February Meeting
Memo from the Story Department: Some tips from 25 Years in Hollywood
Presenter: Christopher Vogler
Christopher Vogler is a veteran Hollywood story consultant known the world over for his landmark book THE WRITER’S JOURNEY: Mythic Structure for Writers. Vogler began his career as a documentary filmmaker for the US Air Force’s space program. After graduate studies at the USC film school, he entered the Hollywood studio system as a story analyst and eventually became a development executive at the Fox 2000 production unit of 20thCentury Fox. He currently is a story consultant to major studios, directors and stars. While working in the Disney story department he wrote an influential memo on the mythological Hero’s Journey pattern that became part of Hollywood story legend and formed the foundation of his book, THE WRITER’S JOURNEY.
As a consultant he has influenced the stories of many productions including Disney’s THE LION KING, ALADDIN, HERCULES, FANTASIA 2000; Fox’s FIGHT CLUB, THE THIN RED LINE, COURAGE UNDER FIRE, and for other studios 10,000 BC, KARATE KID II, Darren Aronofsky’s THE WRESTLER and NOAH, Will Smith’s FOCUS, HANCOCK, MEN IN BLACK III, I AM LEGEND, etc. He consults with major corporations on storytelling and branding and presents workshops globally on the power of stories to change minds and lives.
In 2016 he received the Pulcinella Award from the “Cartoons on the Bay” Film Festival in Venice, Italy for his contributions to the animation industry. He is the author of the graphic novel “RAVENSKULL” and co-author (with David McKenna) of “MEMO FROM THE STORY DEPARTMENT: Secrets of Structure and Character”.
Topic: Memo from the Story Department: Some tips from 25 Years in Hollywood
I have gone to three writers conferences where Christopher Vogler presented his workshop, “The Writer’s Journey.” I sat all four hours through each time, bought both of his books, and have sticky notes sprouting from every other page. Each time there were 150 people in the audience, listening, writing notes. His talk will give you a set of precision tools that will take your story, step by step, through a quantum leap in writing quality.
The book, Memo From The Story Dept. is the topic for his talk. It is crammed full of the things he learned helping Hollywood studios put together films that lifted the hearts of many Americans and others around the world.
It is his diagnosis of what the protagonist and antagonist need to make them compelling characters, and how the whole story works for readers or theatre goers.
You can find something else to do other than come to this meeting, but you will be losing out on a big piece of history and storytelling if you miss it. The meeting information is different from the workshop the next day, which is centered on The Writer’s Journey.
Event Contact: B Channing Hillway bchillway@gmail.com
