Writing Movies: The Practical Guide to Creating Stellar Screenplays
Gotham Writers’ Workshop Faculty
Edited by Alexander Steele
Bloomsbury USA
New York, N.Y., 2006
Beloit alumnus Christopher Momenee’83 contributed the 11th chapter of this book, titled "The Business: Slipping Past the Velvet Rope." In it, he relays how the business of movie-making is fraught with politics, pitfalls, rampant egotism, and—yes, for the brave and bull-headed—the potential for major success.
Momenee goes through the basics, such as how to package and protect a finished screenplay, make a pitch, network with industry insiders, find representation, and make contacts. In short easy-to-read sections, he also addresses selling or optioning a script and the realities of working as a professional screenwriter. Perhaps the most helpful information is on ways in which to break into the business by being fully prepared and in the right place at the right time.
Momenee is a New York City-based screenwriter who has sold or optioned several scripts to Disney, MGM, Columbia, and numerous independent production companies.
The Gardener and the Bees
By Helena Minton’70
March Street Press
Greensboro, N.C., 2006
Intimate and engrossing, the poems in this chapbook center on encounters, both expected and unexpected. They speak to nature’s abundance while tracing a path through "the ignored world" of insects at work, mulch and decaying matter, the indistinct passage of time, and the quiet growth of the soul.
"I am learning to enter a garden without judgment," Minton writes, yet she wonders if the tendency to seek romance in a suburban backyard "… is inherited / like a long waist / or blue eyes / or a yearning for cantaloupe." Poet Betsy Sholl commends Minton for her ability to "show us what is before our eyes and what to our peril we so easily miss—the earth and how we live on it daily."
Minton is a librarian who has been published in two poetry collections and is the author of the chapbook In Another Life. Her work has appeared in anthologies and poetry publications, including The Beloit Poetry Journal.
Escaping Poverty’s Grasp: The Environmental Foundations of Poverty Reduction
By David Reed’70
Earthscan
Sterling, Va., 2006
Reed has spent three decades working on issues of social and economic development for the World Wildlife Fund-International (WWF) as a director in the Macroeconomics for Sustainable Development Program Office.
He has witnessed how the "grinding rituals of poverty" are perpetuated in developing nations where the rural poor are left behind as their urban neighbors strive for a higher standard of living. Their dire situation is exacerbated by the need to use the few available resources in "unsustainable ways in order to survive."
Reed’s book outlines a new WWF plan, coined the 3xM Approach, for reducing poverty while improving resource management. Using data collected from case-studies in China, El Salvador, Indonesia, South Africa, and Zambia, the approach works on three levels to improve local economic opportunities while promoting policy and institutional change and responsible environmental stewardship at the state/provincial and national levels.
Dancing the Kiss
By Joan McIntosh’48
Pudding House Publications
Columbus, Ohio, 2006
Joan McIntosh’s collection of poems speaks directly to readers. Through careful observations of everyday tasks and affairs, McIntosh shares her thoughts and inner conversations with readers in her poetry.
An insect walking on tiles, the news on TV, a hot day, and a simple dance all become windows into thoughts and ruminations on life.
McIntosh was head of the science program at a private school in South Bend, Ohio, before retiring to have more time to write. Her poetry has been published in numerous journals and reviews, including South Dakota Review, Indiannual, Flying Island, Shenandoah, Connecticut River Review, Cumberland Review, and many others.
Father’s Philosophy
By Patrick T. Randolph’89
Popcorn Press
Elkhorn, Wis., 2006
Patrick T. Randolph’s collection of poetry is an eclectic blend of various styles of verse: English sonnets, Japanese tanka and haiku, and English free verse.
The poems include crisp, sharp images of the Midwest, particularly scenes from rural Wisconsin towns and homes. Themes range from waking to the celebration of married life to discovering the unique gift of winter snowflakes.
A number of the works in Father’s Philosophy have been published by such journals and quarterlies as Bellowing Ark Literary Journal, California Quarterly, The Rockford Review, and Free Verse Magazine. Poems in this collection have also appeared in magazines and anthologies in Japan and Israel.
