The People's Money (2022-2023)
Your Money, Your Community, Your Voice.
What problem would you like to solve?
We seek to encourage and support literacy development while giving kids the tools to express their vision of the world through the artistic medium of screenwriting. The South Bronx lacks access to this kind of youth programming that combines exposure to the arts with literacy education.
Why is it important to solve? Why is it relevant for the community?
In the short term, this workshop will help to create equal access to educational opportunities for Bronx children and will inspire children and encourage them to enjoy reading, writing and creating. Our curriculum, while focused on the fun topic of TV and movie writing, still constitutes early literacy instruction that helps children become more powerful readers, writers, and thinkers. That will have an immediate impact on their academic performance.
In the long term, the children involved in this program will see a sustained impact because these classes will provide a literacy foundation that will transcend screenwriting. The story outlining techniques and ability to successfully express oneself with language will be relevant for all aspects of the children’s future no matter what career path they choose. The ability to organize one's thoughts and communicate them verbally and in writing is a key component of the workforce in all fields.
What idea do you have to address the problem?
This program is a 10-week screenwriting class for up to fifteen children between the ages of 8 and 12. Taught by Bronx screenwriters, the class will give the children the tools to express their vision of the world and improve their literacy development in a fun atmosphere.
As Bronx Filmmakers we have a love of screenwriting and of creating work that portrays the Bronx in an accurate and nuanced way. We are interested in sharing our love for screenwriting with our community. As Bronxites, we are also interested in supporting and nurturing the children in our communities. We know that the Bronx struggles with some aspects of our educational system and we seek to support improved literacy in our community. Screenwriting classes offer an opportunity to develop widely applicable language skills including structure, organization, vocabulary and spelling in a format that is fun and engaging.
Children love TV and movies, and have a near constant exposure to media, but many don’t realize that their favorite TV show or movie originated as words on a page. Learning basic storytelling structure helps them to achieve a deeper understanding of this same media they enjoyed and develop tools to be critical with it. This class will teach children about story structure and visual storytelling. Starting from identifying the child’s initial concept, we will utilize a broad base of skills to help the children learn how to organize their ideas and express themselves. By outlining stories, reading other scripts, and writing multiple drafts of their own scripts, the children will improve their reading comprehension and strengthen their interest in reading.
This class will be taught by experienced screenwriters from the Bronx. There will be two main teaching artists who will lead the class for the entire 10 weeks, which will help provide stability and familiarity. In order to best provide the students with more specialized knowledge, however, we will also have three guest teaching artists each week. For example, writing dialogue that rings true requires a different approach than writing an outline. We will incorporate guest teaching artists who excel in the area of dialogue to teach those sessions.
This program will be held on Saturday mornings at a community arts space in the Melrose neighborhood. We will offer two semester cycles, 10-weeks during the Spring and 10-weeks during the Fall. While the free class will be advertised across the borough, and open to any Bronx child between the ages of 8 and 12, we do anticipate that the majority of participants will be from Melrose, Mott Haven, Morrisania and Concourse. We have existing relationships with a number of organizations in these neighborhoods and they have agreed to help us promote the classes to their constituents. We have also started conversations with the tenant associations at the Melrose Houses and the Andrew Jackson Houses, two housing projects immediately next to our class location. We hope to draw a good percentage of children directly from those housing projects.
At the conclusion of the semester, each child will have a complete, fully edited, short script that is ready for production. We will hold a public event, for family and friends of the children, where we will have professional actors read the scripts. That kind of event, called a “table-read,” is a way for the writer to begin to see life in their work, even if they are not ready to film the movie. This performance and celebration day will give the children the opportunity to proudly show off their work and receive encouragement from the community.
Who would that help?
Children, Families and Filmmakers in the underserved communities of Melrose, Mott Haven, Morrisania and the Concourse sections of the Bronx.
What NYC borough would benefit from your idea?
The Bronx.
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