We will eventually place dozens of students testimonials who love our seminars, but right now you will see industry professionals who recommend Sherwood Oaks in a publication or on their website, all verifiable. If you have a success story, please share it with us.
2007 Student Comment
"Sherwood Oaks provides an extraordinary, immersive experience with some of the top professionals working in the entertainment industry today. Better still, because of their profound respect for Gary[Shusett, director], guest speakers offer honest insights into how Hollywood really operates. I cannot recommend it enough to aspiring screenwriters and producers alike."
Mark Kratter, CEO
Emergence Entertainment
Tim Casey who was taken numerous Sherwood Oaks classes from 2001 to 2006 has optioned Strayhorn, William Kelley's (who wrote Witness) last script and is making traction on getting it produced with the help of Sherwood Oaks teacher, Skip Press.
See article in Los Angeles Time's June 20, 2007
Our 2007 Success Story
Michael Yuen who took several Sherwood Oaks classes from 2005 to 2007 has attached Chinese action director Yuen Wo-ping and Paramount-affiliated producer Dede Nickerson (Kill Bill, Matrix) to his first screenplay SPAGHETTI VS. NOODLE as a $20 million action comedy with Taewon Entertainment, a South Korean company that recently raised $50M. "I perfected my award-winning pitch through Sherwood Oaks networking meetings with Hollywood executives. Winning the pitch contest at the Sundance Producer's Conference lead directly to CAA reading my script and sending it to their clients."
More in Variety, May 19, 2007.
Mike Yuen
Our 2006 Success Story
"Thanks to Sherwood Oaks College, I met Richard Chamberlain and
Michael Madsen and got them interested in my movie. A couple of months
later, I had obtained financing and am shooting my first movie this
September in Ireland. All this happened within six months.
Check out the official website at www.strengthandhonourthemovie.com. Thank you Gary Shusett! [and Sherwood Oaks College]." Congratulations to Mark for winning the 23rd Boston Film Festival for ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Actor in a Leading Role’. Both ‘Good Will Hunting’ and ‘American Beauty’ both started in the Boston Film Festival so our fingers are crossed for an Academy win.
Mark Mahon
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SUZANNE LYONS BIOGRAPHY: In the 80’s Ms. Lyons was VP of Marketing and Promotions for a TV network in Canada and in the late 80’s she moved to Philadelphia and worked in sales in TV and Film Distribution. In the mid 90’s Ms. Lyons moved to Los Angeles and co-founder of the Flash Forward Institute. She has led hundreds of film industry seminars to over 15,000 participants in the US and Canada. In the late 1990’s she co-founded Snowfall Films, Inc. and has produced five feature films with actors including Christopher Walken, Naomi Watts, James Caan, Alfred Molina, Brenda Blethyn, Jon Lovitz, Dean Cain, Winona Ryder, Peter Fonda and Adrian Paul. Snowfall Films is gearing up to produce its next picture in Belfast with lead actor Michael Pitt. In 2005 Snowfall Films created a genre division, WindChill Films, Inc. and they have completed their third horror/thriller. (www.snowfallfilms.com) Suzanne Lyons regularly teaches classes. We strongly recommend attending her classes and make your dreams a reality. To register call 818-558-5917 or email snowfallfilms@aol.com
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"Sherwood Oaks Experimental College is simply the most intimate, innovative, and practically informative way to meet and greet the real creative movers and shakers of the entertainment industry. It does not just help open the doors to Hollywood, it shows what the road to success looks like and really takes for those who are serious about mastering craft, relationships, and success." Patrick Horton, The Story Coach
"Gary Shusett founded and has operated the “college” for a zillion years, and it is very respectable. Gary is a producer (MOON OVER PARADOR) and the brother of ALIEN screenwriter Ron. He provides plenty of bang for the buck."
Christopher Lockhart, ICM
(Chris has been extremely supportive of aspiring writers and spends his valuable free time to speak and provide honest feedback on pitches at Sherwood Oaks College and other film groups.)
"What a terrific event [Screenwriter's All Access Weekend in February 2007] -- this was my first year as a panelist, and I hope to be back again and again. Every panel's packed with names and knowledge, and the screenwriters I'm speaking to can't believe what they're getting for the price."
Chris Soth's Million-Dollar Screenwriting! - Let Chris Soth teach you his Mini-Movie Method of writing sequences and finish your million dollar screenplay this year!
“One school for aspiring screenwriters stands head and shoulders
above all others for continued excellence over the years, and more
graduates that have gone on to large careers. Sherwood Oaks has no
fixed classroom at all; rather, its students meet in hotels and often
share lunch around a table with someone who can buy their work or sell
it for them starting that very day. Here’s an example.
On August 15, 2000, I went to a “Pitch Day” Sherwood Oaks event at the
Bel Age Hotel in West Hollywood. It was part of an entire week
costing $750, so one day was $150. In a group of less than 10
people, I met: the story editor for Nicolas Cage’s Saturn Productions;
Kent Kubena, the director of development for Matt Damon and Ben
Affleck’s company and the man who dreamed up their ‘Project
Greenlight’ Internet-driven feature film production contest; and Rob
Carliner, the producer/manager of Butchers Run Films, actor Robert
Duvall’s company. How does that sound?
Schoolteacher Gary Shusett started Sherwood Oaks to help people break
into Hollywood. His brother Ron is a very successful screenwriter
(Total Recall and others [Alien, Minority Report, etc]). I first
came across Sherwood Oaks in the 1980s, and so did people like James
“Titanic” Cameron. That’s why you can meet people like him
at Sherwood Oaks events.”
Skip Press, 2002-2003 Writer’s Guide to Hollywood
“… Sherwood Oaks Experimental College.
‘Experimental College’ was really a misnomer; in reality, it was
professional school taught by professionals: producers taught producing,
writers taught writing, … The purpose of the school, which
didn’t give credits and had no university affiliation, was to provide
an opportunity for the professionals of Hollywood to share their
experience and expertise with the community. [For example,]
… Lucille Ball [taught a] weekend seminar on TV comedy? …
Michael Crichton talking about the art and craft of screenwriting?
Not a bad lineup. …. The people [students] were interested
in screenwriting and liked hearing stores about the difficulties of
breaking into Hollywood. They wanted to know what kind of
scripts Hollywood was looking for, how to get an agent, how much money
could be made selling a screenplay, how difficult it was to sell a
treatment (a short, narrative synopsis of the story) and so on.
… As I walked out the door [after teaching for a few hours], several
people told me they’d learned more in this one class than they had in
a full semester at UCLA.”
Syd Field, Going to the Movies
(Syd dedicated to an entire chapter, i.e., chapter 11, so we only
took a small portion of what he wrote and recommend reading his book for
more of his thoughts.)
“Having chaired a few seminars for Sherman Oaks Experimental
College in Los Angeles, I would certainly have to include them in my
list of connected places to study. Not as big a commitment as a
full program, seminars can be worth the money you pay for them,
particularly if you attend one of Gary Shusett’s reasonably priced
weekends. SOEC stages year round seminars and workshops for
writers. Entrepreneur/teacher/writer/producer, Gary Shusett,
manages to attract a mouth-watering range of industry leaders that we
would all love to have access to. The classes are usually panel
discussions with questions from the audience followed by an informal
socializing with the guest and students so there is an opportunity for
students to speak to the guests one-on-one.”
K. Callan, The Script is Finished, Now What Do I Do?
“To all those who have helped me in both my film and teaching
careers, with particular gratitude to Gary Shusett and Sherwood Oaks
Experimental College for getting me started…”
Michael Hauge, Writing Screenplays That Sell
“…I enrolled in a screenwriting course at the very independent
Sherwood Oaks Film School. … Many of the successful
writers in the business were [teaching there]. They did this
out a belief that their experiences might somehow help the next
generation of writers. … the Schraders, Dan O’Bannon,
Robert Towne, writers from Saturday Night Live. In the dark
age before VCRs and fax machines and the Internet, Ernest Lehman
arrived, carrying cans of film marked North By Northwest. We
propped a projector on the table and watched and listened as Lehman
described his journey with Hitchcock. He would stop the reels
mid-scene or run the reel back to repeat some business or dialogue.
It was spellbinding, absolutely the best film lesson I ever lucked into.
Most of the guest writers didn’t talk about how to “make it.”
They spoke on the subject that most intrigued them: the creative process.
They told stories. They revealed themselves. Their
passion, their commitment to the craft conveyed the sense of a spiritual
calling. Alexander Jacobs, writer of my favorite noir, Point
Blank, adapted to our tiny class of four. Whilestruggling under contract to Paramount to write a Godfather III that
would persuade Francis Ford Coppola to come back to the project, Jacobs
once confided urgently to me, “You must let the work consume you.”
Soon after that comment, the relatively young Jacobs died of what I
suspected was heartbreak over Coppola’s decision not to direct a
Godfather III at that time.
…Those Sherwood Oaks visiting screenwriters had
communicated an invaluable lesson purely by example. With
every spoken word, they inhabited the art of writing.
Writing’s what mattered and if the screenplay form didn’t fit, find
another suit. It’s not the script, the money, the contacts, the
contracts: It’s the life of writing. You must let it consume
you.”
Richard Stayton, Editor, Written By
Class Evaluations of a 2007 Seminar
Comments included "Excellent. Got an
"insider" info. "The best seminar and well worth the money." "Exposure to people with experience and
knowledge of the industry. Allowed me the opportunity to make new
contacts and get a taste of a wide variety of Industry
personalities."
Former International Sherwood Oaks Student
My work at Sherwood Oaks Experimental College while studying Fimmaking there, was indeed very productive since I had the chance not only to meet personally superb Filmmakers as Hal Ashby, Robert Wise, or even George Cukor, exchanging "Film Tips" and Impressions with them, but could also spend time in real film productions such as "Carwash" by Michael Shultz or "The Swarm" by Irwin Allen, among other Feature Films and Tv shows. Syd Field's fabulous film script course, on the other hand, gave me the fundamental screenwriting knowledge which later proved invaluable in developing my career as a Latin American Filmmaker back home in Chile, where I have made several films, both for theatrical release and Television. None of these would have been possible had I not enroled in the Sherwood Oaks Film school programs.
Now, I am chairman of my own Production Company for 15 years, which allows me to be fully involved in developing my personal Film projects, as well as participating in several other international productions shot in Chile, such as "Rapa Nui" directed by Kevin Reynolds and produced by Barrie Osborne, or "Seven Years in Tibet" by Jean-Jacques Annaud.
All this experience, has led me finally to teach the Profesional Filmmaking Course at the Film Department of Universidad Tecnológica de Chile (www.utc.cl), where I constantly apply and remember everything I learned at Sherwood Oaks very Experimental Film School, one of the most rewarding experiences in my whole career.
Jorge Lopez Sotomayor
Taylor Negron
Fresh Yarn
In 1977, every Tuesday at 7 pm for eight weeks, Lucille Ball was my comedy teacher.
To this day I still remember things she said, or how she reacted to things, but more importantly I remember what she "felt" about things. She was a woman who wore her heart on her sleeve.
Lucy taught us how to play drunk: "Say every word slowly and clearly. Drunks don't want people to think they are slurring." She told us, "Everything you see me do on I Love Lucy was practiced and rehearsed for days! Know you props!" Her tone was serious.
Lucille Ball taught me how to be happy, because she was so damned sad.
The first time I saw her she was crying. But let me digress back to 1977 when I was 19 years old, and a slimmer, more bell-bottomed me. I was lean, I was mean, and I had a shag. The year that Saturday Night Fever came out, before AIDS and cell phones, when there were only 13 channels on TV and afternoons were meant for love making and hitchhiking. Hollywood Boulevard was still an old fashioned street then. Japanese gift shops were tucked in between musty bookshops, and old ladies in ancient silk dresses walked down the street with Andrews Sisters' hairdos. Male hustlers clogged the front of the ice cream store on the corner of Las Palmas Avenue that sold peppermint candy ice cream in those sweet waffle cones.
I worked at the Sherwood Oaks Experimental Film School on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Ivar Street, upstairs from a Tom McCann shoe store that sold only platform shoes that summer. I would bike there from the apartment on Van Ness Street that I shared with a dwarf actor named Corky, who I had met in my improv group. He traveled around with a rough crowd that included Herve Villechaize. I recall people mentioning that, "Herve carries a pistol."
I needed help paying the rent so I asked Corky to be my roommate. When he moved in he had nothing more than a box of porn magazines and a large bottle of Vicks Vapor Rub. My only complaint about my new roommate was that he left footprints on the toaster. When you live with a little person, everything becomes a step.
Working at the film school was a big step for me. It was my second job (my first was being a cartoon model at Hanna-Barbera, which required no thinking, just arduous posing). I was paid to run errands for the director of the school, a man named Gary. I helped him track down celebrities to come and lecture for a nominal fee.
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Sherwood Oaks College Dream Class
by William C. Martell
Imagine driving to the studio gates, and your name is on the guard's list! You enter the lot, and seven producers are waiting to meet with you! Now imagine going to five studios in five days, meeting with 35 big name producers. Fantasy? No, it's a new class offered by Sherwood Oaks College called ULTIMATE SCREENWRITERS EXPERIENCE. I took the course in December, and here is my report...
Monday we met at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, and were taken by van to Sony Pictures where we assembled in the meeting room at Centropolis Entertainment (ID4, THE PATRIOT). Our guests for the day included Judd Payne from The Steve Tisch Company (FOREST GUMP), Crissy Blumenthal from Black & Blu Entertainment (Jason Blumenthal and Todd Black from Mandalay), Mary Kay Powell from RayStar (STEEL MAGNOLIAS), the VP of Development from Gracie Films (AS GOOD AS IT GETS), the President of Red Wagon Productions (STUART LITTLE) Doug Wick, Scott Nemes from Penny Marshall's Parkway Productions (BIG) and the President of Phoenix Pictures Mike Medavoy (who has about seven Best Picture Oscars at home).
Studio based producers are looking for big studio films. Scripts that can be "tent-pole" films. The Indie companies make small movies, these guys make blockbusters. A key component to a film's success is the foreign market, and Crissy Blumenthal said they are looking for scripts with "international appeal". Sports scripts and political scripts "don't travel well". Mike Medavoy told us his company reads 5,000 scripts a year... and only makes 4 films a year!
Tuesday we had a morning meeting with pitch-master Robert Kosberg in Beverly Hills, then were taken to the Warner Bros. lot to meet with Greg Avallone from TIG Productions (Kevin Costner's company), Heather Courtney from Bel Air (THE GAME), Brian Manis from Peters Entertainment (THE WILD WILD WEST), Kevin Field from Maysville Films (George Clooney's company), Far from Mad Chance (THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE, SPACE COWBOYS), and Nathan Kahane from The Canton Company (JACK FROST).
Due to the success of DOUBLE JEOPARDY, many companies were looking for thrillers with an intriguing idea behind them. Being able to legally kill your evil ex-husband is the idea that made that film a hit - that element is the key. Because many studios are trying to lower the cost of their films, they are making more thrillers than action films... though action is still a popular genre. Both Bel Air and Canton are looking for smart comedies and thrillers with twists. Many of the producers at both Warners and Universal were interested in remaking old studio films which they already owned the rights to... These projects are assignments for established writers.
Wednesday was off-lot producers, beginning with Andrew Licht at Licht/Mueller Productions (THE CABLE GUY), then we had lunch with Brady Thomas at Castle Rock (THE GREEN MILE) and Lisa Reeve at Simian Films (Hugh Grant & Liz Hurley's company - MICKEY BLUE EYES). Then desert with Elizabeth from Larry Kasdan's Company (THE BIG CHILL, MUMFORD), before we drove to the Lantana Production Complex to meet with JLT Productions president Jennie Lew Tugend (FREE WILLY), and Chris Salvaterra at Universal Pictures ex-Studio head Casey Silver's new company Gone Fishin' Productions.
Most of the companies were looking for a fresh romantic comedy - something that is a DIFFERENT twist on the standard boy-meets-girl story. Lisa Reeve said that rom-coms require both of the leads get equal screen time, and the element that keeps the couple apart is the key. That element has to be something we haven't seen before. Jennie Lew Tugend said she is looking for characters who find courage or overcome diversity. Very few producers were interested in horror, teen comedy, "Adam Sandler comedy", musicals, westerns or war films.
Thursday we were given the executive board at 20h Century Fox to use as our office, impressing every single producer we met with. Many of them had never even been in the executive building! Our first meeting was with VP of Development Mark Stein from Kopelson Entertainment (THE FUGITIVE), then we had lunch with Mike McGahey at Friendly Films in the commissary (Dr. DOLITTLE), then met with Kopelson Entertainments head of production Matthew Gross. Jennifer Blum from 1492 Productions (BICENTENNIAL MAN), Tracy Silbert from Fox 2000 (COURAGE UNDER FIRE) and Ted Dodd - the VP 20th Century Fox's Story Department rounded out the day.
Ted explained how the studio story department works. Most producers on the lot have their own readers... But the producers at need the studio to fund their films. When a producer finds a script they want to make they take it to the studio for financing. The studio gives the script to the story department for coverage. Fox's story department receives 5,000 scripts and books every year - most from producers, but they also read 100 scripts from screenwriting contests, plus scripts from the 35 Creative Executives in the 4 divisions of Fox (Fox, Fox 2000, Fox Searchlight, Fox Animation). There are two types over coverage - script and project. A project is a script that has already been purchased by a producer (through a discretionary fund) or has talent attached. A "pass" script might be a "consider" project depending on the talent attached. Ted said that the coverage is only one source of information on a script, so it is often ignored. If a script has "heat" or it is by a name writer, the script can receive a "pass" and still be purchased by the studio. If a script is in a bidding war, the coverage is usually ignored. Coverage is also subjective - before closing down, Go-Coverage.com passed on 5 scripts that Fox Story Department recommended. Ted said, "Readers are the only people in Hollywood who have to put their opinions on paper." Fox has coverage going back to the 1920s!
Friday the gates were opened at Universal, where we met with Barry Rosen from Rosen-Goodman (Universal TV movies), Alex Barder at Mike Lobell Productions (IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU), Corey Sienega at David Kirshner Productions (BRIDE OF CHUCKY, AMERICAN TAILS), Bennett Scheir from Robert Zemeckis' company ImageMovers (BACK TO THE FUTURE), Greg Lessans at Marc Platt (PHILADELPHIA), Paul Brehme at Mostow-Lieberman (BREAKDOWN), and Julie Eisenman at Bette Midler's All Girl Productions (BEACHES).
Many companies, including ImageMovers, said they are NOT looking for "programmers" - typical genre pictures without a high concept. A script that doesn't have an exciting idea behind it has little chance of being the kind of big event film studios make. "Give me a great idea," Alex Barder said. Corey Sienga said she was looking for visuals and strong set pieces. Several producers warned against following trends - they said it was okay to write in a popular genre, but avoid copying any specific hit film within that genre. Write something DIFFERENT within the popular genre. Several producers thought that the quality of the scripts they see has gone down - there's a lack of maturity in the work, scripts are derivative, writers are using stale plot devices, and there is a general lack of theme and character complexity.
All of these companies will only read scripts through agents, managers and attorneys AFTER they have been requested by the producer. Most of the companies will eventually get around to reading a query letter, but they warn that they get stacks of query letters every day. If your query comes from a lawyer, agent, or manager it has a better chance of being read. Best thing to do is to have your representative call the company and phone-pitch your script. If they are interested, they'll request it. But I should mention that many of the producers we met were willing to prioritize our query letters, and a couple of them listened to our pitches. One member of the class actually had a producer request his script on the spot (he had a copy with him). We may be reading his name in the trades soon!
FADE OUT
You can find out more about William C. Martell, including information on his must-have book "The Secrets To Action Screenwriting" on his web site at: http://www.scriptsecrets.net
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Jim Jordan on Sherwood Oaks and Gary Shusett
1) He encouraged me to develop sincere, genuine, authentic relationships with working entertainment industry professionals. He believes, (and I agree completely), not attempting to immediately push any inferior quality material in the faces of these important industry people. After Gary created great opportunities for me to meet and interact with them in Gary’s classes and my own follow-ups efforts, I realized that I would destroy any long-term relationships by giving them scripts that didn’t measure up to their usual standards. Of course, their usual standards are the highest level scripts on the planet, so the LAST thing I would do was attempt to pass them any scripts! Interestingly, I heard the same advice from Jeff Nathanson 3 days ago. Since Jeff has now done three films with Steven Spielberg, he must be right about waiting to pass along those scripts!
2) Gary got me a job as a script reader for Kara Mazzola, Development Executive for F.R. (Fred Roos) Productions, producer of many of Francis and Sofia Coppola’s films. It was a free reading job, so with a demanding life, I wasn’t able to do it for very long. But this job taught me plenty. By the end of it, Kara made a point to acknowledge me as a respected reader. I was brutally honest, and she said any script that I recommended, she would definitely read. Wow, I now had credibility with Francis Ford Coppola’s producer! Not bad for a free gig.
3) Gary arranged with Paul Attanasio for me to visit the set of the TV drama “Gideon’s Crossing” for just one day. I must have made a great impression, because I was permitted to visit the set an additional 11 times, watching rehearsals, shooting, Attanasio rewriting an important scene on the set, and learning how editors on a show perform their amazing job when pressed for time. Interestingly, after I learned how Gary got me invited onto the set, I was able to get myself invited to the sets of “Less Than Perfect” numerous times as well as “Married to the Kelleys,” and “King of Queens.”
4) Gary made it possible for me to meet Steven Zaillian at a Sherwood Oaks event. I was then able to ask Steven if I could interview him for the 10th anniversary of “Searching for Bobby Fischer” as part of the “Story To Glory” Film Festival at the ArcLight Hollywood. I ended up interviewing both Steven and Joe Mantegna at the sold-out event in front of 410 people. I’ve stayed in touch with Joe and he is now someone I plan to work with at some point in the future.
5) Gary continues to inspire me. Because of his advice and encouragement, I have begun a professional coverage service for writers. He has also introduced me to so many industry professionals over the years, that I am now developing a celebrity cooking show using many of those contacts. I am also developing a weekly medical advice show with a respected pediatrician.
It is no exaggeration to conclude that I might not ever have achieved a Hollywood career without the significant influence of Mr. Gary Shusett, (which he would probably humbly dispute). Since he has been doing the school for over four decades, I can’t imagine how many hundreds of others he has profoundly affected.
When asked what started
his screenwriting career,
Paul Haggis responded
“Sherwood Oaks”."
Academy Award Winner Paul Haggis
Crash, Million Dollar Baby
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