SAN ANTONIO – Hollywood is coming to town next month, and film students at UTSA will experience an integral part of the movie-making process: the writers' room.
On Wednesday, the university’s film and media program announced the return of its Screenwriters’ Spring Break Workshop.
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“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.
From March 10-13, five writers whose credits run the gamut of television and film will mentor 55 UTSA students in mock writers' rooms.
“I’m privileged to play a small part in Screenwriters Spring Break. Nurturing local, diverse storytelling is essential in the best of times. Right now, it’s urgent,” said first-time mentor Tian Ju Gu.
Gu holds screenwriting credits for projects such as “House of Cards” and “Interrogation.” Brandon Childs also comes to the workshop for the first time; his work includes “Black Monday” and “Blockbuster.”
John Herrera and Nina Fiore return as mentors from the first workshop held last year. They have writing credits on “The Handmaid’s Tale” and “The Purge,” a 2019 series.
Herrera, Fiore and Perez returned as mentors from the first workshop held last year.
Raymund Arturo Perez, a writer on “Selena: The Series,” also returns for his second workshop stint.
“The last time we managed to flesh out a horror series that would make the CW of yesteryear ready to hire my whole room and audiences asking for a second season,” Perez said. “I’m eager to discover what the students concoct this time around.”
UTSA partnered with SAY Sí to allow 25 students from local high schools and community arts organizations to participate.
SAY Sí will work with UTSA student mentors guided by UTSA Professor of Instruction Jennifer Smith to develop story ideas and compete to pitch their ideas to the visiting writers, according to the release.
“The goal of the high school screenwriting workshops is to nurture and guide emerging voices in the development of unique and culturally relevant stories that reflect the multifariousness of Texas,” said Assistant Program Director Guillermina Zabala Suarez.
Suarez said the workshops are part of a larger project called Telling Texas Stories Through Film, a tuition-free and community-based series exploring “individual and collective stories about Texas-based filmmakers and the history of Texas Cinema.”
The workshop was organized by UTSA’s film and media program and through a grant from Humanities Texas to Suarez.
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