Director’s Cut: Emerging Screenwriters – Spanish Language Cohort, Fall 2024
In collaboration with Stony Brook University, the Jacob Burns Film Center offered its first ever Spanish language course, a screenwriting intensive for 10th and 11th grade high school students, in the fall of 2024. Taking place over 40 hours, and led by Stony Brook screenwriting instructor Tristan Rodriguez, Director’s Cut: Emerging Screenwriters – Spanish language cohort was a nine-week course consisting of fifteen engaging sessions at the JBFC’s Media Arts Lab campus.
This pre-collegiate program, which was taught entirely in Spanish, saw students gain a strong foundation in screenwriting, learn the elements of a film pitch, practice collaborative skills within a workshop setting, and develop their own polished 10-page short film scripts. These scripts were performed by professional actors for a live audience at the Jacob Burns Film Center theater as part of a culminating event.
Original Final Student Scripts – Spanish
Translated Final Student Scripts – English
In-Class Photos - September 17th - November 11th
Above is a gallery of working photos taken over the duration of the fellowship.
Culminating Event
On the evening of November 21st, family, friends, and peers gathered at the Jacob Burns Film Center Theater to celebrate the hard work and artistic achievement of the Emerging Screenwriter fellows with a special performance. Directed by Tristan Rodriguez, this two-hour program saw each student script table read, in Spanish, by a group 5 professional actors for a live audience. Directly following the reading, the fellows were brought on stage for a deep audience-led question and answer session.
Finally, the night was capped off with a reception at the Take 3 Wine Bar and Cafe on the theater's 3rd floor, where fellows took pictures, enjoyed ice-cream cake, and decompressed after a magical and whirlwind night. Please find pictures of the culminating event and a recording of the Q and A below.
Culminating Event Photos - November 21st, 2024
Above is a gallery of images from the culminating event.
Culminating Event Q & A, November 21st, 2024
Above is an embedded recording of the Q & A that took place directly following the table read of student work during the culminating event. Click here for a written English translation of the Q&A.
