Press release:
The Australian Writers’ Guild (AWG) today announced their second round of world-class speakers for the biennial National Screenwriters Conference, which will take place at Mornington Peninsula in Victoria from 20-22 February 2013.
Academy Award winning screenwriter Tom Schulman (Best Screenplay for Dead Poets Society and writer of What About Bob?, Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Medicine Man and Holy Man) and Academy Award winning producer Emile Sherman (Best Motion Picture for The King's Speech and producer of BAFTA-nominated Shame, Oranges and Sunshine, Candy and Dead Europe) will join Shameless creator Paul Abbott, announced as international headliner last year, and a host of industry elite including the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Shine (Best Screenplay, Jan Sardi) and writers of Oscar-winning films Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World & Happy Feet (John Collee), The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Stephan Elliott), and Moulin Rouge! (Craig Pearce).
“This year’s National Screenwriters Conference line-up proves worthy of the two-year wait, bringing an embarrassment of riches to Victoria. We’re very excited to assemble such an extravagant number of high calibre speakers to inspire and share their expertise in the art of storytelling,” says AWG President and conference panelist Jan Sardi.
Tony Briggs and Keith Thompson (The Sapphires) and Kris Wyld (Dangerous Remedy) will speak about adapting fact into fiction, Rick Kalowski (At Home with Julia, Comedy Inc) hosts a session on how NOT to write a sitcom, Michael Cordell (Go Back to Where You Came From) examines how to craft compelling factual television, and Andrew Knight (Rake, Jack Irish) and Debra Oswald (Offspring) will look at the rise of comedic drama. Other sessions cover topics such as love, crime, animation, horror and sci-fi.
Industry guests include Mike Cowap (Screen Australia), Antony I. Ginnane (IFM World Releasing/F G Film Productions), Greg Haddrick (Screentime), Tarni James (ABC) and Linda Klejus (Circa Media).
Registrations close in less than a month on 4 February, and full conference registrations are close to selling out. Day registrations are another popular option for accessing specific sessions and speakers.