The Writers Guild of America hosted an elegant VIP reception on Wednesday, November 7th called ‘Behind the Screen’ honoring the talented screenwriters of this season’s must-see movies. This exclusive event was held at the Hollywood ‘hot spot’ Beauty & Essex where the artistic crowd indulged in a hosted bar while trays of past hors d’oeuvres floated throughout the room.
Events like this are wonderful for networking, and having the opportunity to meet successful writers who not only enjoy their craft but who have persevered and managed to make a living from it, is always inspiring. I enjoyed meeting screenwriter Ethan Gross whose film ‘Ad Astra’ is coming out soon. After speaking with him about his film, starring Brad Pitt, we discovered that we both have a love of dogs. I also had a lovely conversation with writer Elizabeth Chomko whose film, ‘What They Had’ staring Hilary Swank, is based on her Grandmother’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and how this devastating disease affected the entire family. As I also lost my Grandmother to this terrible disease, we quickly bonded and I can’t wait to see her film. I also enjoyed meeting Josh Singer who wrote ‘First Man’, and Maryam Keshavarz and Jonathan Mastro who co-wrote the screenplay for ‘Viper Club’. Maryam and Jonathan met in college and have been writing together since then.
Arash Amel ‘A Private War’, Andrew Cosby ‘Hellboy’, Dan Stiepleman ‘On the Basis of Sex’, Ashleigh Powell ‘The Nutcracker and the Four Realms’, Eva Konstantopoulos ‘Malevolent’, Sam Boyd ‘In a Relationship’, Jason Fuchs ‘I Still See You’ and many more writers were in attendance. It was a classy evening, and I have to say the sliders and the shrimp were my favorite appetizers of the night, and they went well with my glass of Cabernet. Thank you, Writers Guild of America, for putting such an interesting evening together, and congratulations to all the writers in attendance for your artistic contributions to the world of cinema. I can’t wait to see all of the films!
Reported by Janell Martin
