Austin, Texas -- The Austin Script to Screen Team presents a LIVE film script reading event with Michele Gendelman and Ursula Ziegler’s Returning Champion. The general public is invited to join actors, writers, producers, directors, and film aficionados at 4 p.m. Sunday, August 30, at St. Edwards University Jones Hall, 3001 S. Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas. Admission is free.
Returning Champion is an off-the-wall comedy about a college freshman who is booted out of school and has to move back home to his has-been game-show host parents. The only way out of answering relentless trivia questions and guessing which door breakfast is behind is to get his out-of work parents back on the air.
An ever-growing independent film market has enticed these two TV writing pros to submit Returning Champion to area investors, directors and producers. Michele Gendelman has written for TV shows Newhart and Facts of Life and is the author of the book What the Other Mothers Know published by HarperCollins and contributor to What Was I Thinking? 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories from St. Martin’s Press. Ursula Ziegler has written and produced TV’s Empty Nest and also written for Head of the Class, Sister, Sister, and Larroquette. She has developed TV pilots for CBS, Fox and Castle Rock when not appearing as a contestant on TV game shows.
The Austin Script to Screen Team, in cooperation with the Screen Actors Guild, regularly presents script readings before live audiences, leading to script and project development for Texas production.
"Writers and performers benefit from exploring the life of a project. Live reads give the investor, producer and director a fresh look at a project and a performer's potential,” said Pamela Weaver, Austin Conservatory chair. “With the growing number of industry people in Texas and the recent increase in the Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, it’s important to stay in touch. Our Script to Screen performances help bring more of the creative community together.”
About Austin Conservatory
The Austin Conservatory was established in 2008 and regularly hosts educational and informational workshops on the commercial, film, television and new media industries for industry professionals living in Central Texas. The Austin Conservatory Script to Screen program provides writers and performers the opportunity to present film scripts before interested parties and increase work opportunities. For more information on the Script to Screen program and its Texas film industry connection, contact Trish Avery, Screen Actors Guild Houston Branch assistant executive director at (972) 361-8185 or tavery@sag.org.
About SAG
Screen Actors Guild is the nation’s largest labor union representing working actors. Established in 1933, SAG has a rich history in the American labor movement, from standing up to studios to break long-term engagement contracts in the 1940s to fighting for artists’ rights amid the digital revolution sweeping the entertainment industry in the 21st century. With 20 branches nationwide, SAG represents nearly 120,000 actors who work in film and digital television programs, motion pictures, commercials, video games, music videos, industrials and all new media formats. The Guild exists to enhance actors’ working conditions, compensation and benefits and to be a powerful, unified voice on behalf of artists’ rights. SAG is a proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO. Headquartered in Los Angeles, you can visit SAG online at www.SAG.org.
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