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Introduce Yourself To the Group
Hi everyone,
I’m glad you’ve joined us for the class.
To start the class out, please introduce yourself below. That will give you a chance to be part of this group and learn how the forums work.
Tell us the following:
1. Name?
2. How many scripts you’ve written?
3. What you hope to get out of the class?
4. Something unique, special, strange or unusual about you?
We look forward to working with you all!
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44 Replies
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Hi. My name is Karen. I’ve written 2 scripts and co-written one. I hope to learn how to write a thriller. Something unusual: I like to ski, but I probably shouldn’t. Over the years, I’ve broken both tibias and both wrists all on the same Vermont mountain.
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Well, there you go, Karen: I feel like you’ve already written your thriller in two sentences. That nefarious mountain must have its own Big Intrigue! And your poor wrists and tibias. Have you read Ruth Ware’s One by One? Great thriller set in a ski lodge, where one by one the skiiers start to die. Content warning, since there may also be some broken bones… 😉 Looking forward to reading you!
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hi Karen, i used to ski in Vermont, which mountain? Jay’s Peak? one of the only ones with snow in late March… i descended from the top three times in one day… icy and scary as hell!
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Mount Snow, David, but I’ve learned my lesson. I only ski when it’s nice and uncrowded now!
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Hello. My name is Virginia. I’ve written one script that won an award, and for which I received a lot of feedback that showed me that I need to spend more time on storytelling and not just the technical aspects of writing a screenplay. I hope that this class will be inspirational for me to expand my skills in storytelling.
I am a retired corporate attorney.
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Here’s to storytelling, Virginia! Can’t wait to tell stories alongside you this month.
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Hi everyone, my name is Leybe,
I’ve written one script, I love the thriller genre and hope to learn how to master it with this class! Wishing everyone an awesome learning and successful process!
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Happy to see you here, Leybe, and looking forward to learning about thrillers with you!
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Hello all! Call me Busy. Everyone does. I’ve written a couple of scripts for fun but never a thriller, and I would love to write one, so here I am, ready to learn with my new classmates. I took years off from working to care for my elderly parents who both had terminal illnesses. Now that they are both passed on, I look forward to the possibilities before me.
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This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by Busy.
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Busy, your nickname is so brilliant, I humbly ask for permission to name a character after you someday! I’m sorry about the loss of your parents—that’s a lot to hold. We lost my father-in-law during Covid and moved from LA to NY, which has been quite the culture shock. I’ve never written a thriller either, so I look forward to wading into the deep with you!
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Thanks for the kind words. Losing your father-in-law to COVID must have been devastating. And you moved during the pandemic! I also lived in LA (and New York, for that matter) and loved both places, and I’m sure you will too. I’d love it if you used my nickname for a character! I routinely use the names of people I know or those with interesting names.
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All right, look out for a book about a wonderful woman named “Busy”… 🙂 Isn’t that the best part of being writer? It’s ALL fuel for the fire! And yes, the move was rough (so hard to be in a new place during Covid!), but I think it’s finally leveling out. We’re actually in Ithaca, a few hours outside the city… but the leaves this time of year are divine!
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This reply was modified 2 years, 6 months ago by
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Greetings! I graduated from Hal’s Pro Series course six years ago and I’m excited to start this new class. I’ve written six scripts, rewritten them god knows how many times. Currently a staff writer on Torry Colvin’s Forgotten District and just signed production deals/shopping agreements on a screenplay and tv series. Looking forward to meeting everyone.
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Lesley, “Rewritten them god knows how many times” feels like you are speaking right to my soul. Amen to THAT. Huge congrats on your recent production deals/shopping agreements! Can’t wait to see what magic you cook up in this class.
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Thanks, Bree! You sound like a kindred spirit.
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Hi everyone, my name is Mary.
I’ve written one script.
I am look forward to learning about writing a thriller.
I recently published a book on gardening!
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Hi Mary, happy to see a fellow bookish writer among our ranks! I’ve been wanting to get more into gardening, and just found your book on Amazon… though I fear I might not be able to apply your wisdom and brilliance from the PNW to my garden beds in Ithaca, NY. I’ll just have to read your thriller instead! 😉
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My name is John Budinscak and I recently graduated from Hal’s Pro Series class, PS80. I’ve written a couple of scripts, but never a thriller. I was energized by the Pro Series class and am looking forward to exploring the thriller genre. I’m retired
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Hi John, I’m hoping to get that exact same boost of energy from this class. Here’s to more of Hal’s magic!
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Ciao everyone, I’m Bree! I’m currently in Italy researching my fifth book, so it’s 2:10am local time… but I figured better late than never to say hello. I guess in a roundabout way I just answered the next question: I’ve only written one original script, a dramedy TV pilot (plus a couple of spec scripts a long time ago), because really I’m a novelist. Hopefully Hal and Cheryl won’t kick me out! But my next book is a thriller, and I desperately need help.
I’m really looking forward to learning how to “map” a thriller, especially the MIS piece, because I worry the mystery/intrigue/suspense might be what’s MISsing (harhar) from my current draft. I’m enjoying one of my characters so much—and he’s so funny and buffoonish—that I fear it’s sapping away that tight knot of bone-chilling suspense! Anyway very much looking forward to reading all your work and getting to know you.
Fun fact about me (and just so I stay on theme): when I was a student in Italy many years ago, I worked at a super sketchy bar as a cocktail waitress, and one of the other cocktail waitresses… was murdered a few months later… by one of the other cocktail waitresses. Talk about a thriller waiting to be written! Oy.
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Hi Bree, so nice to learn about you…. where in Italy are you? i wrote two novels while living in Siracusa, Sicilia… looking forward to sharing with you!
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Ah, Sicilia! Beautiful!! I’ve only been to Catania but loved it so much. On this trip I was mostly in Umbria: Spello, Perugia (that’s where I studied 15 years ago), Bagnoregio, and then a day in Milan on either end. Back now—and wishing I wasn’t!
Can’t wait to read your work here. 🙂
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Hi there. I’m Jennifer. I’ve written 5 scripts now but never a typical thriller. I completed the Pro Series a year and a half ago and gained a lot from it. Now I’m working on a complex story idea that needs thriller elements to it whether it ends up being a true thriller or not (and I’m a bit stuck temporarily), so this class is perfect for working on developing those story-building skills in a focused way.
I’m a former advertising creative director/copywriter turned homeschool parent out of necessity, and I speak German for about half my days with my kids so that we all stay fluent while we live in the US.
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Hi Jennifer, oooh selfishly I hope we get a little German intrigue in your thriller script—or at least a few German words. I’m in a similar boat: my story idea feels complex, and I’m unsure if it will be a pure thriller, or more of a mystery/thriller(/possibly comedy?) hybrid. Anyway, can’t wait to read more of you!
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Hello Everyone,
1. Dylan Edward Allen
2. I’ve written 9 scripts.
3. Out of this class I hope to gain a clearer understanding of the genre conventions, thriller map and mechanics of thrillers. Thrillers are some of my favorite films and I’m looking forward to learning how to craft them!
4. I’m currently the writer/director/producer of a film that is in post-production that has Academy and Emmy nominated EP’s and an Emmy winning editor.
I look forward to working with you all as well!
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Wow, Dylan: 9 scripts!! This is truly something to aspire to. And congrats on your multi-nommed film! I hope you’ll share more about it with the class as it moves out of post. Looking forward to working with you, too.
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Hi Bree – Well 9 yes, but I didn’t say they were any good! lol. And to clarify, my film hasn’t been nominated, I’m working with Emmy winning and Oscar nominated people on it 😉 I’m hoping to use some of the techniques I learn in this class on the film while we edit it. Thanks for your response!
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HA. I hear you. I wonder how many drafts of short stories/novels I have on my hard drive (and past hard drives)… safe to say a lot. And gotcha, re: your film. I can’t wait to see it! 😀
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Hi. My name is Brian. I am an IATSE member and I have written a couple scripts. I have had an idea for a thriller for a little while now and I am hoping this class will give me a good outline/plan to properly get it out. Thanks and be safe!
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Hey Brian—here’s to a good strong outline and plan. That’s what I’m hoping for, too. We shall rise victorious! …while also staying safe.
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Love the positive energy
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Hi,
Bob Gebert.
I’m a WGA screenwriter with a feature sale to a studio and an award-winning low budget indie feature that was on Netflix a few years ago. Between plays, features, and pilots I’ve written dozens–a number of them placed well in major contests.
But now…I’m writing novels. My first two were based on unsold scripts I had written in the past, I hope to use this class to develop a brand new story that I haven’t fully explored before.
As an actor, I have played small speaking roles in a number of big shows. I was lucky enough to guest star in a memorable episode of THE OFFICE. And even thirteen years later, I often have people come up to me with confused looks on their faces asking if we used to work together.
I’m also a professional magician and regularly perform at The Magic Castle in Hollywood which is the world where this new story takes place.
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Hi Bob, you’re totally right: I found you on IMDB and right away went, I recognize that face! Though weirdly enough I might have recognized you from Oculus more than The Office (I still have nightmares about that movie). Happy to see another novelist here! 🙂
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I am Alfred Eugene Dunham, Jr. For most of my life I’ve been Gene, but my second wife, Coy, thinks I’m Alfred, so that’s what I go by, now. Incidentally, I met Coy in 1955, in high school, but then I ended up with systemic lupus… long story. I had a stroke in April of 2021 [complete left side, gone], but I decided that I WOULD write again in rehab. I would wake up at night and practice moving my left fingers for hours. By summer’s end, partly to try out my new skills in writing an Action piece [I took the Action class just before the stroke] and partly to re-teach myself to type, I wrote, STONES OF FIRE. I’ve written 5 scripts [WHY was a SCRIPTAPALOOZA finalist, STONES was a SCRIPTAPALOOZA quarterfinalist, and THE MEMORY CODE was a SCREENCRAFT quarterfinalist], I’ve also written a novel: A CUP OF COFFEE: A NOVEL.
My goal is to get a script produced. I still have trouble with walking and balance but I still race RC Model Yachts. I have to have help with launching my boat, but once in the water… watch out
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So nice to meet you, Alfred! What an incredible story. Thanks for sharing it. Just from this introduction I can already tell you’re a gifted storyteller… can’t wait to read more of your work!
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Thank you Bree. Looking for a great time and good feedback. I still communicate with former classmates. This is a great group.
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Hi Alfred Eugene, your story of recovery is inspiring… i am in a similar boat! looking forward to sharing with you…
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That’s great, David. Meeting and sharing are half the value of the course. Incidentally, in my current script, which I just finished [PROMISES], David is the name of the main character’s male best friend.
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Hi everyone.
I’m delighted to meet you all.
I’ve written about 20 scripts, and I’ve published numerous works of fiction and nonfiction online under my pen name Tamworth Grice.
In this class I’ll be adapting my novel, Nasty Disposition, as a screenplay. (I actually did an adaptation as a film script and as a TV series pilot years ago, but it was lost in a computer crash, and I can’t find the back up. So I’m starting from scratch, which might be a good thing! 😃)
Thanks for reading this! I look forward to the class!
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Hi Everyone,
I’m Julie and I’ve written 1 spec script and one TV pilot, both police dramas. I’m working on marketing the TV script and I want to learn how to plot better to write a contained thriller. I’m from CO but love water so I need to travel often to see it.
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hi all, i’m David Gollob, i’ve completed one script ready for market, with two others in embryon.
i hope to produce a thriller map leading me to write the best script I have ever done in terms of immediate marketability.
i am a former TV journalist, currently living in Medellin, Colombia. i have a debilitating neurodegenerative illness, impacting movement, though without tremor, and i need to work fast before it affects my cognitive function, as it is expected to do, eventually.
This is my daily reality, NOT a plea for sympathy, for i am grateful for what life has brought me: love, and happiness. i look forward to sharing my work with you, and providing feedback to anyone interested in sharing their work with me!
Friend me on Facebook to learn more…
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This is such a lovely introduction, David. What a thoughtful and generous human you are. Also, where can I find your novels set in Sicilia?? Would love to read! 😀
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Dia duibh, as we say in Ireland. Hello there, I’m Ann Marie and I’m a few things. As a comedian, I was always questioning myself, what will I do with myself, what will I be, until i realised that to be, you do… dobeedobeedo.
I’m also a director and scriptwriter, I’ve directed/written a few things on Irish TV and I’ve written a few features, different genres (comedy, thriller, historical drama)
I’m hoping to get the polish, the sheen, the winning edge from Hal and Cheryl. I love Hal’s classes, they’re really on point and cut out a lot of dribbling.
I’m a bit late to the classes as I’ve been editing a documentary I’ve been making for the last number of years… I suppose the one thing that’s unique about me is that there’s no one like me.
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What a cool group. It’s going to be fun getting to know everybody through their work!
Lesley
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