This past weekend, we celebrated our three grand prize winners — Nick Alverson, Paula Dixon, and Clint Williams — in Los Angeles. The experience was a whirlwind and, dare we say, pretty awesome. Here’s a look at what we got up to with these incredibly talented and dedicated writers:
The festivities started Thursday night when our head judge Tim Schildberger took the three winners out to dinner. There was much debate about The Irishman, among other topics.
On Friday morning we got started in earnest with donuts, the winner’s three books (each) from our wonderful sponsor Michael Wiese Productions, and a discussion of the first ten pages at our home base of Raleigh Studios.
Then it was off to the Warner Brothers lot where our winners got to sit down with Cate Adams, Vice President – Warner Brothers. Cate gave us forthright insight into the benefits and drawbacks of how studios operate and what she looks for in writers.
We had lunch on the lot before heading back to Raleigh for a writing exercise and a discussion about evoking emotion in the audience.
On Saturday morning, we were joined by Lloyd Gilyard, a Disney/ABC writing program alum, writer on The Good Doctor, and currently a writer on an upcoming Starz show. Lloyd was able to give us insight into the prestigious TV writing fellowships, the dynamics of various writer’s rooms, and what your job really is as a staff writer.
After a logline workshop and a discussion about theme, the writers headed back to the hotel to get ready for the big night!
Thankfully, the rain stayed away and we had a wonderful evening of conversation and wine courtesy of Lorenzi Estate Wines in Temecula before the Grand Prize Live Read. Some of the incredibly talented actors who came out to read for us included Peter James Smith (The West Wing) and Liv Hewson (Bombshell, Santa Clarita Diet).
All in all, the weekend and the reading were absolutely wonderful, and we’re looking forward to doing the whole thing again in 2020!
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Thank you in advance for your kind words, and here’s to an even bigger 2020!
Breakfast on Friday at Raleigh Studios
Our trip to Warner Brothers
Breakfast chat with Lloyd Gilyard (The Good Doctor)
Raleigh was all done up for the holiday season!
Almost time!
Tim with a few of our actors and casting director
