarked on a successful career as a playwright; two of his plays Gilda, Take Two and Imperfect Triangles have played in theaters across the United States, Europe, and South America.

After teaching at Duke University in the 1980s, Bernstein moved to Israel where he became a dramaturge for Israel’s National Theater and taught at Tel Aviv University. Increasingly, Bernstein began to specialize in film and screenwriting. In 1989, he came back to America and went to work at Universal Studios where he worked to adapt the Joseph Heller novel Good as Gold. In the 1990s it was back across the "pond" but this time to Europe where Bernstein ran workshops for the Danish Film Institute and the Munich Film Institute and was script editor for the European Script Fund.

Bernstein’s time in Europe was also beneficial for his own work. In 1997, The Danish Film Institute produced his script Corner of Paradise starring Penelope Cruz. In 2003, the Danish Film Institute also produced his script Turn Right by the Yellow Dog. Currently, his script titled Adele is in development with name actors Giancarlo Esposite (Malcolm X, The Usual Suspects, Ali, Smoke, Homicide: Life on the Street) and Kim Dickens (Deadwood, House of Sand and Fog, Things Behind the Sun, Hollowman) attached to the project.

After nearly 10 years in Europe, Bernstein returned to the United States where in 2000 he became a professor in screenwriting at Boston University. He became director of the College of Communication’s screenwriting department in 2005 and immediately put into action his plan for the summer screenwriting program.

Bernstein has modeled the program on UCLA’s extension school screenwriting sequence. "First and foremost," Bernstein says, "students will learn the business and the craft of screenwriting by mastering the essential elements of a superior screenplay and learning about the unique challenges of the film industry. They will study the theory of screenwriting and techniques used by professionals. The goal of the course is for students to come away with a full-length screenplay that is ready to enter the highly-competitive script marketplace. Students will write and revise their script in a supportive, creative environment," Bernstein emphasizes.

The intensive class will take place over eight weeks from May 18 to July 13. It will meet three times a week for three hours at each meeting. The course will accommodate working people, taking place at night. Registration for the course begins March 15 and costs $3,744. "The price of the course may seem high when compared to a weekend seminar which is around $300," Bernstein explains, "However, when compared to the cost of studying one or two semesters at a major university such as BU, the course price is affordable. In addition, unlike seminars which pack up shop and move onto another city after finishing, we are here for the students continuously to help get deserving scripts into the hands of agents and producers who can really boost a new screenwriter’s career. We’re putting the resources of the whole University behind this program."

Interest in screenwriting is at an all-time high. And why shouldn’t it be? One doesn’t need a degree to write and to sell a screenplay. Look online or in bookstores and you will find books, gurus, consultants, and others offering knowledge and resources that will help the amateur screenwriter to make that big Hollywood sale.

But in truth, it’s not that easy. Writing and selling requires time and seasoning — as well as a helping hand. The intensive screenwriting program offered by John Bernstein and Boston University aims to give tudents training in a craft that requires only a burning desire to tell a story.