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Skype Session 2: |
Screenwriting in the digital age – Charlie de Salis
This session with Charlie de Salis will explore the contemporary screenwriting landscape, the core principles of compelling screenwriting, and the different options available for screenwriters seeking to bring their stories to the screen.
With the extraordinary proliferation of screen mediums, we have more avenues for telling stories than ever before. Cinema and broadcast television (both free to air and subscriber platforms) remain at the heart of screen storytelling, but increasingly writers and filmmakers are turning to the internet to find their audience via computers, phones and tablets. Digital video has made it possible to shoot HD quality images on cameras as small and cheap as Go Pros. Films are being made on phones. Never in our history has filmmaking been so accessible. Games, too, offer intriguing possibilities for interactive screen storytelling with the exponential rise in computing power.
Whether the material is derived from fact or fiction—whether it is delivered in a cinema, via a computer, through a phone or tablet, or via a blue ray disk to a home television—the purpose of stories remain the same: to entertain us while exploring the dilemmas and issues that surround us. Love, death, friendship, family, illness, war, climate change, racism, gender wars, ethical conflicts—stories help us make sense of our lives. With their visceral combination of moving sound and image, screen stories can deliver an emotional punch beyond any other medium.
Just as the purpose of stories remains the same over time, so do the principles of storytelling. To tell a good story, a writer needs good craft skills—and in writing for the screen that means control of theme, character and structure. Certainly, there are the scenes, dialogue, and description, but none of these have any value if the fundamentals of theme, character and structure aren’t working. Talent without craft is potential, nothing more.
VENUE: Armidale Dumaresq Council War Memorial Library, 122 Faulkner St, Armidale
DATE: Saturday, April 26, 11am to noon.
TIME: 11:00 am to 12:00 noon
COST: $15 members, $20 non-members
BOOKINGS: Bookings are essential as places are limited. Phone (02) 6772 7210 or send an email message to admin@newc.org.au. Alternatively call in at the office during opening hours.
Please note: Bookings must be made with the New England Writers Centre (not the Armidale Library) and must be paid two weeks in advance to hold your booking.
Charlie de Salis is an experienced producer, writer, and director with credits in television drama, short films, short features, television documentaries, commercials, and corporate screen media.
His short films have screened at numerous international festivals including Venice, Cannes and Melbourne. He was twice a Best Short Film category finalist in the New Zealand Film Awards.
As well his high profile short films, his credits include two one-hour documentaries as writer/director, two short features as writer, and a television play as writer/director - all produced for New Zealand television.
His feature film project Splendour (aka Mari, Joe & Jesus de Livers; producer Nicki Roller, director Kate Woods) is in advanced development with funding from the AFC/Screen Australia, and has also been supported by the NSW FTO. He has three other features in early development with, respectively, producers Steve Thomas, Robert Raymond and Elizabeth Symes. His feature documentary Someone’s Daughter (producer Steve Thomas, Roar Film), developed with funding from Screen Tasmania, is currently financing. A second documentary, Long Way Home (producer Steve Thomas) is also in development.
Charlie has worked extensively as a script editor and mentor on short films in his role as a Supervising Producer for Queensland screen development organisation QPIX. In 2008 and completed the IndiVision feature "Cliff" as script editor and he is a project assessor for Screen Tasmania. Screen Australia funded Charlie to attend the 2008 Arista residential script developers workshop, held over 6 days in Marysville, Victoria.
In addition to production work, Charlie has tutored in production, direction and scriptwriting for the Centre For Film and Television at Bond Univeristy, TAFE Studio and QPIX.
Visit the website of Charlie de Salis for further information.
Inquiries
All workshops must be booked and paid for in advance. For information about the program or to book for events:
Phone (02) 6772 7210 or send an email message to admin@newc.org.au
NEWC membership entitles you to do the workshop at the reduced member rate.
You can become a member when you book a workshop. Our annual membership fees are:
| Adults: | $30.00 including GST |
| Students (tertiary): | $20.00 including GST |
| Students (under 18): | $15.00 including GST |
Venue
Unless otherwise stated, all events will be held at the New England Writers' Centre (NEWC), in the Neighbourhood Centre, 129 Rusden Street, Armidale (between the Council Building and the Town Hall).
Access
During opening hours and workshops, access is through the Cinders Lane car park (first door on left, in the corridor).
Parking
There is a one-hour parking restriction in the Cinders Lane carpark.
The New England Writers' Centre is assisted by the NSW Government through Arts NSW.