On February 12, HB Woodlawn hosted Arlington Student Filmfest‘s Screenplay Contest Forum. The annual screenplay contest forum “was terrifying, actually having your work out there in the public eye to be judged and picked apart by other people” said senior Hazel Thurston. She was not the only Wakefield student at this event; senior Truman Deree also had his screenplay chosen to be read. Many people entered the screenplay contest to have their screenplays read at the forum; Wakefield is extremely proud that not one, but two Wakefield students’ screenplays selected to be read by actors.

Wakefield had another student in the mix; one of our student actors got to read the screenplay for the authors, got to bring their words to life. Sophomore Xavier (Javi) Molina, gave us a recap of the night. Not only was there a reading of the screenplays, but afterwards, a Q&A session was held for the screenplay authors. Javi said, “It was cool because there were so many different types of screenplays, there were tragedies one minute, and then comedies the next. I loved the one about the cannibalistic piano. It was amazing.”

Here is some advice for writing screenplays:

Truman said, “Definitely do your research beforehand, read some books. Before you submit it, make sure to get some feedback from someone else.” For the people who aren’t really sure whether screenplay writing is for them, Hazel said, “Definitely do it. If you are passionate about a project, then you should definitely write it and get it out there. Either you’ll abandon it halfway through and you’ll realize you weren’t passionate about it, or it will be something that drives you to the end and you’ll be better off for writing it.”

While people should certainly get their work out there, it may not reach this level of excellence immediately. Hazel said, “Writing is something that takes a lot of practice. I’ve been writing since I was nine, so it’s been a really long time coming.” While it may take a lengthy amount of time to perfect screenplay writing, it is worth it in the end.

Wakefield is so honored to have great screenplay writers like Hazel Thurston and Truman Deree in our hallways. We hope to see even more Wakefield students next year at the Arlington Student Film Fest Screenplay Forum!