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Sarah Cornelius is an Actor, Screenwriting Coach, and Executive at Whitewater Films. She made her screen debut in the acclaimed short film LEAVE YOU IN ME. Her vulnerably raw work in the film garnered her Best Actress Award wins at the NYC PictureStart Film Festival and LA's Show Off Your Short Film Festival. She's guest starred on numerous television series and recently appeared in a supporting role in the Lifetime TV movie DESPERATE WIDOWS. On the producing side, Whitewater Films recently released their latest film, SMALL ENGINE REPAIR with Jon Bernthal, which was produced by Rick Rosenthal and developed by Sarah. Last year, they premiered their feature Thriller THE BOY BEHIND THE DOOR on the premium streaming platform SHUDDER. In 2019, they released STANDING UP, FALLING DOWN starring Billy Crystal & Ben Schwartz with first-time director Matt Ratner. Whitewater's film, THE LAST SHIFT premiered at Sundance 2020 with two time Oscar-nominee Richard Jenkins. In addition they produced FIRST GIRL I LOVED (Sundance winner), HALFWAY THERE (Sundance Episodic Showcase winner), SMALL ENGINE REPAIR (SXSW premiere). Full Bio »
Sarah Cornelius is an Actor, Screenwriting Coach, and Executive at Whitewater Films. She made her screen debut in the acclaimed short film LEAVE YOU IN ME. Her vulnerably raw work in the film garnered her Best Actress Award wins at the NYC PictureStart Film Festival and LA's Show Off Your Short Film Festival. She's guest starred on numerous television series and recently appeared in a supporting role in the Lifetime TV movie DESPERATE WIDOWS. On the producing side, Whitewater Films recently released their latest film, SMALL ENGINE REPAIR with Jon Bernthal, which was produced by Rick Rosenthal and developed by Sarah.
The Write Now Challenge
Sarah Cornelius is an Actor, Screenwriting Coach, and Executive at Whitewater Films. She made her screen debut in the acclaimed short film LEAVE YOU IN ME. Her vulnerably raw work in the film garnered her Best Actress Award wins at the NYC PictureStart Film Festival and LA's Show Off Your Short Film Festival. She's guest starred on numerous television series and recently appeared in a supporting role in the Lifetime TV movie DESPERATE WIDOWS.
On the producing side, Whitewater Films recently released their latest film, SMALL ENGINE REPAIR with Jon Bernthal, which was produced by Rick Rosenthal and developed by Sarah.
Last year, they premiered their feature Thriller THE BOY BEHIND THE DOOR on the premium streaming platform SHUDDER. In 2019, they released STANDING UP, FALLING DOWN starring Billy Crystal & Ben Schwartz with first-time director Matt Ratner.
Whitewater's film, THE LAST SHIFT premiered at Sundance 2020 with two time Oscar-nominee Richard Jenkins. In addition they produced FIRST GIRL I LOVED (Sundance winner), HALFWAY THERE (Sundance Episodic Showcase winner), SMALL ENGINE REPAIR (SXSW premiere).
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"I really enjoyed this webcast last night, and got a lot out of it. Thank you so much Sarah, you are great! I loved the opportunity to look at the process from a different perspective, and keep on learning. And Amanda Toney huge shout out - it can't be easy to continually find new content, and new ways to present critical information for writers, yet you succeed time and again. NOTHING is stale here, and I love that and appreciate you very much for all you do for this community. Thank you!" - Tia P.
"So this was my FIRST webcast as a Writer's Room Member, and I thought it was a heck of a lotta fun. It was good to see familiar faces. Loved the approach with sides and discussing exposition writing vs. good dialogue. I look forward to popping in with all of you again!" - Joleene D.
In this challenge, members were asked to write a scene of conflict. Remember that "conflict" does not necessarily mean "a scene where two people fight"! It means a scene in which two characters with opposing points of view attempt to get what they want in the scene. So, what do they each want? What methods do they use in an attempt to get it? Seduction? Deceit? Force? Honesty? Are they successful in their attempts? The possibilities are endless!
For this challenge, you were asked to take one (1) scene from your existing script and do a "tone pass'" with help from the Breakdown Webcast: Tackling Tone. The entries should have been no more than 3-5 pages, and were read live for the group!
In this challenge, members were asked to write one side of a phone conversation. The challenge is to give us the full idea of the story, the conflict, the relationship between the characters, and the ultimate resolution. The key to this exercise is to make the stakes high! Can the writer phrase their character’s dialogue so that the phone call still makes sense - and give us the exposition we need? During this webcast we received a number of fantastic entries that spanned genres, including Rom Com, Thriller, Drama, and Comedy, and more!
For this challenge, members were asked to use The Breakdown Webcast: Writing Theme as a guide to look at one (or more) of their feature or television scripts and identify the themes. During the webcast, participants read their responses and discussed the ways in which they arrived at their themes. We also discussed ways in which they can do more to illuminate their themes.
Flashbacks Make sure your flashback scenes drive the plot forward, are not more dramatic than the present, reveal information about your character or situation, have a specific point of view.
In this challenge, you were asked to use The Breakdown Webcast: What the *&%$ is a Dramedy? as a guide to write a short scene (1-5 pages) that uses all of the principles discussed. Make sure to watch the Breakdown Webcast for those tips! You can find that by clicking here. We received some excellent submissions that all attempted to ride that fine line of truly being a "Dramedy."
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