Oklahoma professional filmmakers to teach screenwriting seminar

Laron Chapman knows from experience that some aspects of making a film you just don’t learn in school, and he is eager to pass along the wisdom he has gained through experience.

The award-winning writer-director of the socially conscious dramedy “You People” will be one of four Oklahoma filmmakers to participate Saturday in a free screenwriting seminar from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the Metro Tech Downtown Business Campus, 100 N Broadway Ave.

“This is a cool way for people who are aspiring to go into this industry to just kind of know what the expectations are. I think that’s something that they don’t really give us in school, to kind of give you the practical (advice), like ‘This is how you format a script,’ ” Chapman said.

“But then there will be feedback for those who are trying to sell their script or trying to get their scripts made into films, the kind of things that have been told to me, the ‘don’t do this or don’t do that.’ … It’s more of the street knowledge of what it’s like to try to get a film produced by your own means.”

Offered through a partnership between deadCenter Film and Metro Technology Centers, the seminar is free and open to writers of all ages and experience levels.

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“We’re trying to do professional development for working filmmakers and people in the community,” deadCenter Film Executive Director Lance McDaniel said. “The goal is to provide different ways for them to learn about the film industry, but we have focused really heavily on writing because we think writing is the core of the movies and the storytelling. If we want Oklahoma to make better movies, then we need to have better writing.”

Along with Chapman, the professional filmmakers leading the seminar will be Chris Hoyt (“The Adventures of Jurassic Pet”), Adam Hampton (“Play It Loud”) and Jacob Snovel (“Mickey Reece's Alien”).

“The four people that will be leading this session are all people who are actively producing screenplays or having their screenplays produced. … Our goal is to teach people ‘How do you write for productions? How do you write something that can actually get made? And then how do you sell it to get it made, or how do you work with directors to get it made?' ” McDaniel said. “This is really trying to bridge the gap between people who write scripts and sit on them in their home and just enter contests, and then taking that next step of getting them produced.”

The seminar is free, but requires registration ahead of time at www.cvent.com/d/r6qk0y.