Making a Scene
Taught by Wynne Renz
Ages 8 – 12
Saturday, February 27, 2010
10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
This workshop takes place at 826LA East

Man talks to woman. Dog talks to cat. Lion talks to zebra—or doesn't—cause she's lunch! Happy lion, but one very sad zebra. When you put two people, animals, and even objects (ever seen a pencil talk to an eraser? hilarious!) together they usually have a lot to say to one another. In Making a Scene, students create characters and write them into screenplay scenes. Students are given a starting point to direct their scene (i.e. the surfboard has to tell a lie to the wave) and are then given free reign for their characters to talk, play, and create the essential scene element…conflict! With an emphasis on imagination, experimentation, and fun, students learn how to write the scenes they see in the movies, only better! At the end of each exercise, scenes will be read and performed by the students to illustrate how the direction was integrated into an original piece of dramatic writing. And, scene!

Wynne Renz is a writer and namer. Her first feature film, BEDROOMS, produced by Cima Productions and Castle 2000 Films, is currently playing the festival circuit. Her chapbook of poetry, Nobody Loves Nobody, published by the fussfactory press, can be kindly perused at Skylight Books and Stories Books and Cafe (next to 826LA in Echo Park!). As a namer, Wynne contributed names for television shows on the Discovery Channel, Discovery's Planet Green, TLC, and Animal Planet, and worked as a creative consultant on naming a new drink for Starbucks. In her other fun time, she performs theater and makes music with the roughly assembled, roughly titled I'd Like Twenty, But I'll Take Fifteen. Find her: http://wynnebenjaminrenz.tumblr.com