Approaching The Rewrite (In-person)
I’ve used the word “approaching” because approaching a rewrite is something to be taken seriously, like approaching a wild animal. You never know what’s going to hap- pen. A serious confrontation might occur. Or, everything could be just fine. Or some- thing in between.
No one would approach a wild animal without training and proper equipment, not to mention a little coaching and maybe some help. In this talk, I hope to provide you with the tools you will need when you finally get up the nerve to confront your script. I’ll give you a procedure that’s been good for me and the thousands of writers I’ve worked with. We’ll even take a little time, just a little, to write a few things during the talk to jump start your process. By the end of the 90 minutes, I hope you will have a plan to tackle the beast.
This is a talk for experienced television and screenwriters as well as newbies. Though it helps to have completed a screenplay beforehand, you’ll find that this way of organiz- ing a rewrite will help you get started on a script as well. We will be reviewing struc- ture, conflict, action writing, dialogue, cuts, presentation and more. Bring paper (re- member paper?) and a pen.
Paul Chitlik has written for all the major networks and studios in English and in Spanish. He was story editor for MGM/UA’S “The New Twilight Zone,” and staff writer for Showtime’s sitcom “Brothers.” He has written features for Rysher Entertainment, NuImage, Promark, Mainline Releasing, and others. He has directed episodes and been coordinating producer for “Real Stories of the Highway Patrol” and “U.S. Customs Classified.” He wrote and produced “Alien Abduction,” the first network movie shot on digital video for UPN. He wrote, produced, and directed “Ringling Brothers Revealed” a special for The Travel Channel. (He had been a roustabout for Circus Vargas years earlier.) Most recently he wrote, produced and directed “The Wedding Dress,” for Amazon Prime. He received a Writers Guild of America award nomination for his work on “The Twilight Zone” and a GLAAD Media Award nomination for “Los Beltrán,” a Telemundo show. He won a Genesis Award for a Showtime Family movie.
He has taught in the MFA programs of UCLA, the University of Barcelona’s film school ESCAC, Cuba’s film school EICTV, Chile’s film school UNIACC, The University of Zulia in Venezuela, The Panamerican University in Mexico City, The Story Academy of Sweden and as a clinical associate professor at Loyola Marymount University. Now writing full time again and living near his grandson in Chapel Hill, NC, with wife, Beth McCauley.