Creative Writing for the Queer Screen: A hands-on Screenwriting Workshop
Creative Writing for the Queer Screen: A hands-on Screenwriting Workshop
Dates: 10 December 2024 (Amsterdam) & 11 December 2024 (Utrecht)
Times: 13:00-17:30
Location University of Amsterdam & Utrecht University*
Contact & registration: d.semerene@uva.nl
Credits: 1 ECTS
*Note: students will attend one of the two sessions. Please provide the organizer with your preferred location/date upon registration.
Jeanne Jo is a Los Angeles-based screenwriter, film director, and visual artist whose work embraces a feminist camp sensibility and an unabashed pop aesthetic. She has made films, music videos, and social media content with drag queen superstars Yvie Oddly, Angeria, Asia O’Hara, Lady Camden, and Rosé, and worked on motion pictures “Star Trek: Beyond” and Marvel’s “Black Panther.” Jo has a PhD from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Responding to Elaine Scarry’s essay, “On Beauty and Being Just,” participants of the workshop will engage in creative writing exercises designed to unlock characters based on their own personal histories. Drawing from Jo’s work with queer storytelling and drag performers, the focus of the workshop will be on gender non-conforming storyworlds. Participants will learn how to write in screenplay format and will leave the workshop with a written scene from an original story concept.
Materials
- Elaine Scarry, “On Beauty and Being Just” (pages 3 to 33)
https://tannerlectures.utah.edu/_resources/documents/a-to-z/s/scarry00.pdf - Jeanne Jo’s script for “Tampoon”
- This American Life episode 754: Spark bird (the first 14 min)
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/754/spark-bird
Participants are expected to prepare the reading and listening materials previous to workshop, actively participate in discussions, and engage in the writing exercises proposed in the session.