Introduce Yourself to the Group

[Beverly A Ihnen]

Hello. I’m Beverly, with a whole slew of nicknames and monikers through the years. For now, we’ll stick with Beverly.
I’ve completed 3 feature film scripts and numerous short videos and PSAs for my church.
I am looking forward to the class to help me sharpen my skills and hit more closely to the heart of the things that matter most to me when I reach out with film as an art form. It is the quality of communication, and a film can reach so deeply and mean so much if it is done right.
4. Something unique, special, strange or unusual about you? Oh, no. I am perfectly normal — NOT. I’ve spent decades in and around the entertainment business – theatre, television and films, and primarily a great deal of time in documentary and educational filmmaking. Not bad for a kid from Nowhere, Iowa (and I LOVE Iowa, don’t anyone get me wrong).

[William Weeks]

Hello,
Bill Weeks here in San Pedro, CA. I studied with Stella Adler, Lee Strasberg, and many others while acting. Worked at ABC TV, and have written 2 films, 2 novels, and many short stories (some on Medium.com). I am working on a novel about early Chicano lawyers and adapting some earlier work. I have taught school in California and Japan, surfed, skied, etc. and was an elected delegate for Bernie Sanders. My family has been involved in Civil Rights for many decades.

• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by  William Weeks.

[Beverley]

Hello! I'm Beverley and I live on Vancouver Island. I wrote my first script 38 years ago (ack) but have gone in spurts since then. I only have written maybe 6 or 7 scripts and lately have been doing tv show proposals.

I did sell one script (finally) to that Christmas channel, starts production August 6. I hope to understand all my characters on a deeper level after this class. I've got one (I Know You're Out There Somewhere) in rewrite at the moment (i'm on about version 6) and another I've outlined and have just started, working title Pecos Sun… and have three TV pitches out with two different producers. I gave myself 18 months to see if I could do it and all this has happened since then (end of 2024) is the deadline.

There are lots of strange things about me. I'll just give you one… when I was living on a boat in downtown Vancouver and dealing blackjack for a living, I would get off shift at the downtown casino at 4am, walk across the railway tracks down to the docks and cry myself to sleep because I was taking everyone's money.
I'm happy to be here and happy to meet everyone! My notes on Groundhog day may be slow coming, I hadn't seen it in decades so maybe need to watch yet again! LOL.

• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by  Beverley.
• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by  Beverley.

[Diane Keranen]

Hi everyone.
I’m Diane. I grew up on a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin. I went on to earn degrees in graphic design and composition including a Ph.D., and have taught college-level composition for the past 10 years.
I’ve written two feature-length scripts and a handful of shorts. I’ve co-written a “Cozy Christmas Romance” with a friend and have another in the works.
What I hope to get out of this class is to understand how to add that profound element to my features. They’ve been in revision for some time and I’m so ready to get them finished but have not quite managed to “seal the deal” when it comes to getting that powerful message in there.
Something unique about me. I’m not a traditional student (in age), my life experience is of living closely with combat PTSD and striving to better understand how it can affect entire families (combat PTSD in popular media and “veteran myth” is the topic of my doctoral dissertation), and I want to say something important about veteran sacrifice/suicide (a focus of one of my features).

[Natalie Hawkins]

Hi, I am Natalie, my script count is 0. I like movies. I kinda have some incomplete stories and some pictures in my mind. I would like to force myself to work with some science-y themes, and the "profound" theme seems like a good match. I like math, science, computing, nature, comedy, dance, humans, and lots of other things too. Some of my favorite movies recently, in the theater: Top Gun: Maverick, the latest Mission Impossible, and Equalizer 3, and on cable: the three Hangover movies. I liked the Matrix a lot, though I have to read about the plot to really know what's going on, and I don't rewatch it. I like rewatching comedies to hear the jokes again. I find the first couple of Star Wars movies especially enjoyable for the humor. I also liked Interstellar for the how-does-the-universe-work aspect and Avatar for the emotion. I watched Groundhog Day when it first came out. I was a Bill Murray fan as a kid from Meatballs, Caddyshack, and Ghostbusters, so I wanted to watch him again when it came out.

• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by  Natalie Hawkins.

[Mitch Haraguchi]

Hi everyone,
My name is Mitch. I'm living and working in New York.

Up until now, I have completed three feature length screenplays and a number of shorts. I also have finished a 200-page novel. Yes, I like writing. My favorite authors include Haruki Murakami and Raymond Carver. I have too many favorite film directors to mention, but Stanley Kubrick is definitely one of them. Although I'm currently working in the legal industry, I used to be a TV director/producer for a tiny production company a while ago. I still have passion in making films and telling stories. That is why I took this course. Hope I will be able to enhance and deepen my feature script that I am working on right now. By the way, I was born and raised in Japan. So, my ethnic background plays a crucial role in my creation.

• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by  Mitch Haraguchi.

[Sandee Magliozzi]

My name is Sandee and I apologize for the late response, I am dealing with an unexpected loss, so the next few weeks might be a little bumpier than I had hope to start the class. I’ve done a lot of different writing as a lawyer and professor, but completed just two screenplays. What I hope to get out of the class is a better understanding of how profound stories and movies transform us and offer new lenses through which to see the world and seed change. Both to deepen my own scripts, but also as fuel for a non-profit I’d like to start with production, education and advocacy outreach components. Something unique about me ??? I have too many ukuleles to name.

[Angela Booth]

Hi everyone,
Apologies if I am always the last to respond or complete tasks – I’m Angela and I live in Melbourne, Australia. That means I’m always nearly a day ahead, so it seems like I’m always a day late at completing tasks.
As you can guess from my intro, I’m also British and generally live life only a heartbeat away from apologising for something!
I’ve written three books (hoping to self-publish to Amazon as soon as my screenplay is completed) and one screenplay – a one hour comedy-drama pilot for TV.
My comedy-drama has 6 protagonists who each go on a transformational journey, so I’ll be trying to tighten up that content during the course.
And something unusual about me – I moved to Amsterdam on a one-way ticket when I was 23 and to Australia on a one-way ticket in 2008. I guess not everyone does that..?
Looking forward to the course and learning more about all of you 🙂

[Kimbal Thompson]

Aloha, I’m Kimbal from Oahu, Hawaii.

[Kelvin Garvanne]

I am Kelvin Garvanne. I wrote and produced a short film, wrote two feature screenplays, and two one hour television pilots. My intention is to learn how to create depth in my characters. I speak Spanish and Italian, have lived in Spain and Colombia, and have traveled extensively. Recently I traveled to a nature conservancy in Kenya.

• This reply was modified 9 months, 2 weeks ago by  Kelvin Garvanne.