A full house listened eagerly to a gifted and comedic talent Casey Kelley, 25 year veteran of the WCA screenwriter with sales to NBC, ABC, CBS, Disney,LifetimePBS, Paramount Columbia and Universal. An AFI Directing for Women grant recipient and Remi Award for The Other Woman, Kelly teaches scriptwriting at numerous venues and at university.
Sharing her expertise on scriptwriting and character development with excitement and generousity Kelly shared anecdotes stemming from her standout career from a personal perpective detailing hilarious and sometimes challenging moments to the eager audience of neophyte writers to seasoned scriptwriters and producers.
Specific to the art of character building and what not to express Kelly was insighful as the audience learned how to create and write an efficient yet powerful script.
There is a certain sensitivity from where she spoke, suggesting what types of words or lines may enhance or distract from your characters.
This is how Kelly expressed the difference between a comedy and a tragedy "If the character changes, it's a comedy. It he/she fails to change it's a tragedy.'
Or "A good story contains hard problems that matter or don't say what you will see have seen or will see." Don't underestimate your audience."
Kelly spoke with insightful observation and emotional sensitivity. It was understood that a great writer knows and understands how to convey empathy as a good writer is inherently empathetic. The role of minors characters can be very important in order to enhance personality traits of the main characters.
Another great tip was to write sequentially and in the case of flashbacks they should also come in order of the main sequence of the story. Tell a story in pictures...and so it goes.
A great lesson is a great story.
Written by Laurie Gordon