YOUNG SCREENWRITERS' CONFERENCE

What is it?

The Young Screenwriters’ Conference is a day long event made possible through local collaborators that offers students in gradea 4-12 and undergraduates the chance to learn and work with industry professionals on film related skills.

Students will experience hands-on learning in scriptwriting and other media fields such as documentaries and virtual reality.

Project Write, the Shenandoah Valley Writing Project, SU’s Department of Media and Communication, and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema are teaming up to bring a day of screenwriting and production workshops to the area for the SIXTH year!

This year’s conference will be held:

Saturday, March 15, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in-person at Shenandoah University

Includes the keynote speaker’s presentation and writing workshop and breakout sessions. We recommend bringing a packed lunch. Registration also includes attendance at Virginia Emerging Filmmakers’ Festival, and a showing and discussion led by our keynote presenter at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema – Winchester.

What's The Cost?

Registration cost is $55 for young writers.

Advisers and teachers can attend for FREE. Parents of registered young writers may attend for free.

Special Circumstances:

Why Screenwriting?

Video is everywhere
Media literacy is a must
What better way to understand the genre than to immersing in the writing and production?
Project-based learning lends itself to film production
Many schools are adding film programs and the conference is designed to complement them

2025 Keynote Workshop: Dorie Barton

DORIE BARTON made her debut as writer-director with the feature film Girl Flu. which premiered at the  Los Angeles Film Festival in 2016 and went on to become a festival hit, screening at over 30 festivals worldwide, garnering many awards including the Audience Award in the New Director category at the Nashville Film Festival. Barton was selected as a finalist for the Commercial Diversity Director’s Program (2018). She was Co-Producer on the feature Extracurricular Activities (2018), and co-wrote A Christmas to Remember (2016) produced by the Hallmark Channel.

Barton’s second feature film, Welcome to the Show, – which she produced, wrote, directed, and co-edited – had its world premiere at the Cinequest Film Festival (March 2021) and is being distributed by Gravitas Ventures. The project was written specifically for her acting students at Virginia Commonwealth University, and was shot entirely on location in Richmond, VA, over a ten-day production schedule. Barton has been the Film Director for VCU’s Mainstage Productions She Kills Monsters (2020) and Spring Awakening (2021) and directs the VCUarts Showcase (2020) for graduating actors, their debut into the industry.

As an actor, Barton has been seen in countless television shows from daytime drama to multi-cam sitcoms, major motion pictures such as Down with Love opposite Ewan MacGregor, NBC’s Martha Inc. playing Martha Stewart, and indie favorites including Bobcat Goldthwait’s God Bless America. Barton has performed onstage for much of her life as an award-winning actor, including originating the role of Edith in Charles Busch’s Die, Mommie, Die! and starring as Alice in The Blank Theater’s Lobster Alice, for which she won Best Actor from the L.A. Drama Critics Circle. As a voice-over artist, Barton has voiced of hundreds of commercial spots, including numerous national ad campaigns, and narration for documentaries and books. Barton is also a long-time script consultant for filmmakers, working with up-and-coming writers and industry veterans alike. Barton graduated from BFA in Theater from California Institute of the Arts and an MFA from VCU, and she remains a proud member of the Evidence Room Theater Company in Los Angeles.

Our exclusive interview with Dorie Barton will be added soon.

Check out our exclusive interview with 2024 keynote Blayne Weaver on YouTube!