Billy Mernit

Instructor Biography:

MFA, screenwriter and novelist; WGA member who is a story analyst for Universal Pictures and the author of Writing the Romantic Comedy (Harper/Collins) and Imagine Me and You (Shaye Areheart/Random House). Mr. Mernit is a recipient of the UCLA Extension Distinguished Instructor Award and the Outstanding Instructor Award in Screenwriting. He is also a contributing author to Cut to the Chase (Gotham Books/Penguin).

Instructor Statement:

You show up with something to say. My job is to create a safe, honest place where you can figure out the most effective way to say it. And whether I'm teaching screenwriting or creative writing, I want to help you dig out the deepest, wildest truths you care about--to get your passion and humor onto the page. I try to inspire risk-taking; my in-class exercises are designed to break up boundaries, to see what fiction can offer film, what poetry can give to both. After all, the riskiest leaps often land you in the richest writing soil.

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