Local library concludes its first ever “Thinking Cinematically” workshop series.
By Evan Miller
"Define 'cinematic'"
Elisabeth Nonas began the final class of her screenwriting workshop series at the Tompkins County Public Library (TCPL) by asking her students a relatively simple question, yet one that can have a nearly endless number of answers or interpretations. She wanted each of them to answer how they would define “cinematic.”
“If you’re used to reading what I call prose, which is anything that isn’t a script, then you know that there’s all sorts of description, and then there’s dialogue but there’s connective tissue like how characters relate to each other and what’s the backstory and everything,” Nonas said. “A script doesn’t have any of that, so that’s some of what I mean by ‘Thinking Cinematically’ and why I titled it that.”
Nonas’ “Thinking Cinematically” workshop series ran Nov. 7, 2022, through Nov. 28, 2022, and met for three separate classes. In that span of time, it was Nonas’ goal to jumpstart the creativity of those who attended the class and help them transfer the ideas they had been constructing in their heads onto the page. If students had not entered the class with fleshed out ideas ready to be written, she hoped to provide inspiration to continue working and the knowledge necessary to create their own scripts.
A successful endeavor
TCPL librarian Joyce Wheatley reached out to Nonas about hosting the event. Nonas has been retired from working as an associate professor in the Department of Media Arts, Sciences and Studies at Ithaca College since Fall 2019, not long before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Since her retirement, she has hosted other workshops and presented at the Spring Rights Literary Festival held in Ithaca in spring.
Wheatley felt satisfied by the amount of engagement the three-part event received from community members who attended.
“I thought the attendance was good and I also thought that the people who stuck with it for all three sessions were really committed and invested. It was just great, the level of enthusiasm and commitment that was there.”
The group of attendees, which at the workshop’s height was twelve people, consisted of adult men and women who seized the opportunity to learn the art of screenwriting from a professional in a city that is known for its film history and community.
Wheatley herself had been interested in learning screenwriting and saw the idea of Nonas hosting the event as a way for her to learn as well.
“Recently, there had been a short screenplay challenge and I had no idea how to write a screenplay, I had no idea how to write a script,” Wheatley said. “So, you know, I got out the books and I looked online. I did a trial of a program, and it was all new. So, I thought, ‘Let’s get somebody who knows how to do this into the library.’ There’s interest in Ithaca of writing scripts and of movie making so it was a good match.”
Although by the end of the series not everyone had submitted a script to be read and workshopped in the final class, many of the participants demonstrated interest in getting together as a group after the December holidays to continue working together.
Since the last class concluded, Nonas has received a flurry of emails from attendees of the workshop about the idea.
“… so far five others have chimed in that they’d love to do that,” Nonas said. “So, yay!”
A written future
Nonas is already scheduled to host another event at TCPL in 2023. However, next time, the workshop will be about a slightly narrower topic within the craft of writing, which is that of writer’s block.
It is unclear at this time if Nonas will host another screenwriting workshop within the “Thinking Cinematically” series at the library. However, Wheatley said the possibility does exist.
“It was just really great working with Elisabeth and all of the participants in the workshop,” Wheatley said. “She is a very patient, insightful teacher. I liked her style. It was interesting to see the scripts that people came up with by the end, it was pretty cool.”
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