INDUSTRY 101 EVENT SERIES
Screenplay 101: All the Basics
Wednesday, May 1, 2024 | 5-6:30 PM PT | Online
It seems like everyone has written a screenplay. Or at least started one. Or has thought about starting one. But it's not as easy as opening up a text document and writing, "Scene 1: It is a bright and sunny day outside."
There are a handful of generally agreed-upon conventions and “rules” that screenwriters tend to abide by, but these might not always be clear to writers first starting out. What do "INT" and "EXT" mean? What is an "act?" What is a slug line and why does everyone argue about whether or not you're supposed to bold them? People keep talking about “rules” but what are the rules? And aren’t rules meant to be broken?
This panel will demystify the very basics of screenwriting, starting with the formatting of a screenplay and the best way to get started writing.
PANELISTS
Jeanie Bergen
Jeanie was raised by her grandmother and aunt, after the death of her mother (f*ck breast cancer) and abandonment of her father (his loss). She quickly developed a sense of humor.
Passionate about storytelling, she studied Theatre & Journalism at the University of Arizona and went on to receive three Emmy awards at age 23 for her work as a broadcast journalist in Tucson, AZ. She moved to Los Angeles to pursue comedy writing and trained at The Groundlings Theatre & School for three years.
After receiving her MFA in screenwriting from USC, she joined the half-hour comedy team at Amazon Studios. She helped to oversee series such as Fleabag and Tig Notaro’s autobiographical comedy, One Mississippi. After two years, Jeanie left Amazon to work on Season 2 of One Mississippi as the Writers’ Assistant.
Jeanie’s autobiographical comedy, E is for Edie, was one of five pilots selected for Aaron Sorkin’s Masterclass, in which she is featured prominently wearing an ill-fitting blazer and nodding incessantly. The pilot script sold to Spectrum Originals.
Jeanie has written for Dave (FXX) and is the creator of the annual storytelling show,“Happy Holidays! Our Parent/s are Dead,” featuring comedians who have lost a parent/s. Jeanie likes to find the humor in sadness, and often writes about grief, disability, and finding hope in seemingly hopeless situations.
Jeanie is repped by Mosaic Media Group and CAA.
Jackie Penn
Jackie got her first gig as a set PA on Grimm (NBC) after applying to… a Craigslist ad.
Born and raised in Northeast Ohio, Jackie had to fend for herself at an early age and found comfort in books and TV. After graduating from The Ohio State University and the University of Cincinnati, she spent several years as a Spanish teacher, before deciding to pursue a career as a TV writer. And it was that Craigslist ad that got her foot in the door.
She worked in various support staff positions (office PA, line producer’s assistant, writers’ production assistant and writers’ assistant) on shows such as The Catch (ABC), For the People (ABC), The Fix (ABC), Siren (Freeform) and Ginny & Georgia (Netflix). She ran events for Script Anatomy for a while. And in 2020, Jackie was staffed on Turner & Hooch (Disney +) after a showrunner’s assistant found her sample on a networking website. She was most recently a story editor on the CW’s 4400. She was selected for Coverfly’s 2023 Next List and is currently a member of the Rideback Rise Circle cohort.
She is one of the leaders of the Awesome Assistants of Color Facebook Group and co-wrote an op-ed in The Hollywood Reporter about how to broach race in the writers’ room. When she isn’t writing, Jackie loves to travel with her husband, read YA/romance novels, watch TV and train for her next amateur pole dance competition
Jackie is repped by Authentic Talent and Literary Management and Verve, and you can find on her on Twitter @JackiePenn18.
Phillip Van
Growing up half-Vietnamese in Hawaii, Phillip Van felt a lot of pressure to become an engineer or a doctor. To his parents’ chagrin, he went to film school in New York instead.
Before his time at NYU ended, he interned at the Daily Show, wrote film reviews for ABC New Radio, and won a student academy award for his short film High Maintenance, traveling to festivals including Sundance, Berlin, and Telluride. Ridley Scott’s company RSA Films signed Phil for commercials and helped him produce more shorts and branded content featured in the New York Times, Rolling Stone, MTV, Pitchfork, AdAge’s “Best Ads,” Short of the Week, and Vimeo’s Staff Picks. His commercials picked up D&AD, One Show, and Addy awards.
But he longed for the world of features. It took over a decade and dozens of failed attempts at screenplays for him to finally co-write To The Extreme, a biopic about Vanilla Ice, yes, Vanilla Ice, which landed on The Black List and sold to Endeavor Content with Ramona Films and No Trace Camping producing.
Since then, he has written on an as-yet-unreleased Netflix crime-drama series for Brad Falchuk and developed feature comedy projects with Seth MacFarlane, The Lucas Brothers, Topher Grace, and Jermaine Fowler. He also co-wrote a horror movie for producer Matti Leshem at New Mandate Films and is currently developing a crime thriller series with Boat Rocker Studios.
Phil loves darkly comedic spins on pop cultural ephemera, tragicomic crime stories, and left-of-center thrillers. He has a passion for working with new writers, especially those with unique or diverse voices.
He is currently represented by Verve and Industry Entertainment.
THE MODERATOR
Ross Lazar
After three months of working at a boring tech company, Ross Lazar decided to never work a 9-5 again. He started writing screenplays at night.
A Los Angeles native, he’d graduated from UC Berkeley, majoring in English in Literature.Still, it took sixteen screenplays over two years before he got his break. Ross wrote a sci-fi pilot that he got to a family friend who ended up sending it to Doug Liman. Doug’s company, HYPNOTIC, developed the script and he got signed by a major talent agency.
Recently, Ross wrote Welcome to the Neighborhood, a script that landed on The Black List, and sold in a bidding war to Amazon Studios. Brad Fuller is producing the film, with Justin Dyck directing. He has since been hired to develop a horror movie by Endeavor Content, and has developed projects with Sam Raimi, Kevin Williamson, and Skybound Entertainment. He is currently developing a film for 21 Laps Entertainment and a show for Phantom Four Films, as well as numerous other horror features and television pilots.
Ross loves infusing dark comedy with horror and sci fi and he is motivated to inspire the next generation of writers. He wants to give writers practical guidance while, at the same time, helping them hone their voices.
He is currently represented by WME and Kaplan Perrone.
