March 4 – 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 4th (the Monday before the 96th Academy Awards) to discuss this year’s ten Oscar-nominated screenplays!

It’s Awards Season again, which means it’s time for our 2nd Annual FREE pre-Oscars session of StoryBoard! Join us for 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 free pre-Oscars event, please send an email to StoryBoardDG@gmail.com prior to March 4 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.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

American Fiction
Cord Jefferson

Barbie
Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach

Oppenheimer
Christopher Nolan

Poor Things
Tony McNamara

The Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Anatomy of a Fall
Justine Triet

The Holdovers
David Hemingson

Maestro
Bradley Cooper & Josh Singer

May December
Samy Burch

Past Lives
Celine Strong

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 also hold our regular Screenplay Development Group meeting on Monday, March 11, when comedy writer Steve Kaplan will lead an in-depth analysis and discussion of Poor Things.

January 8 – Saltburn

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

LOGLINE: An Oxford student is invited to the sprawling estate of a charming and aristocratic classmate for a summer never to be forgotten.

ABOUT THE WRITER: EMERALD FENNELL won the Academy Award three years ago for Best Original Screenplay for her feature writing and directing debut, Promising Young Woman, which also won writing awards from BAFTA, WGA, and Film Independent among many other accolades. Previously, her short film Careful How You Go had played at Sundance, and she’s been nominated for primetime Emmys for her writing and acting on the BBC series Killing Eve and her acting in the Netflix series The Crown. Fennell is also a novelist, having authored the children’s book series Shiverton Hall as well as the 2015 adult horror novel Monsters. In 2021, she wrote the book for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cinderella, a reimagining of the classic fairy tale with an LGBTQ+ twist.

(registration deadline: Friday, January 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.)

Saltburn stars Academy Award nominee Barry Keoghan (The Banshees of Inisherin, The Batman), Jacob Elordi (The Kissing Booth trilogy, Priscilla), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl, Die Another Day), Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), and Carey Mulligan (An Education, Maestro). The Amazon MGM Studios film premiered last August at the Telluride Film Festival and was released theatrically in November. It has been nominated for two Golden Globe awards and more than forty other industry accolades so far and is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime.

Rated R. 124 pages. 131 minutes. Drama.

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.

November 13 – May December

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on November 13th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the screenplay for Todd Haynes’s MAY DECEMBER.

LOGLINE: A movie star researching a role dredges up memories of a decades-old tabloid scandal, threatening the stability of a seemingly happy family.

ABOUT THE WRITERS: May December is the feature screenwriting debut of SAMY BURCH, who shares story credit with ALEX MECHANIK. Before their script put them on the Black List in 2020, the duo had previously co-directed several short films together, including All You Can Eat, which premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2013, and worked together in the casting department for Shane Black’s The Nice Guys starring Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling. Some of Mechanik’s other credits include Iron Man 3 (production assistant) and Ant-Man (casting assistant), while Burch’s additional casting department credits include Iron Man 3 and the first four Hunger Games movies. Burch’s next writing credit will be for her rewrite of James Gunn’s Coyote vs. Acme starring Will Forte as a lawyer hired by Wile E. Coyote to sue the ACME Corporation after their products have consistently failed to help him catch the Road Runner.

(registration deadline: Friday, November 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.)

Partially inspired by the Mary Kay Letourneau scandal of 1997, May December premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May where it was purchased by Netflix for $11 million, and was the opening night film at the New York Film Festival last month.

Directed by Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, Carol), the film stars Natalie Portman (Black Swan, Star Wars prequel trilogy, Thor franchise), Julianne Moore (The Hunger Games franchise, The Lost World: Jurassic Park), Charles Melton (Riverdale), and D.W. Moffett (Switched at Birth), and will see a limited theatrical release on November 17 before streaming on Netflix beginning December 1.

Rated R. 100 pages. 117 minutes. Drama.

DANNY HERCULES will provide in-depth script analysis and lead our discussion. Dan 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, Hercules has never missed a meeting.

September 11 – The Holdovers

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on September 11th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the comedy screenplay THE HOLDOVERS.

LOGLINE: An unpopular teacher, a rebellious student, and a school cafeteria cook are the only ones left at a boarding school over Christmas break in 1970.

ABOUT THE WRITER: According to Deadline, director Alexander Payne came up with the story idea but had no experience with boarding schools, so he hired DAVID HEMINGSON to write the screenplay after reading his writing sample for a TV pilot set in a prep school. Hemingson cut his teeth in children’s TV writing for Nickelodeon’s The Adventures of Pete & Pete and Disney’s 101 Dalmatians: The Series and Hercules: The Animated Series. He went on to write and produce for such sitcoms as Just Shoot Me, How I Met Your Mother, and Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 and created Kitchen Confidential, based on Anthony Bourdain’s book of the same name and starring Bradley Cooper as a fictional version of Bourdain, for which Hemingson was nominated for a WGA Award. Moving into drama, Hemingson created the sexy spy thriller series Whiskey Cavalier, which premiered after the Oscars in 2019. The Holdovers is his first theatrical feature film writing credit.

(registration deadline: Friday, September 8)

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 Holdovers stars Paul Giamati (Sideways), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (Only Murders in the Building), Carrie Preston (True Blood), Tate Donovan (The O.C.), and newcomer Dominic Sessa. The film is scheduled to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in October. Focus Features is planning a limited theatrical release on October 27, followed by a wide theatrical release on November 10.

Rated R. 117 pages. 133 minutes. 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.

August 14 – Holland, Michigan

Meet ONLINE from 7:00-10:00 PM Pacific Time on August 14th for an in-depth analysis and discussion of the thriller screenplay HOLLAND, MICHIGAN.

LOGLINE: When a schoolteacher in a small midwestern town tries to catch her husband in an affair, she discovers things about him that may be worse than she initially imagined.

ABOUT THE WRITER: A native of Medford, Massachusetts, ANDREW SODROSKI earned a B.A. in Medieval History from Harvard University and an MFA in screenwriting from Columbia University. Sodroski, who has lived internationally in Poland and Kosovo, created the 2017 true crime anthology series Manhunt, whose first two seasons covered the investigations of the Unabomber and the 1996 Olympic bombing, respectively. Holland, Michigan, which topped the 2013 Black List, is Sodroski’s first produced feature film, though he has written features on assignment for Warner Bros., STX, Black Bear, and MRC.

(registration deadline: Friday, August 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.)

Filming for the Amazon Studios thriller took place primarily in Tennessee, with three days shooting at the Windmill Island Gardens in Holland, Michigan, in April, just ahead of their annual Tulip Time Festival.

The film, which does not yet have a release date, stars Nicole Kidman (Aquaman), Gael García Bernal (Coco), Matthew Macfadyen (Deadpool 3), Rachel Sennott (Shiva Baby), and Jude Hill (Belfast), and was directed by Mimi Cave (Fresh).

Not Yet Rated. 117 pages. Thriller.

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.

July 10 – Challengers

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

LOGLINE: Following a losing streak, the wife and coach of a Grand Slam tennis champion signs him up for a Challenger event where he will face off against his former best friend, who is also her former lover.

ABOUT THE WRITER: This is the first produced screenplay credit for playwright, novelist, and YouTuber JUSTIN KURITZKES. He became known for his YouTube videos when his 2011 post, “Potion Seller,” was parodied by The New Yorker in 2018 and went viral with over ten million views. He published his first novel, Famous People, in 2019, and is currently adapting the novel Queer by William S. Burroughs (Naked Lunch) for director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name, Suspiria), who also directed Challengers. In addition, Kuritzkes released a pop album called Songs About My Wife, and his wife, Celine Song, made her feature filmmaking debut earlier this year with Past Lives. Follow Justin on Twitter (@JustinKuritzkes).

(registration deadline: Friday, July 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.)

The MGM picture is scheduled to premiere at the Venice Film Festival in August and open nationwide on September 15. The film stars Emmy and Golden Globe winner Zendaya (Euphoria, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Dune), Emmy winner Josh O’Connor (The Crown), and Grammy winner and Tony nominee Mike Faist (Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen, Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story).

Rated R. 128 pages. Romantic Comedy. Sports.

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.

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.

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.