Conference Home Page
Conference Faculty
Conference Schedule
Conference Registration
Screenwriting Symposium Overview
12-hour Academy Labs
9-hour Mentor Labs
90-minute Seminars
Symposium Mentor Panel
The Hollywood Connection Overview
Hollywood Connection Overview
90-minute Seminars
One-on-One Pitch Sessions
Producer Panels
Screenplay Competition
5x5 Screenplay Competition
1x1 Screen Page Competition
Tips from Larry
Screenplay Consultations
Social Events
General Information
Conference Location
Travel & Accommodations
Screenwriting Resources
SCSFe Hall of Fame
What Others Say
Contact Us
About Us
"I feel that my life and vision for my work has been incredibly enriched and deepened both through the classes and the people I met. I wish I'd known about this and done it ten years ago; but I guess better late than never! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!"
Cary Ellis
Pagosa Springs, CO
 


In order to mentor an Academy Lab, one must have won or been nominated for an internationally recognized, distinguished award for screenwriting.

An elite course for advanced screenwriters only: a stimulating 9-hour intensive on theory and practical applications as they pertain to structure, characterization, and market viability of your present or envisioned screenwriting effort. Bring a synopsis, brief treatment (fewer than fifteen double-spaced pages) and/or step outline - or just a logline or concept - to share with fourteen other advanced screenwriters and your Academy Mentor. An Academy Lab is a creative gold mine with fifteen rich veins to survey.

ACADEMY LABS HONOR SYSTEM ADMITTANCE CRITERIA
To be accepted into an Academy Lab, I affirm that I have accomplished TWO (2) of the following five criteria:
  • I have written a minimum of three complete feature-length screenplays.
  • I have placed in the semi-finals or higher in a contest listed on MovieBytes.com (this includes the SCSFe Actors Choice Awards).
  • I have attended The Screenwriting Symposium component of SCSFe at least three times.
  • I have had a screenplay optioned in writing or sold.
  • I am a film school graduate (must be from a college or university).
You need not present evidence of your achievements. If you qualify, great. If not, it's a good goal to target for next year. Good luck. Any questions, please call us at 866.424.1501.
Kirk Ellis
Santa Fe-based writer/producer Kirk Ellis won two Emmys and the Humanitas Prize for his work on John Adams starring Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney. Ellis wrote and co-executive produced the seven-part HBO miniseries, which is based on David McCullough's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography. The miniseries scored a record 23 nominations, second only to Roots in Emmy history, and won a record breaking 13 Emmys in total, as well as four Golden Globe awards. Ellis has also received a Writers Guild of America nomination for his script.

Ellis will continue his association with McCullough and the American Revolution on his next project for HBO, 1776. Like Adams, the miniseries will be produced with Tom Hanks' Playtone Co. In addition Ellis is adapting the James Ellroy novel "American Tabloid" as a series for Playtone and HBO.

For the big screen, Ellis is working on the feature project Blood and Thunder, an epic drama of Kit Carson and the Navajo Wars, and Escape, the true story of Carolyn Jessop, who escaped from a plural marriage in a fundamentalist Mormon compound under the leadership of Warren Jeffs. Katherine Heigl will star and produce under her Abishag banner along with Michael Menchel of Relevant Entertainment.

Ellis' collaboration with Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks brought him the Western Writers of America's Golden Spur Award for Best Drama Script for Hell on Wheels, an episode of the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated TNT/DreamWorks miniseries Into the West on which Ellis served as supervising producer and writer. He also received the Wrangler Award for Best Television Feature from the National Western Heritage Museum for his work on the miniseries.

Previously Ellis received an Emmy nomination and won the Writers Guild of America and the Humanitas Prize for the ABC miniseries Anne Frank which he wrote and co-produced. Additional credits include writing the award-winning ABC miniseries The Beach Boys: An American Family, co-executive producing Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows (which earned him a Critics' Choice Award) and writing The Three Stooges telefilm.

Ellis made his feature film debut writing and co-producing The Grass Harp based on the coming-of-age novel by Truman Capote. He has also collaborated on projects with such esteemed directors as Francis Ford Coppola, Roland Joffe and William Friedkin.

This roster of Academy Mentors and their respective labs is based on the availability of the instructors and is subject to change without notification.

Return to Top of Page