June 12 – No Hard Feelings

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on June 12th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the raunchy comedy screenplay NO HARD FEELINGS.

LOGLINE: When an Uber driver’s car is repossessed, she answers a Craigslist ad posted by helicopter parents promising a Buick Regal if she can successfully “date” their introverted 19-year-old incel son before he goes to college without letting him know they hired her.

ABOUT THE WRITERS: Ukranian-born American filmmaker GENE STUPNITSKY began his writing career in 2005 with writing partner Lee Eisenberg on the staff of The Office. Their first feature writing credit came with Year One, directed and co-written by Harold Ramis. They followed that up with Bad Teacher starring Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake, which they spun off into a CBS sitcom, before Stupnitsky made his directorial debut with Good Boys for producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. He wrote No Hard Feelings specifically for his friend, Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence, to star in; she also produced the project through her Excellent Cadaver banner. Upright Citzens Brigade comedian JOHN PHILLIPS broke into the business with his raunchy comedy spec script Dirty Grandpa, which starred Robert De Niro and Zac Efron. He was an associate producer on Stupnitsky’s Good Boys before teaming up with him to write No Hard Feelings, which is his second writing credit.

(registration deadline: Friday, June 9)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Single Meeting Fee: $45
SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A 6-MONTH MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

The Sony Pictures release, directed by Stupnitksy, opens on June 23 and co-stars Andrew Barth Feldman (Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway), with Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), Laura Benanti (Supergirl), Natalie Morales (Stuber, Parks and Recreation), Scott MacArthur (The Mick), Hasan Minhaj (The Daily Show), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Girls), and Kyle Mooney (Saturday Night Live) in supporting roles.

Rated R. 113 pages. Comedy.

DIANA LESMEZ will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. A produced feature-film screenwriter and an award-winning filmmaker, Diana is a Jane-of-all-trades with vast industry experience in production, development, acquisitions, distribution, physical production, film finance, business and legal affairs, as well as new media. She wrote the adapted screenplay for the feature film The Journey Ahead starring Michael Madsen, and produced the feature film Culture Class in AmeriCCA directed by Emilio Estevez. Previously, she served as President of Production at a mini-studio, Arenas Entertainment in partnership with Universal Pictures, and was the Head of Development for a production entity, Patriot Pictures, and the industry liaison for Banque Paribas, a film financing institution, and has taught at the New York Film Academy. Via her banner company, Bumptious Media Consulting, Diana offers screenwriting and producing one-on-one coaching, workshops, and master classes, with a specialty in pitching and mastering communication skills. Follow her on Twitter (@DianaLesmez) and visit her website, dianalesmez.com, for more information.

May 8 – Beau Is Afraid

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on May 8th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay BEAU IS AFRAID.

LOGLINE: A mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man, on his way to see his overbearing Jewish mother, encounters a series of obstacles that force him to confront his darkest fears on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey.

ABOUT THE WRITER: ARI ASTER received his MFA in Directing from the AFI Conservatory. After his controversial 2011 incest-themed AFI short, The Strange Thing About the Johnsons, went viral, Aster made his feature writing and directing debut with Hereditary, starring Toni Collette, which became A24’s highest-grossing movie (until last year’s Everything Everywhere All at Once). He described his second feature, Midsommar, starring Florence Pugh, as “[The] Wizard of Oz for perverts.” Originally titled Disappointment Blvd., the surrealist black comedy film Beau Is Afraid is Aster’s third feature and is partially based on a short film he made in 2011 called Beau.

(registration deadline: Friday, May 5)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Single Meeting Fee: $45
SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A 6-MONTH MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

Beau Is Afraid premiered in New York on April Fool’s Day to an audience expecting to see a director’s cut of Aster’s Midsommar. The A24 film, which Aster once described as a Jewish Lord of the Rings, stars Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator), Parker Posey (Dazed and Confused), Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone), Nathan Lane (The Birdcage), Richard Kind (Inside Out), and Patti LuPone (Evita) and is scheduled to be released theatrically on April 21. If you plan to see the movie, it is highly recommended that you read the screenplay first so that your initial impression is from the writing on the page.

Rated R. 118 pages. 179 minutes. Black Comedy.

BRIAN HERSKOWITZ will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. Brian currently holds the title of lead faculty in screenwriting for the prestigious Boston University in Los Angeles – Writer In Hollywood Program, has taught online for UCLA Extension, and spent five years as the sitcom instructor for Writer’s Bootcamp. He has written for such TV shows as Blossom, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Acapulco Heat, Dream On, Renegade, and Murder, She Wrote. and in 2014 released he released the book Process to Product: From Concept to Script: A Practical Guide for the Screenwriter. His feature screenwriting credits include the horror/thriller Darkroom and the family comedy Tio Papi. Also a talented actor, producer, and director, Brian made the award-winning short film Odessa or Bust starring Jason Alexander, Red Buttons, and Jason Schwartzman, and the domestic abuse documentary 1736: Somewhere To Turn. Find out more about Brian and his projects at brianherskowitz.com.

April 10 – AIR

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on April 10th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay AIR.

LOGLINE: A shoe salesman hustles to sign rookie basketball player Michael Jordan to a deal that ultimately results in the most popular line of sneakers in history.

ABOUT THE WRITER: Air is the first produced screenwriting credit for ALEX CONVERY. Growing up in suburban Illinois, Convery first became interested in screenwriting as a teenager when his father gave him a collected volume of Coen Brothers screenplays for Christmas. After graduating from USC, Convery wrote spec biopic scripts on Stephen King and Stan Lee. The latter reached the second round in the Austin Film Festival screenplay competition, where he networked with panelists who gave him advice that helped him pick more marketable material to write about. Inspired by Tony Gilroy’s Michael Clayton, Convery wrote Bag Man, about a college football “fixer,” which got him a manager and landed on the 2018 Black List. He hit the Black List two more times with Excelsior! (his Stan Lee biopic) in 2020, and finally with Air in 2021. Director Ben Affleck did some revisions to the script with co-stars Matt Damon and Chris Tucker, and input from his wife, Jennifer Lopez, but says they didn’t ask for writing credit. Affleck and Damon shared an Academy Award for their first screenplay together, 1997’s Good Will Hunting.

(registration deadline: Friday, April 7)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Single Meeting Fee: $45
SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A 6-MONTH MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

Air premiered at South by Southwest in March and will open in theaters on April 5. The film was produced and directed by Ben Affleck (Argo), who stars as Nike founder Phil Knight alongside Matt Damon (The Martian), Jason Bateman (Ozark), Marlon Wayans (Scary Movie), Chris Messina (The Mindy Project), Chris Tucker (Rush Hour), and Viola Davis (How to Get Away with Murder). If you plan to see the movie, it is highly recommended that you read the screenplay first so that your initial impression is from the writing on the page.

Rated R. 103 pages. 112 minutes. Drama. Sports. Biopic.

Donna Michelle Anderson, will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. “DMA,” as she is professionally known, is a story analyst, development executive, and the author of Write It, Pitch It, Sell Your Screenplay: A Hollywood Buyer’s Insider Guide to Getting Your Script Past the Gatekeepers, an update of her 1-3-5 Story Structure Made Simple System: The Nine Essential Elements of a Sellable Screenplay, which was the first story structure system integrated into Final Draft. She has helmed top-rated programming for CBS, Bravo, BET, A&E, TLC and more. Visit her at PlanetDMA.com.

March 13 – Everything Everywhere All at Once

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on March 13th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the Oscar-nominated screenplay EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE.

LOGLINE: During an IRS audit, a laundromat owner is confronted by a version of her husband from a parallel universe who tells her she is the only version of herself who can save the multiverse from an evil version of her daughter.

ABOUT THE WRITERS: DANIEL KWAN and DANIEL SCHEINERT, collectively knowns as the Daniels, met while studying film at Emmerson College in Boston. They began their career making music videos for the likes of Foster the People, The Shins, and Tenacious D. Their 2014 video for “Turn Down For What” by DJ Snake and Lil Jon went viral, reaching one billion views on YouTube by 2020. Their first feature film, Swiss Army Man, stars Paul Dano as a shipwrecked man on an island whose only companion is a dead body that washes ashore, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Everything Everywhere All at Once is their second feature film together, following Scheinert’s solo outing, The Death of Dick Long, starring himself in the title role.

UPDATE: The Daniels originally wrote the script for Jackie Chan to star as the hero, Waymond. When he wasn’t available, they rewrote the script with Waymond’s wife, Evelyn, played by Michelle Yeoh, as the protagonist. We will discuss BOTH drafts, as well as how the finished film turned out.

(registration deadline: Friday, March 10)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Single Meeting Fee: $45
SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A 6-MONTH MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

Everything Everywhere All at Once premiered at last year’s South by Southwest film festival and became distributor A24’s first film to gross $100 million worldwide. Currently, it leads this year’s Academy Award nominations with 11, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and four acting nominations. So far, the film has won two Golden Globes, four SAG awards, five Critics Choice Awards (including Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay) and the Producers Guild award for Best Picture.

Currently streaming on Showtime and available everywhere to rent or purchase digitally or on DVD and Blu-ray, Everything Everywhere All at Once stars Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Avatar 3), Stephanie Hsu (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Ke Huy Quan (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, The Goonies), James Hong (Blade Runner, Chinatown), and Jamie Lee Curtis (Halloween, A Fish Called Wanda). If you have not yet seen the movie, it is highly recommended that you first read the screenplay so your initial impression is from the writing on the page.

Rated R. 125 pages. 139 minutes. Sci-Fi. Action. Comedy.

STEVE KAPLAN will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. The industry’s most sought-after expert on comedy, Steve has taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale, and other top universities, and created the HBO Workspace and the HBO New Writers Program. As co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan Punch Line Theatre he developed writers such as Peter Tolan (Analyze This), David Crane (Friends), Tracy Poust (Ugly Betty), Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea), and Mark O’Donnel (Hairspray). Steve teaches a number of different workshops all over the globe, including The Comedy Intensive, a 2-day workshop that covers the fundamental principles of comedy. Look for his books The Hidden Tools of Comedy and The Comic Hero’s Journey, learn more about Steve and his workshops at kaplancomedy.com, and follow him on Twitter at @skcomedy where you can tweet quick comedy questions at him with the #AskKaplan hashtag.

March 6 – Special Pre-Oscars Meeting (FREE)

StoryBoard Development Group Presents

A Special Exclusive StoryBoardDG.com Pre-Oscars Event!

Meet online from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on March 6th (the Monday before the 95th Academy Awards) to discuss this year’s ten Oscar-nominated screenplays!

If you’ve never been to a StoryBoard meeting, or have previously attended, now’s your chance to participate in the fun with writers and filmmakers for free! Instead of our usual script analysis and in-depth screenwriting discussion of a single script, we’ll have a casual conversation about each of the ten nominated screenplays and discuss their chances of winning the industry’s top prize.

***HOW TO REGISTER*** If you wish to participate in this event, please send an email to StoryBoardDG@gmail.com prior to March 6 and you will receive an email with login instructions on the day of the event.

Don’t worry about reading the scripts. Just try to see as many of the films as you can before the meeting. Here’s how:

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Banshees of Inisherin
Martin McDonagh
HBO Max, Amazon digital rental, DVD/Blu-ray

Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Daniels
Showtime, Amazon digital purchase, DVD/Blu-ray

The Fabelmans
Steven Spielberg / Tony Kushner
Amazon digital rental, DVD/Blu-ray

Tár
Todd Field
Amazon digital rental, DVD/Blu-ray

Triangle of Sadness
Ruben Östlund
Amazon digital rental, DVD/Blu-ray

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

All Quiet on the Western Front
Edward Berger / Lesley Paterson / Ian Stokell
Netflix

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Rian Johnson
Netflix

Living
Kazuo Ishiguro
currently in theaters

Top Gun: Maverick
Ehren Kruger / Eric Warren Singer / Christopher McQuarrie
Paramount+, MGM+,
Amazon digital rental,
DVD/Blu-ray

Women Talking
by Sarah Polley
currently in theaters

DANNY HERCULES will lead the not-so-in-depth discussion. Danny is the creator, publisher, and one of the authors of ScripTipps, a line of inexpensive ebooks on screenwriting conceived in part by his participation in StoryBoard. An award-winning filmmaker, Danny was co-founder and president of San Diego Filmmakers and sat on the board of directors of Scriptwriters Network where he ran their writers groups and staged readings programs. In 2012 he published the popular young adult Christmas novel North Pole High: A Rebel Without a Claus and later adapted it into a musical through the Academy of New Musical Theatre, where he also wrote the book for Chaturbate: The Musical, which premiered at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2017. A member of StoryBoard’s Screenplay Discussion Group since November 2009, Danny has never missed a meeting.

Note: StoryBoard will hold our regular Screenplay Development Group meeting on Monday, March 13.

February 13 – The Fabelmans

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on February 13th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of Steven Spielberg’s screenplay THE FABELMANS.

LOGLINE: A young aspiring filmmaker explores how the power of films can help him see the truth about his dysfunctional family and those around him.

“I’ve been hiding from this story since I was 17 years old,” director and co-writer STEVEN SPIELBERG said at the Golden Globe awards last week, where The Fabelmans won Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director. “I put a lot of things in the way of this story. I told this story in parts and parcels all throughout my career. E.T. has a lot to do with this story. Close Encounters has a lot to do with this story. But I never had the courage to hit this story head on until [co-writer] TONY KUSHNER sat me down and said, ‘Tell me about all these stories I’ve heard about your life.’ And we started a conversation that lasted all through Munich, all through Lincoln, all through West Side Story. And my wife, Kate, was always saying, ‘You have to tell this story.'” So the 74-year-old filmmaker finally sat down to tell the most personal story of his career, a story he says is “about the fact that it’s not easy to be a kid, the fact that everybody sees me as a success story, and everybody sees all of us based on how they get the information, but nobody really knows who we are until we’re courageous enough to tell everyone who we are.”

(registration deadline: Friday, February 10)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Single Meeting Fee: $45
SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A 6-MONTH MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

The Fabelmans premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last September and opened nationwide in November. Also currently available on VOD and scheduled for DVD/Blu-ray/4K UHD releases the day after our meeting, the film stars Gabriel LaBelle (Showtime’s American Gigolo) as Sammy Fabelman — a fictional version of Spielberg, Michelle Williams (Dawson’s Creek), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood), Seth Rogen (Knocked Up), Judd Hirsch (Ordinary People), and filmmaker David Lynch as filmmaker John Ford. It currently holds a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has been nominated for hundreds of awards so far. If you have not yet seen the movie, it is highly recommended that you first read the screenplay so your initial impression is from the writing on the page.

UPDATE: On January 24, The Fabelmans was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay!

Rated PG-13. 144 pages. 151 minutes. Drama. Coming-of-Age.

MELODY JACKSON will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. Melody completed her Ph.D. in Mythological Studies in 2003 with her dissertation on “The Mythic Impact of Film.” She has been praised by Creative Screenwriting on multiple occasions for her exceptional knowledge of traditional three-act structure and character development. Known for approaching plot and structure through examination of character motivation and relationships, Melody offers consulting and marketing services to screenwriters through Smart Girls, which she founded in 1992. Since then she has helped over 2,500 writers improve their screenplays to get them to 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, Paramount, CAA, and countless medium-sized and smaller production companies. Visit SmartG.com or follow @smartgirlspr on Twitter.

January 9 – Empire of Light

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on January 9th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay EMPIRE OF LIGHT.

LOGLINE: An interracial love story set in an English coastal cinema during the 1980s.

ABOUT THE WRITER: Knighted in 2020, Sir SAM MENDES is best known as a celebrated director of stage and screen. He first gained attention in London with his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret, Oliver!, and Gypsy, among others, before making his film debut with American Beauty, which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay (Alan Ball). He went on to direct two James Bond films (Skyfall and Spectre), as well as Road to Perdition, starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, and Revolutionary Road, which reunited his then-wife, Kate Winslet, with her Titanic co-star Leonard DiCaprio. Empire of Light is only Mendes’s second screenwriting credit. He previously directed and co-wrote the World War I hit 1917, which was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

(registration deadline: Friday, January 6)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Single Meeting Fee: $45
SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A 6-MONTH MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

Empire of Light premiered at the Telluride Film Festival last September and opened in the US in limited release last month. The Searchlight Pictures film, which is scheduled to open in the UK the same night as our discussion, stars Academy Award winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite), Micheal Ward (2020 BAFTA Rising Star), Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, Bridget Jones’s Diary), and Toby Jones (The Hunger Games, Captain America: The First Avenger). If you have not yet seen the movie, it is highly recommended that you first read the screenplay so your initial impression is from the writing on the page.

Rated R. 126 pages. 115 minutes. Drama. Romance.

WENDELL WELLMAN will provide in-depth script analysis and lead our discussion. Screenwriter, actor, playwright, teacher, and author of A Writer’s Roadmap, Wendell has taught screenwriting at UCLA and UWV and has been a frequent guest moderator at StoryBoardDG.com’s Screenplay Development Group. As an actor, Wendell studied under Lee Strasberg and Peggy Feury at the Strasberg Institute and has appeared in episodic television, theater, and motion pictures, including prominent roles in the films The Klansman starring Lee Marvin and Richard Burton, Sudden Impact, Sommersby, and Street of Dreams. As a writer, he teamed up with Alex Lasker to adapt the novel Firefox for director Clint Eastwood, which Quentin Tarantino praised on his podcast for its “fantastic use of exposition.” Wendell also did additional work for Eastwood on the screenplay for Sudden Impact and wrote a final Dirty Harry project. Wendell also worked with the West End Theatre Group as co-founder and artistic director while continuing to alternate between acting and writing assignments. He is currently writing and producing original feature scripts.

December 12 – TÁR

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on December 12th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay TÁR.

LOGLINE: A renowned orchestra conductor’s life unravels as she prepares a book launch and a live performance of Mahler’s 5th Symphony.

ABOUT THE WRITER: As a teenager, TODD FIELD co-created Big League Chew bubble gum. He began his movie career as an actor, appearing in such films as Twister, Woody Allen’s Radio Days, and Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. He made his feature directorial debut in 2001 with In The Bedroom, which won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, which Field co-wrote. Field’s second film, Little Children, starred Kate Winslet and Jackie Earle Haley and earned Field another Oscar nomination in the Best Adapted Screenplay category. Tár, written, produced, and directed by Field, is his first film since 2006 and his first original feature-length screenplay to be produced.

(registration deadline: Friday, December 9)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Single Meeting Fee: $45
SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A 6-MONTH MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

Tár stars two-time Oscar winner and six-time nominee Cate Blanchett as Lydia Tár. The film was released in October by Focus Features after premiering at the Venice and Telluride film festivals and is currently available on VOD. If you have not yet seen the movie, it is highly recommended that you first read the screenplay so your initial impression is from the writing on the page. Afterward, you are encouraged to also see the film, as our discussion may include choices made in the process of adapting the script to a finished film.

Rated R. 92 pages. 158 minutes. Drama.

DIANA LESMEZ will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. A produced feature-film screenwriter and an award-winning filmmaker, Diana is a Jane-of-all-trades with vast industry experience in production, development, acquisitions, distribution, physical production, film finance, business and legal affairs, as well as new media. She wrote the adapted screenplay for the feature film The Journey Ahead starring Michael Madsen, and produced the feature film Culture Class in AmeriCCA directed by Emilio Estevez. Previously, she served as President of Production at a mini-studio, Arenas Entertainment in partnership with Universal Pictures, and was the Head of Development for a production entity, Patriot Pictures, and the industry liaison for Banque Paribas, a film financing institution, and has taught at the New York Film Academy. Via her banner company, Bumptious Media Consulting, Diana offers screenwriting and producing one-on-one coaching, workshops, and master classes, with a specialty in pitching and mastering communication skills. Follow her on Twitter (@DianaLesmez).

November 14 – The Whale

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on November 14th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay THE WHALE.

LOGLINE: A morbidly obese English teacher attempts to reconnect with his teenage daughter for one last chance at redemption.

ABOUT THE WRITER: SAMUEL D. HUNTER is a playwright, best known for Obie Award winning dark comedy A Bright New Boise (2010), and his Drama Desk Award winning The Whale (2012), which he has adapted for the screen. Based on his “track record of significant accomplishments,” Hunter was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, also known as the “Genius Grant,” in 2014. He has also written for television, penning nine episodes of the FX series Baskets starring Zack Galifianakis and Louie Anderson (who won an Emmy for his performance as the mother of a rodeo clown). The Whale is Hunter’s first produced screenplay.

(registration deadline: Friday, November 11)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Single Meeting Fee: $45
SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A 6-MONTH MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

Producer/director Darren Aronofsky (mother!, Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream) spent ten years trying to get The Whale made, waiting until he found an actor who could handle the lead role. The Whale stars Brendan Fraser (The Mummy trilogy), Sadie Sink (Stranger Things, Fear Street), Hong Chau (Downsizing, The Menu), Samantha Morton (Minority Report, The Walking Dead), and Ty Simpkins (Iron Man 3, Avengers: Endgame).

The film premiered in competition last month at the Venice Film Festival where it won four awards and received a six-minute standing ovation. A24 is scheduled to release the film on December 8. There is no trailer yet, but here is a clip from 2015 of playwright and screenwriter Samuel D. Hunter discussing the impetus for writing the original play.

Rated R. 109 pages. 117 minutes. Drama.

JEFF KITCHEN will lead our script analysis and in-depth screenwriting discussion. Jeff trains writers in a two-year apprenticeship program as well as a three-month program at script.kitchen. He has taught thousands of writers from Broadway to Hollywood, with former students nominated for multiple Oscars and Emmy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Jeff is the author of the bestselling book, Writing a Great Movie: Key Tools for Successful Screenwriting.

October 10 – The Menu

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on October 10th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the dark comedy/horror screenplay THE MENU.

LOGLINE: A young couple travels to a remote island to eat at an exclusive restaurant where the celebrity chef, who treats his food as conceptual art, has some shocking surprises for his wealthy guests.

WRITERS: The Menu is the first feature screenwriting credit for SETH REISS and WILL TRACY. A graduate of Boston University, Reiss began contributing to The Onion while working as a page for The Late Show with David Letterman. After interning at The Daily Show and working his way up to head writer at The Onion, he wrote for Late Night with Seth Meyers, earning Emmy nominations four years in a row for Best Writing for a Variety Series. Raised in Portland, Oregon, Tracy was the editor for The Onion and has won five Emmy awards: two for writing for Last Week with John Oliver, three for writing for HBO’s Succession. He also created the upcoming HBO miniseries The Palace starring Kate Winslet. Reiss and Tracy’s spec collaboration, The Menu, was on the 2019 Black List, and they both have executive producer credits on the film.

(registration deadline: Friday, October 7)

Registration in advance is required to attend the discussion, and includes a copy of the script sent to you in advance.

Single Meeting Fee: $45
SPECIAL OFFER – ONLY $150 FOR A 6-MONTH MEMBERSHIP OR RENEWAL!

Click the Register Now button for instructions.
(Email StoryBoardDG@gmail.com if you have any questions.)

Directed by Mark Mylod (Succession, Game of Thrones, Shameless), The Menu stars Ralph Fiennes (Schindler’s List, The English Patient), Anna Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit, Emma) and Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy, Renfield), with Hong Chau (Downsizing), Janet McTeer (Ozark), Judith Light (Who’s the Boss?), and John Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge!).

Produced by Adam McKay and Will Ferrell, the film premiered at the Toronto film festival in September and is scheduled to be released by Searchlight Pictures on November 18.

Rated R. 104 pages. 106 minutes. Drama. Thriller. Horror. Comedy.

Donna Michelle Anderson, will provide in-depth analysis and lead our discussion. “DMA,” as she is professionally known, is a story analyst, development executive, and the author of Write It, Pitch It, Sell Your Screenplay: A Hollywood Buyer’s Insider Guide to Getting Your Script Past the Gatekeepers, an update of her 1-3-5 Story Structure Made Simple System: The Nine Essential Elements of a Sellable Screenplay, which was the first story structure system integrated into Final Draft. She has helmed top-rated programming for CBS, Bravo, BET, A&E, TLC and more. Visit her at PlanetDMA.com.