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Gotham FacultyFILM IS AVISUAL MEDIUMFaculty InsightBY ALEXANDE R ST E E LEFilm is a visual medium. That’sthe first thing you need to knowabout writing a movie. In prose,it’s all about the words. In film, theimage dominates. When you thinkof a movie, you see an image inyour mind.A woman swimming by moonlightjerked underwater by an unseenforce. (Jaws)A bumbling detective covering hisprivates with a guitar as he investigates a nudist colony. (A Shot inthe Dark)A lounge singer in a slit dress slithering across a grand piano. (TheFabulous Baker Boys)A girl with fire-colored hair racingthrough streets to save her boyfriend’s life. (Run Lola Run)A twister spinning a house highabove the Kansas plains. (TheWizard of Oz)A personal example. On aSaturday afternoon, when I wasaround five-years-old, I gatheredaround the TV with some olderkids to watch a horror movie, TheTingler. (Bad idea.) I only remember one thing about that movie,an image, but it’s an image I willnever shake. There was this lady,a deaf-mute, and she was lyingin bed and then this evil personentered the room with the intention of harming her in somedevious way. Terror overtook thelady’s face and she tried to screambut because of her condition asa deaf-mute she couldn’t get thescream out. Now, nobody considers The Tingler a great horrormovie and I might find the wholething laughable if I watched ittoday but let me tell you thatimage chilled me in the deepestplace. In my mind’s eye, I couldn’tstop seeing that woman trying toscream! The image gave me nightmares for the better part of a year.Reading prose fiction is largely aninternal experience; we slip intothe minds of the characters and assimilate our own pictures from thewords. In film the reverse is true.We experience a movie from theoutside in. We ride along with thevisuals and they lead us towardour inner thoughts and sensationsand emotions.There is a famous writer’s maxim:show, don’t tell. This appliesdouble—make that triple—toscreenwriting. Watch a goodmovie. Turn off the sound. Youcan probably follow the generalA grownup son and his fatherflow of the story perfectly well,playing catch on a celestially-liteven if it’s a movie you’ve neverbaseball field. (Field of Dreams)seen before. If you want to go astep further in your visual edGo ahead, think of a favorite movie, ucation, watch a silent movie.right now. What happens?Audiences were held spellboundby movies for several decadesThese images can print themselves when they were completely silent.deeply on our psyches.You’ll find no scarier momentA Greek hero slashing his swordat the many heads of a ferociouslywrithing hydra. (Jason andthe Argonauts)in film than the unmasking ofthe phantom’s grotesque face inPhantom of the Opera. No momentmore heart-rending than theteenage Joan staring at her deathpyre in The Passion of Joan of Arc.Nothing funnier than the sight ofBuster Keaton madly fleeing bees,bullets, boulders, and a mob ofbrides in Seven Chances.Even if you never plan to direct amovie, never intend to know thedifference between an f-stop anda long lens, as a screenwriter youneed to think in terms of tellinga story visually. It may help tocompare movies to the stage. Inthe fledgling days of filmmaking,movies were essentially filmedplays and that was mind-blowingenough for a while because thewhole phenomenon of motion pictures was startlingly new. Butsoon filmmakers began todiscover all kinds of tricks fortelling stories in a more cinematicway. Here are probably the threemost important tricks:Cutting through space and time.Movies possess the godlike powerto travel anywhere in the blinkof an eye.In luxurious headquarters atCairo, a military officer receivesa mission, lights a pipe for his superior, blows out the match. Then,hundreds of miles away, we seea flaming sunrise in the desert.Daylight then reveals the sameofficer, riding a camel across thesand, enroute to his new assignment. (Lawrence of Arabia)Moving the field of vision. Thecamera can show whatever itwants to show.Two outlaws come to the ledge ofa towering canyon. Far below, wesee a river rushing over murderous rocks. In the distance, we seea posse of lawmen riding towardthem in pursuit. Then we seethe rising panic on the outlaws’faces. (Butch Cassidy and theSundance Kid)Special effects. Nothing falls outsidethe reach of movie magic, andcomputer graphics have only expanded the possibilities.Three men in sunglasses fire theirguns at a hero in black, who holdsup his hand. The spiraling bulletsstop in mid-air, then tumble to theground. The hero flies horizontally at one of the foes, disappearing inside his chest, causing himto distort, then emit lightning-likecharges, then explode into pieces.(The Matrix)When movies gained the powerof sound, that added a whole newdimension. Suddenly there wasdialogue, of course, but you couldalso enhance the story with auralelements. You could hear the gunshots and the rushing water andeven hear the profound silence ofthe desert. Even so, visuals remainthe most dominant element inmovies. In fact, whenever you’redeciding how to portray a momentin your script, go first for the visual,following it up with sound effectsor dialogue. And really the artof film is the way these three elements—visual, aural, verbal—merge to tell a story, a story thatseeps inside the viewers andmakes them feel something.This article, by Gotham presidentAlexander Steele, is excerpted fromGotham’s book Writing MoviesSEE MORE FACULTYARTICLES AND PROFILES ONOUR WEBSITE.Student VoicesI owe all my success to GothamWriters and my wonderful instructor. Thank you for helping to makemy dream of becoming a publishedwriter come true.—Steve Hagood, writerIt allowed me to open upthe creative side of myself that I often don’t getto use in my Monday toFriday work life.—Ashlea Cook, registered nurseI’m not exaggeratingwhen I say it’s changedme in a fundamentalway, and I’m delighted.— Elizabeth Braden, production editor“I always had a creative imagination,” Joe says,flashing back to his past. “I’ve always written: stories, plays, poetry.” And Joe had plenty of material to draw from, having grown up“all over the place” in New York, New Jersey,Michigan, Nigeria (where his father was from),Mississippi, and Texas, all between the time hewas born and his ninth birthday.JOE OKONKWOFaculty ProfileBY ST E PH SPE CTOR“Joe Okonkwo spent his fortieth birthday inMexico City, binge-watching American realityTV shows in his hotel room because he felt he“hadn’t accomplished anything.”What Joe wanted was to be a publishedwriter. In Mexico he felt his internal literaryclock ticking.GOTH AMWRI T E RS .COMI have always found Gothamstudents to be exceptional.Consequently the feedback youget in the workshop setting isinvaluable.“I had had this story in mind for a while, andI thought, oh yeah. I can write this in 1,500words. And then of course it just kept going andgoing and going.”Joe worked on his novel, an homage to theHarlem Renaissance, the 1920s, and Jazz-AgeParis, on and off for the next few years. Then,in order to support himself between theaterjobs, Joe took a position at a phone companyas a call service representative that was truly“awful” and maybe marred his spirit a bit. Inthat Mexico hotel room in 2010, Joe realized hewould have to buckle down if he ever wanted tofind success.When Joe was a preteen living in Houston, hesplit his time between reading about moviestars in the World Book Encyclopedia and writing his first novel—Conrad: City of the Demons.“It was about this drifter named Jerome Perkinswho goes to this town where everyone is possessed by demons,” says Joe. “And then I totallyrevamped it as a romance called Hearts of Fire.“Later on that year, I applied for the MFA proI was hoping to get it published by Harlequin.”gram at City College of New York and got in,”Joe says. “And since then, the writing is someHarlequin did not, unfortunately, publish Joe’sthing I’ve taken very seriously.”spicy, demonic romance, but he happily continued to write stories anyway. In the meantime,“Twelve years and 93,000 words later,”as his passion for the stage grew, Joe decidedhe says with a smile, remembering whento study theater at the University of Houston.Kensington Books finally published Jazz Moon.After some time working in children’s theater“I had a book.”with an artistic director in the area, Joe packedhis things for New York City.—Pat Smith, retired college professorI stopped thinking about writingand simply wrote. I’ve gained asense of fearlessness.—Scott Barrow, assistant production managerIt was a writing contest in a magazine that inspired Joe to try his hand at getting publishedagain. “The word limit was 1,500,” Joe says.twitter Facebook instagram LinkedIn @GOT HAM W RI T ERSCO N TACT @GOT HAMW RI T ERS .CO M2 12 – 974 – 837 7

CommunityFA L L C O N T E STWrite theGood FightWRITE-INSDo you wish there was a place you could go forwriting inspiration and practice? Where you couldhang out with other writers? Without needing to makea long-term commitment or spend a lot of money?With food and drink involved?Gotham Write-Ins are that place.HERE’S WHAT HAPPENS:The teacher gives an interesting writingprompt. Everyone writes for a while.Then, those who want to read aloud theirwork. You take a break and socializeover refreshments. Then you go throughthe process one more time. Then yousocialize a little more. It’s two hoursof writer’s heaven. You can sign up inadvance or just drop in.The world stands at a crossroads,with people fighting over how bestto lead our countries and live ourlives. The stakes are high. Thedrums beat loudly—especiallywith the November elections inthe United States.FRIDAY EVENINGS IN MANHATTAN6:30–8:30 pm 20 per sessionSee our website for details.It’s a time for voices and votes.In Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rose Tico,a fighter in the Resistance,says, “That’s how we’re gonna win.Not fighting what we hate. Savingwhat we love.”In this spirit, we invite you to write astory (in 50 words or fewer) about aperson (or group) who fights to resistthe forces threatening what they holddear. The story can be personal, fictional, or even historic.The winner gets a free Gotham classof his or her choosing.FREE EVENTSWhen the contest has been judged,we will send out a special newsletter showing the entries of the winnerand finalists, also featuring brief profiles on these writers.We do free classes and other fun things around New YorkCity—at bookstores, bars, Bryant Park, etc. It’s our way ofshowcasing what we do and getting to know you. See ourwebsite for upcoming events.We hope these stories inspire us all tofight the good fight.Here are a few sample entries fromour Gotham interns:Stepping off the train, I adjust my armor. The gold hot pants, the glitter onmy cheeks, the flag in my hand. Theytell a story. My costume identifiesme, exposes me, and protects me. Iam part of a movement of acceptanceand love. We fight with pride.—Katie LynchI saw a light in the sky on the openhighway, quickly followed by another and another. They were frantic,darting around like some woundedinsect. I had anticipated their arrival. I didn’t fight as they led us in pairsonto their ships. I’d save that for later.—Julia Champagne“Before I left home, I dressed my forehead in my own shroud,” Faiz toldhis platoon, moments before beingdeployed in Kashmir. “To them, apiece of white cloth swaying from ahead. To me, a reminder of nothingbehind me to look for and nothing before me to see.”—Elisha AsifPaterson is our home. It may not beperfect, but it has heart. We will notbe counted out just because the reality of our lives makes the wealthyuncomfortable. Let them see theproduct of their greed. Let them seethat we are human beings.—Madeline LoraFor competition rules and online entry form,— visit —GOTHAMWRITERS .COM/GOODFIGHTGOTH AMWRI T E RS .COMtwitter Facebook instagram LinkedIn @GOT HAM W RI T ERSCO N TACT @GOT HAMW RI T ERS .CO M2 12 – 974 – 837 7

-FIVEYRSTWETYEANTBL993ESAISHED1Stories are, truly, everywhere—everyplace you look, everyone you meet,everything you experience.Every day is filled with hundredsof potential stories awaiting yourimagination and craft.Each month we invite you to post a story on Twitter at#GWstorieseverywhere. Your stories (which can be true or made up)will be inspired by what you see, know, or do, and theyshould relate in some way to these monthly themes:SEPTEMBEROCTOBERNOVEMBERepiphanyskeletons in the closetunpleasant relativeAt the end of each month, we will pickour favorite and reward that personwith a free Gotham writing class.Your story must be no longer than 25 words,with a max of 280 characters, including spacesand the hashtag #GWstorieseverywhere.Everyone has a story. Especially you.gothamwriters.com212–974–8377twitter Facebook instagram LinkedIn

Gotham Writers Workshop is a creative home in New York City and Online where writers develop their craft and come together in the spirit of discovery and fellowship. In 2018 Gotham celebrates its 25th anniversary—a generation of classes. We have many students now who weren’t yet born whe