The Writers Guild Foundation is pleased to announce a special three-part series of its acclaimed Writers on Writing speaker program featuring three of the most respected and honored screenwriters in film and television. Dewar’s, who will host a cocktail reception following each event, sponsors the Spring Storytellers series.

Independent film stalwart and award-winner Kevin Smith, multi-Emmy Award winner Aaron Sorkin and multi-Academy Award nominee Lawrence Kasdan will be the featured guests in this special series held in the Writers Guild Theater, 135 S. Doheny Dr. (s. of Wilshire Blvd.) in Beverly Hills.

The Spring Series schedule is as follows. All programs start at 7:30pm.

Thursday, May 13 – Kevin Smith. Bursting onto the independent film scene with the low budget, but highly impressive Clerks (which also spawned an animated series), Smith has maintained a presence on cinema’s cutting edge with titles like Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and most recently Jersey Girl.

Thursday, May 27 – Aaron Sorkin. With multiple writing and producing awards for TV’s The West Wing, Sorkin also created the acclaimed television series Sports Night. His award-winning feature work includes A Few Good Men (based on his play) and The American President.

Thursday, June 10 – Lawrence Kasdan. With a list of credits that begins with The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, Kasdan has carved out an impressive career writing and directing his own award winning work. His writing credits also include Body Heat, Continental Divide, Return of the Jedi, The Big Chill, The Accidental Tourist, Grand Canyon, The Bodyguard, Mumford, and Silverado.

** A Special Package Price is available for purchasing all three programs:

$45 – General admission, $35 – WGA members and full-time academic faculty, $25 – full-time students with valid I.D.

Individual Tickets: $20 – general admission, $15 – WGA members and full-time academic faculty, $10 – students with valid I.D.

Individual and Series Tickets can be purchased by credit card by calling the Writers Guild Foundation at 323.782.4692. ** IMPORTANT NOTE: An incorrect phone number for ordering tickets was listed in a previously mailed press release. Please note the correct number as 323.782.4692.

For further information on this or other Foundation events go to www.WGFoundation.org.

Produced by the Writers Guild Foundation, the monthly Writers on Writing series showcases a noteworthy motion picture or television writer or writers each month. Moderated by film critic F.X. Feeney, writers may talk about a recent work, their approach to the craft, career development, Hollywood experiences, work methods and tactics for survival in what is commonly considered a notoriously difficult industry. An audience Q & A follows each interview.

“Last night after his show in Bakersfield , Calif, he and his band unwound by checking out Kevin Smith’s latest flick Jersey Girl. A so-so dpearture from
his usual lewd-and-crude comidies. Prince was unimpressed. Not that the 45 year old happily married, devout Jehova’s Witness can’t appreciate a cleaner
act; he himself has scrubbed from his list of staples like “head” and “Jack U Off”, It’s just according to Prince, Smith didn’t replace it with anything
interesting. “We walked out after an hour” he stiffs. “Guess thats what happens when the potty mouth don’t work for you anymore”

“I’m cool with him not liking “Jersey Girl.” I fucking hated his album “Crystal Ball”, so now we’re even.”

“The band had agreed to let “Susanne” be used in the upcoming Kevin Smith film Mallrats. A consensus was reached that the track could stand a fresh try at
a mix if it was to be used in the film. The remix has come to be considered as the definitive version.”

JAY AND INDY BEN STRIKE BACK

As a thank-you present for getting sober, director Kevin Smith is going to write a new Jay and Silent Bob movie for Jason “Jay” Mewes. Mewes missed out on a role in Jersey Girl because of his problem with drugs. Smith told him if he gets clean he’ll write him another plum role. He’s snagged a nice little part in The Green Hornet and Smith hopes to have him back in front of the cameras for the new Jay and Silent Bob chapter, which Ben Affleck has agreed to appear in as well, for 2006…

Q. When you see a wide disparity between your reaction to a film and that of most other critics, especially in the case of your giving a good-to-stellar review to something that everyone thinks stunk, do you ever second-guess yourself? For example, with these recent films: “Ella Enchanted,” “The Alamo,” “Jersey Girl,” “Never Die Alone,” “Taking Lives,” “Secret Window,” “Sp artan,” “The Reckoning” and “Hidalgo.” – Sandy Cormack, Baltimore

A. I remain satisfied with all of those reviews. I try to explain the reasons why I praise or dislike a movie, and I think, for example, that my review of “Hidalgo” is a splendid description of the film I saw and the reasons I liked it. Mamet’s “Spartan” is likely to make my best 10 list. “Jersey Girl” suffered because of the Affleck/J.Lo nonsense and because Kevin Smith dared to make a sweet film.

You didn’t ask, but I was stunned that “The Girl Next Door” scored near 60 on the Tomatometer. I agree with Ken Turan of the Los Angeles Times: “What is disturbing and frankly distasteful … is how slick and shameless it is in its eagerness to blur boundaries, to squeeze as much transgressive material as it can into a nominally bland and innocent form.”

The movie’s ads are shamelessly pitched at an audience too young to qualify for the R rating.