Carmen Madden

Dramatic Fiction/Screenwriting

Monday - Friday
9-11:30 AM
RM 3-101

This workshop will emphasize how to build your script so that it has smooth continuity, great characters, and tension-filled conflict. Assignments are given each day, and works-in-progress will be read and critiqued.

Message to Students

I expect my students to have fun and be open to new ideas. Like all writing, screenwriting can be a great thrill ride, and in this workshop we will discover the thrill but also how to maintain it.We will write, we will read, and we will learn from each other how our stories can become an even bigger “thrill.”

Bio

Carmen Madden is the founder of CLM FILMS, a feature film studio located in Oakland, California. Madden is the producer/director/writer of the award-winning suspense film Everyday Black Man, which won several awards including Best Feature Film during its film festival run.The film can currently be seen on BET and Showtime. Madden will be shooting her next feature film, Shadow Fight, this summer. In addition to her film career, Madden is an associate professor of English at Ohlone College and writes short stories and novels. Her short stories have been published in literary magazines. Madden is currently working on a detective novel, Queen of King Street, and a nonfiction book.

Writing Tip I Live By

If you keep getting to page 50 or even a 100 and the story is not working, try taking a main character out.You might find that the story suddenly works. Writing is like a relationship –sometimes you are just trying to make it work, but with the wrong people.

Recommended Authors

Lanford Wilson (Burn This), August Wilson (Fences),Tony Kushner (Angels in America), and Tennessee Williams (Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on A Hot Tin Roof).