TheFilmSchool [1] is a non-profit film program located in Seattle, WA that focuses on intensive training in screenwriting and directing. TheFilmSchool's mission statement is 'to elevate the art of cinematic storytelling.' The curriculum centers around a heavy emphasis on discipline and craft, character, structure, and working with actors to understand the language of film, all aimed at getting the writer to write simply and from a place of truth. The program was founded in 2004 by actor Tom Skerritt, writer/director John Jacobsen, producer/director Rick Stevenson, writer/director Warren Etheredge and Stewart Stern, screenwriter of Rebel Without a Cause, Sybil and The Ugly American.
TheFilmSchool’s Speaker Series has attracted speakers such as director Sydney Pollack (Tootsie, The Firm, Out of Africa), producer Ed Zwick (Blood Diamond, Traffic, Shakespeare in Love), two-time Sundance winner documentarian Ondi Timoner (DiG!, We Live in Public) and actor/writer/director Peter Riegert (Traffic, Local Hero).
TheFilmSchool launched the Great American Short Screenplay Contest in 2008, in partnership with the Seattle International Film Festival. Christopher McQuarrie, Academy Award-winning screenwriter of The Usual Suspects, called TheFilmSchool "probably the best place in the world to study story.” [2]
Actor Robert Redford joined TheFilmSchool Advisory Board in 2008.