Thank you for your interest in my screenwriting courses!
In Spring 2025, the screenwriting program will consist of a 3-course sequence:
CINEMA 75A: Screenwriting, an online hybrid course;
CINEMA 75B: Intermediate Screenwriting, an online hybrid course; and
CINEMA 75C: Advanced Screenwriting, taught contemporaneously with CINEMA 75B.
In all three courses, I will be most interested in guiding each student to find their voice as a narrative screenwriter, discover the heart of the story they want to tell, and refine their skills in order to bring forth the depth and power of that story.
Students who complete CINEMA 75A, B, and C will be able to complete a full screenplay, assisted by ongoing close reads and thoughtful critical feedback, in three semesters.
CINE 75A will have Zoom sessions most Wednesday evenings from 6:00-8:00 PM, and five in-person meetings from 6:10-9:00 PM in Cloud Hall 221 on the Ocean Campus. In-person meetings will be on 1/22, 2/19, 3/19, 4/23, and 5/21.
CINE 75B and 75C, taught contemporaneously as online hybrids, will meet most week on Zoom on Thursday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 PM and once a month from 6:10-9:00 PM in CH 221 on the Ocean Campus.
Students entering CINEMA 75B and 75C will receive increasingly in-depth feedback and guidance from both me and fellow students as they further develop their screenwriting skills. CINEMA 75B will focus on writing Act II, while CINEMA 75C will focus on Act III of a feature script.
The Scriptwriting Certificate has been updated to reflect these courses.
Students who have previously taken CINEMA 75 or CINEMA 85 may enroll in CINEMA 75B or CINEMA 75C. Students who have taken equivalent courses at other schools should contact me at lrosenberg@ccsf.edu about requesting to waive prerequisites.
If you have additional questions about the courses, please contact me at lrosenberg@ccsf.edu.
MY BACKGROUND
EDUCATION & STORY CONSULTING: I have a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Creative Arts with graduate level coursework in Creative Writing. I was a Screenwriting Fellow at the American Film Institute. For over a decade, I evaluated scripts for Los Angeles studios and production companies, and later reviewed scripts for a San Francisco studio. Since then, I have consulted for contests, grant panels, writers, and many writers and filmmakers.
TEACHING: I have taught at CCSF since Fall 2018. I taught previously in California at Lucasfilm, De Anza Community College, the San Francisco Film Society, Film Arts Foundation, U.C. Berkeley Extension, and the Community of Writers Screenwriting Workshop in Olympic Valley, CA. I also taught in Oregon at Linfield College, Portland State University Extended Learning, and the Northwest Film Center.
WRITING: I have written narrative and non-fiction scripts and treatments for film, public TV, the internet, and mobile media. Productions I have written for have earned an Emmy, a Codie, an Action for Children's Television Award, a New York Film Festival Gold, and a nomination for a Peabody Award.
Current feature projects include CURE, an international drama and Semifinalist for the 2023 New York Women in Film and Television Writers Lab that is in extensive rewrite; and GRAFT, a period coming-of-age script adapted from the novel In the Bishop’s Carriage by Miriam Michelson, which is in development for a series of theatrical productions supported by a 2023 Puffin Foundation grant. I am also developing a thriller set in the Middle East and an historical drama involving magic and early flight.
Selected credits include script consulting and editing on THE CALLBACK, a comedic short by writer/director Kara Herold; writing a treatment for THE DOUBLE HAPPINESS COMPANY, a coming-of-age novel by Anne Aylor; writing A PRAYER, a dramatic short for actor Anthony Aguilar Gallagher; writing CLIPPED WINGS, a dramatic feature based on true events for Front Row Productions; and co-writing the treatment for THE MAYA MOVIE, a documentary feature for Redhouse Productions.
Email: lrosenberg@ccsf.edu
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Office Location: Meetings via CityZoom.
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