Writing for Reality—The New Mexico Screenwriter's Speaker Series returns with a Saturday morning seminar titled “Writing Commercial Documentaries Now.” Discover your own inner March of the Penguins with noted documentary filmmaker Craig Coffman. Since 1997, Coffman has produced over 60 hours of documentary programs as a supervising producer, writer, editor or director for The History Channel, Discovery, Food Network, Fine Living, TLC and others. Coffman's seminar will center on what kind of writing is going on in the projects now airing on and sought by cable networks. The event will take place at Rio Grande Studios (6608 Gulton NE), from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22. Admission is $15, which includes refreshments and handouts. Full-time student and teacher rate is $10. For more information on the Screenwriter's Speaker Series, log on to www.nmscreenwriters.com.
Reel World
Show off Your Skills!—New Mexico Magazine is now accepting applications for listings and display ads in the 2006 New Mexico Film Directory. The directory includes information on film professionals around the state (directors, cinematographers, grips) and those who provide support services to the industry (caterers, prop makers, hairstylists). Directories are sent out to all film companies interested in shooting in New Mexico. In other words, if you wanna work in movies, this is how you get jobs. To get a listing or ad in the directory, access the website via links to the New Mexico Film Office website (www.nmfilm.com) or the New Mexico Magazine website (www.nmmagazine.com). Cost of display ads varies, listings will run you $35 per category. The deadline for submissions is Nov. 16. The deadline for reserving display ad space is Oct. 31. If you do not have access to a computer, you can write to the New Mexico Film Directory at 4601 Carlisle NE #A2, Albuquerque, N.M. 87109 to request an application.
Reel World
Gas Up and Go—On Thursday, Oct. 20, from 7 to 9 p.m., The People Before Profit film series at the Peace & Justice Center (202 Harvard SE) will present The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream. This timely documentary examines how the American Way of Life (embodied by the far-flung, SUV-encrusted neighborhoods of suburbia) can be sustained in the face of the growing global oil crisis. Assuming energy prices skyrocket in the coming years, how will the populations of non-urban America react? And, most importantly, what can we do now to avoid the End of Suburbia?
