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t’s fall semester. On a crisp, rainy Smith. is funny and engaging. You ements. “#ese are students that aren’t night, leaves changing in the trees, can see how she’d be great in a pitch afraid to take risks.” II’m crossing the quad to a lecture meeting (like those for !e House Bun- Smith shared wisdom gleaned from hall. If you were to write a college campus ny, when Anna Faris sat beside her in years in the trenches—a place these stu- on the page, you’d probably describe it a bunny costume). She shares dents are so eager to enter. “#ey seemed exactly like this one. (In fact, the campus valuable lessons on how to collaborate, to respond to the feedback and be willing plays a large role, as itself, in !e Five-Year how margaritas fuel the creative process, to revise their work and embrace the notes Engagement. It’s easy to see why.) and how public domain stories can give process,” she says. “#ey were thinking Students !ll the hall. Screenwriter you a head start on a script. like professional writers, even at age 19.” (co-writer of Legally Blonde “I was inspired by the program Jim and 10 !ings I Hate About You) is about has put together—the faculty, the curric- Working Writers to speak at the University of Michigan. ulum, and the tremendous !lm library,” Smith is one in a long line of profes- Michigan. It couldn’t be farther from Smith observes. “He’s treating young sionals—such as , Da- Hollywood. Geographically. Cultur- writers like burgeoning professionals, and vid Benio$, and John Sayles—to lec- ally. Meteorologically. (It gets e"ng cold they seem empowered by it.” ture here and participate in masterclass here.) Yet, there are many born-and-bred #e morning after her talk, she was workshops. #is is one aspect that sets Michigan names you know well: Michael in a classroom with a handful of stu- the program apart and was made pos- Moore. Sam Raimi. Lawrence Kasdan. dents. She’d read the !rst 10 pages of sible by the generous support of two When you’re done reading, there will their scripts. “#e range of topics and particular Michigan alums, former New be a few more to add to that list. genres surprised me,” she says, looking Line Cinema CEO Robert Shaye and Jim Burnstein, director of the screen- back. #ere was romance, drama, com- longtime UTA agent Peter Benedek. writing program, warmly introduces edy, action scenes, and supernatural el- Having working writers teach was in- tegral to Burnstein’s approach, and it’s a way he’s transformed the program since being asked to return to his alma mater in 1995. He’s been a Michigan-based writer his entire career, in the mold of his men- tor, Oscar-winner Kurt Luedtke (Out of Africa). From the start, Burnstein de- cided to challenge the students to write a full-length screenplay—in one semester. “I have known far too many aspiring writers who have written one act, given up, started another and another, and nev- er !nished a single screenplay,” he says. Another innovation was a course built around a cornerstone of successful screenwriting, something he did not see

in other major !lm programs: rewriting. CHLIPALA LOU MARY BY PHOTOGRAPHS

44 • WGAW WRITTEN BY SUMMER 2015 “I started to feel bad,” he says. “I’m teaching these kids THE FIRST REWRITE CLASS how to do something and I’m not teaching them where Michigan Screenwriting has launched many brilliant careers. With one poignant exception. the real writing is.” WRITTEN BY JIM BURNSTEIN It was also true to his personal experience. “Kurt made my career by making me rewrite,” Burn- n 1995 I was asked to teach a course in screenwriting. I wasn’t expecting any miracles. stein recalls. “[Luedtke] taught me the painful lessons of II certainly wasn’t expecting Yao Phillips: tall, dignified, soft-spoken, always wore a letting go and rethinking and reworking every element. I long scarf draped over his shoulders, 20 years older than his classmates. When asked sold my !rst screenplay [Renaissance Man] because I re- why he wanted to write a screenplay, Yao said, “I want to be a producer, and I believe wrote it four times.” it’s important that I know what a writer must do.” Screenwriting is a serious—and seriously intense— Let’s just say Yao had me at hello. sub-major in the Screen Arts and Culture department of Every week, Yao would come to Screenwriting I with a whole new idea. Then one Michigan’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. night, he said, “I believe when you find your ideal dance partner, you have found your In 310: Screenwriting I, students write a feature-length soul mate.” I didn’t know where his story was going, but I loved his passion and clarity. script. In 410: Screenwriting II, they rewrite their 310 At of the semester, Yao and I met to discuss his first draft about a middle- script. In 427: Screenwriting III, the masterclass, the top aged man buying and renovating the inner-city apartment building he grew up in. students from 410 write another full-length script and His “dance partner” turns out to be the female banker who makes the deal possible. I workshop it with visiting writers. began by telling him he didn’t have a third act. Yao laughed in recognition. With each Burnstein’s colleagues include longtime Detroit Free flaw I pointed out, there was more laughter. I have never seen anyone react this way. Press !lm critic Terry Lawson and Writers Guild Award– Yao took joy in having his work torn apart, learning from his mistakes. nominated screenwriter Tom Benedek (Cocoon, screenplay Yao charged into the first night ever of the rewrite course in mid-January 1997. He by Benedek, story by David Saperstein), brother of Peter. had already written a new opening, a prologue that perfectly set up his protagonist, Some former students, like screenwriter Dan Shere (Epic, showing him as a child. screenplay by James V. Hart & William Joyce and Dan I called Yao the last Saturday of the month to bring in his prologue on Monday Shere and Tom J. Astle & Matt Ember; story by William night. Yao’s mother told me Yao had died that morning of an abdominal aneurysm. I Joyce & James V. Hart and Chris Wedge) and indepen- could barely speak. dent !lmmaker Veerendra Prasad (Ocean of Pearls), have By Monday night’s class, I learned that Yao first came to Michigan in 1964, only returned to o"er all they learned from him, and in their then he was Raymond “Bubba” Phillips, an All-American o!ensive tackle and guard careers, to help educate new generations. who was drafted by the New Orleans Saints. He would also play for the Washington “#e way Jim built the program, it’s always been Redskins under Vince Lombardi. practical, hands-on screenwriting,” says Shere. “I try to After the NFL, Yao served in the Army, worked as a youth counselor in Detroit, then teach how I or any professional would develop a script. Start with a core concept, build it into a treatment. moved to Washington, D.C., where he became a representative of African-American From there, outline, and then go to script.” artists, which motivated him to open an art gallery in New York. On a spiritual pilgrim- His main lesson from Burnstein? “Pre-writing is es- age to Ghana, he saw the need to preserve its rich, rural traditions. That inspired him sential. To not type $%&' () until you’ve sussed out the to assemble a film crew, unexpectedly making him a producer. This sent him full circle major issues and potential problems in your story and back to Ann Arbor to study film. But that wasn’t the real reason Yao came back at 51. worked them out. A lot of them have taken other cre- His two daughters were in college, and he wanted to show them how important it was ative writing classes and it’s usually much the opposite. to get their diplomas. #ey just start typing and see what comes out. But as Yao was not just rewriting his screenplay. He was rewriting his life. !rst-time screenwriters, they quickly learn the value of When I entered my classroom on Monday night, I said, “There’s something you having it better mapped out.” should know. He mailed his first draft to his three closest Wolverine teammates with a #ey teach technique and craft but also how to !nd note that said, Learning to write a screenplay at Michigan is more fun than Michigan- your voice and be true to yourself. As Prasad tells them, Ohio State.” “Write the thing you want to see that no one else is go- The students decided to enter Yao’s script in Michigan’s Hopwood Awards. I told ing to write. Or write the thing that only you can write.” them there would be no sympathy vote. All entries needed a pen name and were #is is also straight from the Burnstein playbook. As judged by industry professionals who would know nothing of Yao’s story. Our students an undergrad, he pitched a script “like Ta x i D r i ve r with won four Hopwoods that year and, wouldn’t you know it, Yao was one of them. The a college kid.” #e protagonist was Indian, as is Prasad. $1,500 was bequeathed to his first grandchild. Before he !nished, Burnstein said, “Write that. No But Yao’s story could not be complete without Yao being awarded his degree. one’s done that.” Somehow Gaylyn Studlar moved heaven and Earth to make that happen, announcing it After a successful career in public TV and documentary at his funeral in Evanston, Illinois, six days after his death. The overflow crowd erupted !lmmaking, fellow grad Oliver #ornton now teaches TV with what can only be called pure joy. writing, including a class he took with Elaine Loeser (Law On the last night of every rewrite class, I tell Yao’s story. And I swear, every time, I & Order). In 311: Writing for Television I, students write can still hear Yao laughing.

SUMMER 2015 WGAW WRITTEN BY • 45 a spec of an existing show. In 411: Writ- “It’s the great secret of teaching—particularly if ing for Television II, they write an original . you get to be with exciting students—you end up For 311, says !ornton, “the intent learning as much as or more than they do,” Peter was to give it that writers’ room atmo- sphere. !ey pitch ideas, then break Hedges says. “You’re reminded of why you want- down the story beats, do an extensive outline, and get notes. !ey do a "rst ed to be in this wacky business, this art form. You draft, then a table read. !ey do a re- remember that thrill of those early ideas and the vised second draft.” In the pilot class, they spend signi"cant first words you wrote.” time developing a pitch, before they write a "rst draft, a bible, pro"les of the major heard them. One of the most di#cult particularly if you get to be with excit- characters, and ideas for 10 to 12 episodes. things to do as a young writer is listen to ing students—you end up learning as “!ey always "nd ways to surprise someone’s opinion of your work. !eir much as or more than they do,” he says. me,” !ornton says of the pilot students. willingness to be open in taking notes “You’re reminded of why you wanted to “I have people write an episode of Bob’s and feedback was terri"c.” be in this wacky business, this art form. Burgers in 311, then end up writing some And she was impressed by !ornton’s You remember that thrill of those early dark psychological drama for their pilot. I approach. “He asked all the questions we ideas and the "rst words you wrote.” get to know them all over again.” ask in the room at Mad Men and other Ray would agree. “I generally come Students are also exposed to produc- quality shows. !e students are fathoms away completely inspired simply by being tion. In 423: Practicum for the Screen- farther down the road than when we all in a room full of people who care so much writer, two scripts are selected from the started. !ey enter the program with a about being good at something, especially masterclass to make two 25- to 30-min- vast body of knowledge, determination, since that something has been the craft to ute short "lms. “!e advantage of hav- and much stronger story sense.” which I’ve dedicated my entire career.” ing a full script is we can pull the story Peter Hedges (What’s Eating Gilbert out of it that we need,” says Burnstein. Grape), who "rst visited seven or eight Required Texts “!ese shorts will serve these kids well years ago, has been back twice this year Access is a big part of the program, not in a Whiplash kind of way if they want (and not just because his son is a cur- only to working professionals, but also to make the full feature.” rent Michigan business student). “It was materials, in the Donald Hall Collec- On these projects, the screenwrit- thrilling,” he says. “I was surprised how tion. !is library was initially funded ing students collaborate with "lm ma- distinct the voices were. !ere was a lot by Bob Shaye and named after for- jors and theater students (such as Glee’s of ambition in the work. I always come mer Poet Laureate Hall, one of Shaye’s Darren Criss one year), and even Ross back feeling hopeful and inspired.” undergraduate professors. Here, you School of Business students—acting as And this is someone who taught can "nd an astounding 4,000 scripts, producers. !rough a partnership with screenwriting at Yale, plus courses at Ben- 25,000 DVDs, and an archival "lm , these "lms screen each nington, Northwestern, and the North print collection. year at the Traverse City Film Festival. Carolina School of the Arts, his alma Phil Hallman, head of the Collection, mater. “I went to a school with 600 kids. has probably forgotten more about mov- Screen Scholars !e thing that surprised me was it’s an ies than most people will ever know. He While the visiting professionals certainly enormous school, but within the pro- has "lm and library science degrees from make an impression on the students, that gram, everyone feels like they matter. I Michigan and NYU. !e New York often works both ways. Just ask Oscar- didn’t think that level of intimacy, that Times sought his expertise throughout this nominee Billy Ray (Captain Phillips). level of community, would be possible.” year’s Awards season. And he manages the “!e kids I met at U of M reminded me Although he hesitated when asked to Screen Arts Mavericks and Makers Col- a lot of the kids I knew when I was at watch the 423 "lms. “I just didn’t have lection in the university’s Harlan Hatcher UCLA a hundred years ago,” Ray says. high hopes. When I started watching, Graduate Library, with scripts and papers “Except they were humble and talked less my jaw drops. I joked, I need to get out from , Robert Altman, John about box o#ce. It was pretty refreshing. of here because you guys are going to be Sayles, Nancy Savoca, and Alan Rudolph. !ey just wanted to learn.” taking jobs from me soon. Why am I !e Sayles stu$ alone could fuel Janet Leahy (Mad Men, Gilmore helping the competition?” a writer’s entire education, with early Girls) worked with TV students who And even if they’re the competition, scripts he wrote for Roger Corman, un- “had pilot ideas that were so personal, the students draw Hedges back. produced screenplays, drafts of scripts so speci"c, so creative, I lit up when I “It’s the great secret of teaching— written longhand on legal pads, plus

46 • WGAW WRITTEN BY SUMMER 2015 notebooks full of ideas and thoughts on went to some guy named . kids to college. Some of them were born other people’s movies. Lawrence Kasdan has said that he writers; others found themselves—and Of course, when Hallman began, he went to Michigan speci#cally to learn their voices—in these classrooms. desperately needed materials. from Kenneth Rowe, who taught Mill- "ese are a few of their stories. “I wasn’t sure where I would get all er, and to try for the Hopwood—the the stu!,” he says. But then he remem- prize money helped him get through Writers Working bered something. “I had been a student school. He ended up winning three, Michigan native Audra Siela! was one of at NYU and knew someone was selling including one in the 1970 Drama cat- Burnstein’s #rst students. “I started writing scripts on the street. I had seen him out egory for a screenplay called Just This. in junior high. By the time I was in high there all the time.” ("ere would not be an o%cial category school, I had it in my head that I wanted He went to New York. “I just or- for screenplays until 1986.) Interesting- to write for movies or TV,” she says. dered everything that guy had. Bonnie ly, he was not the #rst. Siela! won a Hopwood for her feature- and Clyde, Rebel Without a Cause, A In 1962, Merrill Whitburn won the length romantic Paper or Plastic? Clockwork Orange. "ose were some of Drama award for a screenplay called But after grad work at USC, she met Becky the #rst scripts.” Voices of the Dead. Today, he is the Lou- Mann while working a publicity day job With few exceptions, there is now a is Ellsworth La&in Professor of English at Warner Bros. and they were accepted corresponding #lm for every script. at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) as a team to the ABC/Disney Fellowship. “"e students can read it and then in Troy, New York. He studied writ- "at led to sta! gigs on Notes From the watch it to see how it may have changed or ing but wrote the script on his own. “I Underbelly, Better Off Ted, and It’s Always developed,” Hallman says. “It was always have always loved the movies,” he says. Sunny in Philadelphia, and most recently [Shaye’s] desire to have a viewing facility.” “Great movies were coming in from Eu- on CBS’ The McCarthys. Hallman credits Shaye’s vision for rope, and I just decided to try my hand Siela! acknowledges a parallel be- what the Collection has become. at a screenplay.” tween the classroom and the writers’ “"is was his dream to have a script Voices of the Dead was a drama based room. “It’s very similar. Everyone reads library. It’s unusual, outside of the Writ- on real events from Whitburn’s youth in each other’s stu! and gives notes. "at’s ers Guild and places in . It’s Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. "e title all part of the business of writing. "at more common there, but not in the refers to something his father once said was good training for the future. It’s Midwest,” Hallman says. about the wind carrying the voices of all such a team and group e!ort, especially When Alexander Payne visited, he the hunters who had died in the woods. with comedy. I like the writers’ room. I and Hallman got to talking. (In the When Whitburn printed script of Sideways, a production became chair of the still shows Payne wearing a Michigan Department of Lan- shirt, a gift from this visit.) In particular, guage, Literature, and they discussed the early works of Japa- Communication at nese #lm director Yasujiro Ozu, only RPI, he took on their available then in Japan. McKinney Contest “We had a boxed set, which included for writing students. I Was Born, But... and Dragnet Girl on “I transformed the laserdisc,” Hallman says. Payne had long competition, model- searched for these #lms. ing it after the Hop- woods,” he says. “I Hopwood to Hollywood have directed the In many ways, Burnstein is carrying on a program many times longtime Michigan tradition, nurturing since, including during the past four get to sit in a room and make jokes all and celebrating writers. After all, this is the years. It still follows the Hopwood pat- day and go o! and write fun scripts.” place to which alum (class of 1905) and tern.” One of her classmates was another playwright donated one- Today, throw a rock in Hollywood Michigan native, Craig Silverstein. “"at #fth of his estate, to develop young writers. and chances are good you’ll hit a Hop- one-two punch of 310 and 410 allowed Since 1931, a host of Hopwood wood winner. Since Burnstein started, me to generate material that started my awards, with scholarship money, have the program has produced no shortage career. 410 was unique. "e entire semes- been handed out for works of non-#ction, of success stories. Writing might be an ter was dedicated to rewriting, which is #ction, drama, and poetry, to more than artistic vocation, but it’s also a job. And key to the craft. Personally, I didn’t want 3,000 students, amounting to more than this program has turned out workers. to rewrite the script I wrote in 310.” $3 million. In 1936, the Drama award After all, that’s why people send their It was a fantasy adventure called Thieves

SUMMER 2015 WGAW WRITTEN BY • 47 “If you boil down the success of our program, it’s vaunted genre of basketball time-travel.” But the award was de#nitely mean- about three things: rewrite class, library, and ingful. “Having people read your mate- visiting artists,” Jim Burnstein says. “Once I knew rial and saying you’ve got talent—you can’t underestimate how important that we were going to have those three things, I had is to a 20-year-old.” Beth Schwartz always knew she’d go a feeling we could go someplace special.” But he to Michigan (most of her family did) also attributes it to the caliber of students he’s but beyond that wasn’t sure what she wanted. Currently a sta! writer on "e encountered. “They come in with so much natural WB’s (before that, Brothers and Sisters), she started out a psych major. “I talent. You’re just trying to coach it up.” didn’t feel passionate about it,” she re- calls. “I took a playwriting class to ful#ll Guild. Silverstein’s pitch for that script “re- embed a musical code in the Tokyo Rose my English requirement.” mains to this day the single best pitch I radio program. It won him a Hopwood. "e teacher called to praise her play. have ever heard—including every one that Before Turn, his work has been in “Your teacher just never calls you at my writing partner, Garrett Schi!, and I features. “I sold a script to New Regency home,” she says. “He pushed me toward have ever sold,” says Burnstein. about cold war espionage. I had a script being a writer.” But still. “I asked Burnstein if I could on the Black List, Titans of Park Row, "is was not, technically speaking, rewrite another one,” Silverstein contin- about William Randolph Hearst and her #rst work. “When I was in middle ues. “He said sure, but only if I could Joseph Pulitzer. I’ve got something with school, for my drama class, I did a play write a new script before the class began.” Warner Bros.” Splinter Way is another of 90210.” She laughs and calls it her Challenge accepted. “I wrote my sec- period story, set during World War I, “#rst spec script.” ond script, Hungry, a dark comedy, dur- about early motorcycle racing. Schwartz took screenwriting classes ing winter break,” Silverstein recalls. “I Like Silverstein, Akselrad only studied with Lawson and Burnstein, and an in- took the rewrite to Los Angeles. "ose feature writing at Michigan. “When I dependent study with playwright and classes started my career, period. I got started on the show, I realized how much screenwriter Wendy Hammond (Julie my #rst opportunity to sta! on a show I didn’t know about television, about how Johnson). “It got me really excited about because of my feature spec. I loved TV to construct a story that runs the whole writing. "ey gave you so much free- and never looked back.” His credits in- season. Craig has been a fantastic teacher.” dom to explore.” clude Nikita, Bones, and Standoff. His Also moving between #lm and TV, Her #rst job in L.A. was working for current project is AMC’s Turn, where Yoni Brenner (Rio 2, screenplay by Don (Crazy, Stupid, Love) on Silverstein works with a more recent Rhymer and Carlos Kotkin and Jenny "e WB comedy Like Family. “I liked Michigan graduate, Mitchell Akselrad. Bicks and Yoni Brenner, Story by Car- that process. I’m more of a social writer; I “I wanted it as a career since middle los Saldanha) grew up in Ann Arbor, the like bouncing ideas o! people.” Fogelman school,” says Princeton native Akselrad. university there in his backyard. He has a encouraged her to pursue TV writing and He #rst tried writing a script at age 13 number of animated #lm projects in de- o!ered great advice: “Write a spec for a or 14, “a James Bond feature that was velopment with Blue Sky Studios and he’s show you would want to write for.” awful and about 300 pages. I wrote all working on a half-hour show about “dys- So she did. Her #rst spec was for "e the di!erent camera angles.” functional therapists” for HBO. He also WB show . When Like Fam- At Michigan, his #rst script was a writes for . ily was cancelled, her next job, oddly World War II story. “"ey were saying “I was a comedy nerd. I’d writ- enough, was to work for Greg Berlanti. as a #rst-time writer, maybe try some- ten plays. I did a lot of theater in high On Everwood. “Which was strange,” thing a little easier, so you don’t have school,” Brenner recalls. “When I was she says. “I was a huge fan.” Did she tell to do the extra research.” Only he loves 19 or 20 I was interested in seeing if I him about her spec? “I told him, but I doing research. “I like #nding a world could be a screenwriter.” de#nitely don’t think he read it.” It’s bad and learning everything about it. I’m "e program got him there. “"e form to o!er a spec of a show to that ac- attracted to real-world events. Turn’s a greatest thing was that I #nished a screen- tual show. “Especially if it’s the #rst spec great example.” play,” he says. “"at already puts you far you ever wrote.” "at script, The Pacific Eclipse, was ahead. "ough I wouldn’t look at it now.” Her older brother, Adam, took one a #ctional story inspired by real events, Original Celtics did win him a Hop- of Burnstein’s #rst masterclasses. For- in which a musician and a Naval Intel- wood. “I cringe at the recollection,” he merly a Disney Channel sta! writer ligence agent pose as German spies to laughs. “It was an ill-advised foray into the on So Random!, he’s developing a kids

48 • WGAW WRITTEN BY SUMMER 2015 show pilot. “Burnstein handpicked four he said, ‘Oh, I’m a !lm major. It’s so show to Working Title. "e company or !ve people to be in that class,” he re- awesome.’ I thought, I like things that passed but asked Pipski to run their TV calls. “It made you feel like you were se- are awesome.” department. He did. Today, he’s Vice lected into this elite group. "at maybe His !rst screenwriting course was President, Television, at Miramax. It you actually had talent.” with a professor visiting for only one might not be a writer’s career, per se, but "e class was held at Burnstein’s semester: Oscar-winner John Briley Pipski attributes the entire journey to house, around his dining room ta- (Gandhi). In the !rst lecture, Pipski re- that fateful junior-year decision. ble. “We never met in a classroom,” alized his creative writing experience was “I might be the only person I know Schwartz says. “It felt more like a writ- not applicable. who uses their exact major every day,” ers’ group before I knew what that was.” “Someone raised their hand and said, he says. “Every meeting with producers Which was the intent. “It’s a transi- ‘You’re using this word slugline. What and writers where we’re talking about tion class,” Burnstein says. “"ey learn to work as writers by forming a group and helping each other and reading each other’s work. It’s a competitive business, but you need help from your .” Schwartz remembers Burnstein’s in- sights as a working writer. “He would pitch stu# he was working on, that he was actually pitching to studios,” Schwartz says. “In retrospect, that was probably great practice for him.” Schwartz’s work in 427 paid o#. “"at class got me to write the script that helped me get an agent. "e !rst couple years, that was my sample.” Burnstein’s guidance did not end when the semester did. “When I went to L.A., I would email does that mean?’” Pipski felt the same. making a screenplay better—that’s what him about things I was doing and he’d "e script he wrote for Briley was I did my entire college career.” give me advice,” Schwartz adds. “He’d called Papa’s Clocks. “It was bad. I went Ask Burnstein about these varied ca- be like, Send me a draft. I’ll read it.” on to rewrite the script for Jim and make reers and accomplishments, if he foresaw Burnstein even helped him land an it slightly less bad.” any of this at the start, and the answer is an early gig, an option to write a script. “He Slightly less bad enough to win a emphatic, “No!” (Repeated several times.) was de!nitely trying to help people get Hopwood, actually. He does recognize that he has put the their foot in the door,” he says. “Which He moved to L.A. and found a recep- right pieces into place. “If you boil down is just as important as the writing.” tionist job at Working Title Films (Four the success of our program, it’s about Finally, there’s Daniel Pipski. Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually). three things: rewrite class, library, and “I was a geology major,” he recalls. “It "rough circumstance and proximity, he visiting artists. Once I knew we were stemmed from seeing Raiders of the Lost was soon promoted to be the president’s going to have those three things, I had a Ark. I wanted to be an archaeologist or assistant, and a few months later was of- feeling we could go someplace special.” something in that vein.” Two English fered the job of director of development. But he also attributes it to the caliber of courses changed that. In “Comic Ap- “I didn’t write again for 10 years,” he students he’s encountered. “"ey come proaches to Catastrophe,” they read admits. in with so much natural talent. You’re ’s Without Feathers and In 2009, after more development just trying to coach it up.” watched Dr. Strangelove. In “Fiction to and producing jobs, he collaborated on a And while it’s clear Burnstein has in- Film,” they studied !lms adapted from script with a friend. He joined the WGA spired an ever-growing number of writers, literature, like High Noon. in 2011, after they sold a feature pitch their impact on him cannot be underes- “I declared an English major after called Parents and Children to Disney. timated either. “Teaching has de!nitely that,” he says. He took creative writing His writing partner was Ol Parker (The made me a better writer,” he believes. courses every semester and completed Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). “Always “When you see kids come in with ideas all his credits by the end of junior year. good to have a partner who’s way more that blow you away, that are so original, “I was telling a kid from one of my talented than you,” Pipski adds. it encourages you to step up your game.” creative writing classes my dilemma and As a writing team, they pitched a Class dismissed.

SUMMER 2015 WGAW WRITTEN BY • 49