By Shirley N Lew
Writing for television, film or theater takes time and sometimes a village of people consisting of actors, actresses and ordinary everyday folks. Since 1998, Unfinished Works has been a constructive workshop offered by New York’s Film Lab as a creative process for writers to have their work critiqued.
Celena Cipriaso has written for ABC’s All My Children, and theater. She just had her unfinished piece Sober City read aloud by actors to an audience in an Unfinished Works workshop in August. Her piece is written for television and is about a group of thirty-somethings living their not so quite sober life in New York. Perhaps you know of someone similar?
After the reading, the audience had an opportunity to ask Cipriaso about the story line, characters and even offered their own ideas. In turn, she was also able to ask for feedback from the audience. Such as, “Was there a need for clarity in the piece? What if a particular character did not behave a certain way? How might that change the storyline? Would the viewer be comfortable with that?” She also shared how she included a real life event where she was heckled at a sporting event into the story.
Film Lab describes their workshop as, “Incredibly fun and empowering for all. Whether you just want to see a performance reading or whether you’re a writer or actor looking to share, collaborate and hone your craft, this is the event for everyone.”
LATEST STORIES
Learn more about Celena Cipriaso‘s work in television, film and as a freelance journalist. She has written for CNN, Intel and Arts American just to name a few.
The Film Lab is a non-profit that is dedicated to the promotion and support of gender and ethnic diversity in film and television, producer of the annual 72 Hour Film Shootout and the tv series, Film Lab Presents, which airs Thursday nights at 11pm on NYCLife. Learn more about Film Lab here.
(note from editor: The name of Cipriaso’s unfinished script has been added to the story)
